WISC Family Action wfa

<div class="print-content"><div id="node-938785" class="node node-story view-mode-print clearfix" about="/tea-party-and-right/right-wing-front-group-poses-journalists-stop-campaign-finance-investigation" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="byline story"></div><div class="byline story">john Doe</div><div class="byline story"></div><div class="byline story">419 cmd</div><div class="byline story"><div></div><div>Koch Network and Christian Right Celebrate Apparent Hagedorn Victory in Wisconsin Supreme Court RaceBy <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://default.salsalabs.org/Td5d03276-682e-4a43-86ad-31408f749824/ac94ac0d-31ce-11e7-960b-0a8abee05f34" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">David Armiak</a> — Right-wing Judge Brian Hagedorn leads Judge Lisa Neubauer by less than half a percent.<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://default.salsalabs.org/T0f93aa8a-6ba6-4db8-983e-967a90046046/ac94ac0d-31ce-11e7-960b-0a8abee05f34" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;">Read more >></a>4/19The Koch brothers’ astroturf operation, <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a> (AFP), and Wisconsin Family Action (WFA) are exuberant over <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Brian_Hagedorn" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Brian Hagedorn</a>‘s apparent razor-thin victory over Lisa Neubauer on Tuesday for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.Hagedorn is winning by less than 6,000 votes, or less than a half a percent, the Associated Press is <a href="https://elections.ap.org/wpr/election_results/2019-04-02/state/WI/race/G/raceid/50888" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">reporting</a>. If the margin holds, Wisconsin law allows for a recount, but Neubauer would have to foot the bill.Hagedorn has declared victory in the race, but Neubauer has not conceded and is considering a recount. The eventual winner will replace longtime Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson who announced her retirement last year.If the Kochs’ Hagedorn is elected, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will move one seat further to the right with a 5-2 majority.
<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kochs, Christian Right Rejoice</h2>Hagedorn’s biggest supporter in terms of money was the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican State Leadership Committee</a> (RSLC), which took out <a href="https://rslc.gop/news/2019/04/03/conservative-judge-brian-hagedorn-wins-election-to-wisconsin-supreme-court/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$1.3 million</a> in TV and digital ads. The RSLC funnels millions in corporate money into state campaigns, and counts tobacco companies, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Judicial Crisis Network, pharmaceutical giants, and Koch Industries among its <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?ein=050532524&cycle=2018" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">top funders</a>.But it was the Kochs and the Christian Right group Wisconsin Family Action who are credited with Hagedorn coming out on top. AFP spent over <a href="https://www.wisdc.org/news/press-releases/126-press-release-2019/6333-outside-spending-groups-make-homestretch-push-for-hagedorn" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$200,000</a> on canvassing efforts and mailings. According to its State Director, Eric Bott, AFP talked to more than <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/afp-statement-on-wisconsin-supreme-court-race/?utm_source=AFP+Social&utm_medium=TWITTER&linkId=65647771" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">750,000 voters</a> and sent out over 1.5 million targeted mailings in the seven weeks up to the election.“There’s no question our engagement made a huge difference,” Bott <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/afp-statement-on-wisconsin-supreme-court-race/?utm_source=AFP+Social&utm_medium=TWITTER&linkId=65647771" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a>.WFA spent more than $25,000 on mailings and brochures for Hagedorn as well. WFA thanked AFP for its efforts and extended “a hearty congratulations and thanks to Brian and his family for their hard work and steadfast commitment to staying the course despite the unjust attacks on their personal lives and their religious beliefs,” in a <a href="https://wifamilyaction.org/category/wisconsin-family-voice/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">press release</a> following the election.One Wisconsin Now <a href="https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-supreme-court-candidate-helped-found-academy-that-bans-lgbt/article_99a6c71e-104c-5d28-a98d-afe5342843ad.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">revealed</a> that Hagedorn founded a school that prohibits anyone working there from being in a same-sex relationship and could expel students who identify as LGBTQ.The <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/daniel-bice/2019/01/31/wisconsin-supreme-court-candidate-once-tied-gay-rights-bestiality/2699726002/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a> also exposed an old blog Hagedorn wrote from 2005 where he addressed his “fellow soldiers in the culture wars,” stating that “the idea that homosexual behavior is different than bestiality as a constitutional matter is unjustifiable.”Following the revelations of his hateful stance towards the LGBT community, the Wisconsin Realtors Association revoked its endorsement of Hagedorn <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/21/realtors-revoke-endorsement-supreme-court-candidate-after-reports-he-founded-school-allowed-expulsio/2936284002/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">saying</a>, “The real estate related issues that served as the basis for our endorsement have been overshadowed by other, non-real estate