Content referencing Michael Grebe
Bradley Foundation Has Become Less Local
Much less money for Wisconsin, more board members from outside state.
Jun 12th, 2024 by Bruce Murphy
Geenen Challenges Walker-Appointed Judge
Bill Brash’s campaign email promises he will be a conservative, links him with Dan Kelly.
Mar 28th, 2023 by Bruce Murphy
Pro-Ballpark Funding Coalition Launched
Home Crew Coalition backing $290 million state subsidy for Milwaukee Brewers stadium.
Mar 8th, 2023 by Jeramey Jannene
Bradley Foundation Spreads The Big Lie
Foundation gets ever more radical, using tax exempt funding to bankroll groups undermining democracy.
Aug 3rd, 2021 by Bruce Murphy
Evers Can Remake UW Regents Board
After 3 new appointments up in May, he will have picked majority of board.
Apr 27th, 2021 by Rich Kremer
Foley Firm Faces Blowback on Trump Call
Criticism of Milwaukee firm whose partner Cleta Mitchell helped Trump effort to "find" votes in Georgia.
Jan 5th, 2021 by Bruce Murphy
Right-Wing vs Left-Wing Lawyers
WILL has more funding, more staff, more Harvard. Can a new liberal law group compete?
Nov 18th, 2020 by Bruce Murphy
Regent’s UW President’s Search Criticized
Search committee includes no faculty, staff or non-regent students.
Nov 11th, 2019 by Rich Kremer
Bradley Foundation Works to Kill Food Aid
And reduce Medicaid. Working with Koch groups, they push Trump to slash safety net.
Sep 17th, 2019 by Bruce Murphy
Bradley Foundation Breaking the Law?
Hacked files show foundation may violate ban on political activity.
May 16th, 2017 by Bruce Murphy
Why Republicans Couldn’t Beat Evers
The incumbent superintendent was vulnerable. Why the GOP stumbled.
Apr 13th, 2017 by Bruce Murphy
The Many Faces of Charlie Sykes
He’s spent his whole career changing his views. So which should we believe?
Feb 7th, 2017 by Bruce Murphy
The Rise of Scott Walker
Journal Sentinel’s lo-o-ng series struggles to explain it -- but omits the newspaper's role.
Dec 6th, 2016 by Bruce Murphy
Security Tight for Sykes Book Talk
Boswell hires security guards, but book talk was dull affair, it turns out.
Aug 15th, 2016 by Michael Horne
Racism Issue Dogs Bradley Foundation
Does foundation still support research on racial inferiority?
Jul 5th, 2016 by Bruce Murphy
8 Reasons Wisconsin Has National GOP Clout
Few states have such power in Republican presidential politics.
Nov 16th, 2015 by Steven Walters
The Walker Campaign “Scandal”
Something went wrong. And everyone’s blaming campaign manager Rick Wiley. Why?
Oct 6th, 2015 by Bruce Murphy
Michael Grebe, Stealth Warrior
Is the Bradley Foundation CEO the real thinker behind Scott Walker’s policies?
Jun 9th, 2015 by Bruce Murphy
In Defense of Historic Tax Credits
National Trust for Historic Preservation's leader comes to town, where her speech to a crowd filled with notables dramatized the need for state to maintain the current credits.
Mar 23rd, 2015 by Michael Horne
The Rise of the Kern Foundation
The Waukesha-based foundation has quietly grown to assets of $627 million, nearly as big as the Bradley Foundation. It also leans conservative.
Oct 27th, 2014 by Michael Horne
The Decline of ALEC
The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, long a big influence on state legislatures and Wisconsin, is bleeding business support.
Oct 16th, 2014 by Bruce Murphy
Has School Choice Led to Less Arts Funding?
Donations to arts groups have plummeted while giving to education has soared. Why?
Jul 30th, 2014 by Bruce Murphy
How Conservatives Screwed Walker
They supported releasing damaging Doe documents because they have bigger goals than Walker’s reelection.
Jun 24th, 2014 by Bruce Murphy
Downtown Power Brokers Mull Expanded Convention Center
Leaders of Wisconsin Center and the Bradley Center consider key changes for downtown facilities.
May 15th, 2014 by Michael Horne
The House of Hank the Dog
The Brewer's canine mascot has a nine-room Whitefish Bay home and 10,000 square foot lot to roam in, all worth $570,000.
