Remember when, a little group called Smart Growth Madison, Inc. got started . . . way back in January, 2003? Remember who wrote the letter founding that group? Remember who the executive committee of that group was? (Answer: Gary Gorman, David Simon, Jeff Rosenberg, Curt Brink and Terrence Wall) These guys and others (who remain anonymous because Smart Growth won’t say who their members are) ponied up about $73,000 to form this group. Remember that their staff person Delora Newton (now working for the Chamber of Commerce) was the first one to bring up the quote from Dave that started all this anti-business crap. And remember how poorly Smart Growth Madison’s candidates did during election time.
Fast forward a bit . . . remember when the Common Sense Coalition got started . . . way back in April 2005? Remember who wrote the letter (and denied) founding that group? Notice some familiar names on the executive committee of that group was and who appeared at their news conferences? (Answer: Delora Newton, Curt Brink, Terrence Wall, Dan Guerra) Try searching their site – I tried to figure out who holds those 11 seats on the executive committee, but couldn’t find it. Remember how they hired a consulting firm Putnam Roby to get this group started? And how they said they wanted to be a broad coalition, but definitely wanted to leave some people out? We don’t know yet how much they ponied up for this group (but they did offer sponsorships at $5,000 to $25,000) or even what the group does besides issue press releases.
Remember that Spring Out the Vote campaign. This time Wood Communication Group and the Chamber of Commerce seemed to be in charge. It was supported in the press by Gary Wolter, president of Madison Gas and Electric Co., and chairman of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. Companies who tried to get their employees to vote included: Capital Newspapers, MG&E, American TV, UW Hospitals, WPS Health, UW-Madison, Oscar Mayer, CUNA Mutual, American Family Insurance and Rayovac. Jennifer Alexander at the Chamber of Commerce didn’t know how much the effort cost when asked by the Wisconsin State Journal in the article about how this effort failed, but that it was in the “four figures”.
Did you read today about Civitas? See any familiar names? It was formed by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and Wood Communications Group. Its main sponsors include CUNA Mutual Group, the Curt Vaughn Brink Cos., Madison Gas & Electric and Wood Communications. It also draws funding from American Family Insurance, First Weber Realtors, the Blettner Group and T Wall Properties.
Here we go again . . . This all feels like one really bad re-run. How much money are these supposedly smart business people going to sink into these silly groups that don’t work? How long before they figure out that they can’t buy a political front group, give it a cute name, hire someone to do the work for them and force employees to attend a seminar then call it democracy.