related issues — issues with which we do not want to be associated and that directly conflict with the principles of our organization and the values of our members.”The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which often funnels money to right-wing candidates through the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, followed suit, <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/06/wisconsin-supreme-court-u-s-chamber-commerce-stays-away-race/3071945002/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">according</a> to the Journal Sentinel.Hagedorn and other influential right-wing leaders in the state, such as Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty’s Rick Esenberg, framed the anti-LGBT Hagedorn revelations as attacks on “<a href="https://twitter.com/RickEsenberg/status/1113295928440520705" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">religious tolerance</a>.” Esenberg, who donated to Hagedorn, regularly brings cases in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.WFA riled its base to support Hagedorn, claiming he had been “viciously and unjustly attacked,” and warning of dire results if he lost the election and liberals won the next 2020 Supreme Court election. If that happens, there will be a “deluge of cases…against faith-based adoption agencies, cases against Christian florists and photographers,” <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WisconsinFamilyAction/videos/2131538823804033/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> WFA President Julaine Appling. “You could probably kiss aspects of voter ID, or concealed carry, or right-to-work, or portions of Act 10 goodbye.”Two hours prior to polls closing, WFA <a href="https://twitter.com/WIFamilyAction/status/1113209761653231616" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">attempted to motivate</a> Twitter followers by adding that Neubauer was endorsed by “pro-abortion” Planned Parenthood and “pro-LGBT” Human Rights Council.WFA has been active in pushing a Christian Right agenda in the state for years, as the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reported last year in <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Conquering_the_courts_report-FINAL-WEB05-10-18.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Conquering the Courts: The Religious Right’s Fight to Rig the Rules and Undermine Judicial Independence.</a> WFA is an affiliate of the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Policy_Alliance" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Family Policy Alliance</a>, a national network of 40 groups in 38 states that spends millions to influence state legislation and elect socially conservative candidates.In 2006, WFA partnered with Family Research Institute of Wisconsin and Focus on the Family to spend heavily on a media campaign for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The amendment passed but was overturned in 2014 when the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals declared the marriage ban unconstitutional.In 2008, WFA and Wisconsin Right to Life worked together to unseat Louis Butler on the Supreme Court, which resulted in the election of Michael Gableman.WFA also played a big role in former Governor Scott Walker’s dark money operation in 2011 and 2012, channeling $1.2 million in cash from Wisconsin Club for Growth and Citizens for a Strong America into recall elections.</div><div>=</div></div><div class="byline story">==</div><div class="byline story">
</div><div class="byline story">Center for Media and Democracy / By <a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/brendan-fischer" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Brendan Fischer</a></div><div class="headline"><h1 property="dc:title" datatype="" class="node-title">Right-Wing Front Group Poses as Journalists to Attack Investigation Into Political Money Laundering</h1></div><div class="the_body body_story clearfix"><div class="big_story_tools_bottom_container"><div class="authors_signup"><div class="talk_box"></div><div class="story_tools_bottom"><div class="text-size"><div class="story_tools_email"><div class="story_tools_print"><div class="story_tools_share"><div class="clear"> </div></div><div class="clear"> </div><div class="story-date">December 19, 2013  |  </div>The Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity (through its Wisconsin Reporter and <a href="http://watchdog.org/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Watchdog.org</a> [2] websites) has aggressively attacked the government’s "John Doe" probe into possible campaign finance violations during Wisconsin's 2011 and 2012 recall elections. Its media outlets have also published new information about the apparent targets of the investigation, but they have omitted an important detail: Franklin Center has close ties to individuals and groups that may be caught up in the John Doe probe.The only name associated with the investigation led by the Milwaukee County's District Attorney's office, Eric O'Keefe, helped launch the Franklin Center's operations in 2009, and his Sam Adams Alliance group <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/127152603.