Progressive Thinking

MADISON - On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed a formal complaint with the IRS against Wisconsin Club for Growth.

Here’s why: All we want is some modicum of justice. All we want is someone in authority, somewhere, to rule that the flagrant scheming by Walker and Wisconsin Club for Growth was wrong and to hold them accountable.

Some background: Scott Walker’s campaign strategist, R. J. Johnson, was simultaneously running Wisconsin Club for Growth. Walker and Johnson turned Wisconsin Club for Growth into a funnel for huge, secret donations that they then used to finance ads to help keep Walker in office, Justice David Prosser on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and Republican state senators in the majority.

This was not only a scheme to circumvent the Wisconsin campaign finance law that was on the books at the time, which imposed limits on donations, required disclosure of donors, and prohibited coordination between candidates (like Walker) and outside groups (like Wisconsin Club for Growth).

It was also a scheme that ran afoul of IRS regulations.

You see, Wisconsin Club for Growth is registered with the IRS as a (501)(4) “social welfare” organization.

According to an Aug. 9, 2016, notice by the IRS, “The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. However, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity.”

But, as was made clear in the recent blockbuster article in The Guardian newspaper, “Because Scott Walker Asked,” the “primary activity” of Wisconsin Club for Growth in 2011 and 2012 was to engage in electioneering.

Our complaint also alleges that Wisconsin Club for Growth engaged in improper and deceptive fundraising practices.

In essence, Wisconsin Club for Growth was raising money not for itself and its own independent “social welfare” efforts, but for electioneering activity guided by Scott Walker and R. J. Johnson.

Walker personally met with millionaires and billionaires and directed them to give to Wisconsin Club for Growth.

It then sprinkled the money around. Wisconsin Club for Growth sent four checks totaling $2.5 million to Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce in April and May of 2012. It also sent four checks totaling $1,520,000 to Citizens for a Strong America in the first half of 2012. And it sent two checks totaling $550,000 to the American Federation for Children in May of 2012. These groups then used this money to run electioneering ads in accordance with the wishes of R. J. Johnson, acting on behalf of Scott Walker.

As Kate Doner, one of his fundraisers, wrote in an email on April 28, 2011: “As the Governor discussed with Mr. Pickens, he wants all the issue advocacy efforts to run thru one group to ensure correct messaging…. The Governor is encouraging all to invest in the Wisconsin Club for Growth. Wisconsin Club for Growth can accept Corporate and Personal donations without limitations and no donor disclosure.”

R. J. Johnson was in charge of “correct messaging.” He even focused on the tiniest details. In an email on Sept. 5, 2012, from Johnson to his assistant Deb Jordahl, as well as to Scott Jensen of American Federation for Children, Johnson said of the American Federation for Children ad that was in the works: “I think the alternative in the middle part with no picture works well. Once we have a font resolution we can move.”

Walker clearly knew what was going on. He bragged about the role Johnson and the Wisconsin Club for Growth played. In an email to Karl Rove on May 4, 2011, Walker wrote: "Bottom Line: RJ helps keeps in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin.”

To date, the highest elected official in Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Club for Growth have been able to flout the law and get away with it.

They have the system rigged here because the conservative justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are in their pocket and obediently threw out the John Doe II investigation into this matter back in July 2015.

Since we can’t get justice in Wisconsin, we’re going to try to get justice in Washington.

Last we looked, Walker and the Wisconsin Club for Growth don’t have the IRS in their pockets.

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This article was first published by the Wisconsin State Journal. You can share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.

We Americans always will have our disagreements. But three goals should be about right and wrong rather than left and right. Create an economy that serves all, making education affordable, and bringing high-speed Internet and mobile phone service to every doorstep.

ALTOONA, WI - No doubt about it, Americans are at each other’s throats, politically speaking. Some consider themselves Democrats, and most of them are not terribly fond of their party but absolutely can’t stand Republicans. Others call themselves Republicans, and most who do have no great love of their party either but are driven mad by Democrats.

Most numerous of all are the independents, who are turned off by both and refuse to wear either major party label. But even self-described independents tend to lean when it comes time to vote, reliably favoring one of the major parties. The thing is, these days they lean not toward what they like most but rather in the opposite direction of what they fear and hate.

Against this backdrop, it can be hard to see where to even start the search for common ground in America.

