August 23, 2019

Pro-Democratic electioneering groups in Wisconsin raised five times as much as their Republican counterparts in the first half of 2019. All told, three dozen special interest groups that raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence state and federal elections received nearly $3.2 million from Wisconsin contributors during this period, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

August 15, 2019

Legislators and legislative fundraising committees raised $2.2 million between January and June 2019.

August 14, 2019

Some Republican state senators who evaded a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter’s questions on Tuesday about considering tougher gun laws, and another who opposes them, have received election support from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

August 7, 2019

It appears the GOP-controlled legislature will continue to bow to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and reject proposals to toughen Wisconsin’s gun law in the wake of mass shootings last weekend in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

August 1, 2019

Though sharply hobbled by a GOP anti-union law known as Act 10, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) remains among the top special interest campaign contributors to Democrats and liberal candidates in state elections.

July 23, 2019

Corporate contributions to the state GOP and two Republican legislative campaign committees were nearly five times higher than the corporate contributions to their Democratic counterparts during the first six months of 2019.

July 18, 2019

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has long maintained that the veto power in the hands of the Wisconsin governor is excessive and is contrary to how the legislative process should work in a democracy.

July 17, 2019

Candidates and outside special interest groups spent a record of more than $8.2 million in last spring’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

July 11, 2019

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court abdicated its responsibility to ban partisan gerrymandering, it’s now up to all of us, here in Wisconsin, to solve this problem ourselves.

July 2, 2019

Contributions from special interest political action committees (PACs) and corporations soared to a record of more than $27 million in 2018, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

July 1, 2019

(An updated version of this profile was posted in January 2022.)

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, which provides reproductive and other health care services and education, has spent more than $3.4 million on lobbying and electioneering activities in Wisconsin elections, through its electoral arm, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin.

June 26, 2019

GOP Assembly lawmakers added a provision to the proposed state budget that makes it easier for Tesla Motors, which has made more than $28,000 in corporate and individual campaign contributions to legislative fundraising committees, to sell cars in Wisconsin.

June 18, 2019

Republican legislative and statewide candidates accepted nearly $5.8 million in campaign contributions from the real estate industry while the GOP-controlled legislature approved a batch of bills that favored landlords over tenants.

Posted: June 12, 2019
Updated: June 14, 2019

A state administrative law judge who ruled in favor of a plan to take up to 7 million gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan mostly for a massive Foxconn manufacturing plant was a former aide to Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

June 11, 2019

The state Justice Department is reviewing allegations that Johnson Controls International failed to report releasing hazardous chemicals that later contaminated drinking water in northeastern Wisconsin.

June 10, 2019

Communities would be prohibited from regulating air and water pollution and blasting at quarries, sand mines, and gravel pits under a plan approved by the legislature’s GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee.

June 3, 2019

 (A more recent version of this profile was posted in May 2022.)

Wisconsin Conservation Voters, formerly called the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, is a statewide lobbying, voter education, and advocacy organization on environmental issues and policy.

May 30, 2019

GOP legislative leaders have delayed action on a proposal by Gov. Tony Evers to increase fees on factory farms to help cover some clean water programs.

May 23, 2019

John Menard Jr., mega-GOP campaign contributor and recipient of record penalties for environmental violations in Wisconsin, is set to receive an honorary doctorate by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, his alma mater.

May 21, 2019

About four dozen state laws enacted between 2009 and 2018 were the result of “model” bills often from outside of Wisconsin and frequently backed by powerful business and ideological interests, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

May 20, 2019

More than 250 Wisconsin contributors gave about $115,900 to a political nonprofit group accused of using only a tiny fraction of the money it raised to help federal candidates aligned with President Donald Trump.

May 13, 2019

Special interest groups spent $226.1 million on legislative and statewide elections over the past 10 years, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

May 7, 2019

On May 3, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign submitted a motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in one of the lame-duck lawsuits. On May 6, the Wisconsin Supreme Court granted the motion and accepted the brief for filing.

May 1, 2019

Forty Trempealeau County residents who live next to two frac sand mining operations have sued the company, which is owned by a big state Republican Party contributor.

May 1, 2019

WEC Energy Group has been the leader in political giving since 2010 among about 30 natural gas and electric utilities across the country that make campaign contributions to influence Wisconsin state elections.