34% of Walker Donations From Outside State
Analysis of his 2017 fundraising shows 31 people gave $20,000 each.
Governor Scott Walker. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
About $1 of every $3 in individual contributions that Republican Gov. Scott Walker raised during the first six months of 2017 came from campaign contributors outside the state, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign preliminary review found.
All told, Walker reported raising about $3.2 million from individuals between January and June. About $2.1 million, or 66 percent, came from contributors with Wisconsin addresses and $1.1 million, or 34 percent, came from outside Wisconsin.
Walker has been a magnet for out-of-state contributions from wealthy special interests since shortly after he took office in 2011 and successfully introduced a measure that severely slashed public employee collective bargaining rights. As a result, Walker, the lieutenant governor, and 13 state senators faced recalls in 2011 and 2012 that drew national attention. Walker won his 2012 recall challenge and was later reelected to a second, four-year term in 2014.
Walker’s top three individual contributors, all from Wisconsin, appeared to have exceeded the annual $20,000 individual limit on contributions to statewide candidates. The campaign returned half of one contribution and all of another contribution.
Sandra Mills, of Menasha, made two contributions totaling $25,000 to Walker’s campaign. Mills is a longtime Republican contributor whose family owned Mills Fleet Farm, a hardware store chain in the Upper Midwest, until it was sold last year to a private equity firm. The campaign returned $12,500 to Mills.
Stephen Ziegler, of Oconomowoc, chairman of Inpro Corp., which manufactures construction products for commercial buildings, also contributed $25,000 to Walker’s campaign, which returned Ziegler’s entire contribution.
Rachel English, a Wauwatosa physician, made two contributions totaling $20,100 to Walker’s campaign, which did not return any part of her contribution, according to his campaign finance report, so she appears to still be $100 over the limit.
Walker’s campaign finance report listed 31 contributors who gave $20,000 each, including:
Julie Ariens, of Brillion
Ronald Buholzer, of Monroe
Bladen Burns, of Wauwatosa
David R. Charles, of New Franken
Leland G. Christenson, of Eleva
Edward Czucker, of Beverly Hills, Calif.
Susan Darrow, of Marco Island, Fla.
Patrick English, of Wauwatosa (The campaign returned $1,000 of his contribution)
Jere Fabick, of Milwaukee
Diane Hendricks, of Beloit
Genevieve Hillis, of Chicago, Ill.
Jennifer Hillis, of Fox Point
Robert J. Hillis, of Chicago, Ill.
Mark O. Johnson, of Rice Lake
Randy Kendrick, of Paradise Valley, Ariz.
Clifford Moberg, of Hartland
Lindsay Moroun, of Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Matthew Moroun, of Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Robert Murray, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Steven Price, of Greenwich, Conn.
Jennifer Pritzker, of Chicago, Ill.
Robert Rasmus, of Houston, Tex.
Gary M. Reynolds, of Delafield
John E. Schlifske, of Elm Grove
Kim Schlifske, of Elm Grove
Mary Sue Shannon, of Denver, Col.
Mike Shannon, of Denver, Col.
Harold Smith, of Lake Geneva
Ralph Stayer, of Naples, Fla.
Gregory Wendt, of San Francisco, Calif.
Susan Wilkey, of Hartland
Campaign Cash
-
Outside Groups Spent Record $28.8 Million on State Supreme Court Race
May 7th, 2023 by Erik Gunn
-
Top 20 Donors to State Political Parties
Apr 4th, 2023 by Peter Cameron and Hina Suzuki
-
$38 Million Spent on High Court Race
Mar 29th, 2023 by Erik Gunn
Senator Tammy Baldwin is the queen of outside donations. Being an openly gay politicians gets you lots of coastal money. She will be a force in 2018 between Walker and Baldwin there is a very good chance only one will survive 2018.