Two groups that tried unsuccessfully to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos spent nearly $1.3 million through June 30 with more than half of the money going to “solicitation expenses,” a WisPolitics review finds.
The bulk of those payments went to individuals, including those who organized the recall efforts.
The campaign finance reports — filed more than a month late — also show the two committees raised more than $1.3 million through the end of June with most of that coming from an Arkansas philanthropist.
Two committees were formed to try recalling Vos, one for each failed attempt. The second — dubbed the Racine Recall Committee — listed 95 people who were paid for solicitation expenses. Of those, 22 were from Wisconsin.
Vos, R-Rochester, said the WisPolitics reporting confirmed his belief the effort against him was largely driven by out-of-state interests. He also said those involved in the recall efforts who say they want to see Donald Trump elected this fall could’ve put the money to better use helping the former president than pouring it into the failed efforts.
“Everybody involved got paid one way or another,” Vos charged in a phone interview. “This wasn’t a grassroots, volunteer, local effort. It was an out-of-state paid endeavor and in many ways, it looks like these people were making money off the effort.”
Matt Snorek, a Racine County resident who was an integral part of the recall attempts, didn’t return a message late yesterday seeking comment. The records show he was paid $17,500 for solicitation expenses by the second recall committee and $2,890 by the first one.
The first recall committee reported $554,678 in receipts through June 30, $513,399 in expenses and $41,338 cash on hand to end June. The second effort reported $792,984 raised, $780,850 in expenses and $12,133 left in the bank.
Arkansas philanthropist John Bailey accounted for more than 94% of what the committees raised, pouring $785,000 into the second effort after giving $485,000 to the first. Organizers returned $60,000 of what he gave to that initial effort.
The first effort, launched in January, failed after the Elections Commission staff found Recall Vos didn’t collect enough signatures from either the 63rd AD that the speaker was elected to in 2022 or the 33rd AD that he was drawn into under new maps that were signed into law in February.
The Racine Recall Committee then launched a second effort seeking to recall Vos from the old 63rd AD. But the Elections Commission found some of the signatures had been collected after the 60-day window allowed under state law. The committee challenged that decision in Dane County Circuit Court. But a judge didn’t address that claim, instead finding the state Supreme Court’s ruling throwing out the maps used in 2022 barred any attempt to recall Vos from that district.
The Supreme Court this week rejected the committee’s request to hear its appeal directly.
Read more in the Thursday AM Update.
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