Receive Email Updates
Receive Phone Updates
Lawyers, PACs fund Barrett
Send to friendMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Lee Bergquist
Lawyers and political action committees quickly became the dominant source of political contributions for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after he announced he was running for governor on Nov. 15.
Lawyers and PACs accounted for 40%, or $324,207, of the $811,867 Barrett raised during the final six months of 2009, records show.
All told, the Democrat raised 90% of his money during December, according to campaign statements filed with the state Government Accountability Board.
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, a Republican, has contributed the lion's share of the funding in his campaign account. He also got extra help from his family. And Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, also a Republican, pulled in donations almost every day from July to December.
The campaign statements, filed Feb. 1, are a window into how the candidates are bankrolling their bids for governor - an election that some say could reach a record $50?million in spending by the candidates and outside groups.
Together, Barrett, Neumann and Walker raised $3.9?million from July through December.
Walker led the way with nearly $1.8?million in political contributions. He was followed by Neumann's $1.3?million and Barrett's $811,867.
The money, however, is a pittance when compared with what will flow to them between now and November.
In 2006, the governor's race cost more than $32?million, including advertising spent by outside groups, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks political spending.
But this year's race could top $40?million to $50?million, according to Mike McCabe, the group's executive director.
With Gov. Jim Doyle not running for re-election, Barrett, Neumann and Walker are vying for the first open seat for governor in 28 years.
"That puts tremendous pressure on candidates to raise huge sums to get into the ball game," McCabe said.
Barrett's fast and furious fund raising at the end of 2009 contrasts with Neumann's heavy reliance on his own money and Walker's steady flow of receipts from the start of the reporting period.
Barrett spokesman Phil Walzak noted that the mayor was the last to get into the race but has "received an outpouring of support in a short period of time."
The Barrett campaign expects to tap additional grass-roots contributions as the year goes on, Walzak said.
Neumann, a home builder, lent his campaign just more than $1?million during the first six months of the year.
When asked how much more of his own money he'll spend, Neumann said in a statement:
"I have said all along that I will ensure my campaign has the resources needed to win in November. To that end, I have made a personal funding commitment because I believe so strongly Wisconsin is headed down the wrong path, particularly with tens of thousands of jobs disappearing from the state over the last year and a half."
As for Walker, his base of 18,580 donations is more than 11 times greater than Barrett's and nearly 18 times greater than Neumann's.
Walker's statement filed with the Government Accountability Board shows 13,938 donations, but the campaign says it took in an additional 4,642 donations of $20 or less that it lumped together as single contribution.
"Our campaign isn't about special-interest money and million-dollar donations - 74% of our donations were $50 or less," Walker campaign manager Keith Gilkes said in a statement.
Sitting out the race
The vast majority of Wisconsin voters haven't - and won't - make a political donation this year. Contributors in governor's races traditionally represent less than 1% of the state's population, and McCabe noted that nearly all the money for elections comes from wealthy donors and special-interest groups.
Much of the money that Neumann and Walker are raising will go toward the Republican primary Sept. 14. Barrett doesn't face a serious challenger in the Democratic primary, which will allow him to save his cash and concentrate on the Nov. 2 general election.
Aside from Neumann's personal contributions, the largest single donations among all of the candidates came from a pair of labor union PACs that support Barrett.
Barrett received $43,128 from District Council 7 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades - the maximum allowed by a PAC during a campaign.
The second biggest donation was $42,000 from councils of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees that represent city and county government in Milwaukee and other local units across the state.
The business manager of the painters union, John Jorgensen, said the union has been a longtime supporter of Barrett. "He's been involved in good jobs and livable neighborhoods, and that's something that we are in favor of," Jorgensen said.
Barrett drew $191,629 from attorneys - his largest single donor group - with the majority coming from major Wisconsin law firms.
Even though Walker outraised him overall, Barrett's contributions from lawyers were four times greater than Walker's.
Big individual donors
Barrett also received the maximum $10,000 contribution from eight individuals. They included Madison high-tech executive Kevin T. Conroy, who considered running for governor as a Democrat if Barrett hadn't run, and from both Emmanuel Mamalakis and his wife, Kimberly, of Brookfield.
Emmanuel Mamalakis, a lawyer, owns SXP Analytics, a financial software development company, and is president of MK Technologies International, an engineering and design firm for fluid power systems.
"Scott Walker and Tom Barrett are both decent people, but they have an entirely different philosophy on jobs," Mamalakis said.
Barrett actively works at wooing companies, such as Republic Airlines, to Milwaukee. But he said, "Walker just wants to do it with tax policy - just lower taxes."
Walker's largest single sources of funding come from organizations known as conduits, which package individual donations into single contributions. The largest - totaling $27,605 - came from state chiropractors, followed by $20,160 from the state dentists.
Walker received the maximum $10,000 contribution from five individuals, including developer John J. Burke of Fox Point; Mike Eisenga, owner of First American Funding of Columbus; and William E. Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad in Milwaukee.
Gardner said he'd never met Barrett or Neumann but has talked about economic development with Walker. He said Walker's commitment to funding the state's transit infrastructure was different from Doyle's decisions to spend more than $1?billion from the state transportation fund on education. Walker's support for transportation will be a boon for the economy, he said.
"It was like music to my ears," Gardner said.
Neumann, who served in the U.S. House for two terms during the 1990s, has been a successful home builder. Since July, he has lent his campaign just more than $1?million, including $970,000 on Dec. 31.
Aside from his own money, records show that relatives of Neumann made contributions of $62,197 - including $9,025 from his wife, Sue; $10,000 from his mother, Stella; $10,000 from his daughter, Tricia; $10,000 from son Matt; $3,000 from son Andrew; and $10,000 apiece from his brother, Kenneth; and sister-in-law, Jean.
"I am proud to say my family is supporting me 100% in the race for governor, and they are doing what they can to help my campaign," Neumann said in a statement.
Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
