April 21, 2015
Billionaire energy executives Charles and David Koch, who have pledged to spend about $900 million through secretive dark money groups on the 2016 presidential contest, would like Republican Gov. Scott Walker to emerge as the eventual GOP nominee.
April 17, 2015
A super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support candidates for federal office, was created by former aides to Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who is a possible 2016 presidential candidate.
April 17, 2015
GOP lawmakers have introduced legislation that would reduce the quality and quantity of information that consumers are entitled to in debt-collection lawsuits. It would lessen consumer protections and make the law more favorable to merchants and debt collectors.
April 16, 2015
A legislative proposal is in the works that would grant a 20-year state income tax exemption to some businesses that move their headquarters to Wisconsin.
April 13, 2015
A nonpartisan state agency that fleshes out the cost of spending and policy proposals before the legislature says a plan to keep the public in the dark about research conducted on University of Wisconsin System campuses is among four dozen items in the proposed 2015-17 state budget that has nothing to do with state spending.
April 9, 2015
The money trail on this week’s race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court between Ann Walsh Bradley and James P. Daley was an unusual one in several ways.
April 8, 2015
Wisconsin legislators are pushing bills to license companies like Uber and Lyft that provide smartphone ridesharing services. The bills would then prohibit local governments from enacting their own regulations on these companies. The bills have the backing of insurers, lawyers and tavern interests. Uber is lobbying for the bills, which are supportive of the ridesharing companies.
April 6, 2015
Switchblade knives would be legal to carry for more than 240,000 Wisconsin residents who are now licensed to carry concealed guns under legislative proposals backed by the state arm of the National Rifle Association (NRA), which has spent more than $14,000 to help elect some of the bills’ sponsors.
April 2, 2015
A leading donor to state and federal GOP and conservative candidates nationwide, including Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate James Daley, contributed $200,000 to the state Republican Party less than a week before the April 7 spring elections.
April 2, 2015
Republican Gov. Scott Walker has contributed nearly $106,000 from his campaign committee to GOP candidates for statewide offices and the legislature during the past three years – a rare phenomenon among Wisconsin governors.
Posted: April 1, 2015
Updated: April 2, 2015
The latest top individual and political action committee (PAC) contributors to Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley and her challenger, James Daley, have been longtime backers of Democratic and Republican candidates for partisan statewide and legislative offices.
Posted: March 31, 2015
Updated: April 3, 2015
Two special interest groups with opposing views on a proposed constitutional amendment before voters on the April 7 spring ballot have raised $680,000 to spend on last-minute broadcast ad blitzes.
March 30, 2015
A group - Vote Yes for Democracy - with ties to a longtime Madison lobbyist and Republican political consultant is sponsoring a radio ad urging voters to support a proposed constitutional amendment to change the way the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s chief justice is chosen.
March 26, 2015
More than a dozen powerful special interest groups are backing a Republican bill that would cut about $270 million a year in personal property taxes paid by business. But critics say the tax burden would be shifted to individual taxpayers.
March 25, 2015
In addition to John Menard, Jr., seven wealthy donors, including Donald Trump, helped fund a conservative dark money group that spent millions of dollars to help GOP Gov. Scott Walker and state senators win their 2011 and 2012 recall elections. These seven donors also contributed a total of $185,000 to Walker.
March 24, 2015
Billionaire hardware store chain owner John Menard Jr., who reportedly funneled $1.5 million to a secretive, dark money group that spent undisclosed millions to help Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP senators win a wave of recall elections, also contributed $30,000 since the beginning of 2009 to Walker and his running mate.
March 24, 2015
Employees who resign or are fired by their employer would find it tougher to get a similar job elsewhere under a legislative proposal introduced by Republican lawmakers and supported by powerful business, manufacturing and other interests.
March 24, 2015
Testimony by Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
March 19, 2015
Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed 2015-17 state budget is seeking fee cuts totaling nearly $722,000 for Wisconsin’s agriculture industry, which has doled out nearly $1.9 million in campaign contributions and outside electioneering support to help the governor win three of his past elections.
March 18, 2015
Majority Republican lawmakers who successfully pushed a state right-to-work bill through the legislature that was opposed by labor received more than $106,000 in political action committee contributions in 2014 from labor unions, according to a preliminary review by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
March 17, 2015
Two Republican legislators are sponsoring a bill that would allow an Adams County town to give a developer, who has contributed more than $21,000 to GOP Gov. Scott Walker and the state Republican Party in recent years, cash grants or loans to build high-end golf courses.
March 16, 2015
Wisconsin individuals, businesses, unions, and trade groups contributed a record $8.7 million in 2014 to electioneering groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on advertising, mailings and other activities to attack or promote candidates in state and federal elections.
March 12, 2015
Two utilities that want the state to approve a $9.1 billion merger, which consumer advocates have panned, have contributed about $171,000 to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign since the beginning of 2009.
March 11, 2015
A railroad that got a state permit to fill part of a western Wisconsin marsh in order to expand shipments of crude oil through Wisconsin contributed more than $60,000 to Republican Gov. Scott Walker since the beginning of 2010.
March 10, 2015
Later this term, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will be weighing in on challenges to the John Doe investigation concerning alleged coordination between Scott Walker’s campaign and so-called outside groups during the recall elections of 2011-2012.