Wisconsin State Capitol (PHOTO: Jackie Johnson)
A state campaign finance watchdog group will have new leadership in 2015.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign announced Thursday that Matt Rothschild, the former editor and publisher of The Progressive Magazine, will take over as executive director in the New Year. Rothschild will replace long-time executive director Mike McCabe, who announced earlier this year that he planned to leave WDC after 15 years.
Rothschild says he believes strongly in the work WDC has been doing and hopes to continue that mission. “The single biggest issue facing Democracy in this country and Democracy in this state is the power of money to distort our political process. We need to clean that up if we have any hope of having a functional Democracy.”
Rothschild admits he has some big shoes to fill, but believes he can be a strong advocate for the reforms WDC has been pushing for, which range from stronger contribution limits to a U.S. Constitutional amendment that will overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United. He thinks that the more people understand the corruption that’s going on in the state and in Washington, the more they will back efforts to make it clear that “money is not speech and corporations are not persons.”
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign bills itself as a non-partisan group, which raised some questions Thursday about Rothschild’s connection to the liberal Progressive Magazine. He contends that will not be an issue and argues that he will go after corruption on either side of the aisle.