Uncovering The Phony “Independent” Group Organizing Recall Of Scott Walker
by Media TrackersBy Collin Roth
On October 10, 2011, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate announced on MSNBC that the long awaited Scott Walker recall will go forward, starting on November 15, 2011. But in Chairman Tate’s announcement, he referenced one organization as the de facto leader of the Walker recall effort.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has been working with grassroots activists from around the state. Groups like United Wisconsin, and the many other groups that have sprung up, to figure out the next step we can take to stop Scott Walker’s radical agenda. We have come through a series of meetings with all these grassroots activists and we have come to the conclusion that we do need to recall him from office. And we are going to officially file to recall him from office on November 15.
Other organizations including labor unions around the state have identified United Wisconsin, not the Democratic Party, as the leader of the effort to recall Scott Walker.
“The citizen’s group, United Wisconsin, announced today that it will lead efforts to recall Governor Walker.”- Wisconsin AFL-CIOPress Release October 11, 2011
“AFT-Wisconsin President Bryan Kennedy issued the following statement in support of United Wisconsin’s effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker…”- AFT Wisconsin Press Release October 11, 2011
“SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin is joining United Wisconsin in their efforts to recall Governor Scott Walker. The citizens group, United Wisconsin, will spearhead efforts to recall Walker and begin circulating petitions on November 15.”- SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin Press Release October 11, 2011
“WEAC, Wisconsin’s largest union representing teachers and other public school employees, released a statement of support today for United Wisconsin’s efforts to recall Governor Scott Walker.” -WEAC Press Release October 11, 2011
“Today, We Are Wisconsin announces our support of United Wisconsin in their effort to recall Scott Walker!”- We Are WisconsinWebsite Post October 11, 2011
So with all of this support from labor unions and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, who is United Wisconsin?
United Wisconsin describes itself as “a non-partisan registered PAC and grassroots organization including 200,000+ concerned citizens who have signed the pledge to recall Walker and a growing base of volunteers across the state.” Their mission is simple: “to recall Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch.”
What makes United Wisconsin so attractive to the Democratic Party and other groups clamoring to recall the governor is their digital database of 202,516 Wisconsinites who have pledged to sign a recall petition. Those 202,000 names allegedly represent over 1/3 of the 540,208 valid signatures required to trigger the recall election.
United Wisconsin was founded by Michael Brown, a 33 year-old single father and web developer from Appleton. Brown is not exactly a politico, with his most extensive experience coming in the form of a feeble and failed Independent campaign for the Assembly in the 57th District against an incumbent Democrat. According to campaign finance reports, Brown raised just $57 and did not appear on the ballot in November.
Michael Brown’s independent and non-political status certainly plays into the idea that this is a grassroots “movement of the people” as described on United Wisconsin’s website. United Wisconsin even attempts to preempt any questions about their non-partisan status in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section of their website.
Non-partisan? What’s this Wisconsin Democratic Party thing I read about between you guys and them?Answer: At the Wisconsin Democratic Convention June 3rd, the Dems[sic] acknowledged United Wisconsin’s work and its significance and announced that they would be launching their own recall Walker effort to coincide with ours. We’ll continue to work independently, but welcome their effort in this common goal.
So do you work for the Dems now?Answer: No, we continue to work independently and at the grassroots level.
Who is United Wisconsin affiliated with?Answer: United Wisconsin is a non-partisan PAC (Political Action Committee). Recently, however, the Wisconsin Democratic Party has formally recognized our work and shown support for our goal in launching a recall Walker effort of its own to coincide with ours. Several unions across the state have also expressed support for our work.
Despite the rhetoric about being an independent organization of independent people, the truth as usual is a bit murkier. The non-partisan PAC had a booth at the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee this past summer and Brown admitted to WisPolitics.com that “the resources the Democrats bring to us are obviously going to be monumental.” And perhaps even more suspect, the domain name for UnitedWisconsin.com was registered in February of 2010, nearly a full year before Governor Walker was elected and his Budget Repair Bill was proposed.
