One thing is certain about this spring's state Supreme Court election: However much Justice Louis Butler and his challenger, Burnett County Circuit Court Judge Michael Gableman, spend to get elected will be easily surpassed by spending by outside groups on their behalf.
Political campaigns, whether in partisan races like those for the Legislature, or nonpartisan ones for the judiciary, are increasingly bankrolled and in other ways influenced by outside groups.
"Essentially, what we've seen is the emergence of shadow parties that are not formally affiliated with the major political parties," says Mike McCabe, executive director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a watchdog group that tracks campaign spending. "They're highly partisan, usually staffed and run by longtime political operatives connected to the parties."
McCabe says the emergence of these groups "has everything to do with their ability to subvert campaign finance disclosure laws." He estimates that in 2006 about $15 million "moved under the radar and escaped disclosure and regulations for campaign finance contributions."
The main weapon in the arsenal of these groups is the so-called issue ads. Proponents paint these as legitimate free speech, a position the courts have affirmed to some extent. Foes paint them as efforts to skirt campaign finance laws.
Because issue ads do not tell people how to vote but instead urge them to "call Candidate X and tell him to stop ripping off the taxpayers," or words to that effect, they are not subject to donation limits or laws barring corporations and unions from donating.
Another reason for the emergence of such third-party groups is the decline of state political parties. "The parties in Wisconsin are not strong, and they have not been for a long time, in large part because you don't register by political party in Wisconsin," says Jay Heck, McCabe's counterpart at Common Cause in Wisconsin.
Beginning about three decades ago, says Heck, both parties began consolidating political power among legislative leaders. Legislative campaign committees "became the de facto political parties in this state. That's precisely why we had the legislative caucus scandal."
Other groups don't get involved in the money wars but nonetheless push a political agenda and help shape elections, in large part through the Internet. The most prominent such player is One Wisconsin Now, which during last year's Supreme Court race backed the candidacy of Linda Clifford by digging up dirt on Annette Ziegler.
On the conservative side are groups like Club for Growth Wisconsin and think tanks like the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, although the parallels aren't perfect. Club for Growth Wisconsin plays the money game, which One Wisconsin Now has so far avoided. And the Policy Research Institute sometimes lets research take it where conservatives are loath to tread, like its report last year challenging the effectiveness of school choice.
Here is an overview of some of Wisconsin's principal third-party political players.
Moneybags
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.
501 E. Washington Ave., Madison, WI 53703; 608-258-3400; www.wmc.org
Who belongs: Nearly 4,000 large and small businesses.
WMC, the Big Kahuna of business lobbying groups in Wisconsin, opens its coffers on behalf of candidates it believes will vote or rule in ways favorable to business. The group engages in some independent expenditures, which openly advocate for particular candidates and are governed by state campaign finance laws. But it is issue ads on which WMC is a pioneer and state leader.
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign calculates that WMC spent $2.5 million, mostly on issue ads, to help elect J.B. Van Hollen attorney general in 2006 and another $2.2 million to elevate Ziegler in her successful race against Clifford for the state Supreme Court last year. (WMC's independent expenditures on Ziegler's behalf were, in contrast, a paltry $36,100.)
WMC is expected to run issue ads in support of Gableman in his challenge of Butler in the April 1 election. But the magnitude of the lobbying group's effort won't be clear until the race is over, and even then, because the spending is unregulated, it will likely be a rough estimate.
Wisconsin Education Association Council
33 Nob Hill Rd., P.O. Box 8003, Madison, WI 53708; 608-276-7711; www.weac.org
Who belongs: Wisconsin teachers whose local unions are affiliated with the National Education Association.
WEAC is the state's largest teachers union (in second place is the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers). Most of its money goes to help elect Democrats who back WEAC-favored policies, such as smaller class sizes and an end to state measures that effectively cap what teachers can get at the bargaining table.
A huge outside funder of elections, WEAC spends almost all of its money openly via independent expenditures, which are governed by campaign finance laws. WEAC spent nearly $2 million in independent expenditure advertising in 2006, with the bulk of that - $1.78 million - going to help re-elect Gov. Jim Doyle.
In addition, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign estimates that WEAC spent $200,000 on issue ads targeting particular candidates in the 2006 election cycle. That doesn't include ads the union aired outside of election times, like those commending Doyle for using his veto pen to boost education funding in the 2005 budget.
All Children Matter
201 Monroe Ave. NW, Ste. 300, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 ; 616-776-5440; www.allchildrenmatter.org
Who belongs: Unclear. The organization's website doesn't directly solicit membership, and representatives did not return Isthmus' telephone call.
Founded by Dick DeVos, son of the founders of Amway, All Children Matter says its mission is "to work for the election of public officials who are committed to the enactment of meaningful reforms to ensure that all children in America - without regard to race or family income - have equal access to a quality education."
In other words, it exists to support school voucher programs.
All Children Matter has thus far stayed out of Wisconsin Supreme Court races, perhaps because there hasn't been much litigation on vouchers in Wisconsin since the 1990s. But it has played a role in other state contests.
In 2006, the group's political action committee spent $45,856 on GOP candidates in one Assembly and two Senate races. Separately, it spent an estimated $1 million on issue ads benefiting Republicans in the same cycle. Its issue ads ripping Doyle never mentioned school choice. And the state Elections Board ruled that its brochure attacking state Senate hopeful John Lehman violated issue-ad rules because it explicitly told people how to vote.
Greater Wisconsin Committee
P.O. Box 861, Madison, WI 53701; 608-279-5199
Who belongs: Unclear. A representative did not return Isthmus' telephone call.
