David Wittwer, president and chief executive officer of TDS Telecom, the Madison-based parent company of TDS Metrocom, has resigned from the board of directors of the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), the state's largest business lobbying group.
Wittwer and other members of the WMC board have been feeling pressure because of the partisan political stances and expenditures by the organization.
Critics say the WMC has bought the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The WMC spent an estimated $2.2 million on television commercials that criticized former Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Linda Clifford last summer. Clifford ultimately was defeated by the WMC-backed candidate, Annette Ziegler, who was then reprimanded for failing to recuse herself from cases involving companies with whom she had financial ties.
On Tuesday, challenger Mike Gableman won a narrow victory over Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, who was the first African-American to serve on the court. The WMC spent more than $2 million for commercials that criticized Butler in a race that featured television commercials that drew national attention from news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and The Associated Press.
The ads supporting Gableman and criticizing Butler were denounced as being misleading by several organizations, including the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Common Cause Wisconsin.
Wittwer had been criticized by Waukesha resident Jim Bouman, a TDS customer who wrote a letter to Wittwer, threatening to cancel his service because of Wittwer's affiliation with the WMC.
Bouman, who writes a blog titled, "Water Blogged in Waukesha," called Gableman an "utterly cluesess waterboy for the fat cats."
Wittwer responded with a letter to Bouman, telling him, "From your letter it is abundantly clear you hold sharp differences in opinion to some of those espoused by the WMC. Without question, you are entitled to share those viewpoints with me. TDS is the company you have entrusted to be your communications solution provider and we do our level best to maintain that level of trust in everything we do. Further, TDS takes our customers' viewpoints and expressions of dissatisfaction seriously. With that in mind, I believe it important to share with you that, for personal and philosophical reasons, I have resigned my seat as a member of the WMC board of directors. It would be untrue for me to suggest that your letter was the catalyst for my departure form the leadership of this statewide trade association, but I wanted to personally make you aware of my decision."
Bouman then shared Wittwer's letter in his blog and responded with the following comments: "I am sticking with TDS. Wittwer's resignation and plea to retain my business speak eloquently of the influence we have with our consumer choices. I'm really happy to remain a customer, in touch with the TDS staff and professionals who have provided great service over the years. And my opinion of Wittwer is up more than a few notches -he operates a good business that provides really good service and he is personally pragmatic."
SBT received e-mails from several business leaders and some labor officials this morning, applauding Wittwer's decision to resign from the WMC board.
However, Drew Peterson, director of legislative and public relations for TDS Telecom, told SBT that Wittwer's decision to resign from the WMC board was not based on political heat generated by the criticism of the WMC's tactics.
"It was purely a person decision on behalf of David Wittwer. It did not have anything to do with political issues," said Peterson, who acknowledged the national attention generated by the Supreme Court race.
The race continued to raise eyebrows when the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reported that out-of-state interests poured in $50,000 to Gableman campaign on March 17, just two weeks before the election. The five $10,000 contributions came from Paul Singer, Gordon and Jenny Singer, Bonnie Loeb and Jay Newman with Elliot Management Corp., a New York hedge firm, according to the WDC.
In another Milwaukee Biz Blog entry today, Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which has been critical of the impact of large campaign donations by both right-leaning corporations and left-leaning groups such as the Wisconsin Education Association Council, says big money is soiling the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Steve Jagler is executive editor of Small Business Times.
15 Comments
Hats off to the TDS CEO!!!!!!!! How can we have a democracy when groups like the WMC are buying elections? That Supreme Court race made me want to puke. There is absolutely no reason the slimy WMC's voice and impact on an election should be any louder or carry any more weight than anyone else's. Wake up people! Groups like the WMC are stealing our elections, and now we're going to have a court that they bought and paid for. That is not what the founding fathers of our country had in mind when they created this nation. It's time to stop this corruption and change our system.
And if I was a member of the WMC, I would revoke my membership. I would not to be associated with those people in any way. Does anyone know who the other board members are? We should boycott them.
Here's a list of the WMC board of directors, with asterisks beside the ones whose companies paid NOTHING in Wisconsin corporate tax in 2003 & 2004:
http://www.instituteforonewisconsin.org/page/content/WMCast/boardofdirectors/
It's part of a site called WMC Watch, well worth checking out.
Possibly I'm off base with these questions. Didn't both sides use smear campaigning? Didn't both sides receive 'third party money"? Didn't both sides receive out of state money? Didn't this all start with the Feingold campaign finance changes? And lastly, if even one of these are true, journalistically, shouldn't the limelight be on both campaigns?
I've never met a person who is for negetive campaigning, so why are we not changing the process rather than trying to cause harm to people on either side of the fence. They are just playing by the rules, they did not create the rules.
Besides all this, boycotting the CEO's companies will not hurt the CEO's. It will hurt the people that may lose their jobs if business slacks. Let's direct our focus on fixing the problem; energy better spent.
By the way, how are we doing on crime, schools and tax reduction?
Guess it's time to cancel my TDS service. If he left WMC because of these babies whining that they lost the Supreme Court seat...then they don't need my business any longer.
