Walker Campaign Co-Chair’s Foundation Funds Group Suing MATC Over Taxpayer-Finance Savings Plan

MADISON, Wis. — The just-filed lawsuit by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) over a contract signed by the Milwaukee Area Technical College comes thanks to Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, the CEO of the Bradley Foundation, which has contributed $500,000 to WILL. The lawsuit seeks to undo a contract that will save taxpayers $14 million in its first year and nearly $150 million in the future.

“Taxpayers can personally thank Gov. Walker’s campaign co-chair for this lawsuit, that if successful, will cost them $150 million,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “MATC did the right thing for students, faculty and taxpayers, but this doesn’t sit well with the Bradley Foundation and they’ve dispatched their Republican legal machine to stick its nose where it’s not needed.”

Gov. Walker has already cost students at Wisconsin technical colleges untold millions of dollars in new student loan debt after raising tuition and cutting $70 million from the system in his previous state budget.

“Gov. Walker’s machine is sticking to students and faculty on both ends,” said Ross. “This contract they are trying to invalidate will not only save taxpayers money, but it also prevented a mass exodus of qualified and exceptional educators.”

Groundbreaking research by One Wisconsin Institute shows that the debt from the average two-year degree in Wisconsin is taking students 16.8 years to repay.

Research by One Wisconsin Now also shows that the physical plaintiff in the Bradley-funded lawsuit has donated $450 to Gov. Walker’s campaign.