(The Center Square) – Democratic lawmakers from the Green Bay area say they don’t want to see another million-dollar giveaway before the next election.
Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, and Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner, D-Green Bay, recently an anti-election bribery plan.
“We already know that this is not legal in Wisconsin, but we want to make sure that the language is precise and clear,” Rivera-Wagner said.
The idea comes after Elon Musk held a pre-April election rally in Green Bay, where he gave away two $1 million checks.
Musk originally billed the giveaway as a reward for voting in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. He later changed the giveaway to a reward for signing his petition against activist judges.
Snodgrass said the legislation is specifically worded to make sure petition giveaways are just as illegal as paying people to vote.
“It should go without saying how corrosive it is to the basic idea of democracy if the world’s richest man can use unseemly, carrot-and-stick tactics to blatantly pay people to vote,” she said.
Rivera-Wagner added that Wisconsin lawmakers have never had to clarify its election bribery statute because “before this year, we’ve never really had a billionaire try to buy an election.”
Republican lawmakers, who dominate the Wisconsin legislature don’t seem interested in the proposal.
Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, said the Democrat’s plan is a “gimmick.”
He did say, however, that he would love to work with Democrats on a broader election reform package.
“There is an opportunity for us to work together on comprehensive campaign finance reform that addresses this out of control, ridiculous amount of spending,” Steffen added. “But not through gimmicks.”
