Judith Davidoff
A placard displayed at Wednesday's news conference.
The day after a recall campaign was launched against Gov. Scott Walker in November, Foster Friess gave the governor $100,000.
Friess is the wealthy supporter of socially conservative causes -- and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum -- who infamously stated on MSNBC earlier this month that an aspirin could double as birth control for a woman.
"You know, back in my days, they'd use Bayer aspirin for contraceptives," he said. "The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn't that costly."
In October 2010, Friess gave Walker $4,600. The same month his wife, Lynnette, gave him $6,100.
Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) held a news conference Wednesday morning at the state Capitol demanding that Walker repudiate Friess' statement, which she called demeaning to women, and return his money.
"Gov. Walker, whose side are you on?" she asked. "Are you…on the side of an out-of-state billionaire who wants to send us back to the dark ages?"
Taylor and 11 other Democratic members of the state Assembly also sent a letter to Walker with these same demands.
Walker spokeswoman Ciara Matthews did not return a phone call for comment.
A petition being circulated by the advocacy organization One Wisconsin Now, which also asks that Walker return Friess' money, has already collected some 2,000 signatures, said Taylor.
Other lawmakers attending the news conference included Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha), Rep. Brett Hulsey (D-Madison), Rep. Kelda Helen Roys (D-Madison), Madison Common Council member Lisa Subeck, and County Board supervisors Carousel Bayrd and Dianne Hesselbein.