Several campaign finance reform bills are awaiting action in a Senate committee, but questions remain if there's enough time to pass them this session. State Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee) understands why, because leadership often stalls and slows down such proposals because they rely so heavily on the current system.
Those reforms include public financing for Supreme Court races, banning fundraising during the budget process, and requiring funding disclosures for issue-ads.
State Senator Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) says the reforms are needed now to protect the public interest. He says large amounts of cash go to Republican and Democratic races, and it's "literally suffocating the rights of the individual."
Erpenbach and Ellis urged a Senate Committee to act quickly on the bills, during a hearing at the Capitol on Tuesday.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (MP3 1:09)
