Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Campaign Cash

57% of Evers’ Donations From Wisconsin

Kleefisch had much higher percentage of in-state contributors for 2021 year.

By - Jan 31st, 2022 11:08 am
Gov. Tony Evers

Gov. Tony Evers. Photo by Emily Hamer / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

Democratic Gov Tony Evers raised more than half of his individual contributions last year from Badger State donors, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

Evers’ most recent campaign finance report showed he raised $6.63 million from individuals, including $3.76 million, or 57 percent, from Wisconsin contributors. Evers had more than $10.5 million in his campaign account as of Dec. 31 and will face reelection to a second four-year term in November.

Evers’ proportion of in-state versus out-of-state individual campaign contributions in 2021, which was the third year of his first four-year term, was significantly different than the comparable third year of former GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s first term in office in 2013.

In 2013, Walker raised $8.38 million in individual contributions, including $4.42 million, or 54 percent, from outside Wisconsin. Walker was a magnet for out-of-state cash from wealthy special interests during much of his eight years in office because of the national attention he drew for successfully slashing public employee collective bargaining rights in 2011.

But former GOP Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who is running for governor in the Republican primary, raised a much higher percentage of her individual contributions from Wisconsin in 2021 than Evers did. Her latest campaign finance report showed she took in $3.32 million from individuals, including $2.8 million, or 84 percent, from Wisconsin contributors. Incumbent politicians typically attract more donations and more from out-ot-state donors.

Evers accepted individual contributions from outside Wisconsin from 24 states and Washington, D.C., including five states whose total individual contributions exceeded $100,000.

They were:

California, $771,488;

New York, $534,844;

Illinois, $358,008;

Massachusetts, $205,451;

Minnesota, $124,730.

Evers received the maximum $20,000 individual contribution allowed under state law from 50 contributors outside Wisconsin in 2021.

They were:

Daniel Egnor, of Palo Alto, Calif., a software engineer;

Justine Haselow, of Edina, Minn., whose husband founded Minneapolis Radiation Oncology;

Pin Ni, of South Barrington, Ill., president of Wanxiang America Corp.;

John Wolthuis, of San Francisco, Calif., co-founder of Twilio;

Reid Hoffman, of Menlo Park, Calif., co-founder of LinkedIn;

Pat Stryker, of Fort Collins, Col., billionaire philanthropist and founder of the Bohemian Foundation;

Lisa Minsky-Primus, of New York City, a physician with Aspire Healthcare;

Mark Headley, of Berkeley, Calif., retired asset manager and founder of the Selberg Institute;

Steve and Chani Laufer, of Chevy Chase, M.D. Steve is an economist with Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute;

Garrett and Clay Kirk, of New York City. Garrett is a managing partner at CPM Solutions and Clay is president of the Spray Foundation;

Paul and Martha Samuelson, of West Newton, Mass. Martha is chairman of the Analysis Group and Paul is a chief investment officer at LifeYield;

Gloria Page, of Los Altos, Calif., retired software engineer;

Roger Ehrenberg, of New York City, founding partner of I.A. Ventures;

Angela Lustig, of Chicago, Ill., a retired vice president of AbelsonTaylor;

Dale Taylor, of Chicago, Ill., chief executive officer of AbelsonTaylor;

Leonard Lauder, of New York City, billionaire co-owner of the Estee Lauder Cos.;

John Pritzker, of San Francisco, Calif., billionaire hospitality and entertainment entrepreneur;

J.B. and Mary Kathryn Pritzker, of Chicago, Ill. J.B. is governor of Illinois whose family owns the Hyatt Hotels chain and Mary Kathryn is president of the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation;

Gary and Laura Lauder, of Atherton, Calif. Gary is managing director of Lauder Partners LLC, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, and Laura is a general partner in Lauder Partners;

Carl Page, of San Francisco, Calif., co-founder of eGroups and chief technology officer of Handheld Entertainment;

Timothy Coleman, of Riverside, Conn., retired partner of PJT Partners, an investment bank;

Glenn Tullman, of Chicago, Ill., founder and chairman of Livongo Health and former chief executive officer of Allscripts;

Morgan and Amy Fowler, of Rhinebeck, N.Y. Morgan is former executive director of Global Crop Diversity Trust and Amy is an author, gardener, and seed-saving advocate;

Robert and Judy Rubin, of New York City. Robert is a former U.S. Treasury secretary and a retired banker. Judy is chairman of Playwrights Horizons.

Eric Schmidt, of Palo Alto, Calif., former chairman and chief executive officer of Google;

William Harris, of Lexington, Mass., orthopeadic surgeon and founder of the Harris Orthopaedics Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital;

Michael Sonnenfeldt, of New York City, owner and chairman of TIGER 21;

Stacy Schusterman, of Tulsa, OK, chairman of the Samson Energy Co.;

Lynn Schusterman, of Tulsa OK, founder of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies;

Gwendolyn Sontheim, of Minnetonka, MN, whose family owns Cargill;

Michael Williamson, of Chapel Hill, NC, a deputy state treasurer;

Karla Jurvetson, a Los Altos, CA physician;

Alida Messinger, of Afton, MN, a philanthropist and an heir to the Rockefeller family fortune;

David Matthews, a Houston, TX attorney;

Robert Haselow, Medina, MN, a doctor and president of Minneapolis Radiation Oncology;

Edward Snowdon, a New York City theatrical producer;

Michael and Meghan Morrissey, of Danville, CA. Michael is president and chief executive officer of Exelixis;

Marie McKellar, of Dobbs Ferry, NY, retired Mercy College mathematics professor;

Robert R. Dyson, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., chairman of Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp.;

Ronald Abramson, a Washington, D.C. attorney;

David Meyers, Concord, Mass., owner and chief executive officer of Eastern Research Group;

Eric Vittinghoff, Friday Harbor, Wash., a University of California-San Francisco statistician.

Kleefisch accepted individual contributions from outside Wisconsin from 12 states, including two states whose total individual contributions exceeded $100,000.

They were:

Illinois, $158,120;

Florida, $108,979.

Kleefisch received the maximum $20,000 individual contribution allowed under state law from 14 contributors outside Wisconsin in 2021.

They were:

James and Stephanie O’Malley, of Pinehurst, N.C., owners of O’Malley Development;

Elizabeth Uihlein, of Lake Forest, Ill., co-founder of Uline;

Ronald and Joyce Wanek, of Tampa, Fla., retired owners of Ashley Furniture;

Barbara Mullett, of Scottsdale, Ariz., a retiree whose family owns Bradley Corp.;

John and Kathryn Shaffer, of Chicago, Ill. John is chairman of HAS Commercial Real Estate and Kathryn is an attorney;

Billie W. Kubly, of Naples, Fla., co-founder of the Charles E. Kubly Foundation;

Diane Oberhelman, of Edwards, Ill., founder and chairman of Cullinan Properties;

Richard Holson, of Lake Forest, Ill., chairman of Guarantee Trust Life Insurance;

Fred Goetzke, of Half Moon Bay, Calif., managing member at LPG Investment Management;

Kenneth Aldridge, of Libertyville, Ill., owner of Aldridge Electric;

Aldo J. Madrigrano, of Las Vegas, Nev., former co-owner of Beer Capitol Distributing.

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