August 24, 2015
Special interest political action committees (PACs) contributed nearly $790,000 during the first six months of 2015, and most of it went to Republican Gov. Scott Walker and legislators who were considering a 2015-17 state budget loaded with policy and spending items lobbied on by many of those interests.
August 20, 2015
Since GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker says he would repeal the federal Affordable Care Act, if elected president next year, it is interesting to note the financial support he received from the health insurance industry and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). They contributed about $360,000 between January 2010 and December 2014 to Walker’s three successful state campaigns for governor.
August 19, 2015
On August 18, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by 12 plaintiffs who alleged that the Republican redistricting plan of 2012 violated their First Amendment rights to freely associate and their Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection under the law.
August 18, 2015
Spending by candidates for governor and final ballot candidates for lieutenant governor increased about 680 percent in 20 years, from $6.9 million in 1994 to a record $53.7 million in 2014, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.
August 17, 2015
Wisconsin legislative and statewide officeholders collectively raised most of their campaign cash during the first six months of 2015 from individuals outside Wisconsin rather than from constituents who can actually vote for them, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review shows.
August 14, 2015
A legislative proposal that would ban the sale and use of tissue, organs and other body parts from aborted fetuses for research has drawn support from anti-abortion, religious and conservative groups and opposition from health professionals, academics and the biotechnology sector.
August 13, 2015
A new study by the Sunlight Foundation gives Wisconsin an “A” in transparency about lobbying.
August 13, 2015
Republican legislators raised about one-third more per capita than Democratic lawmakers during the first six months of 2015 and had 75 percent more money in their campaign accounts as of June 30, according to a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review of recently filed campaign finance reports.
August 11, 2015
A federal committee formed by GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker spent a third of a million dollars between April and June of 2015 on air travel with a suburban Milwaukee company whose owners contributed more than $77,000 in recent years to Walker’s campaigns for governor.
August 10, 2015
Republican and Democratic legislative leaders raised nearly $1 million from special interests during the first six months of 2015, the same time the legislature was considering the 2015-17 state budget.
August 5, 2015
Attorney General Brad Schimel says Wisconsin will join a multi-state lawsuit against tougher federal air pollution standards, which are opposed by special interests that spent an estimated $2.2 million last fall to help elect him.
August 4, 2015
More than seven dozen individuals and corporations made contributions of $50,000 or more to two federal committees that were created to support Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s 2016 presidential bid, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.
July 30, 2015
A Republican lawmaker is seeking legislative support for a bill that would prohibit the personal possession, sale or breeding of dangerous, exotic animals in Wisconsin.
July 29, 2015
Four bills that would increase local control and transparency in the siting and operation of frac sand mines are opposed by trade groups that represent more than a dozen powerful special interests that have spent millions of dollars to elect majority Republican lawmakers.
July 28, 2015
Counties are now prohibited from adopting zoning rules stricter than state law when it comes to what shoreline property owners can do with their property.
July 24, 2015
On July 14, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board alleging many inaccuracies in the amended report by Friends of Scott Walker for the period between July 29, 2014, and Oct. 20, 2014, in his race for reelection as governor. Many donors in the report on the GAB’s website had employer identification that was inaccurate.
July 23, 2015
Majority Republican legislators and the governor used the state budget to loosen state regulation of lead paint.
July 22, 2015
Almost $9 out of every $10 in individual contributions that Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s state campaign committee raised during the first half of 2015 came from outside the state, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.
July 21, 2015
Two federal committees created earlier this to support Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential candidacy have raised more than $26 million in the first half of 2015.
July 21, 2015
The state fundraising committee Republican Gov. Scott Walker uses to raise money to run for governor reported raising $5.9 million and spending about $5.7 million during the first six months of 2015.
July 20, 2015
Gov. Scott Walker added his voice to the unseemly Republican assault on the Government Accountability Board on Monday.
July 17, 2015
Two provisions in the new state budget approved by Republican Gov. Scott Walker help one company: Enbridge Energy. They prevent local governments from imposing added insurance requirements on interstate pipeline operators that transport hazardous material, and make it easier to take private property for such projects.
July 16, 2015
The four justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court who just dismissed the John Doe investigation concerning alleged coordination between Scott Walker and so-called outside groups were aided enormously by some of the very groups that were party to the John Doe case.
July 16, 2015
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign denounced the ruling by the biased Wisconsin State Supreme Court to close down the John Doe II investigation into alleged coordination between Scott Walker and so-called outside groups.
July 15, 2015
The budget signed by Gov. Walker on Sunday contains two changes that make Wisconsin’s civil service less independent and more susceptible to patronage.