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">provided the majority</a> [3] of its startup budget. O'Keefe has <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">spoken publicly</a> [4] about being subpoenaed in his capacity as director of Wisconsin Club for Growth. Franklin Center's <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/about/staff/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Director of Special Projects</a> [5] John Connors, and the <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/about/staff/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Executive Assistant to the President</a> [5] Claire Milbrandt, also have close ties to a group reportedly involved in the probe. Its former Director of Operations and General Counsel, James Skyles, worked with another group active in the Wisconsin recalls.Franklin Center's Wisconsin Reporter has written 16 stories so far that are highly critical of the anti-corruption probe and prosecutors (calling its series <a href="http://watchdog.org/series/wisconsins-secret-war/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Wisconsin's Secret War"</a> [6]), but these latest revelations raise questions about whether the outfit has a conflict of interest in its coverage."It does sound like a conflict-of-interest situation that minimally ought to be disclosed, whenever stories are written," said Robert Drechsel, Director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communications. "Particularly if the reporting in question is being done by an entity that holds itself out as nonpartisan and as doing the same kind of journalistic work being done by any traditional journalism institution."Franklin Center Attacks John Doe, Citing Unnamed SourcesAfter Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dan Bice <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/secret-probe-spreads-to-five-wisconsin-counties-b99124190z1-228569231.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">first reported on</a> [7] the new "John Doe" investigation -- a secret inquiry unique to Wisconsin that is "<a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/what-even-is-a-wisconsin-john-doe-investigation" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">just like a grand jury except no jury</a> [8]," led by special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, a former federal counterterrorism prosecutor with <a href="http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=54611" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Republican credentials</a> [9] -- interest was high, but thanks to the John Doe's strict secrecy rules, details were hard to come by.The Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter quickly filled the void.Wisconsin Reporter launched its "Wisconsin's Secret War" series in October, citing unnamed sources to <a href="http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jack_craver/wisconsin-reporter-says-new-john-doe-investigation-focused-on-conservative/article_b3c94a06-40b2-11e3-bda1-001a4bcf887a.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">reveal</a> [10] that Wisconsin Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and Republican Governors Association <a href="http://watchdog.org/113017/conservatives-wisconsin/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">had received subpoenas</a> [11], and describing details about "after-hours visits to homes and offices" and prosecutors' "demands for phone, email and other records." Thanks to those unnamed sources, Wisconsin Reporter had a new platform, and used it to recast the John Doe investigation as "an abuse of prosecutorial powers" with "the apparent goal of bringing down Gov. Scott Walker." The Walker campaign and 28 other groups also reportedly received subpoenas."This is a taxpayer-funded, opposition-research campaign," an anonymous source told the Wisconsin Reporter.Wisconsin Club for Growth soon became the most prominent name associated with the John Doe after its director, Eric O'Keefe, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">told the Wall Street Journaleditorial board</a> [4] that he had been subpoenaed, with the investigation allegedly looking into what the Wall Street Journal called "illegal campaign coordination" between campaigns and independent groups. The group is also led by RJ Johnson, a top Walker advisor. CMD <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">uncovered</a> [12] how in 2011, O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib.php?cmte=C90009945&cycle=2012" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">took in $12 million</a> [13], some of it from dark money conduits like the Koch-connected <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a> [14] (CPPR) and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wellspring_Committee" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Wellspring Committee</a> [15], and in turn <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">shuffled millions</a> [12] to other organizations that spent money on ads during Wisconsin's Supreme Court race and recall elections. (CPPR, which is connected to the billionaire Koch brothers, was <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/politics/a-money-shuffle-to-avoid-donor-disclosure/552/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">recently fined $1 million</a> [16] by California's elections board for its role in what the Washington Post called "<a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/politics/a-money-shuffle-to-avoid-donor-disclosure/552/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">a series of money swaps and transfers through a network of politically active nonprofit groups</a> [16]" to avoid donor disclosure. California prosecutors called it "campaign money laundering").All of the groups involved in Wisconsin Club for Growth's monetary transfers are "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_money" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">dark money</a> [17]" groups, a phrase which refers to election spending by nonprofits that exploit loopholes in campaign finance disclosure laws, and keep their donors secret by running "issue ads" designed to influence elections.Franklin Center's John Connors Directly Connected to Dark Money WebA central character in the Wisconsin Club for Growth dark money web is John Connors, the Franklin Center's "Director of Special Projects," who has close ties to many of the groups receiving funding from O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth. Some of those groups have reportedly been subpoenaed.In the wake of the Center for Media and Democracy's <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">reporting</a> [12] on money changing