When people get in an uproar about WEAC and their despicable ads...then maybe we can take them serious about their complaints on WMC.
I saw this out on a blog today and have to agree completely:
I find it odd that so many people think that pro-business groups, the NRA, and pro-life organizations are all evil "special interests," but unions (like WEAC), Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and trial lawyers are not.
h/t "fromwhereisit.org"
This is in response to the last two comments: DUH! The Gableman ads crossed a line that had NEVER been crossed before in Wisconsin. That's why they were written about in the NATIONAL media. So don't deny it. Just roll with it. More than 30 judges, many of them conservatives from conservative counties, denounced the Gableman commercials. More than 30 judges signed their names to the following statement: "Judge Michael Gableman has released a television ad which, in our collective view, marks a new low in judicial campaigns in this state … Gableman has exceeded the boundaries of fairness, honesty and integrity for candidates running for judicial office."
For the record, here are the judges who signed on to that statement:
Fmr. Justice William Bablitch, Wisconsin Supreme Court
Presiding Judge Paul B. Higginbotham, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District IV
Presiding Judge Daniel P. Anderson, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II
Judge Charles P. Dykman, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District IV
Judge Joan Kessler, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District I
Judge Dominic Amato, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Carl Ashley, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Dorothy Bain, Marathon County Circuit Court
Judge David Barowski, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Andrew Bissonnette, Dodge County Circuit Court
Judge Patrick Brady, Marathon County Circuit Court
Judge Karen Christenson, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Dennis Cimpl, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Jeffrey Conen, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Thomas Cooper, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge John Damon, Trempealeau County Circuit Court
Judge John DiMotto, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge M. Joseph Donald, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Thomas Donegan, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Ramona Gonzalez, LaCrosse County Circuit Court
Judge Glenn Hartley, Lincoln County Circuit Court
Judge John Hoffmann, Waupaca County Circuit Court
Judge Raymond Huber, Waupaca County Circuit Court
Judge Charles Kahn, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Philip Kirk, Waupaca Circuit Court
Judge Mary Kuhnmuench, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Edward Leineweber, Richland County Circuit Court
Judge Patricia McMahon, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Marshall Murray, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Dale Pasell, LaCrosse County Circuit Court
Judge William Pocan, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Mary Triggiano, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Timothy Van Akkeren, Sheboygan County Circuit Court
Judge Paul Van Grunsven, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Judge Jeffrey Wagner, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
The WMC did buy this court. And the court is now signed, sealed and delivered for their agenda. And that is disgusting. Our democracy is now officially broken. That's where I sit!
To the last commenter...DUH! SO WHAT? You wouldn't have been saying that WEAC bought the seat if Butler had won, so shut the hell up. Just because you didn't get it your way, you're going to whine. If you had shown just a little bit of problem with what WEAC did, you might have some credibility. But you didn't and you don't.
I'm really sick and tired of you lefties and your complaining. The voters have spoken and the voters wanted someone that won't try to legislate from the bench. Get over it.
Now we need to get rid of Abrahamson.
It's more than what you call lefties that are complaining about how this process of allowing the flood of money is turning our supreme court into Texas.
The notion is a little untoward that a supreme court seat was bought: and it was bought, no doubt about it.
The notion of democracy is that people base their decisions on rational thinking based on the information. And though we hear this faux populist nonsense about "the people have spoken" well that may be true, but what prompted their choice was the mis-information that Gabelman supporters sought to get in front of the public in buckets. "Loop-Hole Louie" is not only extremely disrespectful but really was all the Gabelman message was all about.
To a point the voters have spoken, but you neglect the role of advertising in this any other act of marketing. I doubt the good businesspeople of the WMC would have dumped so much money into this race unless they thought they would get something out of it. After all, don't you folks who want to privatize government always tell us that these people know how to spend money?
The other thing that is conveniently overlooked or downplayed is that Gabelman supporters way overspent the Butler side. This is no way to elect a supreme court justice, especially with so much money coming in from out of state. What the heck is that all about.
So you better get used to the "whining."
Just to clarify: I am the TDS customer who wrote David Wittwer, telling him that--even though the service (phone and DSL) TDS had provided me for years had been excellent--I was going to look elsewhere. I saw no reason to patronize a business whose CEO was in a policy and decision-making position that I oppose
He wrote back asking me to reconsider my decision and made a point of telling me that he had resigned from the WMC Board "for "personal and philosophical reasons".
It wasn't ONLY The recent Supreme Court election. I listed three things I thought the WMC was involved in that were not in the best interest of most Wisconsinin residents. Those three were
1. Attempts to deep six the Great Lakes Compact.
2. Electoral and huge financial investment in the election of ethically challenged Annette Ziegler to the Supreme Court last year.
3. Electoral and huge financial investment in the election of Michael Gableman to the Supreme Court.
Wittwer chose to remove himself from the WMC Board. He did not say what specific "personal and philosophical" reasons motivated him to do so. I respect his privacy in this regard. And I have seen it as enough that he chose to no longer be part of that decision-making and money-spending group at the head of WMC. He added that it would '...be untrue to suggest that that your letter was the catalyst for my departure...."
