Progressive Thinking

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.

MADISON - When Donald Trump came to Wisconsin on Tuesday, we noticed that he went to a fundraiser sponsored by the owners of Kwik Trip. So we wondered who else those owners supported, right here in Wisconsin. Here’s the answer:

Kwik Trip owners boost Trump, Wisconsin GOP

Another big story this week was the filing by Attorney General Brad Schimel, who urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to take the John Doe II appeal. His filing was, to say the least, galling:

Schimel has WMC dirt on his hands in John Doe II filing

We also posted two items on some of the consequences of the disastrous rewrite of the campaign finance law enacted last December. One story noted that the increase in donation limits allowed some of the richest people in Wisconsin to give even more than ever:

Higher contribution limits net $251K more for legislative, statewide officeholders

And the other one noted how the new law has made it harder to figure out who may be getting sweetheart deals from our elected officials:

New campaign finance reporting laws shroud, mock transparency

I hope you like this week’s offerings.

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P.S. If you appreciate our dogged pursuit of the money trail, please send us a tax-deductible donation by clicking here or by mailing it to 203 S. Paterson St, Suite 100, Madison, WI 53703.

MADISON - When we follow the money, sometimes something odd turns up.

That was the case with two of our stories this week.

The first seemed to be simply a gratuity for services rendered when the Republican Party of Wisconsin paid off $25,000 of Justice David Prosser’s campaign debt. But when we examined this “in-kind” contribution, it turned out to be even scuzzier, since the Party paid off a specific debt that Prosser owed to a particular vendor, who just happens to be one of Scott Walker’s chief fundraisers. Here are the gories:

State GOP pays $25K of Prosser’s campaign debt

The second story is about the DNR’s continued effort to give a sweetheart land deal to a couple that gave more than $6 million to try to get Scott Walker elected President. What’s doubly amazing is that the announcement of this renewed effort was obscured by an almost indecipherable bureaucratic notice. Somehow, I don’t think that was an accident, but see for yourself:

Walker’s DNR resurrects land deal with major contributor

And speaking of obscuring important information, this week there was a push in Congress to make it more difficult for consumers to find out if there are GMOs in our food—unless you’re in the habit of scanning barcodes into your phone while you hurry down the supermarket aisle. This is a bill not for consumers, but for industry, including in Wisconsin, as you’ll see here:

State food processors praise bill to restrict state food labeling

But here’s a happy note:

Three Koch Brothers’ groups were fined this week for illegal electioneering

We’ll keep following the money for you, and any more oddities that we can find.

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P.S. Please send us a tax-deductible gift today to support our urgent work! Just click here.

MADISON - For this July 4 holiday week, we’ve put together a special report for you on 10 wins for the good guys here in Wisconsin. Amid all the bad news that the Walker Wrecking Crew has brought us, it’s important to remember, and to celebrate, those times in the last year when We, the People, were able to stop Walker, Vos, Fitzgerald, and their big money backers from passing some disastrous bills or implementing retrograde policies.

So please take a gander:

10 wins to celebrate on July 4 in Wisconsin

Speaking of Walker, one of his biggest backers has been the NRA—a fact we shouldn’t forget in the wake of the Orlando massacre. And you can also see how much the NRA has given to your legislators by clicking here:

Walker’s NRA bankroll topped $3.5 million

The problem of big money and dark money is not confined to Walker and the Republicans. Late last week came the birth announcement of a new dark money group on the Democratic side, which will be operating here in Wisconsin. We don’t look kindly on this development, and you’ll see why here:

New dark money group for Dems is bad news

As we point out, “Our elections should not be tug-of-wars between liberal billionaires on one side and conservative billionaires on the other. All of us citizens should have an equal voice in the electoral arena.”

I hope you agree.

Let’s declare our independence from big money and dark money.

Happy 4^th of July!

Best,

Matt Rothschild
Executive Director

P.S. Please support our urgent work to get money out of politics and to bring real democracy to Wisconsin and this country. Send us a tax-deductible gift today by clicking here or by mailing your check to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign at 203 S. Paterson Street, Suite 100, Madison, WI 53703.

MADISON - I’m all about celebrating our victories, whenever they occur.

And one just occurred yesterday when the Department of Health Services shelved its plan to let private insurance companies run the programs for the elderly and the disabled in Wisconsin. You can read all about it here:

A win for disability rights activists!

While I’m on the subject of people with disabilities, a report came out this week that noted some difficulties that they, too, were having with Voter ID:

Voters with disabilities in Wisconsin faced problems

This week we also reported on the Koch Brothers throwing their weight around down ticket in our state:

Koch group targets two Wisconsin State Senate seats

And Congressman Mark Pocan is focusing his sights on the dark money group that calls itself Wisconsin Alliance for Reform, though “reform” is the last thing this group is about. It ran nasty ads against Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg and Russ Feingold, and it was founded by the person who led the campaign to ban gay marriage in Wisconsin. Pocan has put donors to this group on notice:

Pocan warns donors to dark money group

I’m headed out for a brief vacation next week, so I’ll get back to you in a couple.

Meantime, please send us a tax-deductible gift by clicking here or by mailing it in the old-fashioned way to 203 S. Paterson St. Suite 100, Madison WI 53703.

We really appreciate your support.