Posted on 10/16/2011 4:44:22 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
Madison - A quirk in state law will allow Gov. Scott Walker and state senators to fight looming recalls by raising unlimited campaign contributions of the kind never before seen in Wisconsin.
That ability to collect donations many times larger than the regular limits could prove a significant advantage to the Republican governor and incumbent senators from either party if they face recalls.
That also could push spending in the latest possible round of recalls even higher than the record $44 million in estimated spending in the round of Senate recall elections held this summer.
In that previous round of recalls, one prominent Republican senator received $31,500 from one couple, or more than fifteen times the amount allowed for a couple under the regular limits in state law. In all, nearly $900,000 above the normal contribution limits flowed into those Senate recall elections, with the vast majority going to Republicans, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a group that tracks political donations.
"If somebody's willing to give $20,000 and $30,000 to a state senator, then six figure (donations) wouldn't surprise me in the least when you're talking about a recall of the governor," said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Democracy Campaign.
The likely recall attempts reflect Democrats' anger over Walker's agenda, including his legislation repealing most union bargaining for most public employees.
In Wisconsin, gubernatorial candidates normally can't raise more than $10,000 from a single contributor during a four-year election cycle. Senate candidates normally can't raise more than $1,000 from an individual donor.
Republicans said they expected Walker to do well with fundraising while those limits were lifted. They noted that Walker's efforts to restrict union bargaining and hold down taxes made the governor better liked by the party's core supporters than some GOP presidential candidates.
But Stephan Thompson, executive director of the state Republican Party, said Walker also does well with small, grass-roots donors and that those "will continue to be the lifeblood of his campaign."
Dan Romportl, executive director of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate, said any GOP senators facing a recall would "absolutely take advantage of the unlimited fundraising period." He said he expected "pretty strong and aggressive support" from donors for Republican incumbents.
State Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said he also believed that Walker would be able to raise big donations because he's delivered for large corporations in his budget and other legislation.
"I think this is going to be his payday," Tate said of the governor. "He is going to get rewarded financially."
Tate said he believed Democrats still could be competitive.
He pointed to the fundraising for the Walker recall effort that the Democratic Party has done since Monday on ActBlue, a website based in Cambridge, Mass., that can funnel donations from around the country to Democratic causes. As of Friday afternoon, some 4,300 donors had contributed $122,000 to the Walker recall.
Adrian Arroyo, communications director for ActBlue, said the donations outpaced any other fundraising on the site for a state political campaign, though not necessarily federal ones.
Big donations
In the recall campaigns this year, Senate incumbents received 275 contributions above the normal legal limit. That amounted to $889,000 above those limits, with $851,000 of that going to Republicans and $38,000 to Democrats, according to the Democracy Campaign.
That's allowed because once groups officially start recall attempts, those contribution limits are set aside for individual donors as well as for political parties and political action committees.
Reid Magney, a spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, said state officials facing recall can raise unlimited funds from the time when a committee registers with the state seeking to recall that politician to the time when a recall election is ordered and any legal appeals of that order are exhausted.
The money received by the lawmaker over the normal limits can be spent only on certain things, however. During the up to 60 days in which a recall committee is gathering signatures, the spending could include television ads urging citizens not to sign a recall petition, Magney said.
Once signatures are turned in, the candidate also can spend the unlimited donations on any aspect of the legal fight over whether a recall election should be ordered.
Finally, if the candidate has a debt from any of their spending on ads during the 60 days or on their legal fight afterward, he or she can continue to raise unlimited funds to pay that debt.
Recall elections were held this summer against nine of the eligible senators of both parties for their stances on Walker's union bargaining law. Two Democratic challengers defeated Republican incumbents, and the remaining seven incumbents held on to their seats.
Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), the co-chairwoman of the Legislature's budget committee, won her recall election.
Darling's top contributor was Daniel McKeithan of River Hills, the president of Tamarack Petroleum, who with his spouse gave $31,500 to Darling this year, according to the Democracy Campaign. McKeithan could not be reached for comment.
Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls), another budget committee member who survived a recall election, received $21,000 from Grant Nelson of Prescott, who has long given to Harsdorf and other Republicans.
