David Michael Miller
At a time when UW-Madison continues to face deep state cuts and legislative attacks on its mission and integrity, a group of prominent alumni, donors and supporters has formed a new, independent advocacy organization that will lobby state government on behalf of the internationally renowned research institution — and fund candidates for office.
The 501(c)(4) advocacy organization has about 15 people committed to serve on its board of directors and is in the process of hiring an executive director, says Cory Nettles, a board member who is acting as the group’s spokesman as it prepares to make an official announcement. A 501(c)(4) is similar to a Super PAC but without the requirement to disclose donors. Members of the group plan to lobby lawmakers on an individual basis as a means to improve communication and foster understanding between elected officials and university officials. The group also expects its executive director to “Plan and execute a strategy to solicit and distribute political contributions to candidates and elected officials.”
“This is completely independent of the UW System,” Nettles says. “We’re free to advocate without political entanglement.”
Still in its “startup phase,” the group is working under the name Badger Advocates, but that name is subject to change, Nettles says. Badger Advocates was also the name of a previous lobbying organization that formed in 2011 to promote the New Badger Partnership, a controversial proposal to split UW-Madison from the rest of the UW System and convert the institution into a public authority model. That plan was eventually removed from the 2011-2013 state budget.
This current incarnation of Badger Advocates includes some members from the previous organization, but Nettles says the new group will take a broader, more institutional approach to its lobbying efforts rather than focusing on single-issue advocacy. Groups of UW-Madison supporters have been coming together under the Badger Advocates moniker “on and off” over the last several years, Nettles says, but recent policy decisions affecting the university and last year’s $250 million budget cut have spurred organizers to accelerate their efforts. For now, the focus will be solely on UW-Madison, but there has been discussion of including the entire UW System.
“We really acknowledge the work that’s been done in the past, but we thought we needed something that transcended any specific issue,” Nettles says. “We felt strongly as alums and as volunteers that there ought to be a strong, independent, bipartisan, national and internationally focused group of people that’s advocating aggressively on behalf of the university.”
Nettles says he and the other Badger Advocates volunteers want to prevent the university and its work from being “politicized” and ensure that the university remains “appropriately resourced” in future budget cycles so that it can retain its status as a “world-class and preeminent” research institution. While a formal plan for the lobbying issues and approach is still being developed, Nettles says the state’s next biennial budget will “absolutely be top of mind.” But advocating on broader policy issues, such as tenure protections, will also be high on the group’s agenda.
“We really will be focused on those big, strategic issues that will affect the university for years to come,” Nettles says. “We’re trying to make sure that university leadership has the space to make decisions about what’s best for the university long term.”
Pending its official announcement, Badger Advocates is not yet releasing the names of its board members, but Nettles says the group will be “intergenerational” and will include individuals who have been involved with a number of schools within UW-Madison as well as its advisory boards and the UW System Board of Regents.
“They are the ‘who’s who,’ in my view, of the Wisconsin and national leadership,” Nettles says. “There will be names that are instantly recognizable.”
The group is also forming an advisory board of UW supporters — numbering 50 or more — who do not have time to take on the fiduciary responsibilities of the main board. This board will draw on UW alumni from around the world.
Pete Christianson, a Madison-based lawyer and lobbyist, has been volunteering with Badger Advocates during the startup phase. He was also involved in 2011 with the earlier incarnation. With a five-generation family connection to UW-Madison, Christianson hopes the group’s lobbying efforts will foster “better appreciation” among the individuals working at both ends of State Street.
“I don’t think they talk enough,” Christianson says of the relationship between elected officials and UW-Madison officials. “If they talk more, there would be more understanding.”
Christianson also foresees Badger Advocates reaching out to the business community to emphasize and strengthen the university’s “almost limitless” contributions to the statewide economy. And like many others, he laments the decline in state support for the university and worries about what Wisconsin would become if the state’s flagship university were to diminish in quality or prestige.
“We have a world-class research institution here,” Christianson says. “If you took that away, we’d be more like Idaho and Montana — but without the mountains.”
