Scott Walker has a monopoly on campaign donations in Sheboygan County (Sheboygan Press)

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Sheboygan County residents have had an active role in bankrolling Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's bid for governor over the past year, with local donations flowing into the Republican candidate's coffers on a weekly basis, campaign finance records show.

Walker received $80,604 in cash and in-kind donations from county residents in 2009, and those donations have been coming in at a brisk pace since the Republican launched his campaign last spring, according to a Press analysis of campaign receipts submitted to the state Government Accountability Board.

Walker's largest donations came from business executives from some of the area's largest employers, including Sargento Foods, Windway Capital Corp., Johnsonville Sausage, Vollrath Co., Wigwam Mills, Richardson Industries and the Sheboygan Paper Box Co.

Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann and Democratic candidate Tom Barrett have so far received little financial support locally, with each candidate taking in about $1,200 a piece from county residents last year.

Barrett, who is currently mayor of Milwaukee, entered the race much later than the other two candidates, announcing his candidacy on Nov. 15, which gave him far less time to campaign.

But in Sheboygan County, Barrett's announcement failed to jumpstart a wave of donations — unlike Walker's April campaign launch, which triggered nearly $20,000 in local donations from April to May.

Statewide, the three candidates raised more than $5.2 million in 2009. Walker took in $2.9 million; followed by Neumann, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, who entered the race in July, with $1.3 million; and Barrett with $962,000.

Campaign officials contend that it's premature to read much — if anything — into the fundraising disparities at this point, as the candidates entered the race at different times, and the bulk of campaign fundraising is yet to come.

"Compared to our opponents, we've been in it for a much shorter duration," said Phil Walzak, Barrett's campaign spokesman. "It's an apple to oranges comparison."

Walzak expects that in the coming months, the Barrett campaign will make a much stronger fundraising push in Sheboygan County and other parts of the state.

Neumann's campaign officials said the same.

More telling perhaps is the snapshot the numbers provide, which shows who is subsidizing each candidate's bid for office at this point in the race.

Walker has relied on a substantial volume of smaller individual donations from across the state, similar to what's occurred in Sheboygan County.

Much of Barrett's haul came from political action committees. He also drew a high number of $10,000 contributions from individuals — the maximum allowed per individual — in a very short period of time.

Total PAC contributions represented 17 percent of funds raised for Barrett statewide, and about 2 percent for Walker.

Meanwhile, Neumann, who owns a homebuilding company, has largely financed his campaign himself, with more than $1 million coming from his own pockets. Neumann received no PAC donations.

Chip Englander, Neumann's campaign manager, said the candidate is now making a more aggressive fundraising push as the race heats up, though he still plans on contributing his own money as needed.

"He's a businessman, and he's put together a business plan to win, and he's going to ensure we have the resources to execute that plan," Englander said.

Walker and Neumann will meet in the primary election on Sept. 14.

The winner will move on to the November general election, likely against Barrett, who does not face a high-profile challenger in the Democratic primary.
Donations pouring in for Walker

By the time the November general election rolls around, experts expect it to rank as the most expensive in the state's history.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign which tracks political spending, said $32.3 million was spent during the governor's race in 2006 — including advertising by outside groups — and he believes this year's race could approach $50 million.

That's because it's the first time in 28 years there's an open seat in the governor's office, as Gov. Jim Doyle is not seeking re-election.

Most of those funds will be raised in the coming months.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," McCabe said.

In Sheboygan County, residents have been donating to Walker on a weekly basis since he launched his campaign in spring 2009. By the end of the year, the candidate had brought in 641 donations locally.

Meanwhile, Barrett managed just six donations from county residents in 2009, including just one after entering the race in November. Neumann has seven contributions locally.

In many ways, Walker's success in raising money in Sheboygan County is a microcosm of what his campaign has done throughout the state, where he's brought in individual donations at a rapid clip.

Walker landed more than 22,000 individual donations statewide last year, which was more than 10 times greater than Barrett, and 22 times greater than Neumann.

About three-quarters of Walker's donations were for $50 or less, according to Jill Bader, communications director for the Walker campaign, which she said shows that he's connecting with everyday people.

"These are folks that pack a brown-bag lunch every day and bring it to the office to save money like Scott does, and they are people who want the state to spend money responsibly," Bader said.

McCabe, however, contends that Walker's volume of donations says little about his standing with voters.

"The bottom line is a campaign can say they've got 20,000 donors, but this is a state of 5 million people. That's a tiny proportion of the overall state," McCabe said.
Election attracts big donors

The one thing all three candidates have in common is that their campaigns are largely being financed by deep-pocketed donors, according to McCabe. And that's nothing new.

"It's a very small amount of people donating, and most of the money comes from a very elite cross-section of the citizenry," McCabe said. "The net effect can be an enormous influence over our government."

Walker's largest donation locally came from Terry and Mary Kohler, of Windway Capital, who together contributed $6,000. Both were unavailable for comment.

Louis Gentine, chief executive officer of Sargento, gave $5,000 to Walker, as did Launa Stayer, vice president of Johnsonville.

However, the bulk of local contributions for the three candidates were much smaller.

Larry Teunissen, 61, who co-owns Donohue and Associates in Sheboygan, said he likes and respects Barrett, but donated $600 to Walker, who he thinks will bring some much needed fiscal restraint to state government.

"The state's broke and we have way too many obligations out there for the money we can generate," he said.

Gregory Hunolt, 67, of Plymouth, donated $50 to Barrett because he likes his "level-headed" approach to government.

"The answer isn't to junk government, but to make it work better and more efficiently for the state," said Hunolt, who's a systems engineer for a company in Maryland.

Other donors, including Jerome Wichgers of Random Lake, gave money to both Republican candidates.

Wichgers, 78, who's a retired deputy fire chief with the Milwaukee Fire Department, said he favors Walker but donated $50 to Neumann, who he thinks is more than qualified to be governor."Neumann was a good congressman, and I like his general approach of limited government and not spending on foolishness, like they're doing now," Wichgers said.
 

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