Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center (https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/category/money-and-politics-column/page/4/)
Walker has raised nearly $4.6 million so far in 2014, or 55 percent of his total, from people who live in other states. That compares to Burke’s out-of-state total of $1.2 million, or 34 percent of her receipts this year.
The columnist has never encouraged the John Doe prosecutors. Neither has he disparaged them. He believes most public officials are honorable and entitled to the presumption that they are acting in good faith. That’s an unpopular view, but he’s sticking to it.
Brad Schimel, the lone Republican candidate for state attorney general, ignited a firestorm with his response to a letter alleging pay-to-play politics. But beyond the spin, it isn’t clear that Schimel and his Democratic rivals are all that far apart.
Given that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his supporters have so stridently affirmed their right to coordinate campaign activities with groups engaged solely in “issue advocacy,” will they be doing so in the upcoming fall election?
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism filed a request with Darling’s office for her records on the bill. The 137 released pages provide some insight into what went on behind the scenes, but fall short of explaining why.
The platforms and resolutions from Wisconsin’s two parties convey vastly divergent political visions. If they serve as marching orders, they would take the state in profoundly different directions.
Significantly, in all three areas under review in the report — tenure, turnover and reelection — the trends of the past several decades have not held true in the most recent elections.
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn implored the community to stop tolerating young men carrying guns. And he called on the governor and Legislature “to pass a law that makes these little monsters afraid to get locked up for possessing a gun.”
Some critics of Wisconsin’s wolf management policies see the DNR’s “clarification” to the committee as a small example of the enormous clout of pro-hunting groups.
In some quarters, Randa’s ruling is being hailed as a righteous rebuke to partisan efforts to suppress free speech. But Paul S. Ryan, senior counsel with the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center in Washington. D.C., says Randa’s decision “flies in the face of well-established Supreme Court precedent.”
In fact, no group with a paid lobbyist registered in favor of the bill last session to pass an amended voter ID law, which passed the Assembly on a 54-38 party-line vote. This and other voting-related bills seem to defy the popular belief that lobbying drives legislation.
Her personal wealth is seen as a key asset to her campaign. But part of her game plan is to impugn Walker’s support. “I do point out how much money he raises from outside interests,” Burke says. “I think it strikes the people of Wisconsin as wrong. And it should.”