Furthermore, two of Brown’s staff might explain a bit more about how United Wisconsin works.
Angie Aker of Kenosha is listed as the Public Relations Director for United Wisconsin. In her biography, Aker writes “that she recently relinquished my hard-won rung on the corporate ladder in NY to indulge in my compulsion to write about truths as I find them from Kenosha.” What Aker doesn’t tell us is that she currently works as Managing Director for left-wing advocacy group MoveOn.org.
Most important to United Wisconsin’s staff is Meagan Mahaffey, who’s name appeared as United Wisconsin’s contact on an October11, press release. Mahaffey is an experienced left-wing operative, serving as Political Director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin and most recently as Campaign and Program Director and eventually Executive Director for Advancing Wisconsin. Mahaffey also served as Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin from 2007 to 2008 before taking the job with Advancing Wisconsin. In addition, Mahaffey has worked on the campaigns for Governor Jim Doyle, Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
More importantly, Mahaffey and Democratic chairman Mike Tate are closely connected. Mahaffey worked on the Howard Dean for President campaign in 2004 when Tate was the state director. In 2007, when Mahaffey was brought on board at the Democratic Party, Tate was brought in as a consultant after his efforts to oppose the gay marriage amendment as head of Fair Wisconsin. And when Mahaffey went to work for Advancing Wisconsin in 2008 as Campaign and Program Director, Tate was Executive Director of the progressive organization.
Mahaffey is an ideal person for United Wisconsin to connect with Mike Tate, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and the entire left-wing infrastructure in Wisconsin.
United Wisconsin claims to be an independent grassroots movement, but when one starts to dig into the connections and actions of the group, it is clear the organization is just another front for the Democratic Party and left-wing interests in Wisconsin. From Advancing Wisconsin, to the Greater Wisconsin Committee, to We Are Wisconsin, the left has propped up new PACs and non-profits for every election cycle. United Wisconsin looks to be the next faceless group the left will rally behind for this special election season.
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25 Comments
Isn't, "Independent PAC" an oxymoron? They don't seem very independent, in fact, they appear to have one goal (as stated); Recall Govenor Walker. And when you have the Democrat Pary of Wisconsin "formally recognized" your orginization, that pretty much removes the term, "independent".
This sounds like good fodder for the MacIver Institute to chew on and put out another "Liberal Recall Money Matrix" ( http://maciverinstitute.com/2011/08/liberal-recal... ) chart for United Wisconsin.
I would be going over every single petition looking for forged and duplicate names,South Bend Indiana just discovered a whole lot of forged names signed on ballots that got Obama and Clinton on the ballot there back in 2008,sneaky devils.
Obama needs Recalled.
Half the U.S. Senate needs Recalled.
This wil all work out for the best.
Where can I sign up for the Recall of Obama?
The Democrats in Wisconsin have been exposed for the crooked thugs they are. Regular people [not communists] are firmly behind Scott Walker.
If it's "non-partisan" how come only progressive thugs are supporting it? The Tea Party (at least where I live) has liberals and conservatives both in it, yet they're "right wing."
Non-partisan my eye. About as non-partisan as moveon.com
And Moveon.org.
The great thing is we KNOW the left will never tell the truth. They know, as we do, how repulsive they are hence the need to be perpetually dishonest and covert. It's part and parcel of being a leftist. Fortunately citzen journalists and new age media expose these frauds for being exactly that.
Well done!
I smell a $oro$ follow the money.
It’s pretty clear these recalls are little more than a way to raise more lobbying dollars. We saw in the previous state senate recall elections that unions poured millions into the state (http://eng.am/rdchdL) for elections that would have had no impact on the current legislation, no matter how they turned out (http://eng.am/nWvjZP).
Of course the most important thing here is how the actual legislation is performing. You would think given the success of the bill thus far (http://eng.am/q1J17I), it would not only be unnecessary for there a recall, but borderline dangerous for the future of the state.
