Bussiere Lauds Ellis-Erpenbach Campaign Finance Effort, Looks for Bill to Include Public Funding for Third Parties

Maine Green Independent Party 
www.mainegreens.org

Bussiere for State Senate
www.votejill.org

November 1, 2006

Today Senators Ellis and Erpenbach offered a campaign finance reform bill that would make information about the source of political ads more transparent, make it easier for the average person to run for office, and help to reduce special interest money influence on elections. 

"I am glad to see finance reform initiatives come forward," said Jill Bussiere, Wisconsin Green Party candidate for state senate, district 1. "Citizens are outraged by the cost, quantity and negativity of the campaign ads this year. We need publicly funded elections, not elections funded by special interests. The Ellis-Erpenbach bill is a good step in the right direction." 

Bussiere's top campaign priority is clean government and election reform. In addition to advocating for public funding of campaigns, she advocates for a multi-party system of government, and full inclusion of all parties in the electoral process. 

"Our current election rules all but exclude third parties from public funding," said Bussiere. "In our race for Wisconsin State Senate, District 1, for example, both my opponents qualified for public funds but I did not, even though none of the three of us had opponents from within our parties in the April primary." 

Wisconsin has a 6% rule to qualify for public funding - meaning that a candidate must get at least 6% of the total vote in the primary in order to receive public funds. Since voters tend to vote in primaries where there are contested races, and nascent parties don't tend to have contested primaries, not many people choose to vote in third party primaries. This gives an advantage to candidates of the larger and more well established Democratic and Republican parties, regardless of whether they are opposed in their primaries. 

"The Ellis Erpenbach bill proposes that candidates who abide by spending limits would be eligible for a grant from the Clean Election fund," said Bussiere. "I will be looking to see if third party candidates receive equal treatment in this bill, which would help to foster an inclusive and vibrant multi-party system." 

Bussiere advocates for the following reforms: 

1) Create a nonpartisan body to insure that Wisconsin's election and campaign laws are followed.

2) Enact legislation that requires full and prompt disclosure of election related activities.

3) Implement public funding of campaigns, to level the playing field for candidates, parties, and ideas. 

4) Ensure access to our public airwaves for candidates 

5) Implement Instant Runoff Voting for single person offices such as governor lieutenant governor, etc. IRV eliminates the need for runoff elections by allowing voters to rank their candidates in order of preference. This way, people can vote for their best choices, rather than the lesser of two evils. 

6) Implement Proportional Representation for legislative offices. Proportional Representation is an electoral system which ensures that the percentage of seats political parties obtain in legislative bodies tracks (at least roughly) the percentage of votes that they receive.  

7) Ensure that all voting machines in Wisconsin have a paper trail. 

8) End partisan redistricting.