Nation: Punching PACs

Wisconsin's Governor takes on the special interests

When Republican Populist Lee Dreyfus ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1978, he refused to accept campaign contributions of more than $2,500 from the political action committees (PACs) of special interest groups like the Wisconsin Realtors Association, even though the legal limit was $25,000. Said he: "If you give me $25,000, I've got to listen to you pretty hard." He won handily, and last week Governor Dreyfus went a step further. He sent a bill to the state legislature that would prohibit PACs from contributing any money directly to candidates but would permit the committees to donate any amount at all to political parties.

Dreyfus' purpose is twofold. First, he wants to reduce the PACs' influence over individual politicians. Noting that Louisiana's candidates for Governor last year spent a total of about $20 million, he declared: "I just don't want to wait until we have that problem here. If we don't do something about it, we're headed for the best government that money can buy." Second, Dreyfus wants to revive the state's Democratic and Republican parties, which are nearly broke. By passing the PACs' cash on to candidates, the parties would serve as what Dreyfus called "a filter between the special interest money and the candidates, a buffer between policy making and dollars."

With Dreyfus riding a 75% favorable rating in the polls, his bill—the first of its kind in the nation—is given a good chance of passing. In that event, predicted Lobbyist James Boullion, who represents taverns, credit unions and nursing homes: "It will be the end of PACS as they are now, because no PAC is going to contribute to a political party."