Campaign Finance Violations Filed Against Prosser, RPW, And A Fraudulent WI PAC March 12, 2012

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Wisconsin has been, for the last year, ground zero in the fight against ALEC and corporate run or fascist government. As activists, we are thrown new challenges every day. Just when you think they “won’t go there,” they do. A few of the things we have fought just this session alone include; classifying non married parents as a risk factor for abuse, ending equal pay, declaring war on a sovereign nation, and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Day in and day out horrible bills are created, railroaded through, and rubber stamped. I would go as far as to say that the legislature and administration will bend over backwards, on the backs of the people, to serve any and all corporate interests. For the people on the ground in the Wisconsin State Capitol, this has been an ongoing struggle. We are but citizens fighting a giant corporate and legislative machine. In some states this may seem strange. But here in Wisconsin, we have had a long tradition of bipartisan and transparent politics.

Often when fighting something so complex, we find ourselves wondering, how can we keep fighting? Every day we are on the defensive. The legislators have months to plan a bill. The people are so often left with just twenty four hours to come up with an argument for or against the bill. That’s when I decided to go back to the basics. I was preparing for my public testimony against a bill that would eliminate all campaign finance laws, but only for corporations. I also heard talk of a bill that would eliminate the Campaign Finance Information System, a system which stores any and all filings with the Government Accountability Board. This includes campaign finance reports. Fortunately, this bill will likely never pass, but it still left me wondering why one would want to stop allowing electronic viewing of campaign finance reports.

I could only think of one reason why one would want to do that. And that reason was that they have something to hide. It was then that I got so upset I came up with an idea. I downloaded all of the campaign finance reports from 2010-2012 for every member of the Assembly committee in charge of handling election issues. I then looked for anything abnormal. Being Executive Director of a PAC, and having run campaigns before, I was acquainted with campaign finance law. Out of all the campaign finance laws, however, there is one that is the most complained about by candidates and donors alike. This would be WI State Statute 11.06 (b). This clause is simple. It states that all donations over $100 must include employer or occupation. As simple as it seems it does cause many issues. Defending Wisconsin PAC has even had to return donations before because people refused to provide this.http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/03/12/campaign-finance-violations-filed-against-prosser-rpw-and-a-fraudulent-wi-pac/

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1. This is so awesome!! Thank You so much Segway!!! K&R

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2. He does a fantastic job describing prosser:

"But I didn’t stop there. Over the next month I looked over the reports of every justice on the Supreme Court. You would think Supreme Court Justices would have flawless reports. They are, after all, judges. In most cases you would be correct in assuming that. Actually in all cases except State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser. You may remember him from April when he “won” the election due to 14,000 votes popping almost out of mid air. That was followed by a recount and although he was declared the winner, nothing was actually determined. The reason for this was that in Waukesha County, many tag numbers didn’t match bag numbers and other bags were wide open. And although they were never able to prove that the ballots were not tampered with, Prosser was declared the winner. You may also remember him from when he called the Chief Justice, Shirley Abrahamson, a bitch. Or when he put his hand around Justice Bradley’s neck after refusing to leave HER office when asked."

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3. Indeed! n/t