Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's press releases and special reports cover issues central to our mission, including campaign fundraising, political corruption and more.
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April 4, 2018
Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill on Tuesday sought by big business campaign contributors that slashes the amount of time people can sue for numerous injuries.
April 4, 2018
When Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill on Tuesday that removes most abortion coverage for state and local public workers, he was acting on behalf of anti-abortion groups that have spent more than $200,000 to elect Republicans over the last eight years.
April 2, 2018
(This profile updates information and figures in a previous August 2015 feature on RGA. This profile was updated in August 2021.)
This Washington, D.C.-based group, whose mission is to elect Republican candidates for governor nationwide, is one of the top-spending outside electioneering groups in Wisconsin.
March 30, 2018
Special interest groups have spent about $2.2 million on outside electioneering activities to support and attack the candidates in next week’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election, according to a preliminary review by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
March 28, 2018
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and distinguished Senators. It’s nice to see you all again.
I’m Matt Rothschild, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which, since 1995, has been advocating for clean, open, and transparent government.
I’m here today to oppose, in the strongest terms possible, the naked partisan power play that is going on right now.
March 28, 2018
Executives with about a dozen papermakers, utilities, and other companies accused of dumping excessive pollution into Wisconsin waterways in 2016 and 2017 are also generous campaign contributors in most cases.
March 27, 2018
The two candidates facing off in next week’s spring election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court raised more than $1.2 million combined since the beginning of the year.
by Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director
March 26, 2018
On April 3, Wisconsin voters will find a referendum on their ballot to eliminate the office of the State Treasurer.
March 23, 2018
The sand-processing plant, which would be located between Tomah and Black River Falls, is sought by Meteor Timber, a company owned by Atlanta, Ga.-based Timberland Investment Resources. The project would destroy about 16 acres of rare hardwood wetlands.For the second time in as many months, the GOP-controlled Assembly has approved a break for a proposed frac sand mining operation whose owners contributed $12,000 to the state Republican Party last year.
March 23, 2018
The proposal, Assembly Bill 773, reduces from six to three years the statutes of limitations for civil lawsuits involving liability, fraud, rights violations, and injury to character.A pro-business bill that slashes the amount of time people can file lawsuits was given final approval on Friday by the Assembly and sent to Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
March 22, 2018
The measure, Assembly Bill 771, was backed by the Wisconsin Realtors Association and groups representing landlords and apartment building owners, which are generous campaign contributors to Republican candidates.A Republican bill to benefit landlords was approved Tuesday by the Senate and sent to GOP Gov. Scott Walker.
March 21, 2018
The measure, Assembly Bill 553, prohibits state and local governments from adopting rules to boycott doing business with Israel. It also requires contracts of $100,000 or more between state and local governments and businesses for goods and services to prohibit the business from being involved in the so-called Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The movement, which has surfaced in recent years on some college campuses, is designed to pressure Israel to stop oppressing the Palestinian people. A bill that punishes local governments and businesses that boycott Israel was approved Wednesday by the state Senate and sent to GOP Gov. Scott Walker.
March 20, 2018
By party, Republicans accepted about $900,375 and Democrats accepted $133,750 – a near $7 to $1 difference.Two Wisconsin Indian tribes and real estate and beer interests led the special interests that made more than $1 million in corporate campaign contributions in 2017 to four legislative campaign committees and the state Democratic and Republican parties.
March 20, 2018
“It did blindside many of us,” says Rolf Johnson, the CEO of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. “I was really excited about this.”When Gov. Scott Walker rescinded his nomination for a federal designation of a marine sanctuary north of Milwaukee on March 6, he caught a lot of people by surprise.
March 14, 2018
Republican legislators had more than three times as much cash in their campaign accounts as their Democratic counterparts at the end of 2017, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.
March 13, 2018
The two GOP legislative campaign committees raised more than twice as much as the two Democratic committees - $1.9 million versus about $900,000. Here are their fundraising totals for 2017:
March 8, 2018
A GOP bill that would sharply increase state handouts to entice Kimberly-Clark to keep operating two Fox Valley paper plants has the backing of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC).
March 6, 2018
Nearly two-thirds of the Wisconsin contributions made in 2017 to special interest groups that can raise and spend unlimited cash to influence state and federal elections went to groups that mostly back Republicans.
March 5, 2018
Nearly 500 Wisconsin contributors gave a record $4.5 million in 2017 to political nonprofit groups that can raise and spend unlimited cash to influence state and federal elections.
March 1, 2018
The Natural Resources Board approved a deal to give a major Republican campaign contributor state park land for a new high-end golf course he is building on the shores of Lake Michigan.
March 1, 2018
(This profile updates information and figures in a previous November 2015 feature on Americans for Prosperity. This profile was updated in October 2021.)
The state arm of Americans for Prosperity is one of Wisconsin’s top outside electioneering spenders, doling out an estimated $5.7 million since January 2010 on Wisconsin legislative and statewide elections.
February 28, 2018
In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas school shooting, it appears GOP Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature will continue to bow to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and rebuff calls to consider tougher gun laws.
February 27, 2018
The money trail on the sand-mining company that received some breaks by the Republican-controlled Assembly is hard to discern.
February 16, 2018
A controversial Republican bill that would loosen state protections and allow development of up to one million acres of Wisconsin wetlands was approved by the state Assembly.
February 15, 2018
A handful of Wisconsin donors contributed $1.7 million last year to a group headed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that raises and spends unlimited amounts of cash from special interests to elect GOP candidates for governor nationwide.