Big Money Bulletin PERMIT NO

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID MADISON, WI Big Money Bulletin PERMIT NO. 1069

203 South Paterson Street, Suite 100 Madison, WI 53703-3689 608 255-4260; www.wisdc.org Inside Fighting Racism Is a Democracy Issue Dear Friend, Page 2 Lafayette County Board I’m writing you today, just over a week after the horrific Fighting Racism — Page 1 Condemns Citizens United murder of George Floyd at the hands and the knee of Minneapolis IRS Allows More Dark $$$—Page 2 IRS Allows More Dark $$$ police. WMC Stiffs First Responders—Page 3 Page 3 And I’m reminded again that we cannot have a real WMC Slaps First Responders democracy in this country until we eradicate racism. Rebecca Bradley’s Conflict Because the democracy we fight for – in our efforts to curb Dan Kelly Wants Revenge money in politics and to ban gerrymandering – is a democracy Page 4 where everyone has an equal voice. Nonviolent Protests in Wis. Racism deprives people of color of their voice – and far too often, of their breath. In our corner of the democracy field, we see how the campaign finance system itself is shot through with racism. The vast majority of big donors in this country and in this state are white. We did some research into the top 100 donors over the past decade, and only one was a person of color. Come Zoom with Nonviolent Protests in Wisconsin June/July 2020 Usually, it’s harder for candidates of color to raise money, Matt and Angie! and the candidates who win are beholden to hugely wealthy white In Wisconsin, in the Edition No. 120 wake of George folks, who don’t typically understand the needs and situations of Please join Matt most people of color – and most poor people, for that matter. and Madison Floyd’s murder, there were nonvio- www.wisdc.org Poet Laureate At a time when many elected officials view their donors as lent protests in Ap- their constituents, this is a profound problem. Angie Trudell pleton, Brookfield, Vasquez on Beloit, Burlington, We at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign are committed to Tues., July 7 at 7:00 p.m. Dodgeville, Eau flashing a light on this problem, and to doing our part in the fight for a Zoom get together. Claire, Fond du Lac, against racism. Green Bay, Ja- Matt will talk about the I’ll be speaking about this issue and the other major issues threats to our democracy, nesville, Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison, that are threatening our democracy – in Wisconsin and in here in Wisconsin and Manitowoc, Mari- Washington – in a Zoom videoconference for you and our other nationally. Angie will read a nette, Menomonie, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Prairie du Sac, Racine, members on Tuesday, July 7. Our bard member and Madison’s Poet couple of timely poems. And Rhinelander, Sheboygan, Stevens Point, Sun Prairie, Superior, Laureate Angie Trudell Vasquez will be joining me. Please RSVP then we’ll take any question Tomah, Viroqua, Waukesha, Wausau, West Bend, and Wisconsin here or email my colleague Beverly Speer for the details. you got! To sign up for the Rapids. So many people rose to the occasion, and while the media I hope you can attend. videoconference, RSVP here focused on the relatively small group that fell to the occasion, and or email Beverly Speer for preyed on the occasion, let’s celebrate those who honored the memory of George Floyd by protesting nonviolently. Thank you! the details. Lafayette County Board IRS Allows More Dark $$$ Special Interest Follies Condemns Citizens United IRS made it easier for the super rich, corpora- WMC Slaps First Responders Rebecca Bradley’s Conflict On May 19, the Lafayette County Board tions, and foreigners to meddle in our elections unde- unanimously approved a resolution saying that it tected. Republican legislative leaders made it more difficult While the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled is in favor of amending the U.S. Constitution to for police, firefighters and other first responders to qualify in favor of Speaker Robin Vos and Majority The IRS got rid of the rule that required many for workers compensation in a coronavirus relief bill after a Leader Scott Fitzgerald in their challenge to the overturn Supreme nonprofits that engage in elec- Court decisions last-minute request by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Com- “Safer at Home” extension, the Court was also tioneering to disclose the merce (WMC). considering another challenge to “Safer at like Citizens names and addresses of any- United that have given The change requires first responders sickened with the Home.” One of the individuals in that second one who gives them $5,000 or lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. Tony corporations an more a year. Now these non- virus to show they were exposed to someone on the job enormous sway over with a confirmed case of coronavirus in order to qualify for Evers’ stay-at-home orders contributed $20,000 profits don’t have to do that to the campaign of Justice Rebecca Bradley. our political life. anymore. workers compensation. Jere Fabick, of Oconomowoc, owner of In doing so, Their donors can now give The original bill created a presumption that first re- Lafayette County sponders with a positive test or who were diagnosed with FABCO Equipment, made that contribution in huge amounts to them anony- 2016 when she was elected to a 10-year term on became the 164th mously. the virus were sickened while working, rather than requir- community in ing them to prove they were exposed on the job. the court. Fabick contributed about $355,900 to Wisconsin to approve This is music to the ears of mostly GOP legislative and statewide candi- Advocates for first responders say the change made by such a sentiment. super-wealthy donors who dates between January 1994 and December funnel their political donations GOP legislative leaders makes it nearly impossible for 2019. The Lafayette through nonprofits. them to get workers comp. County Board Ultimately, the Wisconsin Supreme Court A WMC lobbyist told the Journal Sentinel that the resolution concluded: It’s music to the ears of corporations that do the ruled that