Part of the problem is that we’ve all been conditioned to think and talk about politics in ways that drive wedges between us and make us active participants in our own disempowerment. One secret to escaping the trap we’re in is to consciously and creatively work to change our political vocabulary, discarding words like “left” and “right” and “liberal” or “conservative” in favor of terms that could knit us together instead of tear us apart.

Another strategy worth giving a try is to steer conversations away from programs and policies and ideologies and toward discussions of what kind of society we want. We argue about things like food stamps and other forms of public assistance. One person sees a safety net, another sees a hammock. The argument accomplishes nothing except to further convince each that the other is evil.

How about changing the conversation, focusing instead on how to create an economy where if you work you won’t be poor? Each side has no choice but to admit that we don’t currently have such an economy. That’s some common ground right there. Some more might be found once we start talking about how to build one.

Here are three goals for our country that are about right and wrong rather than left and right.

Create an economy that makes the term “working poor” disappear from our vocabulary. This is no small task. But if we can’t all agree that those who go to work every day should not go hungry or be unable to afford shelter, then what kind of nation do we have? Who are we as a people?

If we’re serious about reaching this goal, there are at least two others that need to be pursued too.

When most people in this country lived off the land, a high school diploma wasn’t essential to making a decent living. When most American workers moved to factories and offices, more schooling was needed. In this digital age and with the emergence of an increasingly global economy, living the American Dream depends on even more education and training. That being the case, there has to be a commitment to making education as affordable for our kids and grandkids as past generations made it for us. The education needed to be able to live the kind of life I wanted to live was remarkably inexpensive and readily attainable in my youth. Today’s young people are being buried under a mountain of debt to get what they need to make it in life. That’s not right.

And given the world we now live in, you can’t run a business or do most jobs or fully participate in American life without access to 21st Century information and communications technology. Every American needs it. Not every American has it. That reality challenges us to do what it takes to bring high-speed Internet and mobile phone service to every American doorstep.

We Americans always will have our disagreements. But let’s at least try to argue about how to reach goals we all can agree on.

We decided to file a formal IRS complaint against Wisconsin Club for Growth, alleging it violated its nonprofit status, after reading the blockbuster revelations in The Guardian about Scott Walker and his flagrant coordination with the group.

MADISON - We’ve been in the news a lot this week!

The reason: After reading the blockbuster story in The Guardian about Scott Walker and his flagrant coordination with Wisconsin Club for Growth, we decided to file a formal IRS complaint against Wisconsin Club for Growth. We allege that it violated its nonprofit status in a couple ways, as you’ll see here:

WDC files complaint with IRS against Wisconsin Club for Growth

And speaking of that Guardian story, we summarized the essence of it here:

Walker’s laundry operation: Six takeaways from The Guardian story on Walker

One reason we’re looking to the IRS in Washington for some accountability is because there’s no accountability to be found here in Wisconsin, in part because of our corrupt Wisconsin Supreme Court. This week, we wrote about one of the justices who has been tainted by outside money:

Conflicted supreme court justice plans reelection

Lastly, our friends over at the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin are looking for volunteers to help them monitor the November 8 elections. Their election observers will be on guard for any signs of people being disenfranchised. If you’d like to sign up to be trained as an election observer, just click here:

Take 2 minutes to sign up online.

Thanks for your interest in all our work and that of our allies.

Gov. Walker and Secretary Gottlieb introduced their transportation budget proposal last week and funding it will be the biggest issue facing our state in the upcoming budget. Sen Kathleen Vinehout offers some new twists on the Governor’s plan for saving money and providing better support for local governments.

MADISON - Funding roads is an important job for state leaders. Nine cents of every state budget dollar goes towards transportation. In the vagaries of Wisconsin state budgeting, this includes dollars the feds send Wisconsin (about forty cents of every road dollar comes from Uncle Sam).

A prudent fiscal manager must balance several factors to make wise transportation decisions. He or she must maintain our current investments, plan for future growth, pay scrupulous attention to efficiency and quality construction, and reconcile spending with revenue.

In short, a prudent transportation budget is a balancing act.

Recently Governor Walker and Secretary of Transportation Mark Gottlieb released a 2017-19 transportation budget proposal. In this proposal, major interstate construction projects are delayed, causing some to claim harm to Southeast Wisconsin.

This new proposal is a departure from record borrowing levels seen in the last budget. An increase for local government road funding is a welcomed sight too.

