Hijacking Recall 2012 -- information on Right Direction Wisconsin PAC

Right Direction Wisconsin PAC

March 28, 2012

Right Direction Wisconsin PAC is a Republican Governors Association (RGA) committee created to support Governor Scott Walker in the 2012 recall elections.

The Republican Governors Association spends millions of dollars helping Republican candidates for governor get elected nationwide, including Wisconsin where it spent an estimated $7 million in the 2006 and 2010 general elections mostly on negative broadcast ads and mailings. It was the top GOP electioneering group in the 2010 governor's race when it spent an estimated $5 million to help elect Walker. Documents filed with the state Government Accountability Board list Michael Adams, who is the RGA's general counsel as well as a conservative columnist and political commentator, as the treasurer for Right Direction Wisconsin PAC.

The television ad sponsored by the PAC in late March says taxes and unemployment surged under the watches of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. Falks intends to challenge Walker in a likely recall election and Barrett, who lost to Walker in the 2010 general election, is also a potential candidate. The PAC's ads show an elevator going up and down and pictures of Falk and Barret. Barrett "has increased spending in Milwaukee by over $300 million and raised taxes every year but one. No wonder unemployment is up 27% on his watch;" and "under Madison liberal Kathleen Falk, local property taxes went up and unemployment tripled," the ad says.