Question No. 7: Dan Carpenter Response
The answer to this question is contained within the question. Everybody wants clean government. Who wants corrupt government? Wisconsin has gone from being a leader in the nation to being one of the most corrupt. Unfortunately, I don’t see any easy solution. While I support the Ellis-Erpenbach Bill, I don’t think it goes nearly far enough. And, every voter in Wisconsin thinks that it is some other legislator causing the problem because their representative is a "nice guy". We need to take the following steps to clean up Wisconsin State government:
First, we need to pass the Ellis-Erpenbach Bill with an amendment that severely limits the amount of money that can be raised and spent on campaigns. It is not just a matter of how or how much is reported, but the overall cost of campaigns. There is absolutely no reason for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars being raised and spent. Money leads to corruption. Today, with public access television, public forums, newspaper coverage and blogs like this, there is no reason to raise and spend the way some politicians are. No money is given without the expectation of something in return.
Second, some media sources need to be more vigilant about the way they cover the races. Their bias is often evident in the way they write or produce articles or use photos.
Third, voters must wake up and understand who the politicians are who lead us down this path and stop re-electing them. Those that repeatedly author or support legislation that increases State government, putting money in the pockets of the wealthy and taking from the taxpayer, should not keep returning to Madison!
Finally, representatives should not be allowed to author or cosponsor any legislation that benefits any organization from which they received donations. For those legislators who say there is no connection, one only needs to follow the money from those who donated to their campaigns to the legislation that they propose. Then, judge for yourself whether those people are telling the truth. IF YOU SEE A CONNECTION, DON’T VOTE FOR THEM!
First, we need to pass the Ellis-Erpenbach Bill with an amendment that severely limits the amount of money that can be raised and spent on campaigns. It is not just a matter of how or how much is reported, but the overall cost of campaigns. There is absolutely no reason for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars being raised and spent. Money leads to corruption. Today, with public access television, public forums, newspaper coverage and blogs like this, there is no reason to raise and spend the way some politicians are. No money is given without the expectation of something in return.
Second, some media sources need to be more vigilant about the way they cover the races. Their bias is often evident in the way they write or produce articles or use photos.
Third, voters must wake up and understand who the politicians are who lead us down this path and stop re-electing them. Those that repeatedly author or support legislation that increases State government, putting money in the pockets of the wealthy and taking from the taxpayer, should not keep returning to Madison!
Finally, representatives should not be allowed to author or cosponsor any legislation that benefits any organization from which they received donations. For those legislators who say there is no connection, one only needs to follow the money from those who donated to their campaigns to the legislation that they propose. Then, judge for yourself whether those people are telling the truth. IF YOU SEE A CONNECTION, DON’T VOTE FOR THEM!
posted by Miles Maguire at 10:07 PM
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