Money & Politics
Secret corporate cash funded posh convention hideaway for Paul Ryan, GOP lawmakers
|
Bank records: Comcast, Microsoft, Koch among bankrollers of nearly $1 million ‘cloakroom’ at Republican National Convention in Cleveland
Congressional Finances
New tool helps track congressional assets
|
In all, Wisconsin’s eight House members and two senators reported assets worth between $54 million and $171 million. These holdings generated income between $1.2 million and $7.4 million in 2013.
Money & Politics Column
Pols raise cash behind closed doors
|
Campaigns shroud fundraisers in as much secrecy as Yale’s Skull and Bones society. The giving of money to politicians occurs, as much as possible, out of public view.
Congressional races
Congressional candidates hope to defy pundits
|
The pundits have proven much better than quixotic candidates at making electoral predictions. And two highly reliable sources, Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, say only one of Wisconsin’s eight congressional seats is even possibly in play.
John Doe probe
John Doe ruling alters campaign terrain
|
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.”
Reid Ribble
What sets Reid Ribble apart
|
Reid Ribble knows he’s not like some other members of Congress. But he’s careful to not peg himself as wiser or more virtuous. Just differently oriented.
Obamacare
Opposition to Obamacare has its limits
|
Rep. James Sensenbrenner has called the Affordable Care Act “abominable.” So what does Sensenbrenner’s office do when constituents seek its assistance getting in on this abomination? Why, assist them, of course.
Marketplace Fairness Act
Should Internet sales be taxed?
|
The federal Marketplace Fairness Act would let states snare sales and use taxes on their residents’ online purchases from other states. Now they get these taxes only from businesses with a physical presence in their state.
Money & Politics Column
Record spending brings little change
|
Wisconsin’s status as a battleground state was reaffirmed in thousands of 30-second increments. The money flowed fast and furious. Yet all this spending brought little change.
Money & Politics Column
Congressional candidate cash on rise, too
|
Jay Heck of Common Cause in Wisconsin says the huge and perhaps record-breaking sums now flowing into Wisconsin’s congressional races owe to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United.
u.s. senate
Outside cash flows to hot state races
|
In Wisconsin, the thirstiest race for independent spending is between Tommy Thompson and Tammy Baldwin for the state’s open Senate seat.
Rob Zerban
Cash is key in Ryan-Zerban (who?) race
|
Ryan’s challenger, Rob Zerban, thinks events are breaking his way. He notes that Ryan’s ascent into the national limelight has focused attention on his controversial budget proposals: “People are seeing a side of Paul Ryan they’ve never seen before.”