For Immediate Release
-February 22, 2012-

Contact: brian@mediatrackers.org

MILWAUKEE – WISC-TV/News3 in Madison is reporting that on Thursday Secretary of State Doug La Follette (D) will be announcing his candidacy to run against Governor Scott Walker in the looming recall election. Media Trackers, a conservative investigative watchdog organization, conducted a quick survey of Secretary La Follette’s record to determine what the public can likely expect to see in a La Follette campaign for governor.

In a speech in early February where he mentioned the possibility of running for governor, Secretary La Follette said that if he ran he would limit all contributions to his campaign to a $20 maximum.  Brian Sikma, communications director for Media Trackers, said “Wisconsin voters will no doubt watch very closely to see if the secretary does indeed keep that promise. Failing to keep that promise would be a serious breach of the trust that Mr. La Follette is seeking to earn from Wisconsin voters.”

That La Follette would even run in a recall election is somewhat perplexing according to Sikma after statements the Secretary of State made last year while speaking at an event at the Capitol. There, La Follette declared that the state needed to “make elections mean something.” Sikma argued that, “if elections are to mean something, then forcing a re-run of the 2010 gubernatorial election would seem to imply that somebody, somewhere doesn’t like the outcome of that election and doesn’t want that election to mean something.”

La Follette proudly notes that he helped found the group that is known today as Clean Wisconsin, a leading member of the state’s environmental special interest lobby. “While repeatedly engaging in class warfare rhetoric, it is no small irony that Secretary La Follette’s organization has received tremendous sums of money from billionaire businessman George Soros.” Lately, Clean Wisconsin and allied groups have lashed out at a proposal to create hundreds – and potentially thousands – of new jobs in a revived Wisconsin mining industry. “Squaring his support for the middle class with a special interest group funded by a billionaire and presently dedicated to killing jobs made in Wisconsin for Wisconsin workers is something that voters can look forward to seeing,” Sikma said.

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