Wis. gov raised $7 million in weeks around recall

MADISON, Wis. — Republican Gov. Scott Walker raised nearly $7 million in the weeks surrounding last month’s recall election, extending his already astonishing fundraising record, campaign finance reports filed Thursday show.

Bolstered by a quirk in state law that allows recall targets to raise unlimited funds and his new status as a GOP hero, Walker has now raised more than $35 million since he took office.

“There were a lot of factors that led to this, but these are really eye-popping numbers,” said Mike McCabe, executive director of government watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Walker outraged Democrats just weeks after taking office when he introduced a bill stripping most public workers of nearly all their union rights. Thousands of demonstrators protested against the plan at the state Capitol for three weeks, and Democrats in the state Senate fled to Illinois in hopes of blocking a vote, but Republicans who controlled the Legislature passed the bill anyway.

Democrats forced Walker into a recall to punish him for the new law, but the plan backfired. Conservatives saw the recall as a national referendum on organized labor’s power and anointed Walker their champion. Thanks to a section of state law that allows Wisconsin recall targets to accept unlimited campaign donations for a time, they handed him heaps of cash. He collected $31 million between January 2011 and May 21 and went on to easily defeat his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the June 5 election.

The new reports show the governor raised about $6.8 million between May 22 and June 27, bringing his fundraising total since he took office in January 2011 to an astonishing $37.4 million. He spent $6.9 million over the reporting period, bringing his year-to-date campaign spending to $27.7 million.

The fundraising figure obliterates the state’s previous fundraising record for a single candidate of $11 million, set by Walker himself during his 2010 run for office. What’s more, it matches the $37.4 million all candidates, including lieutenant governor hopefuls, and outside groups spent in the 2010 gubernatorial election combined, according to McCabe’s group.

Walker’s campaign released a three-paragraph statement touting the governor’s grassroots support, saying more than three-quarters of the contributions for the latest period were of $50 or less.

Barrett, meanwhile, raised most of his money from in-state donors. He had not filed his reports by early Thursday evening, but his campaign spokesman, Phil Walzak, said they’ll show he raised he raised $2.5 million, spent $3.7 million and had $252,000 left. Walzak noted the reports cover three additional days, from May 22 to June 30. For the year, Barrett raised $6.3 million and spent $6.6 million, less than Walker spent in the May-June reporting period alone. However, Barrett didn’t begin campaigning until March 30.

Asked to comment on Walker’s statement, Walzak replied, “Tom Barrett has been honored and pleased with the grassroots support he’s received across Wisconsin.”

It all adds up to the priciest campaign in Wisconsin history. That distinction had gone to the 2010 governor’s race, but the recall has blown those numbers away. Reports showed $63 million had been spent on the race as of May 21, and Barrett and Walker’s spending over the last month take that up to $73 million. The number will grow even larger when outside groups report their spending July 20.

Democrats forced Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Sens. Scott Fitzgerald, Terry Moulton, Pam Galloway and Van Wanggaard into recall elections too. Galloway resigned rather than defend her seat, but state election officials decided to hold the election regardless.

Rep. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, ultimately defeated Rep. Donna Seidel, D-Wausau, for Galloway’s open seat. All the Republican incumbents except Wanggaard easily stopped their challengers.

The outcome of Wanggaard’s race against Democrat John Lehman is still in doubt. A recount showed Lehman with an 819-vote edge, but Wanggaard has refused to concede — a Lehman victory would give Democrats a one-seat majority in the Senate — and is contemplating a legal challenge.

Here’s how the numbers shape up in those races for the month around the recalls:

—Kleefisch spent $185,508, raised $277,170 and had $123,245 left. She has raised and spent roughly $1 million since January. Her challenger, Mahlon Mitchell, hadn’t turned in his reports by early Thursday evening.

—In Racine County’s 21st Senate District, Wanggaard spent $181,745 and raised $77,965. He had $24,552 on hand. Lehman spent $96,850, raised $51,926 and had $17,077 on hand.

—In central Wisconsin’s 29th Senate District, Petrowski spent $88,245, raised $37,167 and had $13,144 in the bank. Seidel had not turned in her reports as of early Thursday evening.

—In northwestern Wisconsin’s 23rd Senate District, Moulton spent $76,736, raised $22,640 and had $53,881 left. Dexter hadn’t turned in her reports Thursday evening.

—In southeastern Wisconsin’s 13th Senate District, neither Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, or his challenger, Lori Compas of Fort Atkinson, had turned in their reports.