Despite the claims of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance that its research and materials are “independent” from ideology, an examination of the political giving of the past and present members of the WISTAX board of directors suggests the organization is driven by leadership that almost exclusively supports conservative and Republican candidates and policies.
ACTIVE GIVERS
The members of the board are, by and large, active political givers. The 33 past and present members of the WISTAX since 1994 have contributed over 1.39 million dollars to political candidates, both in Wisconsin and nationally. The average amount contributed by each board member is $42,179*, with the highest total contributions of $391,544 by San Orr Jr., chairman of Wausau Paper.
Four members have donated more than $100,000 to political candidates including Orr, current chair of the board Carol Ward Knox ($156,118), past board chairman Dennis Kuester ($125,600), and current WISTAX and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Foundation board member Mark Cullen ($159,065). WISTAX Watch charted donations only going back to 1990.
All but four members of the board have given more than $2,000 to candidates; 15 members have given between $10,000 and $100,000.
NEAR-EXCLUSIVE GIVING TO REPUBLICANS & CONSERVATIVES
The overwhelming majority of the money given by the past and present WISTAX board members has gone to Republican and non-partisan conservative candidates. Of the $1,391,902 total given by WISTAX board members, $1,290,302 was given to Republicans and conservatives, or 92.7 percent. By comparison, the members of the board of directors of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, an organization that actively lobbies and spends millions of dollars in issue ads in support of conservative policies like less corporate taxes, less taxes on the rich and less public investment, give to Republicans and conservatives at an 82 percent rate.
Eight board members, including three current directors, give exclusively to Republicans or conservatives: current chair Carol Ward Knox ($156,118 total given), current board members J. Douglas Quick ($3,140) and Carl Fortner ($300), and past board members Alfred Diotte ($27,900), Peter Platten ($21,650), William Knox ($16,035), David Moffett ($4,500) and John Noer ($3,500)
Many other board members give to Republicans and conservatives more than 90 percent of the time including Republican-donor heavyweight San Orr Jr. (99.7 percent to conservatives), current WISTAX/WMC board member Mark Cullen (97.4 percent), Richard Teerlink (98.2 percent), Willard Walker (99.3 percent), Edward Zore (93 percent), Daniel Bollom (96.8 percent), and Mark Bugher (95.8 percent). Only five of the 33 total WISTAX board members since 1994 have given more often to Democrats or liberals and only two of those gave more than $3,000.
CONSISTENT CONSERVATIVE GIVING OVER TIME
The near-exclusive giving by WISTAX board members to Republicans and conservatives has changed little over time. Since 1990, only once – in 1999 -- did the rate of giving to Republicans and conservatives dip below the WMC average of 82 percent. That year, Republicans and conservatives received 79 percent of the total given by WISTAX board members.
Since 2005, the rate of giving to Republicans and conservatives has been on a steady rise – 91.1 percent in 2005, 91.3 percent in 2006, 96.6 percent in 2007, and 97.1 percent in 2008, the same year WISTAX board members showered Republican and conservative candidates with over $200,000 while Democrats and liberals got $6,050.
WHAT IT MEANS
Given the amount of donations, the near-exclusive propensity in donating to conservatives and Republicans and the demonstrated consistency in supporting Republicans and conservatives over time, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance can no longer legitimately be considered non-ideological or independent. The leadership of the organization is, by and large, dedicated to ensuring a conservative power structure at all levels of government, and have donated heavily to candidates that support the board’s ideology of lower taxes for corporations, less taxes on the wealthy, less public investment and regressive taxation that burdens middle-class and working-class families with the cost of tax shelters and breaks for the wealthy and loopholes for corporations.
The never-ending stream of WISTAX reports, newsletters, press releases and quotes in the media must be examined with an understanding of the makeup of the individuals that guide the organization and the overwhelming evidence those individuals support a conservative agenda, despite claims of non-partisanship or independence.
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Information compiled from the Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System, the Federal Election Commission and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign database of campaign contributions. Contribution amounts include amounts donated by the individual and spouse.
* One Wisconsin Now recognizes this is a dubious statistic -- taking the total contributions and dividing by every single member. The average is certainly skewed by the overwhelming amounts donated by the more active givers of the WISTAX board. This is the same method WISTAX uses to arrive at the "Total Tax" number in its annual report. See the WISTAX report "Total Tax Fallacy" for more information about this dubious tactic and to see it used time and again by WISTAX to create an anti-tax environment to push its conservative agenda.