All this overheated rhetoric goes well beyond what a simple consumer decision on my part and a pragmatic business decision on Wittwer's part really signify. I like the idea that my phone service provider is sticking to phone service, spending less time with WMC. It's as simple as that. And he, I believe, likes the idea that I'll remain a customer.
The voters have spoken?
No, they haven't. WMC money spoke, and it is a damned shame -- actually stupidity -- that we allow special interests to elect our judges, whether they are WMC or WEAC.
Few voters even knew what these judges are all about. There is no place to go to get honest information. We need a non-biased group like factcheck.org to vet the claims by the candidates. Perhaps the well known non-profits can field a team to analyze and post on the web their records.
But even then, the judicial campaigns should be funded by taxpayer dollars, not special interest dollars. That we are allowing the fat cats to stack the judicial deck is shameful. We almost passed public funding of judicial campaigns but the Republican Assembly blocked it. They obviousely don't want to see the same standards passed on to them.
Isn't our corrupt political system great?
Guys, when we get past the chest beating and sour grapes, let's sit back and think for a moment. No one is happy here. Don't spend time pointing the finger at who played the game best. Don't focus on how it got started. And for crying out loud, stop getting sucked into defending/cursing the campaign ads or the campaign.
Jack, has a good point to an extent. Get the process under control. We're all sick of the half truths we hear and we can't find anyone to trust. Lord knows we spend the tax payer money on some embarrassingly stupid things in this state. Getting our elections to focus on whole truths; in context; and unbiased debates seems to be what we all want. And let me tell you, I HATE taxes.
Has our fearless leadership come up with some solutions for the crime, taxes and schools? Just checking.
Tom Wher writes:
When people get in an uproar about WEAC and their despicable ads...then maybe we can take them serious about their complaints on WMC.
Mike McCabe replies:
Interest groups on both the left and the right are hijacking our Supreme Court elections. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has condemned ads by groups on the left like WEAC and Greater Wisconsin Committee just as we have criticized ads by WMC, Club for Growth and Coalition for America's Families. You can read more about what we've had to say about WEAC at http://www.wisdc.org/blog/2008/03/every-kid-deserves-misleading-lurid-tv.html. More on our take on Greater Wisconsin Committee can be found at http://www.wisdc.org/blog/2007/05/shadowy-is-as-shadowy-does.html
First, I've got to ask, when is the Small Business Times going to take a pro-business, pro-taxpayer stance on anything? Where was the hand-wringing when Gov. Doyle got $1,000,000 in campaign ads from unknown (most likely casino) interests? Where is the stand against government union workforces financing the campaigns of the democratic party that in turn blatantly rewards their contributors with higher taxes and a more bloated government bureaucracy? Is this a business newspaper or just an extension of the all the other liberal news sources in Wisconsin?
I understand the Supreme Court campaign was messy on both sides, but only because the far-left leaning court of recent years has gone out of its way to legislate has there been more interest in the campaign from all sides of the political spectrum.
As to the "non-partisan" Wisconsin Democracy Campaign- writing an editorial on their dead end blog about a WEAC campaign ad is not the same as writing an editorial in a newspaper. Their own editorial in the Small Business Times is slanted toward supporting Butler by complaining about the advertisements that addressed crime- "even though it has virtually nothing to do with the work of the Supreme Court." Sorry, but the way justices adjudicate issues regarding criminal law does give us insight into their judicial leanings. Also, I'm still waiting to see an editorial by Mike McCabe decrying government unions of their heavy handed influence in democratic politics. Until then he doesn't merit the "non-partisan" label.
Finally, it is interesting to note that we know who the members of the WMC are. We don't know who is behind the Greater Wisconsin Committee. We need transparency in our elections (who is behind GWC?), and criticism of campaign ads by non-governmental entities is just fine. However, I don't want the Small Business Times, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the State of Wisconsin, or anyone else controlling free speech that is not libelous or slanderous.
Hey Bill Marsh: Yeah, that's the ticket ... Just blame the messenger that bares the truth. As for the Wisconsin Democracy campaign, didn't you just read the message that was posted right before your comment? You obviously start with a preconceived agenda and try to make the real world fit into it. Funny when that doesn't work, isn't it?
If Louis Butler had been willing to run a truthful campaign and tell the voters who he really is and how he would rule on cases the Gableman campaign would not have had to run the ads they ran. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is obviously a special interest group as is the WMC and every other group running ads. The sad thing is that the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, WEAC and WMC can't tell the truth about the candidates they support.
The Gableman ads were denounced by their opponents, that is supposed to be a reason to stop them? How about doubling them!
The list of thirty judges above provides a great list of more judges that need to be removed and replaced by judges that will rule on law not agenda!
Keep that list for future reference.
Hey John Wolters- You are correct- I do give consideration for the messenger- the liberal Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is not "non-partisan". They are soft of the left -read my comment. As to preconceived agenda- I've read your comments over the past year on various issues- you, as I do, have a preconceived agenda. I'll tell you some of mine- free speech, low taxes, courts that do not legislate, and less government. Based on your past comments we appear to be at odds.