REPRESENTATIVE SHIRLEY KRUG WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE • ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATIC LEADER For Immediate Release Contact: Rep. Shirley Krug January 10, 2001 Phone: (608) 264-8658 GOP Front Group Leveled with Huge Fine Elections Board Cites Failure to Report Over $145,000 in Late Contributions (Madison) - Project Vote Informed, a shadowy, Republican front group which orches­ trated unprecedented neg~tive smear campaigns against Democratic Assembly candi­ dates in the November elections, was hit today with one of the largest fines in recent memory by the State Elections Board. Among the charges against Project Vote Informed (PVI) and its treasurer, long-time ) GOP operative Todd Rongstad, was the failure to report more than $145,000 in late contributions from the Republican Party of Wisconsin and others. Rongstad, who also organized the phony issue advocacy group Alliance for Working Wisconsin, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars raised by Republicans in an organ­ ized effort to defeat Assembly Democrats. Assembly Democratic Leader Shirley Krug (D-Milwaukee) said she was hopeful the $5,500 fine would be a warning to Republicans about blatantly disregarding campaign finance laws. "The failure of Todd Rongstad and the Republicans to successfully skirt the campaign laws of the State of Wisconsin is a victory for the people of Wisconsin," said Krug. "The message to Republicans should be clear that no one is above the law." Among the tactics employed by Rongstad and the GOP were an attack on the minor child of then-Rep. Sarah Waukau, who was defeated in her re-election bid. Rongstad has a long portfolio of negative campaigns under his belt, including those or­ chestrated by the Teddy Roosevelt Fund in 1998. # # # ROOM 20 I WEST, STATE CAPITOL• MADISON, WISCONSIN 53708-8952 PHONE: (608) 266-5813 •FAX: (608) 282-3612 .