The Wisconsin State Journal gets spun

The Sunday Wisconsin State Journal had an editorial praising Rep. Steve Freese for calling on his leaders to have a vote on ethics and campaign finance reform as if he is some sort of hero. This is exactly what Rep. Freese was hoping would happen and the Wisconsin State Journal fell for it.

The newspaper gave Rep. Freese the clipping he needs to run around his district with and put in campaign literature so he looks like someone fighting for campaign finance reform. Problem is, he really isn't.

A quick look back at his history shows that Rep. Freese is not serious about enacting campaign finance reform and he has a long history of showy moves like this one calling for a vote to cover for the fact that he is one of the main reasons we don't have comprehensive reform today. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said this about Freese when they gave him a Nero Award in 2003 for doing the most to stop campaign finance reform:

Comprehensive reform legislation was introduced and referred to his committee in March 2001. For over 11 months, he did not permit his committee to vote on any comprehensive reform proposals.

When they finally did get a bill going:

The bill (AB 843) was then rushed to the floor of the Assembly with just over two weeks remaining in the Legislature's regular session. Freese voted for the bill, but then voted twice within two days to block the formation of a conference committee to work out the differences between AB 843 and the Senate-passed SB 104. When minority party members forced a third vote on convening a conference committee, Freese offered an amendment that created a parliamentary condition on the formation of a conference that even the Legislature's own legal counsel said was unnecessary. With Freese's amendment attached, the Assembly passed the conference committee resolution. The practical effect of the amendment was to continue to block the final negotiations needed to reach agreement on campaign reform, but give Assembly Republicans a phony roll call vote enabling them to claim they had voted to form a conference committee.

All the while Rep. Freese was participating in press conferences acting like he really wanted to get this done. He should be held accountable for his actual actions instead of his press releases, but will that happen since the Wisconsin State Journal gave Rep. Freese the cover he needs to get through another campaign season? We'll see.