By Collin Roth

A week ago, Wisconsin Jobs Now! was just another little known left-wing organization among the constellation of progressive organizations active in the Wisconsin recall elections. But then on August 1, the organization was caught organizing what appeared to be an illegal voter drive. Wisconsin Jobs Now! organized “block party” events that featured free food and raffle tickets for attendees as wells as free rides to the polls.

Janet Veum, the Communications Coordinator for the organization called the block parties a “celebration of voting.”

GAB officials seemed to indicate that the combination of free food and free rides to the polls were illegal.

Wisconsin Jobs Now! was constituted on April 27, 2011 just as the recall fever in Wisconsin began heating up. Registered at the same address as Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Jobs Now! listed Matthew Brusky, Political Director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin as the registered agent. Despite the connections, Citizen Action of Wisconsin denied any relationship with the organization and blasted the media for falling for “trumped up election week charges.”

Prior to last week’s “block parties” Wisconsin Jobs Now! spent a great deal of time organizing demonstrations against Republican State Senator Alberta Darling and Republican Representative Paul Ryan, demanding extensions for unemployment benefits and decrying budget cuts.

Despite Wisconsin Jobs Now! claims to be a “non-partisan organization not authorized by any campaign,”  the organization clearly supports Democrat Sandy Pasch. At a recent Wisconsin Jobs Now! protest at Senator Alberta Darling’s office, “Sandy Pasch for Senate” signs were displayed prominently among the demonstrators.

Screenshot Taken From Wisconsin Jobs Now! Video

At another local Milwaukee event, children played tug-of-war with two Wisconsin Jobs Now! personnel wearing signs that said “Alberta Darling” and “Scott Walker.”

Screenshot From Wisconsin Jobs Now! Video

Executive Director for Wisconsin Jobs Now! is Michael Lauer, a former organizer for the SEIU who most recently organized protests against M&I Bank during the budget battle. He may still be employed by the SEIU given that in the GAB complaint Wisconsin Jobs Now! filed on Thursday against Alberta Darling and other groups, Lauer’s email address was listed as michael.lauer@seiu.org.

It is even reported that despite Wisconsin Jobs Now’s outrage over corporate profits and the wealthy, Lauer made over $98,000 per year in 2010 as a Deputy Organizing Director for SEIU.

It has been difficult to discover much about the staff of Wisconsin Jobs Now! but Facebook profiles and LinkedIn pages reveal that the vast majority are likely also organizers for the SEIU like Lauer.

In sum, evidence suggests that Wisconsin Jobs Now! is advocating not for jobs, but for sepecific candidates in the recall elections. Instead of advancing a general community ideal, they insist on promoting a partisian agenda. Their at times reckless disregard for key portions of Wisconsin election law raises concerns over the legitimacy of their activities. Certainly, it can be said that Wisconsin Jobs Now! sacrifices public trust in the election process for the sake of specific partisian election outcomes.