Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce | Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Foundation

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce building in Madison, Wisconsin.
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• [2020-07-15]  Bradley Foundation Bankrolled Right-Wing Reopen Effort Despite Rising Coronavirus Cases.  The political pressure generated by the lobbying and litigation efforts of Bradley-funded groups and President Trump led many states to prematurely roll back stay-at-home safety measures and reopen businesses.

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  Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Foundation

  The Bradley Foundation also disclosed a grant of $50,000 to the WMC Foundation "to support efforts to reopen Wisconsin safely after COVID-19." WMC Foundation is the 501(c)(3) sister organization of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), the state chapter of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

  WMC announced its "Back to Business" plan for the state on April 24 2020, calling for Wisconsin to reopen businesses on May 4 2020. In a press release for the plan, WMC's president and CEO Kurt Bauer said, "We need to protect lives, but we also need to protect livelihoods."

  WMC's plan was based on a number of risk factors so that business owners would have an idea of when and how they could reopen.

  Dr. Patrick Remington, a retired UW-Madison medical school professor, told the Wisconsin Examiner, "There's really no evidence to suggest that this risk model actually translates to true risk. It's a model based on assumptions, and it's not based on evidence."

  A protest to reopen Wisconsin drew 1,500 to the state capital the same day, April 24 2020, which was promoted in part by Convention of States-Wisconsin State Director Joanne Laufenberg on openthestates.com.

  Wisconsin State Senator Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls), who delivered remarks at the protest, announced that she was working on a "Back to Business" plan at the rally and directed people to wmc.org to view it.

  WMC is one of the largest dark money political spenders for Republican candidates in Wisconsin and was infamously investigated in bipartisan "John Doe" proceedings for illegal campaign coordination with former Governor Scott Walker's campaign and O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth.

  Bradley also gave WMC Foundation $600,000 in 2011-2012. "WMC, the trade association, was one of the biggest spenders for Republicans in the 2011-2012 recall period. Bradley could not give the association or its campaign arm funds, but funneled funds to the 'charitable' arm," CMD reported as part of its Bradley Files investigation. "Bradley records indicate that WMC Foundation Inc. also received matching funds of $600,000 in 2011 from M&I Foundation (a foundation associated with M&I Bank, now BMO Harris)."

  Lawsuit Against Wisconsin's "Safer at Home" Order

  GOP legislative leaders filed a legal challenge to the state's April 16 2020 "Safer at Home" order resulting in 4-3 State Supreme Court ruling on May 13 2020 striking it down.

  A number of Bradley-funded groups backed the GOP's legal maneuver, by filing amicus briefs, including WMC, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), and Charles Koch's   Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin.

  Bradley and its affiliated Bradley Impact Fund has granted WILL $7.7 million and Americans for Prosperity Foundation $1.4 million between 2011 and 2020, according to tax and grant records examined by CMD.

  Following the Supreme Court decision, confusion ensued as people flocked to Wisconsin's bars and pubs, and counties and cities scrambled to set their own rules to replace the state's order.

  Since then, the seven-day average number of coronavirus cases in Wisconsin has more than doubled, from 286 on May 13 2020 to 755 on July 13 2020.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) is an association of manufacturers, service businesses and chambers of commerce located in Madison, Wisconsin. WMC was formed from what was the Wisconsin State Chamber of Commerce, the Wisconsin Manufacturers Association and the Wisconsin Council of Safety in 1975. WMC engages in earned media, advocacy and business development. WMC came under fire in 1996 for an issue ad aimed at Democrats in the state. Initially, the ad was forced off the air but WMC sued to have the ad reinstated, citing free speech rights. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel referred to WMC as "the state's most influential business lobbying group."

History and composition

The Wisconsin Manufacturers Association, which merged with two other Wisconsin business organizations in 1975 to form Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, was founded in 1911. Paul Hassett was the first president of the newly formed organization, which had approximately 2,500 charter members. Since its inception, WMC has lobbied for the passage of business-friendly legislation in the Wisconsin Legislature. As of 2008, WMC claims over 4,000 charter members among the business community in Wisconsin. It publishes two annual directories: one of state manufacturers and the other a directory of service companies. It also claims to represent 500 000 employees.

1996 election

During the 1996 election, WMC sponsored a series of 'issue ads' against state Democrats. The Wisconsin State Election Board blocked the ads, arguing that WMC violated state and federal election laws by running an election ad as group whose donor base was not divulged to the FEC and state election boards. WMC sued, citing free speech concerns. After two appellate court rulings against WMC, the State Supreme Court ruled narrowly in WMC's favor. State political leaders cited this supreme court case when preparing legislation in later years.

2008 election

For the main article on this subject, see Wisconsin State Elections, 2008.

WMC spent more than 1.2 million dollars in support of Michael Gableman's campaign for State Supreme Court Justice, successfully ousting sitting Justice Louis Butler. Justice Louis Butler subsequently asserted that three cases in particular caused WMC to target him. One favored the families of three men killed when a giant crane collapsed during construction of Miller Park; another struck down the cap on medical malpractice damages for pain and suffering, and the third expanded the liability of paint manufacturers in cases of lead poisoning. This spending and subsequent advertisement were criticized by members of the Madison press, the state bar and the Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan policy center at New York University.

Activities and membership

WMC does not disclose their issue advocacy donors list to the public. WMC lobbies on behalf of its members "whenever the state legislature is in session" According to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, WMC was responsible for 1.1 million dollars in lobbying efforts during the 2007-2009 session of the state legislature. WMC also publishes ratings of Wisconsin legislators on a scale of 0 to 100. In 1989, WMC helped block passage of Wisconsin's family leave act on behalf of their members. In August 2008 the outgoing Chancellor of UW-Madison John Wiley has described the WMC as being "hijacked by highly partisan ideologically driven staff" and stating "WMC routinely opposes most measures favored by labor unions, and most measures aimed at improving the lot of entry-level and low-income workers who are essential to our economy. But this opposition is not a business or an economic position; it is a political position based on an era and an economy that no longer exist."

Beyond lobbying efforts, WMC commissions annual surveys of business owners, directories and information, and-through their non-profit Wisconsin Council of Safety-workplace safety compliance information. WMC works with the state Department of Workforce Development to secure federal grants to train workers in Wisconsin.

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