hands between O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth and groups tied to Connors, Franklin Center's <a href="http://watchdog.org/about/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Wisconsin Reporter</a> [18] quickly went on the offensive in a <a href="http://watchdog.org/117604/liberal-money-conservative/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">series</a> [19] of <a href="http://watchdog.org/118311/shouting-echo-chamber/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">articles</a> [20], making up <a href="http://watchdog.org/118639/dark-money-wisconsin/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">its own definition of "dark money"</a> [21] for an unfounded attack on CMD's credibility, and falsely claiming that CMD's reporting constituted the launch of a "national campaign" to "unseat the governor."None of the articles note Connors' ties to the Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter, <a href="http://watchdog.org/117604/liberal-money-conservative/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">even when attacking</a> [19] CMD's stories that address him by name.Here are some examples of those ties:<ul><li>Connors is president of Citizens for a Strong America, whose entire <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">$4.62 million budget</a> [22] in 2011 <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">came from Wisconsin Club for Growth</a> [22], and which spent <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/judicial-public-financing-wisconsin-%E2%80%94-2011" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">$836,000</a> [23] on ads (some of which included <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/apr/01/citizens-strong-america/ad-says-joanne-kloppenburg-jailed-80-year-old-farm/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">misleading</a> [24] claims) in support of Justice David Prosser during his 2011 Supreme Court race, and <a href="http://m.startribune.com/news/?id=127118328" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">additional undisclosed amounts</a> [25] on Senate recall races that year. The Treasurer of Citizens for a Strong America is Valerie Johnson, wife of R.J. Johnson, who is a top advisor to both Wisconsin Club for Growth and Governor Walker.</li></ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">90 percent</a> [12] of the <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_08_EO/83-0448717_990O_201112.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">grants received by</a> [26] Wisconsin Family Action in 2011 <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">came from Connors' Citizens for a Strong America</a> [22], which was entirely funded by Wisconsin Club for Growth. Wisconsin Family Action spent <a href="http://www.wisdc.org/pr072512.php" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">an estimated $850,000</a> [27] on the Senate recall campaigns in 2011. Connors <a href="http://media.jsonline.com/documents/Martens+Letter_120511.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">acted as a consultant</a> [28] to Wisconsin Family Action during the election year and helped plan a scheme that resulted in a different <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/groups-accused-of-voter-bribery-cleared-by-das-investigation-953bdus-135147838.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">John Doe investigation</a> [29] into possible election bribery, which resulted in no charges. The <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Wall Street Journal</a> [4] reports that Wisconsin Family Action has received a subpoena in the latest John Doe probe.</li></ul><ul><li>Connors <a href="http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/04/koch-brothers-heavy-hand-behind-anti.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">registered</a> [30] the web domain for United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, a group that <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12224/wisconsin-prepares-hand-half-million-taxpayer-funds-koch-tied-gop-lobby-shop" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">worked with</a> [31] Wisconsin Family Action and Americans for Prosperity on an operation during the 2011 recall races in which absentee ballot applications were sent with the incorrect date for elections. Connors' Citizens for a Strong America <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">transferred $236,000</a> [22] to United Sportsmen in 2011. The United Sportsmen group was <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/221667081.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">embroiled in scandal</a> [32] earlier this year after outgoing Assembly Majority leader Scott Suder <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12224/wisconsin-prepares-hand-half-million-taxpayer-funds-koch-tied-gop-lobby-shop" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">cut a $500,000</a> [31] taxpayer-funded "sweetheart deal" for the group, which Governor Walker <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/fishing-trip-underscores-close-ties-between-suder-united-sportsmen-b99108668z1-225745101.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">rescinded</a> [33] after public outcry.</li></ul>A review of Franklin Center's tax filings shows that it has paid $235,157 to Connors' Milwaukee-based consulting firm, J Connors & Co, over the past two years ($114,930 <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/990-2012-Franklin-Center.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">in 2012</a>[34] and $119,227 <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/26-4066298_990_201112.