Ending Spending Action Fund Wisconsin

Posted: April 30, 2012
Updated: January 13, 2014

Oath • Spending

This political action committee was soley created to make independent expenditures in support of Republican Governor Scott Walker who faced a June 2012 recall election after passage of his 2011 plan to restrict public employee collective bargaining rights.  Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four GOP state senators also facde recall elections. 

In early May 2012, the PAC spent $245,000 on a 30-second television ad that applauded Walker for balancing the state budget.

At the end of the 2012 the PAC terminated its registration with the state's Government Accountability Board

Ending Spending Action Fund Wisconsin was part of a larger national group that spent nearly $10 million opposing President Barack Obama's reelection in 2012.

DLCC Wisconsin PAC

Posted: April 30, 2012
Updated: January 15, 2014

Oath • Spending

This is the state political action committee used to make independent expenditures by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a Washington D.C.-based group affiliated with the national Democratic Party that supports Democratic candidates for legislative offices around the country.  The organization gets the bulk of its support from labor unions and large corporations.  The group spent an estimated $400,000 on independent expenditures and phony issue ads in the first round of recall races that targeted incumbent Republican state senators in 2011 for their support of GOP Governor Scott Walker's plan to restrict public employee collective bargaining rights passed in March 2011.

In the 2012 recall elections the PAC sponsored a 30-second television ad against GOP Senator Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls - one of four Republican Senate seats targeted for recall along with Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch on June 5, 2012.  The ad says it's time to give "Moulton the big heave ho" for supporting tax breaks for big business and tax cuts for education after he was elected in 2010.

The group also sponsored a 30-second television ad in late May 2012 that showed film footage of a taped meeting in March where Moulton appears stymied when asked about legislative measures he supported that are intended to spur job growth in Wisconsin.

Last active election: 2011

Voces de la Frontera Action Committee

Posted: April 27, 2012
Updated: January 14, 2014

Fall: Oath • Spending
Recall: Oath • Spending

This political action committee is operated by the Milwaukee-based Voces de La Frontera, an immigrant rights organization that provides legal service and employment, language and citizenship training among other things to immigrant and low-wage workers. The PAC made more than $80,000 in independent expenditures between 2010 and 2012 mostly in support of Democratic candidates. 

Fall Elections

Voces de la Frontera reported independent expenditures for phone calls and newspaper ads around the August 14 primary to support three Milwaukee area Assembly members - Democrats Cory Mason, Sandra Pasch and JoCasta Zamarripa.

Recall Elections

The group originally filed papers to support Democrat Kathleen Falk in her effort to win the May 8, 2012 recall primary and face Republican Governor Scott Walker in a June 5 recall election. The group shifted its support to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett following his victory in the Democratic primary. Walker and four GOP state senators were targeted for recall because of the governor's successful 2011 plan to restrict public employee collective bargaining rights.

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.

DGA Action Wisconsin

Posted: April 27, 2012
Updated: January 10, 2014

Oath • Spending

This is a Washington D.C.-based corporation created by the Democratic Governors Association, which supports Democratic candidates for governor around the country.  The group has funneled more than $4.3 million through the Greater Wisconsin Committee to support Wisconsin candidates for governor in the 2006 and 2010 general and the 2012 recall elections rather than sponsor its own advertising and outside electioneering activities.

DGA Action registered in late April 2012 to make independent expenditures against Republican Governor Scott Walker who faced a June 5 recall election for his 2011 plan to restrict public employee collective bargaining rights. Two weeks before the June election, the group reportedly spent nearly $36,000 on online advertising, and started an online fundraising drive to raise money for advertisements on behalf of Walker's opponent, Democrat Tom Barrett.

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.

Restore Wisconsin's Image and Reputation

Posted: April 27, 2012
Updated: January 15, 2014

Oath • Spending

This is a Madison-based corporation created to make independent expenditures to support Republican Governor Scott Walker's Democratic opponent in the June 5 recall election. Walker, the lieutenant governor and and four GOP state senators were targeted for recall because of the governor's successful 2011 plan to restrict public employee collective bargaining rights.

This group's treasurer is Morris Andrews, a former longtime leader of the Wisconsin Education Association Council - the state's largest teachers union - which gave $1 million late in 2011 to the Greater Wisconsin Committee to support its television advertising and other outside electioneering efforts against Walker.

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.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin Political Fund

Posted: April 26, 2012
Updated: January 15, 2014

Fall: Oath • Spending
Recall: Oath • Spending

This is one of two corporations created by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin in 2010 to make independent expenditures to support Democratic candidates for statewide office and the legislature in Wisconsin.  Planned Parenthood is the leading advocate and provider of reproductive health care for women in the state and the nation.  The corporation spent nearly $796,000 on behalf of Democratic candidates in elections between 2010 and 2012, over $780,000 of that on the 2011 and 2012 recall elections.

Fall Elections

The group registered to make independent expenditures to support candidates in Democratic primaries in the 7th, 10th and 44th Assembly Districts, and in the 6th Senate District. Following the primaries, the group added support for Senate Democratic incumbents Dave Hansen and Jessica King, and Assembly Democratic incumbent Amy Sue Vruwink. The group also indicated it intended to make independent expenditures to support Democratic challengers (or oppose Republican incumbents) in the 68th and 51st Assembly Districts, but it did not report making any in the fall elections. Its affiliate, Planned Parenthood Advocates of WI, Inc., however did.

