Gavel-to-gavel coverage of Wisconsin Legislature up and running
(Published Thursday, May 17, 2007 09:26:45 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Scott Bauer Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - Live from Madison, it's your state government!
Sure, now anyone can enjoy the give and take of legislative debate from the comfort of their own home. The only question is, does anyone really want to watch it?
State lawmakers who knew their every move was being broadcast live on WisconsinEye over the Internet starting Wednesday seem to think it will be the biggest hit since "American Idol."
"For better or worse, the cameras above us will put the Legislature in living rooms in every community in this state," said Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson as her every move was silently recorded from the automatically run cameras.
While there certainly is a potential for the broadcast to be in every living room of the state, for now the action is available only over the Internet at www.wiseye.org. And don't count on the show starting on time. Those hoping to catch the Assembly on Wednesday at its scheduled time had to wait more than three hours as lawmakers went into closed-door, and camera-banned, caucus.
The wait will be considerably longer for those wanting to cuddle up on the couch in front of a TV with a loved one to hear extended debate on such hot-button issues as whether the state should "memorialize Congress to enact the Employee Free Choice Act."
Not to spoil the surprise, but one of the very first actions captured by WisconsinEye was the Senate voting to do just that. And since WisconsinEye doesn't come with a translator, what the Senate did was pass a resolution asking Congress to do something.
The private, not-for-profit statewide network has finalized deals with Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable to carry its coverage on their digital cable packages around the clock, but a date for that to start has not been scheduled.
Those two cable companies only reach 60 percent of the state's residents. And of those, only about half of their subscribers get digital cable, said Chris Long, president of WisconsinEye. While WisconsinEye works to expand its coverage to all TV viewers statewide, the Web site is the only way for everyone to stay up to speed.
Response to the first hours of live broadcasts made it clear a lot of people were watching, with e-mails coming from around the state and country, Long said. He did not have time to see how many hits the Web site was getting, he said.
Just as there are devoted viewers of city council meetings on cable, or Congress on C-Span, so too will WisconsinEye find junkies, said Jay Heck, executive director of the government watchdog group Common Cause in Wisconsin.
"Maybe it won't attract the viewership of 'Desperate Housewives,' but you will get a solid core of people who are interested," Heck said.
For the true government junkies, the Web site even has archived meetings such as Tuesday's eight-hour Joint Finance Hearing conveniently broken up into four parts.
Lawmakers were well aware that having the unblinking eye of the camera on them could be a mixed blessing.
Noting that recent sessions of the Senate have been marked by partisan bickering that resulted in Democrats adjourning abruptly on two occasions, Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he hoped both parties would now move in a new direction.
"Let's have debates about the important challenges Wisconsin faces ... but let's have those debates in a civil way," he said. "Let's make the most of it."
Fitzgerald managed to work the day's broadcast into his opposition of the pro-labor Employee Free Choice Act, accusing its supporters of pandering to ALF-CIO members who were visiting the Capitol.
"We're on WisconsinEye and here's the first lesson in how government works," he said. "It's nothing more than playing to this favorable crowd that's here at the Capitol."
While there is a potential for the cameras to result in more backroom deals outside the view of the public, Heck said he suspects overall the level of discourse will be lifted.
"Legislators will be more conscious there is a larger public watching," he said. "Right now the proceedings in the Capitol are just a total mystery to the public."
