The totals are in and to those who know we’re in a suffering economy, the paradox remains striking. According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, there was more than $80.9 million spent in the campaign to recall Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin). To put that number in perspective, $37.4 million, a record at that time, was spent in 2010 to get him elected in the first place.
But what’s interesting is how the money was spent. As the Democracy Campaign reports, “Governor Scott Walker… doled out $36.1 million to win. Democratic candidates doled out $13.1 million led by (Democratic candidate Tom) Barrett who spent $6.6 million.”
Now, I’m no mathematician, but that leaves $31.7 million spent by outside groups. There’s been an awful lot of discussion regarding campaign finance reform in light of the huge amounts spent on the recalls in general over the last couple years. The Citizens United Supreme Court case of a few years back has been described as the corporatising of our elections as it allowed unlimited donations from corporations and unions to direct electioneering.
But there was an interesting article out this week by New York Times political writer, Matt Bai, in which he details the realities of a post-Citizens United world. In the story, he highlights how it’s not just companies giving unlimited amounts of money, but also very wealthy individuals from varied political perspectives and maybe more onerously, the donations are to groups operating out of the part of the IRS tax code (527s, 501(c)4s) that don’t require disclosure.
That’s what’s interesting to me about that $31.7 million spent by outside groups in this summer’s recall. It’s groups like Greater Wisconsin Political Independent Expenditure Fund which is a registered c4 or the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Issues Mobilization Council which promotes on its website that “donor identities are not subject to disclosure.”
Here’s the point: Donations to candidates are traceable. Even those who gave the governor hundreds of thousands of dollars when he was under no limits before the recall was certified, they are named. Those who donated to these outside groups are not.
Just some food for thought as you discuss the amount of money set to be spent on this fall’s races. During our Fact Check 101 workshops that you can always access here on our election website, WisconsinVote.org, I always encourage folks and help show them how to figure out who’s paying for the messages coming to them on tv, radio or on line. Maybe it matters to them, maybe it doesn’t, but at least now they can find out how to figure that out themselves.
DROUGHT UPDATE
As the summer continues to heat up and drag on, the state is marshaling its resources to help those most impacted.
The best website for folks interested in finding out everything from cooling centers to drought resources is the state’s emergency management site, Ready Wisconsin.
There’s a great site sponsored by the UW-Cooperative Extension folks called Farmer to Farmer that allows farmers to connect with their counterparts from around the state to buy things like corn and hay. A new feature called “Greener Pastures,” allows farmers to see where they might be able to move animals to a literally greener pasture to help them survive the drought.
One more site set up by the Cooperative Extension is a good resource as well for all things drought related. You can sign up for an email update there if you’d like too.
Finally, if you didn’t catch our joint Wisconsin Public TV-Wisconsin Public Radio hour-long special on the drought last Friday night, you can watch it here: http://wptschedule.org/bemoretunedin/?p=3012&utm_source=wpt&utm_medium=closerlook&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=Wisconsin_Drought
.
