Two More Door County Towns Call for a Statewide Referendum to give Voters a voice on Campaign Finance Limits
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Powers 345 W. Redwood Place, Sturgeon Bay (743-6796 or 495-2343)
Two More Door County Towns Call for a Statewide Referendum to give Voters a voice on Campaign Finance Limits
On June 12th, the Town of Baileys Harbor unanimously approved a Resolution, “Supporting a Constitutional Amendment to allow Limits on Campaign Contributions and Conducting a Non-Binding statewide Referendum”. One week later, on Monday June 19th, the Town of Egg Harbor passed an identical Resolution, also unanimously. Clarence Scherer, who organized the Town of Egg Harbor Resolution said, “I am proud to see the town has recognized the need to limit campaign spending. Hopefully our state and national legislators will follow suit.”
Both towns join the City of Sturgeon Bay which also unanimously supported the same Resolution back on March 21st.
This makes Baileys Harbor and the Town of Egg Harbor the 106th and 107th Wisconsin communities to officially call upon their elected state representatives to support a statewide Referendum. The non-binding referendum would ask voters whether or not they want Wisconsin to join the 19 other states so far that have called for a Constitutional Amendment. The amendment would undo the effects of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizen United ruling and allow reasonable limits be placed on the now limitless and sometimes ‘dark money’ spent by Super-PAC groups to influence voters and elected officials. Local referendums have been held in over 70 Wisconsin counties, cities, towns, and villages and all have been approved by an average of 78%, some as high as 91%. Francha Barnard, who got the Resolution on the Baileys Harbor agenda said, “When talking with Baileys Harbor residents, it became quickly evident that way too much money in politics is a nonpartisan worry.”
Bills calling for a November 2018 statewide Referendum have been introduced into both houses of the State Legislature. In the Assembly it’s called AJR 53 and in the Senate it’s SJR 54. A similar bill died in committee last biennium. “These current bills will also never be debated or passed unless voters get vocal about them with their state assembly and senate representatives,” said Dan Powers from Door County-United to Amend, the local nonpartisan group working to get local resolutions passed throughout Door County.
The proposed state bills, like the local resolutions and referendum, state and ask the same basic question. The proposed Wisconsin Referendum question states it this way:
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United and related cases allow unlimited spending to influence local, state, and federal elections. To allow all Americans to have equal say in our democracy, shall Wisconsin’s congressional delegations support, and the Wisconsin legislature ratify, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution stating:
- Only human beings, not corporations, unions, nonprofit organizations, or similar associations – are endowed with constitutional rights, and
- Money is not speech, and therefore, limiting political contributions and spending is not equivalent to restricting political speech.
For more information visit Wisconsin United to Amend at wiuta.org or contact Dan Powers at danpowers345@gmail.com or Jim Black at jblackjd85@gmail.com