Published April 8, 2003 
WIWisconsinSoftMoney 


WASHINGTON - Wisconsin corporations, individuals and labor unions contributed nearly $3.4 million worth of soft money donations to the national political parties during the 2001-2002 election cycle, the most in state history, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study by government watchdog group Common Cause in Wisconsin found that the Republican Party received $2.15 million in soft money, and the Democratic Party received $1.22 million.

The donations were made before the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law went into effect last November. That law bans soft money contributions - the large, unregulated donations from corporations, individuals and labor unions.

Three of the top 10 soft money contributors were Indian tribes. The largest in the state was the Ho-Chunk Nation, which gave $500,000 to the Democratic Party; Forest County Potawatomi Community was fourth with a $200,000 contribution to the Democratic Party; and Oneida Nation was 10th with $35,000 to the Republican Party and $25,000 to Democratic Party.

The tribal contributions came under scrutiny earlier this year when it was revealed that days after receiving the donations, the Democratic National Party turned around and sent about $1 million to the state Democratic Party to boost support for its candidates.

Also, the campaign manager for then-Gov. Scott McCallum's campaign said that the Ho-Chunk Indian tribe offered $500,000 to whichever gubernatorial candidate agreed to allow it to run its casinos with perpetual compacts.

Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a deal with the Forest County Potawatomi, allowing the tribe to offer new games like craps and roulette and removes some restrictions on its casinos. He is also close to finalizing compacts with the other 10 tribes that run casinos in Wisconsin, saying basic agreements were in place with them all.

Doyle, a Democrat, has denied any quid quo pro with the tribes.

Ho-Chunk Nation spokesman Mark Butterfield said the purpose of the donation was access, not anything specific in return.

"This is par for the course," he said.

Tom Krajewski, spokesman for the Potawatomi, was more blunt.

"The support went to the DNC because the Democratic candidate in Wisconsin was the most supportive of long-term compacts," he said.

Kathy Hughes, vice chairwoman of the Oneida Nation, said her tribe's split donation shows that the tribe is "trying to not burn any bridges."

Meanwhile, longtime Republican activist and 1982 GOP gubernatorial candidate Terry J. Kohler of Sheboygan gave $321,000 to the Republican Party, putting him second in the state.

According to Common Cause's calculations, Kohler has contributed more soft money in the past two decades than any other Wisconsin group or person - upward of $1 million.

Kohler was out of the office Tuesday. He has not returned previous messages, left over the past several weeks, seeking comment on his soft money donations.

The Kohler Co. (which is not owned by Terry Kohler), was third, with $250,000 donated to the GOP. Kohler Co. did not return a phone message left Tuesday.

Rounding out the top five was the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, which contributed $166,000 to the Republican Party.

"Typically, Republican candidates at all levels of government are much more in line with business groups like ours - they support lower taxes, job creation and economic development," said Nate Elias, the group's director of government affairs. But he said the association does give some hard, or regulated, money to Democrats.

Jay Heck, the executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, predicted that with soft money donations banned, Wisconsin political money would be spent on "issue ads" in the state.

"A tribe, for example, could use the money and run issue ads themselves - sham issue ads - or, they could take that money and transfer it to some entity running ads," Heck said.

The law, he said, eliminates the "middlemen" - the national parties - so groups will spend the money themselves.

"Federal elections will be better," he said. "But there will be much more money spent in state elections."

Common Cause, which supports state and federal campaign finance reform, is calling for public financing of elections so candidates can defend themselves against ads from outside groups.