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.

Joint Informational Hearing of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections and the Senate Committee on Elections and Local Government

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.

March 10, 2015

An influential agricultural lobbying group that made illegal corporate donations to its political action committee got a sweetheart deal from state campaign finance watchdogs. In lieu of a fine, the Government Accountability Board (GAB) let it donate the amount of its illegal donations to charity, but not just any charity: Its own charity!

March 9, 2015

Republican Gov. Scott Walker received nearly $29,000 in campaign contributions since the beginning of 2009 from employees of Badger Meter Inc., the location where he signed the controversial right-to-work bill into law Monday.

March 9, 2015

A legislative proposal backed by the tourism industry to increase the state’s maximum speed limit to 70 miles per hour on Wisconsin freeways and expressways is likely to be considered by the legislature sometime this month.

March 5, 2015

A legislative proposal that would allow the state to deduct the cost of ambulance services from an individual’s state tax refund has backing from the hospital industry, which has contributed more than $208,000 to majority Republican legislators, including more than $11,000 to the bill’s sponsors, since the beginning of 2011.

March 4, 2015

Candidates are listed by spending in descending order.

March 4, 2015

Candidates listed by district, party ballot order at the time of the election (Democrat, Republican, Independent), and alphabetical by last name.

March 4, 2015

Candidates listed by district, party ballot order at the time of the election (Democrat, Republican, Independent), and alphabetical by last name.

Posted: March 4, 2015
Updated: March 9, 2015

Legislative candidates and special groups that attacked candidates with negative broadcast ads, mailings, and other electioneering activities spent an estimated $16.9 million in the 2014 fall legislative elections, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis shows.

March 3, 2015

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos spoke at Marquette University Law School on Friday, February 27, and he tipped his hand about his plans are for rewriting the state’s campaign finance law, as well as the law on John Doe investigations, and the statute on the Government Accountability Board.

February 27, 2015

Three wealthy donors who have given Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the state Republican Party $141,000 in the last three years are among the first contributors to take advantage of new federal contribution limits to national party committees.

February 27, 2015

Unions representing engineers, police, firefighters, plumbers, carpenters and other trades contributed more than $83,000 in 2013-14 to help reelect Republican Gov. Scott Walker, despite his successful 2011 effort to slash public employee collective bargaining rights and his support for a state right-to-work law.