Posted on 04/04/2008 9:16:03 PM PDT by marktwain
The political action committee of the National Rifle Association spent more than $73,000 this week on mailings in support of Michael Gableman's campaign for Supreme Court.
Gableman is challenging incumbent Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler in Tuesday's election.
According to documents filed with the Government Accountability Board, the NRA Political Victory Fund spent more than $14,000 on postcards and more than $59,000 on postage on March 27. Because the expenditure was made on March 27, the cost was not recorded on the most recent campaign finance reports filed with the GAB; the cutoff for those filings was March 17.
Gableman was endorsed March 25 by both the NRA Political Victory Fund and the Wisconsin Rifle and Pistol Association.
Gableman also received some big contributions in recent days from out-of-state donors, including $10,000 from Jay Newman, a financier from New York, and $10,000 from Bonnie Loeb, an executive assistant from New York. Both work for Elliot Management, a hedge fund firm. Gableman also received $5,000 from Richard Uihlein, an executive from Lake Forest, Ill and $5,000 from David C. Humphreys of Joplin, Mo.
Meanwhile, the Greater Wisconsin PAC on March 25 spent nearly $96,000 on ads in support of Butler and in opposition to Gableman. In recent weeks Butler's campaign also received some big contributions, including $2,500 from Suzanne Herzing, director of communications at Herzing College, $2,000 from Mark Young, an attorney in Milwaukee and $1,000 from Mary Ellen Sensenbrenner of Madison.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law, four independent groups had by mid-March spent nearly $1.5 million on television ads for the Supreme Court race. These groups by law do not have to file reports with the GAB saying where their money is coming from or how much they spend.
According to campaign finance reports filed this week with the GAB, Gableman had raised about $278,000 through March 17 and Butler had raised about $470,000.
I think the NRA Political Victory Fund mailer made the difference. There is a significant population of NRA members in Wisconsin.
I have critiqued the NRA a considerable amount for their faults. But here, I must give them a kudos. They were instrumental to our success.
did you notice that the story leads with Gableman this and that...finally towards the end, talking about the unaccountable PACS.....they list first Gableman, and then almost as an afterthought, that Butler his opponent had rec’d about $200,000 more....
I have a real love/hate view with the NRA, but I’m glad then came through here. Judicial elections are the most important races in the entire country. It really is the most powerful branch of government.
I have one of these mailings in front of me.
There is nothing wrong with the mailing. It is exactly the type of message the NRA should be sending out.
I understand that this type of race has a low turnout. People often do not vote because they do not know the issues or candidates, or even that the election is coming up.
I think the most important thing about the mailing was just to let the NRA members know how the race affected issues near and dear to them.
I also received a mailing from NRA. It’s just a postcard, for crying out loud! I was familiar with Gableman’s credentials well before the election, but I’m glad the NRA helped out.
The NRA does more in one day than all the gun groups combined. There’s one gun group which is very critical of the NRA but hasn’t accomplished anything in the last eight years. It’s members can’t even tell me what they do.
Yes, they were not a lobbying group back in the sixties. Yes, out of 70 or so bourd members one is bound to say something stupid. They are still the best gun group we have.
Yes, they are the best. It would be nice if there was another great gun group out there doing exactly as the NRA but there isn’t. It would also be nice is the NRA could manufacture the votes needed for Gun Rights legislation but they don’t. That’s reality. It would also be nice if more than 5 percent of the gun owners would join some gun group but they are too lazy or stupid thinking bad things never happen if you just don’t think about them.
I have a real fondness for the Second Amendment Foundation. They joined with the NRA in the Katrina Lawsuits and they know how to work with other gun groups as well.
So to the sideline armchair commandos out there. Join a group. ANY GROUP. Just get involved because right now it’s easy. I won’t trust anyone who claims they will fight when it’s hard when now all they have to do is buy a simple membership.
I encouraged my husband over 25 yrs ago to become a life member, thinking it would “save” us in the long run....little did I understand that the life membership just made you an even bigger target for contributions....LOL
I have told numerous friends that is is much easier to be politically active now than to fight in any other way to regain our rights.
And, you know what? People have responded. I would say 1994 was the crest of the anti-freedom insanity. Waco woke up a lot of people. The 94 elections scared the anti-freedom politicians, and made them more cautious.
We are wining, but it is still a long hard fight. Things are a lot better than in mid 70’s. when I decided that I had to fight, or I could not look myself in the mirror. At that time, most who looked at the situation figured that we were destined to lose.
There was no Internet. There was no talk radio. Cable television was only on the horizon. Don Kates had not started his project to get 2nd Amendment Articles written for the law journals.
Now, I believe that we will win. The facts, the culture, the Constitution, and human nature are on our side.
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