The group sent out “several thousand” high-quality full-color mailings, set up three different robocalls, aired radio ads, sponsored two rallies and paid for a live operator to call county residents and then connect them to their supervisor if they supported CRG’s position.
The multimedia blitz must have cost a bundle for the “grassroots, all-volunteer” organization. One very conservative estimate by a media strategist puts the figure at tens of thousands of dollars.
But the public will never know the exact price tag of CRG’s advocacy on the budget—or who paid for it—because the group isn’t required to disclose its financial activities on this issue.
“I think people want to know where the money is coming from for a lot of good reasons, but also a lot of bad reasons so they can harass those contributors,” said CRG President Chris Kliesmet. “If my ideological competition is not going to show me theirs, I’m not going to put myself and the people I represent at a competitive disadvantage. We’re going to play hard. We’re going to play as hard as the rules allow.”
‘Issue’ Groups Not Required to Disclose Finances
The CRG, like many advocacy groups, is really an umbrella organization that includes separate entities for tax and messaging purposes. Some of these entities must fully disclose their contributors and expenditures, while others don’t have to reveal anything at all.
The CRG Network, the umbrella group, “is composed of three separate and distinct organizations each with a specific mission,” its Web site states.
One entity is CRG Advocates Inc., an “issue advocacy” unit—technically called an IRS 501c(4)—that doesn’t seek to influence elections, but rather voters’ and lawmakers’ actions on specific issues. The group can get heavily involved in issues central to its mission, but it does not have to reveal its donors or spending. It may accept contributions from individuals or corporations.
In contrast, entities that seek to influence elections—such as a political action committee (PAC)—have to reveal all of their financial activities to the public.
CRG has a PAC, too, called CRG Network PAC, which is completely transparent. Although one of its required reports from 2008 has not been filed, according to its most recent campaign finance report, the CRG Network PAC had $5,096 on hand.
Since the CRG’s recent activities targeted a budget—not a candidate or an election—it channeled all of its fund-raising and spending for the effort through its “issue” group, CRG Advocates.
Kliesmet said that he would not disclose CRG Advocates’ financial details.
“I will disclose [our donors] when I am legally obligated to disclose [them] and if I’m on an equal footing with my ideological competitors,” Kliesmet told the Shepherd. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
The CRG Network’s third entity, the nonprofit Citizens for Responsible Government Foundation Inc., is its educational arm. According to its IRS filings, the foundation trains people on how to conduct recall efforts and make open records requests; it also created an online tool to track government vendor expenses.
The foundation’s most recent tax filing found online (from 2007) shows that it had $34,409 on hand, although no donors were disclosed on the IRS 990-EZ tax form. Kliesmet said early seed money for the foundation came in part from the National Taxpayers Union.
Milwaukee County Supervisor Theo Lipscomb, who has been a target of CRG’s attention, questioned the group’s financial sources and actions.
“The CRG is not a grassroots movement,” Lipscomb said. “They are a well-financed political operation that is attempting to impose extreme policies through a coordinated campaign of misinformation.”
Promoting Walker as Cure
Kliesmet said that the CRG had been rather quiet in Milwaukee County until Walker proposed his budget.
CRG sent two mailers urging support for Walker’s zero-percent tax increase budget. The first mailing, sent days before the CRG’s Serb Hall rally, which Walker attended, is printed on heavy card stock, folds multiple times, and is in full color—not an inexpensive flier by any means.
Its text and tone portray Walker as the cure for all of the county’s problems:
“Taxes and spending just continue to climb…” the piece begins. It then lists problems against a dark brick background with Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway’s photo. On the third page there’s a photo of a white fist, a sign saying “Take back Milwaukee County” and the message “It is time to do something to make our politicians listen…”
On the next page there appears “The solution… Scott Walker’s common sense budget” and more text. The background is light, with a giant silver arrow pointing to Walker’s photo. Next to his photo the mailing states: “Enough is enough! Milwaukee County belongs to the taxpayers, not the politicians.” It invited residents to CRG’s Oct. 4 rally at Serb Hall.
The brochure also includes detachable postcards, one to mail to “Citizens for Responsible Government” so the recipient can be added to the group’s mailing list, and another to be sent to the resident’s supervisor, urging them to support Walker’s budget.
The mailer’s return address states “Paid for by Citizens for Responsible Government.” Its “network” logo appears nearby.
But, technically, “Citizens for Responsible Government” is not the name of its issue advocacy entity—“CRG Advocates” is.
Race-Baiting?
Kliesmet said the CRG’s issue advocacy entity, CRG Advocates, paid for the mailing. As a 501c(4) that solely advocates for issues, not elections, CRG Advocates doesn’t have to disclose its donors or expenditures.
Kliesmet said that in addition to printing and layout, the group paid for a mailing list as well so it could be sent to people not on its own membership mailing list. Kliesmet said that “several thousand” of these pieces were mailed throughout the county.
South Shore Supervisor Patricia Jursik blasted the mailing as “race-baiting.”
“It absolutely makes Holloway look like he’s from an evil empire, and that raised fist—it’s way over the top, in my opinion,” Jursik said.
Kliesmet defended the message and tone. He said that it’s only natural to show what is being rejected in a dark, foreboding manner, while what is being supported is portrayed in a bright, cheery way. He said people would read into the message what they will, although he didn’t think it was race-baiting.
“I think Lee Holloway has been a thorn in our side since the day he became chairman,” Kliesmet said. “I’m sorry—a child can yell that there’s a monster under the bed and the adults can come in and turn the lights on and say there’s no monster, but if that child wants to see a monster there’s going to be a monster there. Does that mean you can never put a white person and a black person together on a brochure?”
That mailing was only CRG’s opening salvo on the budget.
The group’s less elaborate second mailing invited recipients to its Nov. 14 “Rally with Taxpayers” at the Italian Community Center, which promised appearances by Walker, WISN-AM’s Vicki McKenna and WTMJ-AM’s James T. Harris. Photos of Holloway and Walker are also shown. The mailing doesn’t state who is sponsoring the rally, although the return address states “paid for by CRG Advocates.”
Kliesmet said CRG Advocates also paid for the two rallies, radio ads on conservative talk shows, three different robocalls (two featuring Kliesmet and one featuring WTMJ’s Harris) and phone operators who would transfer CRG sympathizers directly to the offices of their supervisors.
In addition to its work on the 2010 county budget, CRG Advocates also sent out a multi-piece mailing on the city’s proposed rental property inspection program.
The CRG Network PAC has announced it would provide assistance and financial support to two just-launched anti-tax PACs in Glendale and in South Milwaukee and Cudahy.
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