State Government
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Reducing Corporate Accountability. WMC attacked Gov. Doyle with a television ad criticizing three vetoes against bills which would have reduced the ability of corporations to be held accountable for wrong-doing which harms citizens. Republican state Senator Dave Zien benefited from a WMC radio ad praising his willingness to support the WMC corporate unaccountability agenda.
WATCH: WMC's ad "Hello Governor" -
Taxes and the misnamed ‘Taxpayers Protection Amendment.’ WMC made attacks against candidates opposed to the misnamed “Taxpayers Protection Amendment” central in television, radio and print attacks against Democrats, including Gov. Doyle. In addition to these tax attacks, WMC used support for the Democratic HOPE plan to exempt the first $60,000 in residential homes from property taxes as an $800 million tax increase.
By the end of 2006, WMC had run a total of six different television ads targeting Democratic Senate candidates John Lehman and Pat Kreitlow and Assembly Candidate Gordon Hintz. WMC also ran seven separate radio ads on taxes against Lehman, two against Hintz, and one each against Kreitlow, Democratic Senate candidate Kathleen Vinehout and Assembly candidates Cory Mason, Andy Jorgenson, Roberta Rasmus and Kerry Kittle.
WATCH: WMC's ad "Gimmick"
Republican incumbent Zien and Assembly Reps. Jeff Wood and Mark Pettis were praised in ads for the tax records. Democratic Senator Bob Jauch had seven different billboards run in his district critical of his record on taxes. Finally, WMC ran a radio ad with the ultra-right wing Americans for Prosperity on the TPA and sent out three different mail pieces on the amendment.
- Health Care Reform. A health care reform plan which would reduce health care costs was mischaracterized as a $12 billion tax increase by WMC in ads against John Lehman, Gordon Hintz and Roberta Rasmus.
- Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Rich. Lehman was attacked in ads for opposing a plan which handed tens of millions of dollars to corporations and an income tax cut which unfairly benefited those at the top of the income ladder.
- Campaign Finance. WMC attacked Jorgenson for supporting public financing of campaigns to reduce the influence of special interests like WMC.
The WMC’s brand of deceit is well documented. Their heavy-handed manipulation of the facts and deception of their motives has been practiced in campaigns throughout Wisconsin. -- Sen. Robert Jauch, 7/6/06
State Justice Department
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Prosecuting Criminals. WMC spent over $2.5 million to elect John Byron “JB” Van Hollen, the son of a prominent Republican donor, who had first been appointed by GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson to serve as Ashland County District Attorney and appointed by George W. Bush to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Wisconsin’s Western District. Central in this attack was not only inflating Van Hollen’s record of criminal prosecutions, but also attacking Dane County Executive and former Assistant Attorney General Kathleen Falk.
Three different attack television ads against Falk reiterated this theme, as did a positive Van Hollen television ad run by WMC. WMC ignored that prosecution of white collar crimes in particular under U.S. Attorney Van Hollen plummeted compared to his predecessor, former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, who also served as Western Wisconsin District U.S. Attorney.
WATCH: WMC's ad "Priorities"
- Corrections Spending. WMC attacked Falk on television for a plan to reduce the Department of Corrections $1 billion annual budget by targeting non-violent, low level offenders for drug and alcohol treatment at a sixth of the $30,000 annual per inmate cost. The state’s excessively punitive crime policies hiked corrections spending by 550 percent from 1990 to 2000 – highest in the nation and more than double the number two ranking state.
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Corporate Accountability. WMC attacked Falk for her work at the state’s former Public Intervenor, serving as the state’s environmental watchdog on behalf of the citizens. WMC claimed Falk was terminated for performance, when the position was eliminated in 1995 by GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson immediately after Republicans seized control of both houses of the state legislature for the first time in a generation. Corporate polluters praised the controversial move and rewarded Republican elected officials backing the plan.
WATCH:WMC ad "In a Box"
WMC Watch Fact Check
WMC Bad Idea Hall of Fame: The Taxpayer Protection Amendment
Background: After failing to get the so-called “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” (TABOR) passed into law, WMC and Republicans controlling the state legislature floated the Taxpayer Protection Amendment – which would write into the state constitution strict limits on government revenue growth, creating an unworkable and arbitrary standard that has proven disastrous in other states.
Vital Services Would Be Slashed under TPA. Diverse organizations ranging from progressive advocacy organizations to service providers to local leaders to the University of Wisconsin System strongly opposed the plan. Education, health care, police, fire and other vital municipal services would be gutted. The UW concluded the amendment would “mean increased tuition, fewer students” and a similar analysis showed future budgeting priorities like funding for seniors, children and people with disabilities for essentially cease to exist.
Out-of-Control Government to Blame. The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families noted that Wisconsin ranked in the middle in government investment and in the bottom third in comparable number of state and local employees. Business taxes were also in the bottom third – well below the national average.
Similar Plans Disastrous in TABOR’s Only State. After living with the results of passing TABOR in Colorado, the plan was shelved.
Analysis: Despite WMC’s best efforts, the people of Wisconsin dodged an enormous bullet which could have destroyed the high quality of life people in Wisconsin work hard to create and the modest safety net that protects our most vulnerable citizens. This didn’t stop WMC from trying to use opposition to the scheme against Democrats running for the state legislature – but it was ultimately a failure as four new Democratic senators and seven new Assembly representatives were elected, leading to a Democratic take-over of the full state legislature and the governor’s office in 2008 for the first time in a generation.
WMC Goes Back to the 90s to Distort Lehman Opposition to Unfair Corporate Tax Breaks
Background: Democratic Senate candidate and then-Assembly Rep. John Lehman of Racine was the subject of WMC most intense legislative attack campaign of 2006. Central in this unprecedented spending on television and radio was Lehman’s alleged vote against “an income tax cut for families.”
Income Tax Cut Benefiting the Rich. WMC’s citation on this claim about income taxes was the 1998 Assembly Bill 768, a budget reconciliation bill thought dead but resurrected by then-Gov. Thompson after a special election in the state Senate that switched majority control to the Republicans and gave them control of both branches of the legislature and the East Wing. The plan would have doled out a tax cut in which 60 percent of the benefit would go to wealthiest top quarter of taxpayers.
WATCH: WMC's ad "Gong"
Enormous Corporate Tax Cut. In addition to the tax cut for the rich, the bill cited by WMC in its attacks against Lehman also included a $64 million new tax cut on computer equipment for businesses. Media coverage of the bill’s passage, said the ill-conceived plan “is expected to result in a loss to municipalities of an estimated $64 million a year in property tax revenue.” Under the plan, multinational corporations like McDonald’s can write off cash registers in its Wisconsin fast food restaurants.
“The budget bill also contains one of the largest tax cuts for business proposed in nearly two decades.” – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/7/98
Analysis: WMC’s attacks on Lehman are proof-positive of both its special interest pro-corporate tax agenda and the way it is willing to twist an admirable opposition to a corporate tax break that has already allowed businesses to avoid over half a billion in tax obligations that could have financed public schools, health care reform and actual job creation.
