David Michael Miller
If money equals speech, as the courts have ruled, then the loudest voice in the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court belongs to Justice Rebecca Bradley.
Bradley reported raising $479,814 in the last reporting period, covering Feb. 2 through March 21, about $100,000 more than her opponent, Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg.
But the actual gap is even greater, as Bradley has reported $50,000 in late contributions after March 21, including $27,318 in in-kind contributions from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, for campaign-related activities. Kloppenburg reported just $2,000 in late contributions.
The two candidates are vying in the April 5 election for a 10-year term on the court. Bradley, who was appointed to the seat last October by Gov. Scott Walker, is favored by conservatives, while Kloppenburg is backed by liberals. Overall, Bradley has raised a total of $847,924 for her campaign. Kloppenberg has raised $718,690, including $157,000 in loans.
In all, the Republican Party has reported giving $69,176 to Bradley’s cause. Kloppenburg has criticized her rival for accepting help from a political party in a nonpartisan race. Bradley spokeswoman Madison Wiberg, in an email, dismisses this concern, saying Bradley “is glad to have the support of anyone in Wisconsin.”
As of the March 21 reporting cutoff, Bradley reportedly spent $649,352 and had about $150,000 cash on hand. Kloppenburg spent $518,760 and had about $200,000 on hand.
Bradley’s campaign, in a press release on Tuesday, boasted that the candidate had received 2,780 donations and that “98% of the overall contributions were $100 or less.”
That’s not actually true. Of the 2,760 individual contributions received by the campaign between Feb. 2 and March 21, 2,300 were for $100 or less, or 83%.
Wiberg, in an email, reconstituted this claim, saying the “bottom 98% of donations” averaged out to $100, which is quite different than what was stated in the press release. The campaign did not issue a correction.
Throughout the race, Bradley has raised $751,348 from individuals, 74% of this in donations above $100. Her average donation was $164. Kloppenburg, overall, has raised $514,965 in individual donations (including self loans), 70% from donations above $100. Her average contribution was $152.
Bradley has gotten many more donations of $1,000 or more: 168 compared to Kloppenburg’s 85. Notable Bradley donors include Jere Fabick ($20,000), president and CEO of FABCO in Milwaukee and a policy adviser for the conservative Heartland Institute; Beloit businesswoman and major Walker backer Diane Hendricks ($20,000); and Lou Gentine, chairman and CEO of Sargento Foods Inc. and his wife, Michele ($10,000 each).
Kloppenburg’s biggest donors include Milwaukee heiress Lynde Uihlein ($20,000), founder of the Brico Fund, a feminist nonprofit; Epic CEO Judith Faulkner and husband, Gordon ($22,500 combined); Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele ($10,000); and former Madison Mayor Joe Sensenbrenner ($10,000).
In several recent Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, candidate spending has been overshadowed by that of outside interest groups. It looks as though that will happen again.
According to One Wisconsin Now, which paid for an ad tracking service, the Wisconsin Alliance for Reform, a dark-money group with Republican ties, has already spent $3 million on ads backing Bradley.
Justice at Stake, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, says the Greater Wisconsin Committee, a dark-money group with Democratic and union ties, has spent at least $330,000 on TV ad contracts.
“With two outside spenders now ratcheting up the TV ad wars,” said Susan Liss, Justice at Stake’s executive director, “this election is going into the history books as another costly, attack-heavy contest that drags both the court and the candidates through the mud.”
