250 Donors Gave to Dubious Election Group

More than 250 Wisconsin contributors gave about $115,900 to a political nonprofit group accused of using only a tiny fraction of the money it raised to help federal candidates aligned with President Donald Trump.

Axios reported that The Presidential Coalition, a 527 group run by a former Trump campaign aide, spent only 3 percent, or $425,442, of the $15.4 million it spent nationwide in 2017 and 2018 to support Trump-aligned conservative candidates.

The rest of the cash was spent on administrative costs, including salaries, and fundraising, according to the report. The former Trump campaign aide, David Bossie, received a salary of $105,541 from The Presidential Coalition in 2017.

Reports filed with the IRS by the group showed that it received $115,858 from 253 Wisconsin donors in 2017 and 2018. Topping the list of those donors were:

Alvin Schuettpelz, of De Pere, president of Maple Valley Mutual Insurance, $4,150

William E. Barry, of Brookfield, owner of Speed Systems, $3,500

Willard T. Walker, of Milwaukee, president of WT Walker Group, $3,000

Robert C. Brown, of Osceola, retired, $2,000

Dr. Robert Tefo, Green Bay, Green Bay Anesthesia Associates, $2,000

Roger H. Kriete, Milwaukee, chairman of Kriete Truck Center, $2,000

527 groups are unregulated political nonprofits named after the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code that governs them. These groups run by powerful special interests can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from any source to spend on state and federal elections.