Investigating Power
One of Leonard Leo’s funding vehicles is once again the top contributor to the Republican Attorneys General Association, according to an analysis of the group’s latest 2023 IRS filing by the Center for Media and Democracy.
Republican state lawmakers, corporate lobbyists, and right-wing operatives are descending on Orlando this week for the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council ready to fight “woke capitalism,” extend a lifeline to big polluters, ban ranked-choice voting, attack bodily autonomy, and consider an array of other model policies.
Trump’s “judge whisperer” Leonard Leo, the Christian conservative largely responsible for moving the federal court system to the far right in the past decade, is deploying his powerful network to get a friend and former employee elected as Missouri’s next attorney general.
Even before the Justice Department announced the federal indictment of former President Trump last week, the super PAC for Charles Koch’s political operation, Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action), had spent $347,022 in May to discredit his presidential bid in 2024.
Several Republican candidates jockeying to take on Trump in next year’s presidential primary have seized on the Right’s culture wars and defense of big oil. And they’re not alone.
On Tuesday, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz and former Justice Daniel Kelly advanced in the primary race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the most closely watched election of 2023.
Super PACs are jumping into the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race. This week a total of $1.64 million was disclosed to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission for TV and radio ads by outside groups. This is on top of $1.7 million spent by the four contestants.
A group tied to the influential anti-abortion activist Leonard Leo gave $3 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association in the fourth quarter, making it the largest contributor to the organization in 2022.
Big money has started flowing into a pivotal Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, as reports filed yesterday with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission indicate.
Right-wing Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly received compensation from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation and Bradley-funded organizations in 2022.