2022 Opinions

Case summary and statistics.

Candidate Fund Raising

Supreme Court spending approaches $30 million $45 million! "$24.4 million spent by Protasiewicz and > $19.2 by Kelly".

But spending on independent expenditures is 2-to-1 in favor of liberal Janet Protasiewicz.

Of liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz’s $195,000 fundraising haul in large donations last week, only $7,500 came from in-state donors.

Kelly personally raised $100,169 from Jan. 1-Feb. 6, according to his latest campaign finance report. He spent $174,757 and had $201,966 in the bank to end the period, putting him well behind Protasiewicz who raised more than $725,000 during the same period and Dorow who raised $365,271.02.

Interests

Between Feb. 7 and March 20, Protasiewicz received $12.4 million in donations while Kelly received $2.2 million. About $8 million of Protasiewicz's donations were from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Billionaire financier George Soros donated $1 million the state Democrats on Feb. 22, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave $1 million on March 14 and Tulsa philanthropists Stacy and Lynn Schusterman made four donations in March totaling $1 million. The Schustermans had previously donated $40,000 to the party.

Progressive group Better Wisconsin Together in a campaign finance filing says it’s spending $829K against conservative Jennifer Dorow in the escalating Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Primary is Feb. 21.

The filing doesn’t mention Daniel Kelly, the other conservative in the race. pic.twitter.com/XGdIfUzMXf

— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) February 3, 2023

Fair Courts America is starting a $500k TV ad backing @JusticeDanKelly in SCOWIS race on heels of $250k radio buy. @JudgeDorowWI is up on TV and radio w/ about $130k, while @janetforjustice is up with $700k on TV.

See the Fair Courts America release:https://t.co/KRd7AeRGcr

— JR Ross (@jrrosswrites) February 2, 2023

Outside group spending topped $5 million for the first time ever in a high court race (see Table). The three candidates combined also spent a record of just over $5 million. And the winner, Dane County Circuit Judge Jill Karofsky, spent $2.7 million, a single-candidate record in a state Supreme Court race.

Of the $10 million spent by the groups and candidates, 51 percent was spent by Karofsky and groups who supported her, 47 percent was spent by Kelly and groups who supported him, and 2 percent was spent by candidate Ed Fallone, who was eliminated in the February primary, and groups who supported him.

The previous record cost of a state Supreme Court race was more than $8.2 million set in 2019. The previous record for group spending alone was nearly $4.8 million in 2008 and the previous record for combined candidate spending was $3.7 million in 2019. - via Urban Milwaukee on the 2020 election

Worth Watching: Elias law group & recent North Carolina Green Party lawfare.

Jeff Gerth - Columbia Journalism Review:

"Fusion’s client for the dossier was Marc Elias, the lawyer for the Clinton campaign and the DNC."

FTX Donated funds to the Democrat Party of Wisconsin

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