GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — They’ve become ubiquitous on Social Media in recent weeks: political advertisements from a group calling themselves “Open Democracy PAC”, endorsing a number of Green Bay Common Council Candidates.
There’s one issue: none of the candidates have signed off on running these ads. Nor have any of them even spoken to anyone from “Open Democracy PAC”.
“When you’re putting in a lot of effort into running a campaign, being careful of how I’m presenting myself, being careful about who I’m working with, you don’t want any of these distractions,” said Michael Porodek, a candidate for the 11th district who has been supported by the ads. “It pulls you away from what you really want to focus on.”
Seven of 21 Green Bay Common Council Candidates signed a pledge this week vowing to maintain the non-partisan nature of Green Bay Council Elections. Porodek organized that pledge, and says he wants nothing to do with the organization.
“I don’t want it. I don’t want that support. I want to run my own campaign. I want to tell my own message to the voters,” said Porodek. “This is a non-partisan election. We are supposed to be non-partisan public servants. I don’t want to be used for whatever these groups are intending.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Aron Obrecht, running for a seat in the 6th district. He, too, has been picked by the PAC, but he says he has no idea why.
“If I were to guess, they’re trying to interfere with elections,” Obrecht told WTAQ. “To what goal, I don’t know. But it isn’t mine, and it isn’t anyone’s that I’ve talked to in district 6.”
Green Bay’s City Council races are not partisan. Candidates do not explicitly identify with a political party. Nevertheless, the left-leaning Open Democracy PAC and the right-leaning Restoration PAC have both spent thousands on the race. Open Democracy is believed to have spent at least $30,000 on the election in Green Bay.
In a non-descript office building at 80 M Street Southeast, just blocks north of the Washington Nationals Stadium, allegedly lies the offices of Open Democracy PAC. Theoretically, that’s where Eric Ming, the Executive Director of Open Democracy PAC, works. However–the building is also home to a WeWork work sharing space, so there’s really no way of knowing precisely what’s going on–ironically–behind the doors of Open Democracy PAC.
That’s normal, according to OpenSecrets Deputy Research Director Peter Quist. He calls it “dark money.”
“These organizations are very quick to form, it only takes a few minutes to fill out the paperwork, and you can throw up a website that has your message on it, but doesn’t have any contact information or, often times, even a list as to who is in the organization. It becomes very opaque.” Quist said. “These are small networks, really, of [political operatives].”
What’s also normal is the lack of any communication between the PACs and the candidates themselves.
“If you’re not working with the campaign, it’s called an independent expenditure,” said Quist on Thursday. “It is not subject to any kind of spending limit, and that’s why these groups will often not work with a candidate.”
It’s a consequence of the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision, in which the court ruled that the government could not prevent independent expenditures by organized groups on political campaigns.
OpenSecrets is a non-profit group that tracks political expenditures.
Regardless of the opacity, there are things we do know about the PACs involved in the Green Bay Common Council race.
We know that Restoration PAC is a right-leaning PAC associated with former Illinois Senate Candidate Doug Truax, and it’s been active since 2012. They’ve sent out mailers on behalf of several candidates in Green Bay, including Porodsek and Obrecht’s opponents, Melinda Eck and Steven Campbell, respectively. They’ve also launched an attack ad against Mayor Eric Genrich, criticizing him for his handling of the 2020 election.
Calls to Steven Campbell were not returned as of press time. Eck declined to comment, but has told Fox 11 that she would prefer candidates run their own campaigns.
Restoration is funded in part by a number of big organizations, most notably Pleasant Prairie’s ULine, Inc, a business supply and shipping company, which has contributed more than $7 million.
We know that left-leaning Open Democracy PAC is a new organization, headed by Ming, a St. Norbert College grad who also works as Campaign Manager for a group called the Center for Secure and Modern Elections. We know, based on their disclosures to the Federal Elections Commission that have been complied by OpenSecrets, that they’re financed by a small, close knit group of donors that include some unusual names that you might be familiar with.
The donor list includes Kate Capshaw, who you may know as the nightclub singer from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”. She’s the wife of legendary film director Steven Spielberg. It also includes Matt Selman, the showrunner from “The Simpsons”. It includes former oil and gas CEO and lawyer Merle Chambers, known for her contributions to Democratic Party causes.
It does not include anyone with a Wisconsin address.
The circle involved in organizing the ad buys is small, and have connections with other names familiar with Green Bayers who have kept an eye on local elections over the past several years.
The Center for Secure and Modern Elections, which Ming also works at, has worked closely with the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a Mark Zuckerberg-funded organization that drew controversy when it funded the 2020 election in Green Bay, providing political consultants to help assist the city with its election efforts.
It begs the question: why here? Why Green Bay? Why Wisconsin?
UW-Green Bay Associate Political Science Professor David Helpap has a theory.
“Green Bay has been in the news related to election issues, right? It’s really reflective of national issues going on,” Helpap said. “There’s a famous phrase that ‘there is no Democratic or Republican way to collect the garbage, but it appears that some people think there is.”
It’s also likely no coincidence that it’s happening in a swing state.
“All politics is local,” said Quist. “When you are working in a swing state, perhaps having constant messaging, regardless of the election you’re messaging about, can build momentum.”
It’s nothing new. Quist says that he anticipates the flow of so-called “dark money” in local elections only getting worse as the years go by.
“I think we will only see more of this,” added Quist. “Particularly with the online ad spending…there is very little regulation in terms of limiting or disclosing spending on online ads.”
Requests were made for interviews with Open Democracy PAC, Restoration PAC, and the Center for Secure and Modern Elections. None of those requests were returned as of press time.
