Leaked documents show that the Chicago-based Heartland Institute is planning to spend $612,000 supporting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and four GOP Senators in their probable recall elections. It is the second nonprofit group known to be active in the Wisconsin recalls, and comes as secretly-funded nonprofits are playing an increasingly important role in elections across the country.
Questionable challenges to recall petitions for Wisconsin State Senator Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) bear a resemblance to a "voter caging" scheme led by Tea Party groups in the 2010 elections.
President Obama visited Wisconsin today to speak at Master Lock, a union firm that that has brought 100 manufacturing jobs back from China to the United States. Because it was the President's first visit to the state since the historic fight over collective bargaining broke out over one year ago, everyone was watching to see if he would address the controversy or signal his support. Some saw signals where none were intended.
With two rallies on Valentine's Day, students and teachers commemorated the first anniversary of Wisconsin's historic struggle against Governor Scott Walker's attack on the state's 50-year tradition of peaceful collective bargaining.
Walker introduced his proposal to end collective bargaining for most state workers on Feb. 11, 2011. On Feb. 14, 2011 the Teacher's Assistants Association, the graduate student union at UW-Madison, organized a march from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to the Wisconsin State Capitol to deliver thousands of Valentine's to Walker to protest the measure and planned cuts to the UW system.
A bill moving through the Wisconsin Legislature would make it more difficult to track and accurately tabulate campaign donations from businesses and industries in state elections. Critics say it could also hinder investigations of illegal campaign fundraising like the one that resulted in the conviction of a Wisconsin railroad executive last year and others that could be part of the current "John Doe" investigation into Governor Scott Walker's staff.
As Governor Walker sets a pace to collect more campaign money, from more corners of the country, than any candidate in Wisconsin history, State Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) is sponsoring Senate Bill 292 to no longer require that individuals donating to political campaigns disclose their employer. Current law requires that all donations of $100 or more include the donor's occupation and employer so that organized streams of special interest money to candidates can be identified and made transparent.
Governor Scott Walker signed Wisconsin's newest redistricting maps into law on August 9, 2011. The maps had drawn criticism when they were released to the public one month before, on July 8. Democrats in the legislature criticized Republicans for not allowing them input and many observers poked fun at the contorted districts that gave Republicans an edge. Redistricting is largely a partisan process, and the party in charge works hard to draw maps that favor their members. A short five days after the maps were released, the legislature held the first and only public hearing on them.
The Koch-founded Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit "charity" prohibited from intervening in political campaigns, is spending $700,000 on ads and holding events around Wisconsin that look like appeals to re-elect Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who is facing a recall election. The campaigning comes as secretly-funded nonprofits are playing an increasingly important role in elections nationally.
For the anniversary of the Wisconsin Uprising, a series of events have been planned to commemorate the historic events of February and March 2011.
The morning after his "State of the State" address where Governor Scott Walker reassured Wisconsin "We are turning things around. We are heading in the right direction," the Milwaukee County District Attorney charged two more Walker staffers with multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of misconduct in public office.
Well-dressed women in suits handed out "official" programs at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's State of the State address last night. The back of the program read "2011-2012 Legislative $ession Brought to you by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)," and featured pictures of the Koch Brothers and a long list of Walker campaign contributors.
Following a welcome prayer in the pamphlet is the faux Walker address, which highlights actual statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor showing that Wisconsin suffered six straight months of job loss compared to consistent job growth at the national level.
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