Updated January 24, 8:25 p.m. ET
Wisconsin Democrats held a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, to attack Gov. Scott Walker’s heavy fundraising numbers going into the recall.
Walker’s campaign announced earlier that he raised $4.5 million in just the period from December 11 through Jan 17, and has over $2.6 million on hand. Walker has been taking advantage of a key aspect of the state fundraising law for recalls — that until the election is officially triggered, the targeted incumbent can bring in unlimited donations. As a result, he he has been able to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in individual donations.
State Democratic chairman Mike Tate declared: “With the new release of his recent campaign finance report, under Scott Walker Wisconsin is up for sale to the highest bidder. These just-released financed reports point to a conspiracy organized in places like New York and Texas and D.C., to upend the institutions that have created our middle class.”
Tate noted the six-figure donations from Texas businessman Bob Perry, who had previously financed the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth campaign of 2004, which spread false information about Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s war record. Also singled out were six-figure numbers from C. Boyden Gray of Freedomworks, and “a trio of extremists from Missouri”: David Humphreys, Sarah Humphreys Atkins, and Stanley Herzog.
Tate also turned up the already heated rhetoric in this polarized state, saying that Walker had attracted their support not because of results in office — noting continued job losses — but his vision of leadership is for “a plantation state of large corporation where low-wage, low-skilled, low-benefit workers have no rights.”
TPM asked Tate what resources the Democrats and their eventual candidate in the recall would be able to bring to the race. Tate said he could not speculate on an exact figure, but did say he expected “we will be outspent three or four to one when it comes to expenditures of resources.”
Tate was asked about a report in The Hill, saying that national Democrats such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) were worried about a drain of union money and resources into Wisconsin.
In response, Tate said that union members across Wisconsin were actively supportive of the state recall efforts. “I’m not too concerned with what Chuck Schumer is worried about. What we’re worried about is taking back this state for the working families who live here,” Tate said. He then paused, and commented in a somewhat humorous tone: “I probably just got on the Chuck Schumer Enemies List. That a bad list to be on.”
Late Update: Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon gave TPM this statement: “Senator Schumer has never expressed any reservations whatsoever about the recall effort in Wisconsin. In fact, he supports it.”
