A group backed by the Koch brothers is funding two commercials that will run for three weeks in Wisconsin targeting U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., for voting in favor of raising taxes.
Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, a group backed by the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, announced they are spending $1.6 million for the TV spots. Americans for Prosperity, a separate Koch-supported group funding ads against Baldwin, is spending $1.4 million for their commercials.
Separately, Restoration PAC pledged $625,000 Wednesday for commercials supporting businessman Kevin Nicholson who, along with state Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-
One of the recent commercials titled “$5 Trillion” targets Baldwin as “part of the problem” for “rigging the system” by voting for raising income, sales and energy taxes by $5 trillion.
The second commercial titled “Absolutely Wrong” also hits on Baldwin for supporting raising taxes, but with an angle that pits the common worker against Baldwin for being a Washington elite.
“If Tammy Baldwin opposes tax reform, it’s proof she opposes jobs, she opposes higher wages. I know of nothing she’s done to help working people like us,” the commercial said.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is calling the commercials a “dishonest smear campaign” by “out-of-state special interests [pouring] millions of dollars to take down Tammy Baldwin.”
“The truth is, Tammy supports tax cuts for Wisconsin working families, while far-right ideologue Leah Vukmir and Illinois mega-donor puppet Kevin Nicholson want to raise taxes on hardworking Wisconsinites so they can gift huge tax cuts to the out-of-state billionaires funding these smear ads," Brad Bainum, a spokesperson for Democratic Party of Wisconsin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