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">in 2011</a> [35]). A close Connors associate, Claire Milbrant, who has worked at J Connors & Co since its founding in 2009, was also hired by the Franklin Center last month as its Executive Assistant to the President.In addition to being the Franklin Center's "Director of Special Projects" -- part of its "leadership team," <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/about/staff/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">according to the organization's website</a> [5] – Connors <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">registered</a> [36] Wisconsin Reporter's "<a href="http://watchdog.org/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Watchdog.org</a> [2]" web domain.Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has <a href="http://watchdog.org/117604/liberal-money-conservative/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">attacked CMD's reporting</a> [19] about Connors' groups but has failed to mention that one of its directors is directly tied to those organizations.CMD's calls to John Connors for comment have not been returned.Club for Growth's Eric O'Keefe Helped Launch and Fund Franklin CenterMike McCabe, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, cautioned that the public still doesn't actually know what the John Doe investigation is about: we only know what Franklin Center has reported, and what Eric O'Keefe, the Wisconsin Club for Growth chair, told the Wall Street Journal editorial board."Its no accident that he went to Murdoch's newspaper, and no accident that it ran as an editorial [in the Wall Street Journal] rather than a news story," said McCabe, whose nonpartisan, nonprofit group tracks election spending in Wisconsin.On Wisconsin Club for Growth's last published IRS Form 990, O'Keefe was listed as one of just three board members who spend hundreds of hours a year leading and guiding that group, whose budget increased twelve-fold in 2011 while Scott Walker was facing a potential recall election and also grew in the 2012 election year.O'Keefe ties to the Franklin Center run deep. He was the CEO and chairman of the Sam Adams Alliance, which in 2009 launched and funded the Franklin Center. According to an O'Keefe <a href="http://www.libertyguide.com/resources/9-how-understanding-politics-helps-in-policy/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">bio from last year:</a> [37] "Under his leadership, the Sam Adams Alliance (SAM) has established some of the most active and respected organizations in the freedom movement, including American Majority and the Franklin Center." Whether he continues to fund or direct funds to Franklin Center is unknown.O'Keefe's Sam Adams Alliance, whose president was the former executive director of the Illinois State Republican party, <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/the-group-em-behind-em-the-group-behind-that-sketchy-wisconsin-poll?ref=fpa" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">acted as</a> [38] the Franklin Center's "sponsoring organization" until the group obtained its 501(c)(3) status, <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/the-group-em-behind-em-the-group-behind-that-sketchy-wisconsin-poll?ref=fpa" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">according to its communications director</a> [38]. According to the <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/127152603.html" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a> [3], much of the $2.9 million Franklin Center raised in its first year came from the Sam Adams Alliance. (The other group that O'Keefe boasts of creating in his bio, American Majority, was established to recruit and train Tea Party political candidates, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/192810837409217/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">held a rally</a> [39] in support of Governor Walker during the height of the 2011 protests featuring Andrew Breitbart and others.)Franklin's President, Jason Stverak, previously worked as Regional Field Director for O'Keefe's Sam Adams Alliance, after leading the South Dakota Republican Party for six years. Their allies speak of O'Keefe and Stverak in the same breath. For example, in the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=XpB5w-rpUq4C&pg=PT251&lpg=PT251&dq=Jason+Stverak+and+Eric+o'keefe&source=bl&ots=amTAoCkq9l&sig=tYkGFrMHYYP_k8REbk82x7tCV9k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3QGpUtvFJ8XuyQGc9IGQBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Jason%20Stverak%20and%20Eric%20o'keefe&f=false" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">acknowledgement section</a> [40] of James O'Keefe's book, the undercover videographer whose heavily-edited videos helped bring down ACORN (and who is not related to Eric O'Keefe) thanks "Eric O'Keefe and Jason Stverak for their role in the citizen journalism movement."In only <a href="http://watchdog.org/116566/conservative-john-doe-democrats/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">one</a> [41] of the sixteen articles Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has written on the John Doe have they touched on O'Keefe's ties to Franklin Center.  "The public has to be very wary of taking for granted what is being reported by the Wall Street Journal and Wisconsin Reporter," McCabe said. "O'Keefe and others have decided that is who they want reporting on John Doe, they've decided what to leak, and how they want it framed, and what they want the public to believe what the investigation is about," he said, while prosecutors and judges are gagged by the John Doe's secrecy order.Ties to the "Coalition for American Values"Franklin Center also has connections to another mysterious organization active during the Wisconsin recalls called "Coalition for American Values." That group dropped <a href="http://www.wisdc.org/pr072512.php" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">$400,080</a>[27] on a flood of ads in the final weeks before Governor Walker's recall election, and attracted significant attention by making a unique appeal: instead of promoting Walker or attacking his opponent, the ads attacked the premise of the recall itself. The ads depicted individuals who claimed they would vote for Walker not necessarily because they support his policies, but because they opposed the use of recall under these circumstances.These ads, coupled with similar messaging from Governor Walker, proved effective. Exit polls on June 5, 2012 showed that sixty percent of voters thought recalls were only appropriate for cases of official misconduct -- a complete reversal from polls conducted in November 2011, just as the recall was launched.The address Coalition for American Values lists on its <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/cfav_gab_registration.