Conservative business group wants to buy a constitutional amendment in Wisconsin

Last night Ed wrote a great piece about the efforts to change Wisconsin’s constitution as pertains to how our state supreme court’s chief justice is chosen. I wanted to follow up on Ed’s piece to discuss exactly who is behind this effort to change Wisconsin’s constitution, and not surprisingly the group behind the effort is none other than Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the right-wing business lobby that just loves to throw its money around in Wisconsin Supreme Court Elections.

The state’s largest business lobby has contributed $600,000 to urge a “yes” vote April 7 on a measure that would likely unseat Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson as head of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to a report filed Monday with the state Government Accountability Board.

The pro-amendment group calls itself Vote Yes for Democracy. It reported Monday that it had raised $600,000 from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. The group reported spending $189,100 on radio ads boosting the constitutional amendment. It also plans to run pro-amendment TV ads, spokesman Brandon Scholz said.

WMC has spent millions of dollars over the past decade in state Supreme Court races on behalf of conservative candidates.

If successful, WMC’s efforts to change Wisconsin’s constitution will give the conservative majority on the Supreme Court the opportunity to choose their own chief justice, which will no doubt greatly benefit WMC.

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4 thoughts on “Conservative business group wants to buy a constitutional amendment in Wisconsin

  1. I had the nauseating experience of listening to one of WMC’s ads on 620 WTMJ yesterday while I was in my car. Hearing them harp about the great success of the “pro jobs” governor and legislature and how “right to work” is going to be a huge economic boon was absolutely laughable. Also, they claim to be the state’s chamber of commerce. Seems pretty dubious, as all local chambers of commerce are independent, and most are non-partisan. WMC is clearly a right-wing lobbying group, so their claim to be Wisconsin’s chamber of commerce is pretty bold.

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