For many years, big interstate construction projects in Southeast Wisconsin took a larger slice of the road budget. Past budgets froze funding for local roads while maintenance costs increased.

To make matters worse for local governments, majority lawmakers passed a law forbidding cooperation between counties. Lost efficiencies and rising costs meant locals were left with two choices: borrow or cut back on maintenance. Some did both.

Over the years, prior governors pushed to eliminate state transportation workers. Fewer employees resulted in private firms replacing state workers, often at higher cost.

In budget year 1987-88, spending on private construction engineers was only 8% of all construction-engineering costs. Ten years later, spending jumped to a third of all dollars spent on private construction engineers. By fiscal year 2009-10, three quarters of all spending on construction engineers went to private firms.

Data I analyzed from a 2009 limited-scope review by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) showed a 68% cost increase per project over five years for projects that involved private engineering consultants.

Further, a 2009 report to the State Engineering Association found outside consultants didn’t save the state money; in some cases, private engineering firms cost up to 19% more than in-house state engineers.

I strongly support the move to fund our local roads along with smarter transportation spending. Let’s look for efficiency in-house. An easy first step is passing my bill to repeal the 2011 law forbidding local governments from collaborating on transportation projects.

No one can deny the money funneling into our Transportation Fund, largely gas tax and motor vehicle registration fees, has not kept up with the cost of maintaining our roads and bridges.

Governor Walker is ideologically opposed to raising taxes or fees, yet knows our transportation budget lacks the revenue needed. The prudent executive should not let ideology cloud important financial decisions. Some road delays may be in order, but cutting back on construction already in progress comes with a price tag.

User fees acknowledge the cost to maintain and improve services. For example, the state owns, or is a substantial owner of, over 700 miles of freight rail. In a previous budget, Secretary Gottlieb proposed charging a $10-a-rail-car fee for use of taxpayer-funded rail lines. The Governor failed to take up this modest charge. Taxpayers – you and me – continue to subsidize railroads use of our state-owned lines.

The release of the transportation budget is only the beginning of a long process. Budget debates in Madison will begin in earnest next spring and likely culminate with the passage of the 2017-19 budget by July.

Earlier this year the Joint Committee on Audit (of which I am ranking minority member) took the important step of directing the resources of the LAB toward a comprehensive audit of the Department of Transportation. I expect the release of this audit to coincide with the spring budget debate. The audit will add important nonpartisan information to our decision making process.

The transportation budget will be the biggest decision we face next year. Take some time to engage in this critical debate. We all have a stake in transportation – and we all must work together to find solutions.

Here’s to safe traveling!

“Corporations. Go heavy after them to give. Take Koch’s money. Get on a plane to Vegas and sit down with Sheldon Adelson. Ask for $1m now.” - The Guardian, September 14

MIDDLETON, WI - Nobody benefitted more from Citizens United than the Koch brothers and two Wisconsin Republicans: Governor Scott Walker and Senator Ron Johnson.

This we‌ek, a story published in The Guardian showed just how deep the corruption goes. The story cites multiple instances of pay-for-play governing, straight from Scott Walker's desk. Billionaires and corporations cut checks to dark money groups supporting Republicans, then Governor Walker turned around and pushed for legislation that'd make life easier for these billionaires and their businesses.

After the Supreme Court's lawless Citizens United decision, the Koch brothers set their sights on Wisconsin. The tea party wave in 20‌10 helped them scoop up the governor's mansion, their "model legislator" in Ron Johnson, and a state legislature ready to do their bidding. Through the offices of Scott Walker and Ron Johnson, they've attacked the rights of just about everyone in Wisconsin: public sector employees, women, students, people of color, and many more. They've even attacked the right to vote.

The Kochs chose Wisconsin as their battleground for a reason: We have a long history of progressivism, clean elections, and clean government. They knew that if they could buy politicians here, they could do it anywhere.

Since 2010, the Koch brothers have spent over $4‌4 million in Wisconsin to buy elections for Republicans who'd rig the political system in their favor. Governor Walker and my opponent, Senator Johnson, have repeatedly shown that they'll always side with their billionaire backers over the Wisconsinites they were elected to serve.

But come Nov‌ember, that's going to change. If we work together, we can win this election -- and that's just the beginning. We're going to take our democracy out of the hands of corporations, multimillionaires, and special interest groups and put it where it belongs: Back in the hands of the people.