Kagen challenger calls for “true campaign finance reform”

Roger Roth, one of the seven Republican candidates vying to unseat Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI) told The Sconz that he supports campaign finance reform, but hinted that current law and proposals for more aggressive restrictions favor incumbents like Kagen. One of Roth’s Republican opponents, Marc Savard, recently pledged not to accept any contributions from Political Action Committees. When I asked Roth if he would do the same, or if he supported campaign finance reform, he responded:

There are things that can be done to level the playing field between incumbents and their challengers. It makes no sense however, to have an incumbent like Steve Kagen who is a self-funded millionaire with the resources of President Obama and the National Democratic Party at his disposal and limit the legal resources available to win the election and implement true reform.

Although I did not ask Roth if he supported public financing of elections, I am going to go out on the limb and predict that the man who believes that “2010 will decide if our nation can be preserved as a beacon of hope to the world or if it will continue on a current path toward socialism,” does not support “welfare for politicians.” John McCain is the only politician who can commit such a contradiction with a straight face.

Watch me make that robo call

Gold star to whoever catches the reference to the song in the title.

I asked Reps. Spencer Black (D-Madison) and Roger Roth (R-Appleton) some questions about the ban on robo calls both are proposing in the State Assembly. I asked first if they had ever authorized robo-calls themselves or if any independent group had ever done them on their behalf. Both responded no. I didn’t expect either to respond in the affirmative but it was worth a try.

Nevertheless, I asked Roth why he thought politicians used them if they were so negatively received by voters (he had previously said that nobody wants to hear more robo-calls in Wisconsin).

I believe many candidates use automated calls because they have a much lower cost to generate than something like a mailing.

I do not believe automated political calls are effective.  As I campaigned knocking on people’s doors, I heard numerous voters complain that they were unhappy with the volume of calls they were receiving, particularly those who had signed up on the Do Not Call list.  I believe these types of calls are only effective at agitating voters.  Consequently, I introduced this legislation in the 2007 session and re-introduced a refined version this session after working with DATCP and other interested groups.

For most legislative candidates this is probably a no-brainer. Face-to Faces interactions are a key part of state and local politics. Successful legislative candidates in competitive races often knock on thousands of doors. In a legislative election this is often the key to victory, especially in a year where there’s not a higher profile race. Hence, in legislative elections, the key resource is often time, not money. Time for the candidate to meet people. I say this despite the fact that in recent years there have been legislative campsigns that cost over a million dollars.

But when you cross the boundary into Congressional elections the caluclations become tougher. Instead of tens of thousands of constituents you have over half a million, and the identification with party and partisan issues is stronger on a national level. Being a likable neighbor of a candidate is great, but you also need to mobilize thousands of partisan voters to the poll who you;ve never met. It costs money to reach these people, and that’s where the robo-calls come in.

Granted, Roth’s decision to quit his day job to focus on his campaign for Congress (he’s running in the GOP primary to challenge Steve Kagen) shows the importance of contact between candidate and voters at all levels of government. Correction: I confused Roth with his primary competitor Reid Ribble, who did quit his job in at a roofing company to pursue campaigning full time.

Kagen gets another challenger

Republicans are slathering over the opportunity to unseat Rep. Steve Kagen, the most vulnerable Democrat in the Wisconsin congressional delegation.

Rep. Roger Roth is the most recent addition to the GOPers fervent health care reform advocate Steve Kagen (M.D.). Roth recently returned from a two month stint in Iraq, so I’m guessing his wife is wondering when she’s ever going to get to see him again. In his official declaration of candidacy, Roth used some creative language to describe the path his opponent is taking the country down:

“In 2010 we will decide if our nation can be preserved as a beacon of hope to the world or if it will continue on a certain path toward socialism and economic stagnation,” Roth says in the letter.

“This attack comes from the liberal elite who believe that spending and wasting massive amounts of money while going ever deeper in debt is the answer to every problem.”

Unfortunately he apparently ran out of time and did not get to outline his policy on FEMA concentration camps and the war on white people. More on that later.