November 1, 2021
(This profile updates information and figures in an earlier December 2018 feature on the Democratic Attorneys General Association.)
This is a Washington, D.C.-based group that raises special interest cash to help elect Democratic attorneys general throughout the country. In the 2018 race for Wisconsin attorney general, the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) spent nearly $2.2 million to help Josh Kaul defeat incumbent GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel.
DAGA, which was formed in 2002, is a 527 group that raises and spends unlimited amounts from any source on electioneering activities, like mailings and broadcasts advertising, as well as candidate training and consulting.
The 2018 Wisconsin attorney general race was the first time the group spent money on electioneering activities in the state. DAGA was among three groups that spent $2 million or more in the race, which cost a record $14 million in candidate and group spending. Electioneering groups doled out a total of more than $9 million, sharply outspending the candidates, who spent more than $4.9 million.
DAGA formed a corporation called WI People’s Lawyer Project to make independent expenditures on behalf of Kaul. Most of DAGA’s election spending was doled out on television and online ads in the homestretch of the race.
The group’s television ad accused Schimel of cutting plea deals in numerous cases that resulted in light sentences for sexual predators. The ad claimed that when Schimel served as Waukesha County district attorney he arranged plea deals with child molesters and blamed underage sexual assault victims for bad judgment. The group cited five child sexual assault cases that Schimel handled as county prosecutor from 2004 through 2007 that ended with plea deals.
Kaul faces reelection in 2022 if he decides to run again.
Currently, there are 26 Republican state attorneys general and 24 Democratic state attorneys general.
Nationally, DAGA raised about $11 million in 2019, $16 million in 2020, and $5.6 million during the first half of 2021.
Wisconsin contributions to DAGA started in 2014 and total $332,326 to date. The top Badger State contributors to the group are:
Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, $200,000,
MolsonCoors, a Milwaukee brewery formerly known as MillerCoors, $50,000,
Foley & Lardner, a Milwaukee law firm, $35,000,
Michael Best Strategies, of Milwaukee, the lobbying arm of the Michael Best and Friedrich law firm, $30,000,
Alliant Energy, of Madison, $15,000.
527 groups, which are frequently used by ideological, trade, labor, and other special interest groups and number in the hundreds, are named for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service rules that regulate them. 527 and other outside electioneering groups are attractive to wealthy special interests because they allow contributors to skirt state and federal campaign finance laws. In many cases, the source and size of the contributions to the DAGA and other 527 groups would be illegal if they were direct contributions to state and federal candidates and committees.