WASHINGTON (AP) – During the run-up to the recall election to kick Scott Walker out of office in 2012 as Wisconsin’s governor, a host of conservative media and public-policy organizations pushed back.
A Wisconsin think-tank called The MacIver Institute questioned the validity of signatures supporting the referendum. Another, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, argued that the recall effort betrayed the state constitution’s progressive spirit. The Wisconsin Reporter and Media Trackers, online publications, documented uncouth behavior by anti-Walker protesters and ferreted out alleged anti-Walker bias in the press.
All of the groups shared a common backer: the Bradley Foundation, a conservative Milwaukee philanthropic organization that sits atop an endowment of more than $800 million. The foundation is led by Walker’s three-time campaign chairman, Michael Grebe, and overseen by board members who have personally contributed more than $700,000 to Walker since he launched his first gubernatorial campaign.
The foundation itself is a tax-exempt nonprofit that can never give to Walker’s campaigns. But for a candidate whose views line up with the foundation’s – and Walker’s certainly do – the infrastructure Bradley has built may be invaluable yet again. With Jeb Bush expected to dominate fundraising in the Republican primary, the groups that Bradley has spent decades building could provide a counterweight for an ideologically-driven candidate.
“The Bradley Foundation millions have bought Scott Walker an insurance policy from criticism by the intellectual right,” said Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now, a liberal advocacy group.