Money, Money, Money

Let's talk cash.

Scott Hassett's total cash raised amounts to around $250,000 when you don't take into account the Wisconsin Election Campaign fund grant for $70,000. The majority of Hassett's funds came from private donations, around $135,000. However, when you just look at the Political Action Committee contributions, his big contributors were the labor union. I mean big. over $20,000 from the Wisconsin Education Association council, $20,000 from Madison Teachers, and another $20,000 from the United Transportation Union. If giving money means you get what you want, then Hassett is definitely going to be good for Wisconsin workers.

The second biggest contributors were lobbyists. Two lobbying firms donated over $1,000 to Hassett. Quarles & Brady gave him $2,275 and Foley & Lardner gave him $1,450. As with any lawyer firm, it was nearly impossible to find a list of clients for the two firms. I did find that Quarles & Brady are tied to a lobbying firm in Arizona that has funded a ballot measure that would temporarily raise sales taxes. On their website they emphasize that they support non-profit organization, and their lawyers donate their time to these organization. They do not however, expressly say what they stand for. Foley & Larner is even stranger. They give most of their money to Florida but that's not the strangest. They gave $71,000 to Republicans and $52,000 to Democrats from the state. With a little digging, it seems that the firm strongly represents health care reform, yet they majorly contribute to Republicans, who are notoriously against health care reform. Confused? I don't think I will ever understand what lobbyists really are trying to do, but I think that is the point.


Van Hollen, however, has a lot more money. A lot. Where Hassett had $135,000 in personal donations, Van Hollen raised $730,000. That's over 5 times as much as Hassett. The major political action committees that contributed to Van Hollen include: $20,000 from Realtors PAC, $15,000 from Concerned Realtors Committee, $13,250 from the WI Bankers Association, and $10,000 from Wal-Mart. What does that say about Van Hollen's interests? It would seem that if Van Hollen is following the money, his interests lie with Big Corporations and the Finance industry.

Van Hollen received over $30,000 from Lawyers & Lobbyists, though all the contributions were made from individual lawyers, making it harder to discern what firms are majorly representing him, and what the interests of those firms are. Though, from looking at his PAC contributions, I would guess the interests of the firms would largely revolve around realty, banks, and big business.

So what do I think about this? Hassett is supported by labor unions, while Van Hollen is supported by the big money industries of realty, finance, and big businesses. If you want someone who supports the "normal" workers of Wisconsin, the choice would be Hassett. If you want someone who supports the rich, big, industries, the choice would be Van Hollen. I would choose workers over big corporations. That's just me though. You can take the money as you see it.

Follow the Money Profiles:
Hassett on Wisconsin Democratic Campaign: Follow the Money
Hassett on Follow the Money.org
Van Hollen on Wisconin Democratic Campaign: Follow the Money
Van Hollen on Follow the Money.org

This is a great page on the Wisconsin Democratic Campaign: Follow the Money website that explains the money terminology:
Wisconsin Campaign Finance Glossary