Here’s what I found when looking at Conduit reports and campaign committee campaign finance reports. Which special interests are trying to influence the Madison mayor’s race and who are they trying to influence?
How do special interests make their interests known to Mayoral candidates? Conduits are a mechanism used by groups to exceed the amount of money they can give through Political Action Committees (PACs) – they essentially take the contributions from individuals and bundle them and make it known to the candidate that their organization is supporting the candidate. Presumably in hopes that the candidate will remember that if elected. Sometimes they also used independent expenditures to influence elections. I wasn’t able to find any of those yet.
CONDUIT REPORTS JANUARY CONTINUING (July 1 – Dec 31)
Realtors Direct Giver Program
Mo Cheeks – $3,600
#3 01/02/2019 Friends of Mo Cheeks, 3545 Nakoma Rd, Madison, WI 53711 $250.00
312 11/26/2018 Friends of Mo Cheeks, 3545 Nakoma Rd, Madison, WI 53711 $500.00
313 12/03/2018 Friends of Mo Cheeks, 3545 Nakoma Rd, Madison, WI 53711 $1,000.00
321 12/26/2018 Friends of Mo Cheeks, 3545 Nakoma Rd, Madison, WI 53711 $1,850.00
Paul Soglin – $1,750
#301 11/01/2018 Soglin for Mayor, PO Box 1228, Madison, WI $250.00
#310 11/13/2018 Soglin for Mayor, PO Box 1228, Madison, WI $500.00
Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce Direct Givers
Mo Cheeks – $7,314 (out of the $7,864 total that came through the conduit)
1 10/23/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $3,664.00
2 10/31/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $300.00
3 11/19/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $500.00
6 12/11/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $1,000.00
7 12/18/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $1,000.00
8 12/19/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $500.00
9 12/21/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $350.00
Paul Soglin – $500
4 12/05/2018 SOGLIN FOR MAYOR, PO Box 1228, MADISON, WI 53701 $500.00
Builders Direct
Paul Soglin – $750
23 12/13/2018 Paul Soglin for Mayor, PO Box 1228, Madison, WI 53701 $750.00
American Family Conduit Trust
Cheeks reported that money came from this fund, but it doesn’t show up on their report
Citizens for Cable
Mo Cheeks – $1,000
12 12/27/2018 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO BOX 6, Madison, WI 53701 $1,000.00
CONDUIT REPORTS SPRING PRE-PRIMARY (Jan 1 – Feb 4)
Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce
Mo Cheeks – $1,500
5 01/24/2019 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $1,000.00
6 01/29/2019 Mo Cheeks for Mayor, PO Box 6, Madison, WI 53701 $500.00
Paul Soglin – $400
2 01/16/2019 SOGLIN FOR MAYOR, PO Box 1228, MADISON, WI 53701 $400.00
If you’re following along, Cheeks got $13,414 and Soglin got $3,400 and Raj Shukla had one donation he reported but I’m not sure which conduit it came from. Satya Rhodes-Conway had no conduit money.
DEVELOPERS (who are also realtors and landlords)
My friend Andy Heidt has a nickname for the city council – something like the Local Real Estate Advisory Board. Because the City Council often just approves just about anything developers, realtors and landlords can make money on. Rarely do they push back or support the neighborhood plans if there is a conflict. Many developers first stop is in the mayor’s office and with the alder, to see if their project is feasible or not. And they see their contributions as a way to make that first visit more receptive.
As I was scanning through reports for contributions over $500 I also noted that the following Developers (and realtors and landlords) were giving to campaigns, not through the conduits. This is a much less scientific accounting, as it relies on me knowing who these people are – and the longer I’ve been out of elected office, the harder it is for me to spot these. I reported several of these in my blog on the January reports. At that point, the special interests seemed to be mostly people outside the City of Madison. This time, the reports show more money coming from Madison. So, which additional special interests are trying to influence the Madison mayor’s race?
Paul Soglin
Previously reported
$4,664 – Aris Gialamas – Middleton – Vice President of Sales (Gialamas Company – Real Estate)
$4,600 – Carl Ruedebusch – Madison – Business Owner (Ruedebeusch Development and Construction)
$4,600 – Sharon Hovde – Madison – Community Volunteer
$4,600 – Steven Hovde – Inverness, IL – President and CEO (Hovde Group)
$4,000 – David Simon – Madison – President, Veridian Homes (Developer)
$3,500 – Bruce Bosben – Sun Prairie – Executive (Apex Property Management – landlord)
$3,200 – Gary Gorman – Oregon, WI – Executive (Gorman & Company, developer, landlord)
$2,664 – George Gialamas – Madison – Executive (Gialamas Company – Real Estate)
$2,000 – Terrence Wall (PO Box in Madison?) – CEO and founder (Developer)
$1,073 – Helen Wall (PO Box in Madison?) – Administrative Assistant
$1,500 – Ted Matkom – Oregon WI – Lawyer (Gorman & Company)
$1,000 – John Flad – Middleton – CEO (Developer)
$1,000 – Chad Wuebben – Middleton – Realtor (Encore Construction) (gave through conduit 0900010)
$1,000 – Otto Gebhardt – Madison – Founder and CEO (developer)
$1,000 – Wisconsin Carpenters Political Action Fund – Madison
New
$4,664 – Mary Mohs – landlord
$4,000 – Al Bachman – Bachmann Construction
$3,500 – Carol Mullins – landlord
$2,000 – John MacKenzie – developer
$1,664 – Fred Mohs – landlord
$1,000 – Brad Mullins – landlord and developers
Mo Cheeks
Previously reported
$1,000 – James Imhoff – Madison – Realtor (First Weber) (gave through conduit 0900010)
$1,500 – Kenton Peters – Madison – AIA
$1,000 – Anthony Gray – Madison – CEO (Institute for Global Ethics)
New
$500 Joe Krupp
Satya Rhodes-Conway
New
$2,000 Joe Alexander
$2,000 Nick Alexander
Raj Shukla
Previously Reported
$2,500 – Gregg Shimanski – Madison – Real Estate Owner (Landlord)
New
$1,250 – Tom Neujahr – Urban Land Interests
WRAP UP
I’m sure I missed several landlords, realtors, developers and other special interests (business interests) in the City of Madison. Sadly, there is no way really know who is influencing whom. And yes, it happens, even in local politics. Especially in local politics, where $4,664 is a fairly sizable donation for these campaigns. Given the amount of money that these candidates have raised, money is now the name of the game for any mayoral hopeful and that gives the special interests more leverage over candidates.
I didn’t have time to go through and look for lobbyists registered with the city, and I’m not sure it would be worth it as I’m not sure that anyone is making the lobbyists register any more. And the campaign finance reports are not searchable in any way. So, there may be more to come as people whisper in my ear about the people I missed who contributed to various candidates.
I’m off to go look at the school board and alder reports that are not yet on-line! More to come!
UPDATE: I didn’t have much luck getting the rest of the reports.