The two sides in last summer's Senate recall campaigns spent a record $44 million, with Democrats and their allies outspending Republicans by just less than $3 million, or about 14%, according to rough estimates done by the Democracy Campaign.
With Walker and more senators eligible for recall, the spending could rise even higher in the next round of recalls, McCabe said.
Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Wisconsin ping
I guess this guy is pretty upset the Governor and the Senators will be able to defend themselves. And he doesn’t say so, but this appears to suggest that the teachers’ unions in WI are out of campaign funds.
[sarc] Now, isn’t that a shame... {/sarc}
(It’s the leftist Journal Sentinel It’s to be expected.)
The SHAME of it all is that the Taxpayers pay ALL the salaries and benefits of Government Employees, both current and retired, AND, the money is funneled through the Unions to keep the trough open and over-filled....what a system.
Obama is aiming to raise a billion for his run in 2012.
Is this stupid newspaper upset about that? I can’t wait to see articles and opinion pieces scolding him.
Lines are being drawn pretty clearly this time, I’d say. No pussilanimous pretense in this cycle. That might be better, all things considered (no pun intended there).
A quirk in state law will allow Gov. Scott Walker and state senators to fight looming recalls by raising unlimited campaign contributions of the kind never before seen in Wisconsin. That ability to collect donations many times larger than the regular limits could prove a significant advantage to the Republican governor and incumbent senators from either party if they face recalls.
A bitterly bought battle...
“Walker will be rewarded handsomely”.
I disagree.
Walker is raising money to fight a recall. The Dems started the recall crap.
The winners are the businesses which will print brochures, signs, rentals on halls for speaking trips, fuel for such trips, hotel & motel rooms, food -—all the kinds of campaign costs that are normally only required every 4 years.
This is out of the election cycle, so the winners are the vendors who will be supporting such campaign efforts.
It is a flow-thru of those donations...not a place for Walker to be lining his pockets.
This is out of the election cycle, so the winners are the vendors who will be supporting such campaign efforts.
GMTA -- just another goofy jobs plan from the twisted minds of the Democrat Party. Don't forget the TV/Radio/Newspaper ad buys - that's where the real money is.
How many Dem senators are getting recall petitions done on them in this round?
Was it the libtards or the pubbies who put these special election contribution laws in place to start with?
My guess is libtards. And now they are crying about them because it’s biting them in the butt.
“Now isn’t that a shame (sarc)”
Yeah it sure is, and these il-conceived recalls will finish off the unions. They will have pissed away what’s left of their funds and the new laws have made it very difficult for them to “replenish” their coffers. Sounds good to me!
All the rest of the Republicans are under threat, as far as I know. I don’t know if the Repubilcans will try to oust Dem Senators. I’ve heard nothing about that. There were a couple of eligible Republicans last time where they couldn’t get enough signatures (like Sen.
Glenn Grothman). I don’t know if they are going to try again with him. There is also the question that districts have been redrawn, so I don’t know what that means. Scott will be first to face recall. They have to wait until it has been one year since the last election to start gathering signatures, so it starts Nov. 15. They’ve been gathering names and addresses against Scott all along, so they will just try to re-activate that list.
All I know is that it has been terrifically expensive for all these men and women and for their constituents. I’ve never given so much to so many, and it isn’t really election season. Anybody who can hep with even a small donation will be tremendously appreciated.
So an elected official has to call on his donors twice to get and stay in office for the normal term. The first election the donors of the successful candidate have to contribute enough to get him elected. Then on the recall election the same donors have to match an unlimited campaign against their guy just to keep him there.
This gives a lot of power to the minority.
You got it. I wish that they’d call on us only twice. Plus, we are asked for donations for other embattled Senators. I donated this past election to the Governor (more than once), to my own Senator (who then escaped recall because they couldn’t get enough signatures, but they might try again), to several neighboring Senators, and to several Republicans who were trying to unseat the Fleebagging Democrats (unsuccessful). If I’d had more money I could have given to several more worthy candidates.
Now, business is bad, and I’m out of money for a while. But, the unions haven’t given up; and we start all over again. Plus, they’ve redrawn the district lines and I have all new representatives that I should support. The Dems seem to have unlimited funds.
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