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Complaint alleges WMC didn’t report UW budget lobbying

One Wisconsin Now filed a complaint Tuesday with the state Government Accountability Board alleging that Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce didn't disclose lobbying activity a WMC official referred to in an Aug. 20 memo.

Group seeks to press Justices Ziegler, Gableman to leave case

"The longer Justices Gableman and Ziegler refuse to step away from this case, the more they appear to be bought and paid for by WMC," said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now executive director.

Epic Systems takes bold move against business lobby

One Wisconsin Now used Epic's move as a jumping-off point Friday for a news re-lease that promoted a website it is launching to "raise awareness about WMC's conservative agenda." The group's press release on the website made passing reference to Epic founder Judy Faulkner, citing a WMC staffer who referred to her as "that computer lady."

Madison area company targets lobbying group

All of the activity comes as a liberal political group, One Wisconsin Now, has been monitoring WMC's lobbying and political activities on a Web site called WMC Watch.

Epic expansion contractor withdraws from WMC; J.P. Cullen & Son’s CEO resigned from the business group’s board

The liberal group One Wisconsin Now this year launched WMC Watch, which monitors the business lobby's political activities and seeks to show the financial impact on the state of the policies WMC supports such as tax cuts for corporations and environmental deregulation. "Given their enormous influence and the cost of their corporate agenda to the people of Wisconsin, it's essential this information finds the light of day," said Scot Ross, executive director of OWN.

WMC tones it down a notch; Business lobby group seems chastened by recent criticism

Critics, including the activist group One Wisconsin Now and blog-ger/former mayor Paul Soglin, stepped up their attacks against WMC. Moreover, a segment of the business community began to criticize the group.

Elections tilt Wisconsin's high court to the right

Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said, "The conservative Supreme Court has fealty to the business community and not to the people of Wisconsin."

High Court split down the middle; Justices disagreed about making Wisconsin company pay back $6.5 million

WMC spent $4 million in the last two elections to help elect Ziegler and Gableman to 10-year terms on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to the political action group One Wisconsin Now.

Editorial: Restore public’s trust in Court

The link between Ziegler, a pro-business group and her pro-business decision caused the executive director of One Wisconsin Now, a liberal political advocate, to quip that WMC's investment in Ziegler yielded a quick return.

Former justice's case raises ethical issues with state high court

More recently, the Democratic-leaning group One Wisconsin Now began gathering signatures for a petition to urge Ziegler and Justice Michael Gableman to get off a pending business case because WMC filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the appeals court in that case. WMC spent $1.8 million to get Gableman elected last year.

Ziegler to hear tax case funded by election supporter; State hasn't asked justice to step aside

WMC helped finance the appeal of the case and has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the matter. One Wisconsin Now, a group that hammered Ziegler on ethics issues during the spring campaign, plans to launch an online petition today asking Ziegler to step aside in the tax case, said Scot Ross, the group's director.

Bad for Business?

"They wield inordinate influence over state policy," says Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, which has launched the website WMC Watch (www.wmcwatch.org). "You see it in the lack of a progressive tax structure for the state of Wisconsin; you see it in their opposition to universal health care for Wisconsin, in the form of the Healthy Wisconsin plan. Their influence is massive, and the result is to the detriment of the people of Wisconsin."