Public financing emulates `Lady Justice’

I’m sure that most of you are familiar with the statue of “Lady Justice.” She is usually depicted as a woman in a flowing robe carrying a sword and scales, and wearing a blindfold. Statues of “Lady Justice” are often found in county or state courthouses.

“Lady Justice” is wearing a blindfold to show that justice is delivered objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of your identity and whether you have money or power. Justice is blind and impartial.

The question is: can we still expect justice to be blind and impartial if an election to our state’s Supreme Court costs millions of dollars, and thus, requires these campaigns to raise millions of dollars to finance a campaign. This, in a nutshell, is the impetus behind the Impartial Justice Bill or 2009 Senate Bill 40 (SB 40). On Dec. 1, SB 40 was signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle.

The Impartial Justice Bill, SB 40, provides for the public funding of elections to the Wisconsin Supreme Court through the creation of the Democracy Trust Fund (DTF) to help finance elections for eligible candidates to the state’s highest court. To fund the DTF, the bill increases the income tax check-off designated for the Wisconsin Election Campaign Fund from $1 to $3. The additional $2 for each tax checkoff will go to the DTF to fund Supreme Court elections. If the check-off doesn’t generate sufficient funds, GPR will be added to provide the necessary grants.

Candidates for the Supreme Court will be eligible to receive $100,000 in the spring primary and $300,000 in the spring election. At the same time, it lowers the maximum allowable contribution from an individual to a Supreme Court candidate from $10,000 to $1,000. Contributions from committees are also lowered to $1,000 (from the current limit of $8,625).

In order to be eligible for the grant, a qualifying candidate will need to receive contributions of between $5 and $100 from at least 1,000 separate contributors who are electors of the state of Wisconsin in an aggregate amount of $5,000 to $15,000. In addition, the bill permits candidates to accept “seed money” contributions in amounts of $100 or less or contributions from a candidate’s personal funds. These latter funds may not exceed $5,000. Finally, in order to qualify for primary funds, the candidate must have an opponent on the ballot in the primary. A candidate who accepts public financing may not accept any contributions beyond those outlined above.

In addition to the spring primary and election funding for candidates, the bill provides for supplemental grants for eligible candidates under two circumstances. If a candidate who is not taking financing spends an amount more than 5 percent greater than the public financing benefit, the candidate taking the financing will receive an additional amount equivalent to the excess spending amounts (not to exceed three times the public financing benefit). Second, if the total of independent expenditures made against the candidate or for an opponent exceeds 120 percent of the public financing benefit, the candidate taking the financing will receive an amount equal to that spending (not to exceed three times the public financing amount).

Wisconsin has been electing the justices of our Supreme Court for more than 150 years. But, in the past few years, we have seen an increasing amount of money being spent on elections to the state Supreme Court and, with it, an increased concern about the influence campaign contributions can have on the members of the court. In 2007, spending on the Supreme Court race that year reached $5.8 million. This was four times more than has ever been spent for an election to the court. And that record was broken only a year later, in 2008, when spending for a state Supreme Court race reached $6 million.

As a result, in the past year or so, we have seen justices asking to recuse themselves from court cases as a result of large campaign contributions. Although this does not prove these justices would favor one side based on campaign contributions, it certainly shows that there is a concern (even amongst the justices) that they could be perceived as being influenced by money.

The issue of maintaining a “fair, neutral, impartial, non-partisan judiciary in Wisconsin” is important to all of us, including the justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. For that reason, in December of 2007, all of the sitting justices signed a letter expressing their support for the concept of a realistic, meaningful public financing for Supreme Court elections.

I believe that we need to curb the influence of money in politics. The need to raise large amounts of money to finance an election can lead to either an unjust influence in government or the perception of such. It is even more vital that our state’s highest court be free of undue influence or the perception of undue influence.

Contact Me: If you would like to contact me regarding this or any other issue, you may call my office at 1-888-529-0026 or you can e-mail me at: Rep.VanAk keren@legis.state.wi.us. And, of course, if you want to send me a letter, you can send that to: Rep. Terry Van Akkeren, P.O. Box 8953, Madison, WI 53708-8953.