A review of 2011-2012 voting records by a University of Wisconsin academic demonstrates that many Wisconsin legislators are marching in lockstep with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Sixty-one Wisconsin politicians — or 46 percent of the legislature — voted with the ALEC agenda one hundred percent of the time.
Since 1969, Jay Stampen, Emeritus Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison, has tracked legislative voting behavior in the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly. One of his data sets goes back more than 100 years to when Governor Robert M. LaFollette ran the state.
In recent years, Stampen has observed a profound erosion in the role of average citizens in policymaking as legislators vote increasingly with special interests like ALEC.
“Based on a review of a hundred years of voting,” Stampen tells CMD, “today there is now much less citizen voice in the legislature and policymaking.”