The Greater Wisconsin Committee doesn't talk much about what it does. It has no website and apparently no general membership recruitment. A memo from the GWC posted at wispolitics.com and dated May 1, 2006, describes the group as tax-exempt, independent and issue-oriented, with a mission to "educate and mobilize Wisconsin residents on important economic, health, social and environmental issues."
The group has listed Democratic political kingmaker and blogger Bill Christofferson as its "general media consultant." Michelle McGrorty, GWC executive director, didn't return a call seeking updated information. A former fund-raiser for convicted state Sen. Chuck Chvala, McGrorty testified under immunity about illegal fund-raising activities during the state Capitol caucus investigation.
GWC runs a political action committee that has made some independent expenditures. But most of its money is spent on issue ads - an estimated $4.6 million in 2006, including attacks on Van Hollen, gubernatorial challenger Mark Green, and a handful of GOP legislative candidates. In 2007, it spent an estimated $400,000 on issue ads benefiting Linda Clifford.
The source of most of that cash remains undisclosed, but McCabe's group traced $1.1 million in 2005 and 2006 to the Democratic Governors Association, another $800,000 to the Democratic Attorney Generals Association, and some $1.7 million to unions, wealthy individuals and corporations.
GWC is now running ads questioning Judge Gableman's appointment to the bench, based on research done by another group, One Wisconsin Now.
Club for Growth Wisconsin Inc.
1223 W. Main St., #304, Sun Prairie, WI 53590; 877-707-0571;wicfg.com
Who belongs: Anyone who signs up for free on the group's website; nationally, "40,000 men and women from all walks of life."
This is the state branch of a national group that promotes lower taxes, reduced government regulation, school choice programs and unfettered free trade. The New York Times three years ago described the principal organizers as "a handful of millionaires."
Nationally Club for Growth has consistently backed Republicans and criticized Democrats, but it also targets Republicans it deems insufficiently committed. The group serves as both a political organizing and a funding tool: Visitors to its website can join for free and make credit-card donations. They can also send pre-written letters to the editor via the Internet and find the phone numbers of talk-radio hosts around the state.
According to Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Club for Growth Wisconsin's first venture into state elections was in the 2007 Supreme Court race, when it spent an estimated $400,000 on issue ads benefiting Ziegler. In the spring election, it is expected to throw its weight behind Judge Gableman - and against Justice Butler.
Mouthpieces
One Wisconsin Now
207 E. Buffalo St., Milwaukee, WI 53202; 414-220-9250; www.onewisconsinnow.org
Who belongs: People who sign up for free on the organization's website.
OWN is a web-based vehicle for organizing progressives and promoting their causes and candidates. It's a cross between a news and activism portal and a social-networking site. Visitors can create free web accounts, set up personal blogs, and post to the OWN activist calendar; they can also make donations via credit card.
A registered state lobby group, OWN doesn't contribute financially to campaigns, but is neck deep in elections. In 2007, it reported that Supreme Court candidate Ziegler had, as a Washington County judge, presided over 45 cases in which she had a potential conflict of interest. The Wisconsin State Journal and other media took it from there, turning the issue into a scandal. Ziegler was elected anyway, but was subsequently fined by the state Ethics Board and still faces a recommended reprimand from her colleagues on the Supreme Court.
In the upcoming election, OWN has set its sights on Gableman. Staff blogger Cory Liebmann has charged that Gableman has a disproportionately high rate of reversals before the state Court of Appeals. And the group has suggested that the judge's appointment by then Gov. Scott McCallum in 2002 bypassed normal procedures in return for contributions to McCallum's campaign.
Americans for Prosperity
1126 S. 70th St., Suite S219A, Milwaukee, WI 53214; 877-667-2975;www.afpwi.org
Who belongs: People who sign up for free on the organization's website.
Americans for Prosperity, a registered lobby organization, campaigns for lower taxes and limited government. It's backed the Wisconsin Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and similar measures to constrain the ability of local governments to hike taxes. And it pushes to cut government spending, reduce regulation, and combat the "overcriminalization" of economic activity.
The group's funding comes from, among other sources, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, which derived its money from oil and gas.
During last fall's state budget stalemate, AFP paid to bus hundreds of people to Madison for protests against tax hikes, including the Healthy Wisconsin plan to expand health care. The group did not appear to take part in the 2007 Supreme Court race, and McCabe says its too early to tell if it will play a role in the Butler/Gableman contest.
AFP's Wisconsin director, Mark Block, was fined $15,000 and temporarily banned from working on state political campaigns for illegally coordinating activities with a pro-school-voucher group in 1997, when he was managing the reelection campaign of Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox.
Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee
c/o State Bar of Wisconsin, P.O. Box 7158, Madison WI 53707;
608-250-6004; www.wifaircourts.com
Who belongs: A bipartisan group of lawyers and others, mostly Democrats and moderate Republicans.
A project of the Wisconsin Bar Association, the Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee says it wants to restore nonpartisanship to Wisconsin judicial races.
Citing Wisconsin statutes that prohibit "false statements and certain misrepresentations during the course of judicial campaigns," the group has set itself up as a monitor of the election and is urging candidates to sign a voluntary pledge of campaign conduct. Butler has done so; his challenger, Gableman, has so far declined.
While the committee presents itself as an independent watchdog, the GOP-leaning Club for Growth Wisconsin has obtained and posted emails it says show the committee "has made false and misleading statements to the media, coordinated partisan attacks to silence critics, and even recommended strategies for Butler's campaign." The emails do not fully substantiate such assertions but do suggest some level of hostility toward Gableman, which may hurt the committee's effort to present itself as above taking sides.