Not much,unless you’re receiving campaign fliers from the pro-school-voucher groupAmerican Federation for Children (AFC) promoting state Sen. Jeff Plale as thealleged savior of 300 jobs at Bucyrus.
AFC is alsosending out mailers and robo-calling residents in Plale’s district to smear hisopponent in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, Milwaukee County Supervisor ChrisLarson.
Why shouldvoters care? After all, other independent third-party groups have been sendingout multiple pro-Larson or anti-Plale campaign materials for weeks on end. AndPlale has been on the receiving end of thousands of out-of-state voucherdollars over the years, mostly from the ultraconservative Walton family,founders of Wal-Mart. (Plale has returned the favor by consistently supportingthe voucher program and co-authoring the bill that would have allowed theMilwaukee mayor to take over the Milwaukee Public Schools.)
Votersshould care about this out-of-state intervention because the Washington,D.C.-based American Federation for Children and its partner organization, Alliance for School Choice, are a “spinoff” of AllChildren Matter, the Michigan-based pro-voucher outfit that has sent outmisleading mailers in legislative races all over Wisconsin since 2004. In 2006 alone, AllChildren Matter spent $1 million on phony issue ads, according to the WisconsinDemocracy Campaign.
AtLeast $57,000 Spent So Far
Nationally,AFC is headed by Betsy DeVos, the former Republican Party chair of Michigan. DeVos has lotsof powerful connections. Her billionaire husband, Dick DeVos, headed Amway. Herbrother, Erik Prince, founded Blackwater USA, the private militarycontractor. She has claimed that her family is the largest contributor of “softmoney” to the Republican Party.
“I havedecided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buyinginfluence,” DeVos was quoted as saying. “Now, I simply concede the point. … Weexpect a return on our investment.”
WhilePlale’s race may be the most visible sign of AFC’s work in Milwaukee, the organization is alsosupporting Stephanie Findley, running for Rep. Annette “Polly” Williams’ formerseat, and Angel Sanchez, running in the district that had been represented byRep. Pedro Colon. Plale, Findley and Sanchez are all running as Democrats.
But youwon’t find that information in a press release or on the websites for AFC orthe three candidates.
You willfind details about AFC’s local involvement, however, on records submitted tothe state Government Accountability Board (GAB). According to the documents,AFC Action Fund has already spent $57,000 on independent expenditures for thethree races. According to this document, AFC has spent $26,000 in support ofPlale, $21,000 for Sanchez, and $9,000 to support Findley.
The moneydidn’t go directly to the candidates’ campaigns, though. More than $12,000 ofthat money has been paid to Chartwell Strategic Advisors for “consulting fees.”That company is headed by controversial former Republican Assembly SpeakerScott Jensen.
Jensen alsois a senior adviser to AFC.
Jensen toldthe Shepherd he would not comment onAFC’s involvement in this fall’s campaigns.
In additionto the money for Jensen’s Chartwell Strategic Advisors, $15,000 was paid to theValkyrie Group in Whitefish Bay, which is run by “self-described political hitman” Todd Rongstad, for canvassing. Rongstad has a long history of dirtycampaigning. In 2006, the state Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decisionagainst Rongstad for his work against state Sen. Julie Lassa. Rongstad wasfined $65,000.
But theDeVos family isn’t limiting its intervention in these races to AFC. Accordingto documents filed with the GAB on Tuesday, the Fund for Parent Choice, apro-voucher outfit based in Milwaukee,has contributed $17,000 to various campaigns. Plale received $6,000, Findleygot $3,600 and Sanchez netted $3,500.
Majorcontributors to this fund are Betsy and Dick DeVos, members of the Waltonfamily, Alliance for School Choice board member William Oberndorf of SanFrancisco, and local voucher promoters George and Susan Mitchell, Howard Fullerand Deborah McGriff.
If historyrepeats itself, look for more voucher money to be spent during this final weekof the campaignafter the Sept. 7 campaign finance report filing deadline.
DidPlale Save Jobs at Bucyrus?
While AFC isdevoted to one single issueboosting school voucher programs throughout thecountryyou won’t find that on the pro-Plale mailers. Instead, you’ll findtestimonials about Plale’s effort to expand BadgerCare and his alleged work tosave 300 jobs at Bucyrus.
The flierspoint to a Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce study showing that adeal between the South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus and Reliance Power Ltd. woulddirectly and indirectly support 300 workers in the region. The agreement hadalmost been killed when the U.S. Export-Import Bank decided not to provide loanguarantees for the deal. After intervention from Wisconsinelected officials, the deal was saved.
But didPlale really save these jobs?
While Plaleand Republican South Milwaukee Rep. Mark Honadel did send out a press releasedemanding that the Ex-Im Bank move ahead with the deal, Bucyrus CEO TimSullivan singled out Sen. Herb Kohl, Gov. Jim Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor TomBarrett for their work on saving the deal. Sullivan never mentioned Plale’sefforts. That makes sense, too, because it’s a federal matter, far beyondPlale’s control as state senator. Even the AFC fliers don’t include anydocumentation of Plale’s work on behalf of Bucyrus, except for quotes fromworkers.
