An opinion from the attorney general prompts one lawmaker to make it a crime to misrepresent someone's views to a legislator.
State representative Joe Parisi (D-Madison) says he's learned one thing from this experience. Under current law, he says, it's apparently legal for special interest groups to contact a legislator and misrepresent your opinion to them on any issue.
So, he wants to make it illegal.
Parisi opposes the cable TV competition bill that would open up cable markets to other video providers such as AT&T. But when the lobbying group TV4US presented a list of supporters to lawmakers, Parisi found his name and the names of other opponents on the list.
TV4US says they did nothing wrong but Parisi says a law is necessary to let special interest groups know they just can't pull names out of a hat and use them to pursue their cause.
Parisi expects a good deal of support from legislative colleagues.
