Freese(ing) out campaign finance reform

Yesterday, Rep. Steve Freese put out a press release calling for bills on campaign finance and ethics reform to be brought to the floor of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Why is he publicly asking his leaders to schedule these bills now? He claims the recent scandals in the legislature are prompting his new call to action. His own hide is the more likely cause.

Rep. Freese is in a seat that is trending Democratic in a big way and he likely knows that his constituents aren't going to fall for his lines about wanting campaign finance reform, but doing nothing to get it done, for much longer.

In fact, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign gave Rep. Freese their Nero Award in 2003. These awards are for politicians that do nothing to fix our campaign finance system. The press release for the award given to Rep. Freese starts out with this:

Few lawmakers have gone to greater lengths to wrap themselves in the cloak of reform than Steve Freese. But while his words are reminiscent of John McCain, his record on reform resembles Tom DeLay's.

The release goes on to list all of the ways that Rep. Freese either stood by and did nothing to help pass campaign finance reform or took action to stop it from happening.

Indeed when Rep. Freese first came to the legislature, he wanted to enact major reforms to the way business was done in the legislature. He wanted proportional representation on committees, term limits for committee chairpersons and to have bills available for at least 24 hours prior to a vote. Now he often presides over the chamber while his party rams through legislation no one can explain and few have seen.

What a difference a few years and being the party in charge can make. Will his constituents take Rep. Freese's posturing again this fall or demand a little reform of their own at the voting booth?