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">filings with Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board</a> [42], and on its associated PAC's filings with the <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/581/13964021581/13964021581.pdf#navpanes=0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Federal Election Commission</a> [43], is 119 S Emerson St #231 in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. This is also the address given for Coalition for American Values' lawyer, James Skyles, who was <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/skyles_linkedin.pdf" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">General Counsel and the Director of Operations for the Franklin Center</a> [44] until March 2011.The "treasurer" listed on Coalition for American Values' FEC filings and the contact on its filings with Wisconsin's election board is Brent Downs. In 2008, when Connors chaired the Marquette College Republicans, <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/connorsdowns.doc" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Downs was his treasurer</a> [45]. Both were both students at Marquette University at the same time, and Downs, like Connors, also <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/downs_website.png" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">chaired the Students for Prosperity</a> [46] chapter of David Koch's Americans for Prosperity at Marquette University.In its FEC filings, the Coalition for American Values <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/581/13964021581/13964021581.pdf#navpanes=0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">reports</a> [43] <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/452/12954430452/12954430452.pdf#navpanes=0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">tens of thousands</a> [47] of <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/138/12961466138/12961466138.pdf#navpanes=0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">dollars</a> [48] of <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/824/12951655824/12951655824.pdf#navpanes=0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">payments</a> [49] <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/614/13940509614/13940509614.pdf#navpanes=0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">to</a> [50] Connors' Campaign Now! consulting and direct mail firm (which he has run out of the same office as J Connors & Co, along with Claire Milbrant).The Coalition for American Values explicitly called for the reelection of Governor Walker, so the group reported its spending, but it did not report the true origin of its funds. Wisconsin law requires that nonprofits or corporations disclose the source of all contributions "made for" the purpose of funding their ads -- but Coalition for American Values sidestepped those rules by claiming that the $400,080 was not specifically provided to the group for the ads, despite there being few other reasons that a donor would have given the group hundreds of thousands of dollars.Franklin Center Takes Bull by HornsThe Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has led the charge against the John Doe investigation, the prosecutors involved, and even reporters covering the topic. Professor <a href="https://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-glasser/" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Theodore L. Glasser</a> [51], a Professor of Communications at Stanford University, told CMD that at a minimum, a news outfit should disclose their connections to the subjects they are reporting on. "For the reader, without that transparency, it is hard to make a judgment about the independence of that reporting," he said.  "Not to say that the conflict [of interest] would go away with transparency, but it would at least allow readers to judge for themselves." </div><div class="tags">See more stories tagged with:<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/wisconsin-recall-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Wisconsin recall elections</a> [52],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/wisconsin-dark-money-groups" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">wisconsin dark money groups</a> [53],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/wisconsin-john-doe-investigation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">wisconsin john doe investigation</a> [54],</div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/franklin-center" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">franklin center</a> [55],</div><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/center-media-and-democracy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Center for Media and Democracy</a> [56]</div></div></div></div><div class="comment_button"><div class="print-footer" style="text-align: center;"><hr class="print-hr" style="border: 0px; height: 1px; width: 1238px; color: rgb(158, 158, 158); background-color: rgb(158, 158, 158);" /><div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/right-wing-front-group-poses-journalists-stop-campaign-finance-investigation" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/right-wing-front-group-poses-journalists-stop-campaign-finance-investigation</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>