Outside donations boost Walker campaign fund
Reflects statewide trend

Aug. 22, 2004 -- More than half the donations made to County Executive's campaign fund since March 23 came from individuals and political action committees outside Milwaukee County, according to Walker's latest campaign filing.

Some $88,639, or 55%, of the $160,722 Walker raised came from outside the county, according to the campaign report. The report includes donations made from March 23 through June 30.

The trend toward outsider financing of local elections is growing, as it is at the state level, said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

"I've lost count of all the calls I've gotten from news reporters in places
like LaCrosse, Oshkosh, Sheboygan, Racine, Eau Claire, Wausau, Appleton, Kenosha and Green Bay," McCabe said. "They were used to seeing candidates for local office
spend $500 or $1,000 to get elected. Now they're seeing $5,000 or $10,000 or even $15,000 being raised. And the money is no longer coming from friends and neighbors. It's coming from organized special interest groups and
sometimes it's coming from outside their communities. They all ask the same question....' Are we seeing this anywhere else or is it just isolated to
their neck of the woods?' "

Walker raised $35,239 from individuals who neither work nor live in Milwaukee County, one-third of the total $106,648 that he raised from individuals, according to the report.

Another $53,400 came from political action committees outside the county, including $50,000 from the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Walker again violated state campaign finance law by failing to list the occupation of individuals who donated more than $100, as is required. Walker's report says the information has been requested, the same thing he has said about past violations. Click here for a look at the Walker's most recent improperly-reported donations.

storyhill.net considered as out-of-county donations only those that came from individuals for whom both out-of-county home and work addresses were listed on the report. Contributions from individuals who did not list both addresses were not counted.

PAC donations were considered out-of-county if the address listed for the PAC was outside Milwaukee County.

Said McCabe: "As local election campaigns become more and more expensive, you are bound to see candidates increasingly turning to special interests with deep pockets for financial support, including interests from outside the communities they are elected to represent. This is an inevitable byproduct of the political arms race."

The trend is something that should concern voters, he said.

"When elected officials become more beholden to their cash constituents than their voting constituents, that's something to worry about. If people think their elected representatives don't seem to be as responsive to their concerns or don't seem to be listening to average folks, that's because the politicians know who butters their bread -- and it's not their friends and neighbors. It's the big campaign donors. That's who has the politicians' attention."