Wisconsin Assembly rejects issue-ads bill

By The Associated Press

03.07.01

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MADISON, Wis. — Legislation that would regulate so-called "issue ads" aired during election campaigns was defeated yesterday in the Republican-controlled Assembly, with critics saying the bill would not withstand a challenge in the courts.

Democrats, who hold the majority in the Senate, have passed their own version of the bill.

The Assembly bill won support from members of both parties, but still failed on a 41-52 vote.

"We all want clean, honest elections, but trampling on the First Amendment is not the way to get there," said Rep. Mark Gundrum, R-New Berlin.

The legislation would have required anyone who uses the name or likeness of a political candidate in an ad within 60 days of an election to report who they are and how much they spent on the advertisements.

"All we want is disclosure. We want to know who's doing this," said Rep. Tom Hebl, D-Sun Prairie.

Issue ads typically name candidates and show their likenesses but don't explicitly say "vote for" or "vote against" them. Instead, they may conclude with a message such as: "Call Sen. Smith and tell him to stop raising our taxes."

Corporations and special-interest groups are banned from making political contributions to candidates, unless they do so through their political action committees, which are subject to spending limits.

The bill's supporters argued that current laws provide a legal loophole allowing third parties to run the issue ads without following the laws that govern candidates.

"The special-interest groups prevailed today," said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin.

But Heck said the proposal was not dead; other, more comprehensive campaign-finance bills still before the Legislature also include the issue-ad regulations.

Critics of the bill, including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, said the proposal was unconstitutional because it would infringe on corporations' rights to political speech.

A Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling last July upheld the legality of issue ads run by WMC, the state's biggest business group. But the court also recommended tightening controls on such campaign ads.

The bill's supporters, mostly Democrats, voted for the legislation despite an amendment they claimed would prevent unions from participating in political campaigns.

"People know very well that if you're going to stop business interests from doing it, you have to stop labor interests from doing it," said Rep. Jon Gard, R-Peshtigo.

The Assembly could still take up the Senate version of the bill.

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