'Expose' on Greater Wisconsin gets it all wrong

Deb Jordahl has a big scoop.

She says Brent Smith, just named to the Board of Regents, is a board member of the Greater Wisconsin Committee, the issue advocacy group for which I work as a consultant.

There's more: Barbara Candy, whose husband, Chuck Pruitt, is a Regent, is Greater Wisconsin's fundraiser, Jordahl says.

It wouldn't be a great expose if it were true.

But it's not. It's totally false.

Brent Smith did serve briefly on the original board of directors for the Greater Wisconsin Committee when it was organized two years ago. He resigned in July 2004, when he became president of the state's technical college board. The group has filed its current board members with the state and federal government a couple of times since then, if anyone bothered to check.

Barbara Candy is not and has never been Greater Wisconsin's fundraiser, no matter what the people at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign may have reported. She has never been on the payroll and has not raised money for the group.

I'm sure the correction and apology will be forthcoming. (Sorry for that sarcasm. She actually did correct the post after I pointed out the errors.--Xoff.)

While we're on the subject, let's talk about Greater Wisconsin Committee, the group whose first name is "Shadowy" when it's being used by the goo-goos, the GOPpers and their support crew, and the Spice Boys.

The Greater Wisconsin Committee is incorporated in the State of Wisconsin, with a public board of directors. It is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(4) organization, which does issue advocacy and grassroots lobbying to advance a progressive agenda for Wisconsin. It is non-profit and non-partisan. It is in compliance with all state and federal campaign and tax laws.

In the last two years, it has run issue advocacy campaigns on a variety of issues, during the legislative session, not just at election time as many of the right-wing groups seem to do. It has done campaigns on TABOR, the minimum wage, taxes, the state budget, reproductive rights, lead paint liability, and concealed weapons, among others. It is in the midst of another campaign to stop TABOR right now.

So what makes it shadowy?

Presumably, it's that Greater Wisconsin does not publicly report its donors. The IRS does not require that.

That puts Greater Wisconsin in the same "shadowy" category as a few conservative groups you may have heard of: Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Wisconsin Right to Life, Americans for Prosperity, the Alliance for Choices in Education, the Coalition for America's Families, and on and on. Many are headed by prominent Republicans.

So spare me the outrage, please. The Greater Wisconsin Committee is a legitimate, legally constituted group that will continue to do issue advocacy and try to move Wisconsin in a progressive direction, no matter how much the wingnuts squeal.

Have I made that perfectly clear?