Hopefully common sense prevails, because it would a shame for all the progress made in Wisconsin thus far to have been in vain.
Oh, goody! Another hopeless cause that's sure to be as rousingly successful as the state Supreme Court election, and then the legislative recalls! This will give the socialists yet another outlet for wasting millions in union dues besides Dumbo Ears' doomed candidacy. Remember, patriots: A dollar spent tilting at Wisconsin windmills is a dollar that can't be spent getting President Gunrunner re-elected.
@Phil_EngAmer: None of your links work because you included those parentheses in the addresses. They're a no-no between "a href" tags. I didn't respond directly because you can't correct this error with the edit function once someone replies to your post.
As for "dangerous to the future of the state:" The day socialists care about consequences is the day the sun rises in the west.
Why is it that we only hear about those who want to recall Walker? Have you noticed the liberal penchant for putting bumper stickers all over their Cars?
Here in Wisconsin we laughed right out loud when we saw the announcement of the "non-partisan" group…this is Wisconsin….there isn't anything non-partisan at this point, much less a group that is helping with the Walker recall. How dumb do these people think we all are? These unions love to spend their money on politics, ads, recalls you name it…and yet they gripe they don't have enough to live on…I guess it isn't all about the kids after all, is it?
The bumper sticker thing goes along with their inability to not inject politics into everyday conversation.
You can be talking with a liberal about a football game and they'll somehow find a way to spin the discussion around to greedy corporations.
Wisconsin has become a black hole for union and left wing money to vanish into. They have spent so much and gotten
so little back in their efforts to undo the will of the voters that it's laughable. Unfortunately, I know this costs the State money too and if I were a resident, I would be outraged at these endless "recalls".
Thanks for the WI report. Hopefully most WI residents recognize these groups for who they are. Sounds to me like these folks are "following the money" and earning some for themselves in the process.
Folks, It's just a shell game. A rose by any other name… Once you dig deep enough, it's always the same old same old. The same players joined at the hip with an ideology that is toxic to all things decent.
Gee, I guess they must have taken lessons from the Koch brothers: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/Peter-Fenn/20...
Do you remember Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement who is said to have retired in California? This sure sounds like the play book she would be working from if she was involved in Wisconsin. They all play from the same book and these anarchists sure seem to be sticking and tweeting together.
She now heads that Non-partisan group GOTV/Project Vote. Got play book will travel to Get Out The Vote. AKA Acorn
Nuts do not fall far from the tree.
I live here, you see very, very few of them outside Milwaukee / Madison.
There move to attempt more Senate recalls will cost them with the Centrists & Moderates in this State.
It reeks of political thuggery.
Exactly!
This is just more proof that there is too much big money out there promoting idealism, and not enough going into businesses. As a TEA Party member I will agree with the wall street occupy thugs, that we need to disconnect big money and elections. In todays internet world there is NO reason for millions and billions to be spent to elect someone to a $120k per year government office. The media could and would do it for free, and the net costs are cheap. We need to limit campaign spending to what the annual salary for 1 year at the position is. That will kill the George Sorros's of the world once and for all. It will also put money back into peoples pockets, by not allowing unions and special interest groups to control elections, and even more important waist retirement funds of unions and business.
Should the TEA Party hijack the occupy movement? They seem to get more friendly treatment with the press, and most of them don't know what they want anyway!
23 years ago I took the advice of Pres. Reagan and voted with my feet and fled Wisconsin due to it becoming to liberal. Looking back I do not regret that decision, especially since I moved to such a liberty loving and freedom living state like Arizona. Just this year WI decided it would allow citizens to obtain CCW permits, whereas in the great state of Arizona not permit is needed anyone who is not a criminal (felon) can carry a concealed weapon or if you want carry one where all can see. Personally, I love to do BOTH.
If the citizens of Wisconsin recall Walker they will be shooting themselves all in the foot…wonder if they need a permit for that!
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