2012 Recall Election Finance Profile - John Lehman

Senator Lehman was first elected to the the Assembly in 1996, to the Senate in 2006, lost in 2010 and was reelected in a June 2012 recall election.

Recall elections were held in four Senate districts in 2012. Senator Lehman won a two-way primary and defeated the Republican incumbent in the recall election.

DLCC Wisconsin PAC ($11,724), Greater Wisconsin Political Independent Expenditure Fund ($408,369), Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin Fund ($622,618), Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin Inc. ($11,382), We Are Wisconsin Political Fund ($232,121), Wisconsin Education Assocation Council ($1,072), Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters IE Committee ($50,891) and Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters PAC ($809) made independent expenditures favoring Senator Lehman.

GOPAC Wisconsin ($48,531), NRA Political Victory Fund ($127), Republican State Leadership Committee Inc. ($34,114) and Wisconsin Right to Life PAC ($1,358) made independent expenditures supporting his opponent.

One group, Wisconsin Recall Action Fund spent an estimated $220,000 and ran advertising campaigns that met the legal standards for independent expenditures, but never reported its spending as required by law. Two years later, in August 2014, Wisconsin Recall Action Fund filed reports claiming it spent only $9,500 on Lehman’s recall election. The late reports, however, clearly devote only a fraction of the group’s total $1.9 million in spending during the first half of 2012 to its spending on recall electioneering activities.

Greater Wisconsin Committee spent undisclosed amounts on "issue ads" supporting Senator Lehman. American Federation for Children, Americans for Prosperity, Center for Union Facts, Club for Growth Wisconsin, MacIver Institute for Public Policy and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce spent undisclosed amounts on "issue ads" in opposition.

2013-2014: Education; Workforce Development, Forestry, Mining and Revenue; Joint Legislative Audit; Joint Survey on Tax Exemptions; Review of the Common Core Standards Initiative.

2011-2012: Education and Corrections (Chair); Children and Families, Disability Rights and Housing Sustainability; Job Training, Technical Colleges and Workforce Development; Labor, Consumer Buying Power and Consumer Protection; Joint Finance.

*All figures represent candidate income before any returns.