Corporate Funded RGA Returns to Wisconsin to Try to Bail Out Gov. Walker

MADISON, Wis. — Late last week, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) announced via press release that they were returning to Wisconsin with a TV ad criticizing possible recall election opponents of Gov. Walker. According to a One Wisconsin Now analysis of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records, the special interests and corporations that have donated millions to the RGA are also the potential beneficiaries of numerous initiatives proposed or enacted under Gov. Walker.

Browne commented, “The RGA dumped $5 million on TV ads in 2010 to elect Scott Walker, and we got a Governor who seems all too willing to sell out the middle class and seniors of Wisconsin to the special interests and corporations that fund the organizations sponsoring these ads.”

Corporate special interests — including the health insurance, pharmaceutical and oil and gas industry — have donated huge sums of money to the RGA according to the organization’s tax records.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, Browne noted, “Gov. Walker has pursued a one-percent, trickle-down economic agenda that will deliver over $2.3 billion in tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations while making the biggest cuts to education in state history and slashing health care for thousands of Wisconsin families.”

In addition, specific initiatives proposed by Gov. Walker that could benefit specific industries and corporations providing major contributions to the RGA include:

• Gutting funding for energy conservation (2011 WI Act 32);
• Selling off state power plants (January Special Session AB/SB 11);
• Authorizing the Attorney General to sue to protect the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions or drop coverage when people get sick (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1/3/11);
• Eliminating contraceptive equity (2011 AB 40);
• Gutting the state SeniorCare prescription drug program (2011 AB 40); and
• Protecting drug and medical device manufacturers from liability for death or injury caused by their products (Sept. 2011 Special Session AB/SB 13).

“Gov. Walker has bent over backwards to serve the special interests since he was elected. It looks an awful lot like those special interests have returned to protect their investment in a Governor who puts them before the rest of us,” concluded Browne.