PEOPLE
Who are the people behind WISTAX? Who drives the WISTAX agenda? Who currently sits on the WISTAX board of directors and who has served on the board in the past? With what other conservative organizations are the WISTAX people involved?
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance takes every opportunity to identify itself as “independent” -- the term appears on all of its reports, publications and press releases. Despite much evidence to the contrary, WISTAX is never identified as an ideological organization by the media. An examination of the people behind the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance reveals a different truth: the current and past cast of characters at WISTAX is full of conservative ideologues, GOP operatives and corporate CEOs, hardly an independent, non-ideological bunch.
In fact, many of WISTAX most prominent members of its board have served or currently serve on the board of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s most powerful conservative lobby group. One past chair of WISTAX, Dennis Kuester, was chair of WISTAX board and the WMC board at the same time.
The WISTAX and WMC connection is not the only connection the WISTAX staff and board have with right-wing organizations in Wisconsin. Many WISTAX board members also serve or have served on the board of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, a group funded by the ultra right-wing Bradley Foundation. WPRI's most prominent leader is right-wing talk radio smear merchant Charlie Sykes.
WISTAX insists it is an independent organization, but the makeup of its leadership clearly shows it should be considered an ideologically-conservative group. The overwhelming number of conservative activists who have filled its board and the connections those people have with other conservative organizations makes WISTAX unable to legitimately claim to be without an agenda or free of bias.
Click a menu item at the right to learn more about the people behind the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, both past and present.
