Hijacking Justice 2008: Independent expenditures in the 2008 Supreme Court Campaign

Posted: March 20, 2008
Updated: April 1, 2008

Hijacking Justice 2008
Independent Expenditures in the 2008 Supreme Court Campaign

Definition • Issue Ads • Hijack Hotline • Hijacking Justice • Finance Summary

The PACs below have filed oaths with the Government Accountability Board's Election Division stating they intend to make independent expenditures in the Supreme Court race. Pro indicates the PAC supports the candidate, con that they oppose.

Total spending by a PAC is reported in the far right column. Total spending by all PACs can be found the last cell of the last row. Total spending supporting a candidate can be found in the last row under the candidate's name.

PAC	Candidates		Spending
PAC	Butler	Gableman	Spending
Center Advocates PAC Milwaukee based group advocating for gay and lesbian rights. Last active in the 2006 "gay marriage" referendum. Made independent expenditures on printing and mailing endorsements.	Pro	Con	$129.45
Citizens to Defend the Constitution Newly registered PAC in Wisconsin to make independent expenditures in the 2008 Supreme Court race. Affiliated with the Arlington, VA-based Democratic Judicial Campaign Committee which counts among its directors former Wisconsin attorney general Peg Lautenschlager (D) and former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes (D). Its self-described mission is to elect Democratic judges to state courts. Reported making independent exependitures on 35,000 or more get out the vote calls and an unspecified number of email solicitations.	Pro	Con	$15,588.00
Greater Wisconsin Committee PAC Political action committee of the Greater Wisconsin Committee currently running issue ads in the Supreme Court election. Last made independent exependitures in the 2007 Supreme Court race . Reported making independent expenditures on unspecified advertising on March 25, 27 and 31. Also made calls on March 31.	Pro	Con	$104,822.70
Harlan G Reinders Station manager of Chippewa Valley based religious radio station WHEM. Registered as a PAC for the specific purpose of making independent expenditures in the current Supreme Court race.	Con	Pro	N/A
Kenosha AFL-CIO Political Donation Fund Political action committee of the Kenosha branch of the the AFL-CIO. Reported spending on newspaper ads.	Pro	Con	$67.67
Milwaukee Police Association PAC Union for the City of Milwaukee police officers. Last made independent expenditures in 2006. Made expenditures on a newspaper ad.	Pro	Con	$63.00
NRA Political Victory Fund Political action committee of the Virginia-based National Rifle Association. Last active in 2006. Made independent expenditures on postcards.	Con	Pro	$73,458.18
Planned Parenthood Advocates of WI One of several PACs run by the pro-choice, pro-family planning organization. Planned Parenthood was also active in the 2007 Supreme Court election. Reported spending on get out the vote flyers and phone banks.	Pro	Con	$862.74
Volunteers for Agriculture The political action committee of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation. Last independent expenditures were made in 2006. A week before the election the Volunteers reported placing ads for Judge Gableman in several farm publications.	Con	Pro	$3,765.91
WEAC PAC Political action committee of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teacher's union. Last independent expenditures were made in 2006. Just a week before the April 1 Supreme Court election WEAC began running a lurid 30-second TV ad that accused Judge Gableman of excessive leniency towards defendants convicted of sexually assaulting children.	Pro	Con	$349,325.00
Total	$470,857.36	$77,224.09	$548,081.45

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