Money & Politics
Secret corporate cash funded posh convention hideaway for Paul Ryan, GOP lawmakers
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Bank records: Comcast, Microsoft, Koch among bankrollers of nearly $1 million ‘cloakroom’ at Republican National Convention in Cleveland
Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center (https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/center-for-public-integrity/)
Bank records: Comcast, Microsoft, Koch among bankrollers of nearly $1 million ‘cloakroom’ at Republican National Convention in Cleveland
At least three dozen municipal governments and law enforcement agencies say presidential campaigns have ignored hundreds of thousands of dollars in outstanding bills stemming from police security for campaign events.
The Center for Public Integrity’s State Integrity Investigation report, which provides state-by-state data on laws and practices that deter corruption and promote accountability and transparency, will launch Nov. 9.
Many states’ ethics agencies aren’t provided with the resources and independence needed to carry out their responsibilities, according to a new report that casts Wisconsin’s efforts in a favorable light.
Wisconsin receives a C- in a nationwide ranking of states’ accountability and risk of corruption. The State Integrity Investigation, released today, ranks Wisconsin 22nd, with a score of 70 percent — a score boosted by the creation in 2008 of the state Government Accountability Board to help clean up government.
More than one hundred people or groups paid fines for violating Wisconsin’s campaign finance and ethics laws in the past three years. The violator list reads like a Who’s Who of Wisconsin politicians, and includes some noteworthy outsiders as well.
The backdrop for many of Wisconsin’s current ethical controversies is an unprecedented flow of money into the state’s political machinery. With last year’s Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, some loopholes in the state’s campaign finance laws have grown even wider.
American Packaging Corp. in Columbus is supposed to be one of the safest places to work. In 2009, the company was recognized as a model of safety when it joined other Wisconsin workplaces, now totaling 49, in a voluntary compliance program run by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But accidents happen, even in the safest places.
At University of Wisconsin campuses, most victims do not report crimes. The statistics are inconsistent. And most rapists go free.
The state’s financial disclosure requirements rank 22nd in a Center for Public Integrity survey, partly because elected officials don’t need to report information about their spouses’ property.
The Center gets its first major grant to report on government integrity and issues affecting the quality of life in Wisconsin.