Recall Elections

The group registered in spring 2012 to make independent expenditures in support of Democratic candidates in three of four Senate recall races targeting Republican incumbents as well as against GOP Governor Scott Walker who also faced a June 5 recall election. 

Planned Parenthood sponsored ads - here, here, here and here that accused Walker and GOP Senator Van Wanggaard of Racine of opposing equal pay for women and slashing state funding for cancer screenings and other health care services provided by the group. 

Two virtually identical ads urged viewers to vote for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett, Democratic Representative Kristen Dexter challenging Republican Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls in the 23rd Senate District and Democratic Representative Donna Seidel who faced Republican Representative Jerry Petrowski in the 29th Senate District. The incumbent in the 29th, Republican Pam Galloway, resigned after a recall election was approved for the district. Petrowski ran in her place.

Walker, the lieutenant governor and the four GOP Senate seats were targeted for recall because of the governor's 2011 plan to restrict public employee collective bargaining rights. Senator Van Wanggaard of Racine was the only Republican to lose in the 2012 recall elections.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of WI, Inc. was also active in the 2012 recall elections.

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.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of WI, Inc.

Posted: April 26, 2012
Updated: January 15, 2014

Fall: Oath • Spending
Recall: Oath • Spending

This was one of two corporations created by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin in 2010 to make independent expenditures to support Democratic candidates for statewide office and the legislature.  Planned Parenthood is the leading advocate and provider of reproductive health care for women in the state and the nation.  Between 2010 and June 2012 this corporation made independent expenditures of $398,146 in fall, recall and special elections in Wisconsin.

Fall Elections

The group registered to make independent expenditures to support candidates in Democratic primaries in the 7th, 10th and 44th Assembly Districts, and in the 6th Senate District. Following the primaries, the group added support for Senate Democratic incumbents Dave Hansen, Jessica King, and Julie Lassa and Assembly Democratic incumbents Amy Sue Vruwink and Gordon Hintz. The group also made independent expenditures to support Democratic challengers (or oppose Republican incumbents) in a number of other Assembly Districts.

Recall Elections

The group registered in spring 2012 to make independent expenditures in the June 5 recall elections  for governor, lieutenant governor and the State Senate.  Successfull recall elections petitions were filed against Republican Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican senators in response to the governor's 2011 bill curtailing public employee collective bargaining rights. In all elections, Planned Parenthood backed the Democratic challengers. The group sponsored a 30-second television ad shortly after the May 8 primary that criticized Walker for slashing funding and ending insurance coverage for women's health exams, cancer screenings and birth control services provided by the organization.

Planned Parenthood also sponsored a mailing that accused Walker and GOP Senator Van Wanggaard of Racine of eliminating state funding for breast and cervical cancer screenings and other important health services the group provides for women. Senator Wanggaard was the only Republican who lost in the 2012 recall elections.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin Political Fund was also active in the recall elections.

Last active election: Recall and Special Elections 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.

Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama PAC

Posted: April 20, 2012
Updated: January 15, 2014

This is a conservative Sacramento, California-based organization originally formed to support Republican candidates and defeat Democratic President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.  The PAC did not registerto make independent expenditures in Wisconsin elections, even though it sponsored broadcast advertising in the 2011 and 2012 recall elections.

The group spent an estimated $25,000 in the 2011 summer recall elections on radio and television ads to support incumbent Republicans senators.

The PAC followed up those efforts in 2012 by sponsoring two television ads in April in the Milwaukee and Green Bay television markets that generally criticized Obama's handling of the economy and other domestic issues and urged listeners to support GOP Governor Scott Walker in the June 5 recall election.

As the ads clearly advocate Walker's reelection, they would qualify as independent expenditures under Wisconsin law. The PAC, however, has never registered with the state's Government Accountability Board or filed legally required any documentation with that agency.

Last active election: Recall 2011

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters PAC

Posted: April 19, 2012
Updated: January 10, 2014

Oath • Spending

This political action committee is controlled by the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, a statewide environmental policy, education and advocacy organization.  In addition to lobbying the governor and legislature on environmental matters, the group is also active in state elections recruiting and supporting legislative and statewide candidates that support its agenda.  The PAC and its corporate arm have spent about $311,000 on independent expenditures between 2002 and 2011, including $98,318 during the summer 2011 Senate recall elections, mostly to support Democratic candidates.  The league's outside electioneering activities include door-to-door and telephone canvassing and broadcast advertising to support or oppose candidates.

The league did not endorse a candidate in the May 8, 2012 Democratic primary for governor but supported Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Walker's eventual opponent in the June 5 recall election, through independent spending by its corporation.

Republican Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican senators were the subjects of 2012 recall elections prompted by passage of the governor's anti-union legislation in 2011.

Last active election: Recall and Special 2011

Racine TEA Party PAC

Posted: April 17, 2012
Updated: January 15, 2014

Fall: Oath • Spending
Recall: Oath • Spending

The Racine Tea Party, part of the larger Tea Party movement, was organized in 2009 to oppose Democratic policies and candidates and support conservative policy initiatives and candidates.

This political action committee first registered with the Government Accountability Board  to make independent expenditures on behalf of Republican incumbents in the 2012 recall elections, including Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and Senator Van Wanggaard of Racine. These three ofice holders and three other Republican state senators were the targets of recall elections prompted by passage of the governor's 2011 bill strictly limiting public employee collective bargaining rights.

Fall Elections

The PAC registered to make independent expenditures on behalf of Republican legislative candidates representing Assembly districts in and around Racine County.

Recall Elections

The PAC did not report spending in the recall elections.