Free | 23/6
Posted: 6/3/2012
By Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity Tuesday s recall election of Republican Gov. Scott Walker is the most expensive in Wisconsin history. More than $63.5 million has been spent by candidates and independent groups, the overwhelming majority underwritten by out-of-state sources.The record spending total was made possible thanks to the Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court decision which had the effect of invalidating Wisconsin s century-old ban on independent expenditures by corporations and unions and a state law that allows unlimited contributions to the incumbent in recall elections.The amount spent since November 2011 trounces the state s previous record of $37.4 million, set during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign.The election has become a national referendum on the future of public sector unions, which have been a major force within the Democratic Party for decades.In the first of two debates, Walker vowed to stand up and take on the powerful special interests, suggesting that national unions have propped up his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.While Barrett has received about 26 percent of his $4 million in campaign donations from outside the Badger State, Walker has drawn nearly two-thirds of his $30.5 million contributions from out of state, according to campaign filings released May 29. Walker has outraised Barrett 7 to 1 since late 2011, though Barrett didn t enter the race until late March. It s big time, said Mike McCabe, director of the campaign finance watchdog Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which compiled the numbers. We have a level of outside interference in this election that the state has never seen before. Union money pours inCampaign contributions tell only part of the story. National unions have kept Barrett s campaign alive by funding outside groups dedicated to defeating Walker.More than a year since Walker limited collective bargaining rights for most public employees, the nation s three largest public unions