Mar 28, 2000
Heather Morgan

Copyright Wisconsin State Journal Mar 28, 2000

The Madison Apartment Association made illegal campaign contributions during the spring 1999 city elections, Dane County District Attorney Diane Nicks said in charges filed Monday.

The charges are based on allegations made by Progressive Dane, a left-wing political party, and Helen Marks Dicks, who narrowly lost a City Council race to apartment association-backed Judy Compton.

In a statement issued Monday, Nicks agreed with Progressive Dane and Dicks that the apartment association, through a group called Citizens for Reasonable Government, violated state law by accepting and distributing corporate contributions.

"The Legislature has clearly stated that corporate contributions have a corrupting effect on the elections process and that's why they're made illegal," Nicks said.

Apartment association officials have denied wrongdoing, saying the spending was legal because it was for issue advocacy, not candidates.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently ruled that groups engaged in issue advocacy can accept corporate contributions.

Citizens for Reasonable Government, however, registered itself as an independent political committee, thereby forfeiting its right to claim the protections of issue advocacy groups, Nicks said.

"If a group asks whether it is legal to accept corporate contributions and engage in issue advocacy, the answer is yes," she said. "But if a group is a registered political committee, the answer is no."

Noah Fiedler, the association's executive officer, said the group "unintentionally" filed with the state as a political committee.

"I think it was a misunderstanding of the campaign laws," he said. "There was too much disclosure and too much filing where there didn't need to be."

Nicks said Citizens for Reasonable Government, which faces more than $700 in fines and court fees, has until April 13 to indicate whether it will contest the charges.

Progressive Dane co-chairman David Austin said the penalty should be stiffer.

The whole incident, Austin said, "should be a clear warning to people that local government is slipping away from being accessible to everyday people."

Fiedler, however, said the group and Nicks will likely reach an agreement before April 13.

"I would foresee there will be some sort of settlement," he said. "I don't think this is going to be a big deal."

In July, Nicks ordered the apartment association to pay about $600 for two election-law reporting violations stemming from the spring 1999 elections. That action was also based on a complaint by Progressive Dane.

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