Hijacking Campaign 2012

American Federation for Children Action Fund IE Committee

Posted: July 27, 2012
Updated: February 1, 2013

Oath • Spending

This corporation was created by the American Federation for Children, a Washington D.C.-based school choice group, to make independent expenditures in Wisconsin elections.  It reported spending nearly $125,000 on independent expenditures in the 2010 general elections and the 2011 Senate recall elections and nearly $345,000 in the fall 2012 legislative elections to tell people who to support. 

In addition to independent expenditures, the group - a spin-off of Michigan-based All Children Matter -  has sponsored phony issue ads.  Since 2010, American Federation for Children has made an estimated $3.6 million in phony issue ad expenditures, whose fundraising and spending is kept secret, mostly to back Republican candidates for statewide office and the legislature.

Shortly after the 2012 general elections, American Federation for Children issued a report saying it spent nearly $2.4 million to elect pro-voucher candidates in the 2012 recall races and the fall general elections.  American Federation for Children's report conflicts with its reported independent expenditures in 2012 because by saying it spent about a $2.4 million to elect candidates it failed to report more than $2 million in independent expenditures in 2012.

The federation's leadership includes Betsy de Vos, its chair and spouse of Dick de Vos, Michigan billionaire and son of Amway Corporation co-founder Richard de Vos. Scott Jensen, former state Republican Assembly leader and one of the leading figures in the Wisconsin caucus scandal, is the group's senior policy advisor.

Shortly before the August 14 primary, the corporation reported spending more than $101,000 to back Democratic legislative candidates for Assembly districts in the Milwaukee area who support the city’s school voucher program and its expansion. The group spent the money on voter-turnout efforts and a barrage of mailers and brochures.
 
Two fliers- here and here- supported Democratic Representative Jason Fields of Milwaukee, a supporter of Milwaukee’s longtime school voucher program who faces a Democratic challenger in the primary.
 
The federation also sponsored a flier in support of Tracey Dent, a Democratic candidate in the Assembly 17th District race, that was criticized by Democratic Representative Barbara Toles of Milwaukee for making it look like Toles, who opposes the voucher program, was endorsing Dent.
 
The group’s efforts on behalf of numerous Democratic candidates in the primary is unusual because it generally backs GOP candidates.
 
American Federation for Children sponsored a 30-second television ad - via WisPolitics.com - in mid-September to support Republican Rick Gudex of Fond du Lac who faces Democratic Senator Jessica King for her 18th District seat.  The ad urged viewers to support Gudex, claiming he supported smaller government and tax cuts.  King won the seat by defeating former Republican Senator Randy Hopper in one of nine recall elections in 2011. 
 
Shortly before the November 6 general election, the group sponsored a 30-second television ad opposing Mandy Wright, a Democratic candidate for the open 85th Assembly District seat in the Wausau area.

Last active election: Recall 2011

This organization is registered with the Government Accountability Board following the January 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC as a corporation making independent disbursements.

Interest Spending