School Voucher Supporters Top Out-of-State Givers

$1 in $5 came from proponents of expanding school choice

May 7, 2008

Madison -

Large individual contributions from outside Wisconsin totaled $205,603 or 7 percent of the nearly $3.1 million in all large individual contributions accepted by the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, legislators and the four legislative leadership committees in 2007. The contributions came from 33 states, Puerto Rico and Kenya with Illinois topping the list at $31,700 followed by California at $20,150 and Texas at $18,950.

Leading the list of out-of-state special interest contributors was school choice supporters at $41,825 followed by payday lending company executives at $27,600, attorneys at $13,500, and a gay rights advocate who contributed $10,000.

The top recipients included the State Senate Democratic Committee at $25,800, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle at $24,070, the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee at $13,500, the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee at $11,750, Republican Senator Alberta Darling at $9,025 and GOP Assembly Speaker Michael Huebsch at $8,850.

A look at the top 12 recipients of out-of-state contributions in 2007 (see Table 1) shows outside interests target their contributions to those who decide Wisconsin’s social and spending policies and enforce our laws – the governor, attorney general and three legislative leaders. The three legislative leadership committees on the list are key tools used by leaders to collect special interest cash to help their colleagues at election time.

Table 1
Top* Recipients of 2007 Out-of-State Contributions to
Wisconsin Officeholders and Legislative Leadership Committees

*For a complete list see Table 3 below.

The four leadership committees combined collected a record $55,150 from out-of-state contributors (see Bar Chart).

The leading pro-school-voucher supporters were among the top overall out-of-state donors in 2007 (see Table 2), including Jim and Lynne Walton of Bentonville, Arkansas and Christy Walton of Jackson, Wyoming whose families own Wal-Mart at $15,800; Richard Sharp, of Richmond, Virginia, a retired Circuit City executive at $9,450; and Dick and Betsy DeVos, of Grand Rapids, Michigan whose family founded Amway at $6,150.

Table 2
Top* 2007 Out-of-State Contributors to
Wisconsin Officeholders and Legislative Leadership Committees

* Table shows contributors of $3,000 or more in 2007.

Milwaukee’s school choice program spends about $120 million a year in state tax dollars to let about 18,500 children attend private religious and nonsectarian schools rather than Milwaukee Public Schools.

The top recipients of out-of-state pro-voucher campaign cash were Darling at $7,175 followed by the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee at $4,550, Republican Senator Dan Kapanke at $2,500, Huebsch at $2,350 and Democratic Representative Jason Fields at $2,300.

In addition to direct contributions to Wisconsin candidates over the past several years, All Children Matter, a Michigan-based pro-voucher group that has political action committees in several states, has spent more than $1.5 million in the 2004 and 2006 elections on phony, negative issue ads, most of which had nothing to do with the school choice issue. Some of their activities drew a complaint pending before the state Government Accountability Board that accuses All Children Matter of laundering $90,000 in corporate contributions through its Virginia PAC which later sent $35,000 to an All Children Matter PAC in Wisconsin to spend on negative electioneering in some 2006 legislative races. The complaint also said the Virginia PAC was not registered in Wisconsin when it transferred the money.

All Children Matter’s Virginia and Ohio PACs were recently fined a total of $5.2 million for similar activity in the 2006 Ohio elections.

Second among out-of-state contributors were payday lending company executives from Texas, Ohio, Illinois and Tennessee who contributed $27,600 to Wisconsin legislators and statewide officeholders in 2007.

Payday lending industry contributions to Wisconsin officeholders ballooned with the number of outlets the industry has opened in the state – from two in 1995 to more than 400 today. The industry has been at or near the top in out-of state special interest contributions each year since the late 1990s. During that time seven legislative proposals to control the fees and interest rates of up to 500 percent they charge have failed to pass the legislature. This past session, four of those bills died in the Republican-led Assembly without a public hearing.

Heading the list of payday industry contributors were Trevor and Harold Ahlberg of Irving, Texas who own Cash Store at $15,250, Allan Jones of Cleveland, Tennessee who owns Check into Cash at $5,150 and Jared and A. David Davis of Cincinnati, Ohio who own Check N Go at $4,000.

Leading recipients of out-of-state payday lender contributions were the State Senate Democratic Committee at $5,650 followed by Republican Representative Scott Newcomer and Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Jim Kreuser at $2,750 each, Huebsch at $2,000 and Democratic Senator Robert Wirch at $1,750.

Out-of-state lawyers ranked third in contributions to Wisconsin officeholders in 2007 at $13,500. Topping the list of contributors are John McConnell Jr. of Providence, Rhode Island at $4,500, Robert Lennon of Bethesda, Maryland at $3,000 and David Robbins of Calabasas, California at $1,000.

Democratic Governor Jim Doyle collected $3,400 from out-of-state lawyers followed Lieutenant Governor Barb Lawton who accepted $1,500. Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, Democratic Senators Roger Breske, Dave Hansen and Wirch and Democratic Representative Sheldon Wasserman each got $1,000.

Fourth among out-of-state special interest contributors was a gay rights advocate who contributed $10,000 in 2007. Tim Gill of Denver, Colorado and founder of software maker Quark and two foundations and political groups that back gay rights issues made $5,000 contributions to the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and the State Senate Democratic Committee on December 21. Gill has a short history of campaign contributions to Wisconsin candidates. His first contribution in Wisconsin was in 2006 when he gave Doyle’s reelection campaign $10,000.

Nearly a quarter of the 2007 out-of-state contributions – $50,120 – came from 83 contributors who had never before made large individual contributions to partisan officeholders in Wisconsin. The new faces were led by Lennon, the Bethesda, Maryland attorney who gave $3,000 to Doyle.

Three other new top givers gave $2,500 each. New York financial planner Louis Kreisberg contributed $1,000 each to Hansen and Breske and $500 to Huebsch. Thomas Begel, owner of Chicago investment firm TMB Industries contributed $2,500 to Doyle and Armand Brachman, of Long Lake, Minnesota and owner of Dominium Inc. a real estate development company contributed $500 each to Republican Representatives John Murtha, Jeffrey Mursau, Brett Davis, Mary Williams and Huebsch.

Two legislators received contributions from outside the U.S. Democratic Representative Pedro Colon accepted $2,000 from four contributors in Puerto Rico who work for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, a hospital, a coffee grower and an insurance company. Republican Representative Rich Zipperer accepted $250 from a contributor in Nairobi, Kenya who works for Diageo, a worldwide liquor distributor.

Complete List of Officeholders and Leadership Committees

Table 3
2007 Out-of-State Contributions to Wisconsin Officeholders and Legislative Leadership Committees