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Elections Matter: the Politics of Prosecuting Deceptive Advertising in Wisconsin Courtney Vander Veen Mich University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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Elections Matter: the Politics of Prosecuting Deceptive Advertising in Wisconsin Courtney Vander Veen Mich University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations December 2016 Elections Matter: the Politics of Prosecuting Deceptive Advertising in Wisconsin Courtney Vander Veen Mich University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Law Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation Vander Veen Mich, Courtney, "Elections Matter: the Politics of Prosecuting Deceptive Advertising in Wisconsin" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 1426. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1426 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ELECTIONS MATTER: THE POLITICS OF PROSECUTING DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING IN WISCONSIN by Courtney Vander Veen Mich A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee December 2016 ABSTRACT ELECTIONS MATTER: THE POLITICS OF PROSECUTING DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING IN WISCONSIN by Courtney Vander Veen Mich The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016 Under the Supervision of Professor David Pritchard This study examines the causal relationship between ideology and regulation. Specifically, this study looks at the relationship between Wisconsin elected officials and their political party in relation to the level of enforcement of the Wisconsin deceptive advertising statute. The study analyzed 79 Wisconsin cases prosecuted for deceptive advertising from 2003 through 2014. The 79 cases occurred over the span of three different governor and attorney general four-year periods. These cases were analyzed for outcomes and the number of cases prosecuted during each of the three four-year periods present in Wisconsin. Fifty-six of the 79 cases were analyzed further for the number of defendants, type of defendants, amount of forfeitures ordered by the court during each four-year period. The study found that the part of the governor and attorney general correlated with the number of deceptive advertising cases prosecuted and the amount of forfeiture ordered in a four-year period. ii © Copyright by Courtney Vander Veen Mich, 2016 All Rights Reserved iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract........................................................................................................................ ii List of Figures.............................................................................................................. vi List of Tables............................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND................................................................................ 7 I. Political Theory............................................................................................... 7 A. Republicans.............................................................................................. 9 B. Democrats................................................................................................ 12 C. Regulation of Wisconsin Economy in Action......................................... 14 II. History of Wisconsin Law............................................................................ 15 A. History of Regulatory Responsibility....................................................... 21 B. Governmental Enforcement of the Law.................................................. 28 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY............................................................................ 33 I. Analysis of Wisconsin Deceptive Advertising Cases...................................... 33 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS....................................................................................... 39 I. Hypotheses Findings...................................................................................... 40 A. Hypothesis 1 Findings............................................................................. 40 B. Hypothesis 2 Findings............................................................................. 48 C. Hypotheses 3 Findings............................................................................ 55 II. Other Coding Results................................................................................... 66 A. Outcome and prosecuting assistant attorney general............................... 66 B. Type of defendant.................................................................................... 69 C. County complaints/cases filed in............................................................. 70 D. Outcomes and defense attorney.request to withdraw.............................. 73 E. Advertising medium allegedly in violation............................................... 78 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION................................................................................... 83 I. Discussion of Hypotheses............................................................................... 83 A. Discussion of Hypothesis 1...................................................................... 83 B. Discussion of Hypothesis 2...................................................................... 89 C. Discussion of Hypothesis 3...................................................................... 91 iv II. Discussion of Other Findings....................................................................... 93 A. Outcomes and the Prosecuting Assistant Attorney General.................... 93 B. Counties of Circuit Court Filings............................................................ 93 C. Advertising Mediums Allegedly in Violation of Wis. Law...................... 95 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION................................................................................. 96 I. Overview of Study................................................................................... 96 A. Limitations and Opportunities for Future Study..................................... 98 B. Recommendations.................................................................................... 99 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................... 101 APPENDICES.......................................................................................................... 108 Appendix A. Table of all cases and defendants.................................................... 108 Appendix B. Table of coded cases........................................................................ 112 Appendix C. Coding sheet .................................................................................. 115 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Conceptual framework................................................................................. 4 Figure 2: Conceptual breakdown................................................................................ 6 Figure 3: Process by which a consumer complaint gets resolved................................. 21 Figure 4: Table Color Coding Key for Tables 3-27.................................................... 39 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Who do you trust more to solve the United States’ economic problems-the U.S. government or U.S. businesses?.............................. 11 Table 2: Administration breakdown................................................................... 36 Table 3: Complaints filed in circuit court per term in all Wisconsin counties............................................................................... 41 Table 4: Complaints filed in circuit court per term in select Wisconsin counties............................................................................... 42 Table 5: Number of defendants in a four-year period in all Wisconsin counties............................................................................... 44 Table 6: Number of defendants in a four-year period in select Wisconsin counties............................................................................... 45 Table 7: Median fines per case .......................................................................... 49 Table 8: Median fines per individual charged in a case ..................................... 50 Table 9: Median restitution per case ................................................................. 51 Table 10: Median restitution per individual charged in a case ............................. 52 Table 11: Median total forfeitures per case........................................................... 53 Table 12: Median total forfeitures per individual charged in a case...................... 54 Table 13.1: Outcome of all 79 cases, governor and AG in office at filing of case, and percentage of guilty outcomes.......................................... 56 Table 13.2: Outcome of all 79 cases, Gov. and AG in office at filing of case and percent charged with forfeitures......................................... 58 Table 14.1: Outcome of the 56 cases, governor and AG in office at close of case and percentage guilty.................................................... 59 Table 14.2 Outcome of 56 cases, governor and AG in office at close of case & percentage charged with forfeitures......................... 60 Table 15.1 Outcome of defendants, governor and AG in office at filing of case, and percentage guilty.................................................
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