Lots of talk lately about all the dirty money at the capital. Rick Berg's piece in the State Journal asks "Why not remove all political ads from television and elevate the debate by forcing candidates to connect with voters in more meaningful and personal ways?"

He also suggests to "Put a cap on campaign spending for all partisan offices. Force candidates to raise at least 75 percent of their campaign contributions from people who live in the district or state they seek to represent. Limit contributions to no more than $500 from any individual."

He continues to make several other suggestions, including banning or limiting out-of-state contributions and limiting personal financing of campaigns.

These suggestions resemble the Campaign Financing reform position of the Wisconsin Green Party: "PACs must be eliminated. Limits should be imposed on the money that candidates can spend on campaigns, with the amount determined for each race by the size of constituency of the office being contested. We support removing economic interests from the electoral process by limiting contributions of cash and services by businesses and individuals. We do not support term limits since they restrict the rights of people to choose their representatives."

Not likely that we will see any limits on spending this year, despite widespread allegation of abuse in the Democratic Party, Republican Party, the Governor's administration, and the Republican challengers for Governor. In quite the contrary, we will see the most expensive governor's race in Wisconsin history. We will have similar effects in our local races.

Note that there are some positives to the reform movement - in addition to the call of Rick Berg and the State Green Party:

• Rep Spencer Black (D) calls for ban of out of state contributions
• AG Peg Lautenschlager (D) challenges Kathleen Falk (D) to some Clean Campaign guildelines
• Sen Mike Ellis (R) continues his fight for mild reform measures
• We have the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign fighting for reform