the Fabick case was moot because its same thing. group asked GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate decision backing Vos and Fitzgerald had al- “BE IT RESOLVED, that ‘We the Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to narrow or ready lifted “Safer at Home.” Rebecca Bradley And it’s music to the ears of any foreign donor People’ of the County of Lafayette, State of dump the presumption because it was an improvement over recused herself on neither of those two cases. Wisconsin, seek to prevent and reduce the – or foreign power! – that wants to monkey with our current law that could cost more for local governments and expansion of corporate personhood rights under democracy. It’s still illegal for non-citizens to spend employers. Current recusal rules, which were fashioned the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution money to try to influence the outcome of our elections, with the help of business and real estate inter- WMC is one of the highest-spending outside election- and the resulting influence of political but now there will be almost no way to find out who is ests who spent millions of dollars to elect the eering groups in the state. The group has spent an estimated contributions and spending made by U.S. paying for the ads that are splattering our screens be- conservative justices, do not require justices to $26.2 million since the beginning of 2010 to elect Republi- corporations … We stand with communities cause the group behind them doesn’t have a legal re- recuse themselves in cases where the parties can and conservative legislative and statewide candidates. across the country to support passage of an quirement to disclose who their big donors are. contributed to their election campaigns. amendment to the United States Constitution This further undermines our electoral process. stating, in relevant part, that: Dan Kelly Wants Revenge and in a highly unusual move, the Wisconsin Supreme And it comes at precisely the wrong time, when Court has agreed to take it up again. 1. Only human beings are endowed with more and more dark money has been inundating our Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly is not constitutional rights – not corporations, unions, The number of voters who could be tossed from the elections, and when we’ve already seen foreign powers going gently into the night. Instead, he seems intent on nonprofits and other artificial entities; and rolls is now about 129,000, according to Patrick Marley of like Russia gaming our system. taking revenge for his surprising shellacking by Jill the Journal Sentinel. That’s down from 232,000 originally 2. Money is not speech, and therefore Karofksy on April 7 by reinserting himself into the Even in the otherwise-horrendous Citizens because many voters have clarified their registration status limiting political contributions and spending is “voter purge” case. United decision of 2010, eight of the nine justices of the or their place of residence. not equivalent to limiting speech.” Supreme Court extolled more, not less, disclosure. We This case, brought to the Wisconsin Supreme The voters on the “to be purged” list are from zip The grassroots group that was need, they said, “ transparency that enables the elec- Court by the rightwing Wisconsin Institute for Law and codes with disproportionately high numbers of students instrumental in Lafayette County – and the other torate to make informed decisions and give proper Liberty, originally ended in a 3-3 deadlock. That was and people of color, who tend to vote Democratic. communities around the state – in getting this weight to different speakers and messages.” after Kelly had recused himself from it and after Brian passed is Wisconsin United to Amend. With this new IRS ruling, it’ll be much more Hagedorn showed his independent streak by breaking But it shouldn’t matter how they vote. “In total, 3.2 million people (56% of difficult for the electorate to “make informed deci- with his conservative colleagues on the court, much to In a democracy, our elected officials should be Wisconsinites) live in jurisdictions that have sions” and to “give proper weight to different speak- their consternation. making it easier to vote, not harder to vote. And an called for our amendment,” says the group on its ers” because we won’t even know who is paying those As a result of the deadlock, the previous ruling by elected official who has already been shone the door by website, www.wiuta.org. speakers. the appellate court stood. That ruling, which was unan- the voters is the last person who should be trying to imous, dismissed the case. make it harder to vote. But now Kelly wants to get his licks in on this case, Kelly is exiting stage right in the pettiest of ways. Lafayette County Board IRS Allows More Dark $$$ Special Interest Follies Condemns Citizens United IRS made it easier for the super rich, corpora- WMC Slaps First Responders Rebecca Bradley’s Conflict On May 19, the Lafayette County Board tions, and foreigners to meddle in our elections unde- unanimously approved a resolution saying that it tected. Republican legislative leaders made it more difficult While the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled is in favor of amending the U.S. Constitution to for police, firefighters and other first responders to qualify in favor of Speaker Robin Vos and Majority The IRS got rid of the rule that required many for workers compensation in a coronavirus relief bill after a Leader Scott Fitzgerald in their challenge to the overturn Supreme nonprofits that engage in elec- Court decisions last-minute request by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Com- “Safer at Home” extension, the Court was also tioneering to disclose the merce (WMC). considering another challenge to “Safer at like Citizens names and addresses of any- United that have given The change requires first responders sickened with the Home.” One of the individuals in that second one who gives them $5,000 or lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. Tony corporations an more a year. Now these non- virus to show they were exposed to someone on the job enormous sway