Jun 09 2008
Wisconsin Braces For Even More Expensive Supreme Court Races
In an opinion piece in Madison’s Capital Times, Common Cause in Wisconsin director Jay Heck predicts “the most ugly and expensive state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin’s history in 2009.” This after last years’ race, which saw special interest groups outspending the candidates by a factor of 11 to 1 on television ads.
Pennsylvania is in a similar situation. In 2007, a Virginia-based special interest group spent over a million dollars on ads supporting one candidate for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Because the ads didn’t use key words like “vote for” or “elect,” the sponsoring group was found not to be subject to Pennsylvania’s regulations governing corporate campaign contributions.
The best way to combat the inevitable influx of special interest money is to get money out of the process of selecting appellate judges. Merit Selection of appellate judges makes qualifications, not campaign spending, the most important thing for a judicial candidate. We need to make this change in Pennsylvania, before our judicial elections become the ugly ones.
Tags: campaign contributions, elections, Merit Selection, other states, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
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