A screenshot of RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund's website on behalf of Mike Verveer.
A political action committee funded by the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin (RASCW) is spending $170,000 to influence a number of Madison city council races that are on the ballot April 4. That’s nearly the same amount as the combined total of what every city council candidate spent in 2021. There were 24 active campaigns in the general election that year.
A tax-exempt advocacy group called “RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund” is spending $18,000 to $21,000, per race, to design and mail out campaign literature, buy online advertisements, and purchase text messages services on behalf of 10 local office seekers, including incumbent Alds. Jael Currie, Charles Myadze and Mike Verveer, according to campaign disclosure forms filed on March 13. The PAC is also spending heavily to support Derek Field, John Guequierre, Brad Hinkfuss, Julia Matthews and Davy Mayer who are running in council districts with open seats. By law, RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund is prohibited from coordinating their campaign activities with the candidates.
The PAC is also spending $9,000 on online ads and text messages in support of Madison Ald. Nikki Conklin in District 9 on the far west side and another $17,500 for Fitchburg mayoral candidate Julia Arata-Fratta.
According to campaign disclosure forms, the PAC spent a total of $187,366.01 in the week after it was created in 10 local elections in Madison and Fitchburg.
RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund registered with the state on March 7 using a mailbox at The UPS Store on East Towne Boulevard as its official address. The advocacy group is trying to influence voters in nine of the 14 competitive Madison alder races this spring. The treasurer of the PAC is Ruth Hackney, who is also the CEO of the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin. On its website, RASCW touts its “strong political voice through REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC)” and its affiliation with the National Association of REALTORS, the largest trade association in the country. Both of those groups support Democrats and Republicans in state and federal elections.
Hackney explained the PAC's interest in the races in an email. "The RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund is dedicated to supporting policies and candidates that will help solve Madison’s housing crises. We are excited to help inform the public about the candidates that realize that we cannot move forward in Madison without building housing that is available to all. Wisconsin’s housing crisis is at a tipping point, and we will continue to create compelling campaigns to help residents realize who the local elected officials are that want to continue to move the city into the future."
This isn’t the first time advocacy groups connected to the real estate industry have been involved in local races in Madison. During the 2021 spring election, A Better Dane County — also funded by real estate interest groups — spent nearly $30,000 on billboards and mailers in support of four council candidates. Former Ald. Brenda Konkel says the level of spending by the Realtor group this year is off-the-charts.
“[An outside group] spending $20,000 in one council race — let alone seven — is definitely not something we have seen before,” says Konkel. “This is unprecedented.”
Historically, candidates running for alder campaigned by meeting their neighbors at community events, attending candidate forums, and knocking on doors. In hotly contested races, council candidates raised a few thousand dollars to distribute yard signs and maybe mail out one or two pieces of campaign literature, which are pricey.
Many Madison voters have already received the first batch of campaign mailers from RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund. The mailers are similar in style to what local candidates typically send out and are uniquely designed for each district.
The front of RASCW’s mailer in support of northside Ald. Myadze — who is running against challenger Michelle Ellinger Linley — states, “Myadze for Affordable Housing and Fair Transit Access” in big bold text over an image of the Madison skyline.
The real-estate group’s mailer in District 6, on the isthmus, states Mayer will create “a sustainable, equitable, and thriving Madison.” Mayer is running against former Ald. Marsha Rummel, who represented the Marquette/Atwood area on the council for more than a decade before deciding not to run for reelection in 2021.
Mailers sent by the RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund for Davy Mayer, Mike Verveer and Charles Myadze.
All three RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund mailers tell voters the candidates support affordable housing.
The mailer for downtown Ald. Verveer uses an art deco-style font and states “Mike Makes Madison Stronger.” Verveer is running against challenger Max Laubenstein.
In all three of the RASCW mailers obtained by Isthmus, voters are told the candidate supports affordable housing but the verbiage is different:
Myadze supports “creating housing options for residents of all incomes.”
Mayer will “make affordable housing available in all parts of the city.”
Verveer’s plan is to increase “access to safe, affordable housing of all types.”
The mailer features QR codes that connect to websites with digital versions of the campaign literature — although only the one for Verveer was working when this article was published.
Every candidate receiving support from the RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund — except Guequierre — has been endorsed by Dane Dems (the county party has endorsed both candidates in a number of council races). Progressive Dane is supporting Verveer, Conklin and Matthews.
Progressive Dane is also endorsing Rummel in District 6 and Ellinger Linley in District 18, both of whom are running against realtor-backed candidates.
Linda Lehnertz, a member of the Marquette Neighborhood Association, alerted her neighbors to the PAC spending in her district via the group’s listserv. Lehnertz called it, “ABSOLUTELY APPALLING.”
“In the 2013 District 6 alder race, the Building a Stronger Wisconsin PAC sent out a mailer supporting one of the candidates. It raised quite a stir on this listserv,” states Lehnertz in the March 18 email to members of the Marquette Neighborhood Association. “As one poster at the time said: ‘If a Madison council seat can attract this kind of PAC intrusion, what's next? PAC mailers for [Willy Street] Co-op, MNA and Wil-Mar board seats?’”
After this story published, candidate Davy Mayer posted this statement on his website to his "District 6 neighbors."
"As you have likely heard, the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin Housing Advocacy Fund has spent large sums of money in support of nine alder candidates in the spring elections. The District 6 expenditures were postcards and other communications that could be construed as coming from my campaign.
"I was as surprised as anyone by these expenditures and knew nothing of them until this mailer appeared in my mailbox last week. By law I cannot coordinate with these types of groups and I will not. I strongly oppose these types of outside spending. Not only should we attempt to limit the activities of these groups, but this is yet another reason that we should have publicly financed local political campaigns."
[Editor's note: This story was updated to include statements from candidate Davy Mayer and Ruth Hackney, treasurer of the RASCW Housing Advocacy Fund. It was also corrected to note that John Guequierre was not endorsed by the Dane Dems.]