over with a confirmed case of coronavirus in order to qualify for Evers’ stay-at-home orders contributed $20,000 profits don’t have to do that to the campaign of Justice Rebecca Bradley. our political life. anymore. workers compensation. Jere Fabick, of Oconomowoc, owner of In doing so, Their donors can now give The original bill created a presumption that first re- Lafayette County sponders with a positive test or who were diagnosed with FABCO Equipment, made that contribution in huge amounts to them anony- 2016 when she was elected to a 10-year term on became the 164th mously. the virus were sickened while working, rather than requir- community in ing them to prove they were exposed on the job. the court. Fabick contributed about $355,900 to Wisconsin to approve This is music to the ears of mostly GOP legislative and statewide candi- Advocates for first responders say the change made by such a sentiment. super-wealthy donors who dates between January 1994 and December funnel their political donations GOP legislative leaders makes it nearly impossible for 2019. The Lafayette through nonprofits. them to get workers comp. County Board Ultimately, the Wisconsin Supreme Court A WMC lobbyist told the Journal Sentinel that the resolution concluded: It’s music to the ears of corporations that do the ruled that the Fabick case was moot because its same thing. group asked GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate decision backing Vos and Fitzgerald had al- “BE IT RESOLVED, that ‘We the Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to narrow or ready lifted “Safer at Home.” Rebecca Bradley And it’s music to the ears of any foreign donor People’ of the County of Lafayette, State of dump the presumption because it was an improvement over recused herself on neither of those two cases. Wisconsin, seek to prevent and reduce the – or foreign power! – that wants to monkey with our current law that could cost more for local governments and expansion of corporate personhood rights under democracy. It’s still illegal for non-citizens to spend employers. Current recusal rules, which were fashioned the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution money to try to influence the outcome of our elections, with the help of business and real estate inter- WMC is one of the highest-spending outside election- and the resulting influence of political but now there will be almost no way to find out who is ests who spent millions of dollars to elect the eering groups in the state. The group has spent an estimated contributions and spending made by U.S. paying for the ads that are splattering our screens be- conservative justices, do not require justices to $26.2 million since the beginning of 2010 to elect Republi- corporations … We stand with communities cause the group behind them doesn’t have a legal re- recuse themselves in cases where the parties can and conservative legislative and statewide candidates. across the country to support passage of an quirement to disclose who their big donors are. contributed to their election campaigns. amendment to the United States Constitution This further undermines our electoral process. stating, in relevant part, that: Dan Kelly Wants Revenge and in a highly unusual move, the Wisconsin Supreme And it comes at precisely the wrong time, when Court has agreed to take it up again. 1. Only human beings are endowed with more and more dark money has been inundating our Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly is not constitutional rights – not corporations, unions, The number of voters who could be tossed from the elections, and when we’ve already seen foreign powers going gently into the night. Instead, he seems intent on nonprofits and other artificial entities; and rolls is now about 129,000, according to Patrick Marley of like Russia gaming our system. taking revenge for his surprising shellacking by Jill the Journal Sentinel. That’s down from 232,000 originally 2. Money is not speech, and therefore Karofksy on April 7 by reinserting himself into the Even in the otherwise-horrendous Citizens because many voters have clarified their registration status limiting political contributions and spending is “voter purge” case. United decision of 2010, eight of the nine justices of the or their place of residence. not equivalent to limiting speech.” Supreme Court extolled more, not less, disclosure. We This case, brought to the Wisconsin Supreme The voters on the “to be purged” list are from zip The grassroots group that was need, they said, “ transparency that enables the elec- Court by the rightwing Wisconsin Institute for Law and codes with disproportionately high numbers of students instrumental in Lafayette County – and the other torate to make informed decisions and give proper Liberty, originally ended in a 3-3 deadlock. That was and people of color, who tend to vote Democratic. communities around the state – in getting this weight to different speakers and messages.” after Kelly had recused himself from it and after Brian passed is Wisconsin United to Amend. With this new IRS ruling, it’ll be much more Hagedorn showed his independent streak by breaking But it shouldn’t matter how they vote. “In total, 3.2 million people (56% of difficult for the electorate to “make informed deci- with his conservative colleagues on the court, much to In a democracy, our elected officials should be Wisconsinites) live in jurisdictions that have sions” and to “give proper weight to different speak- their consternation. making it easier to vote, not harder to vote. And an called for our amendment,” says the group on its ers” because we won’t even know who is paying those As a result of the deadlock, the previous ruling by elected official who has already been shone the door by website, www.wiuta.org. speakers. the appellate court stood. That ruling, which was unan- the voters is the last person who should be trying to imous, dismissed the case. make it harder to vote. But now Kelly wants to get his licks in on this case, Kelly is exiting stage right in the pettiest of ways. NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID MADISON, WI Big Money Bulletin PERMIT NO. 1069