Mar 24th, 2014 by Michael Horne
Republican Spat Exposes Party’s Divisions
Fight between Sensenbrenner and Ron Johnson over Obamacare is fascinating, revealing.
Jan 14th, 2014 by Bruce Murphy
Mike Grebe’s Conservative Cudahy Condo
It's just a short walk from the Bradley Foundation, where Grebe battles daily to turn us all conservative.
Nov 4th, 2013 by Michael Horne
The New Right-Wing Media
The state is a national leader in creating new conservative publications.
Oct 22nd, 2013 by Bruce Murphy
Abele and Other Pols Push Gay Rights
Gay activist Daniel Choi comes to Milwaukee three days before his trial for protesting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Mar 27th, 2013 by Michael Horne
The Curious Case of Stephen Einhorn
The man who “feared” for his family’s privacy is a political activist and capital insider grabbing government funding for his company.
Dec 13th, 2012 by Bruce Murphy
Will Art Museum Dump Stephen Einhorn?
The wealthy funder of voter fraud billboards creates negative publicity for Milwaukee Art Museum.
Nov 6th, 2012 by Bruce Murphy
Greedy Grebe — Bradley Foundation Pays Boss Big $
An article in the Journal of Philanthropy noted that Michael W. Grebe, the former managing partner of Foley & Lardner took an unusual approach to retirement, in that he did not. Instead, the man went right to work running the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc., the Milwaukee charitable organization with 2003 assets of $579,976,984. One thing he learned over the years at Foley is how to bring in the big bucks. Retirement does not appear to have sapped his earning power very much. In 2002 Grebe received $292,246 salary from the foundation for his 40 hours of work each week in the Lion House on N. Franklin Place. He also received employee benefit plans and deferred compensation of $34,555. Not bad pay for a retired guy — albeit one who worked forty hours each week in a mansion surrounded by artwork on loan from the Milwaukee Art Museum — artwork we have written about in the past that had been contributed to the museum, we had thought, for the benefit of the public and not for the benefit of retired corporate lawyers. Grebe must be an indefatigable retired person, since his 2003 salary from the Bradley Foundation was raised to $529,333 and his benefits increased to $42,000. How to explain the $237,000 raise in just one year? Well, according to the foundation’s IRS form 990PF, President Grebe now is listed as working 50 hours a week instead of 40. (Like we say, indefatigable.) So, if you look at it this way, his raise is not that much — in 2002 he made $140.50 per hour, and in 2003 he made $203.58 per hour. Let’s hope Foley and Lardner has a retirement program for its retired partners that will help guys like Grebe stay afloat in these difficult times. SCHOOL OF EASY KNOX Chipstone Foundation a Financial Bonanza for Milwaukee Big Shot Lawyers Foley & Lardner partners don’t have to be retired to draw large outside incomes. Take the case of W. David Knox II, a descendant of the W. D. Hoard family of Fort Atkinson. (You know the people — they operate the National Dairy Shrine, an actual tourist attraction that has a nearly religious appeal for the lactose tolerant). He is listed as the President, CEO and Director of Milwaukee’s Chipstone Foundation in that organization’s IRS reports. In 2003, the foundation, dedicated to American furniture and English porcelains had assets of $55,358,295, not counting the furniture itself, which has been written off the books in accordance with usual accounting standards — although that has not stopped the foundation for selling millions of dollars of furniture whenever the trustees have a whim to do so. Knox received $3,000 for attending 10 directors and committee meetings of the foundation, which is peanuts compared to retired Foley and Lardner partner Allen M. Taylor, who received $144,000 for 35 hours a week work at the foundation in that year. Taylor also received $162,842 in contributions to employee benefit plans that year. (Back […]
Nov 22nd, 2005 by Michael Horne
Riemer: “Ready to Run”
This terse note from Riemer almost sounds like a Bill Christofferson soundbite, which means it's a good one.
Feb 14th, 2005 by Michael Horne
Lautenschlager’s Fast Ones – Past Speeding Tickets Raise Residency Issues
Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager exploits a legal loophole.
Mar 29th, 2004 by Michael Horne
How Scott McCallum Plans to Raise Your Taxes
Sometime in the coming week, Gov. Scott McCallum will be meeting secretly with lobbyists in Minocqua, of all places, to discuss a plan to cut school spending and force property tax increases as a way to balance the state budget.
Nov 24th, 2001 by Bruce Murphy
