How far will an advocacy group go to back its endorsement? We’re about to find out via the actions of the Club for Growth in Wisconsin’s Republican primary for the Senate.
At issue is how far the Club has continued to embarrass itself all in the name of its endorsement of Kevin Nicholson. Nicholson is a former Democrat who has claimed a political conversion, is largely seen as a political outsider, and won the Club’s endorsement while the candidate field was forming. Passed over or not even considered for the endorsement were solid Wisconsin conservatives such as state Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Brookfield), who has announced, and 2012 GOP primary runner-up Eric Hovde, who is contemplating a run.
Since Nicholson won the Club’s endorsement, it has gone to great lengths not just to promote him, but to attack the rest of the field, raising eyebrows throughout Wisconsin’s political class. It began its effort in full in November when it called Vukmir a “RINO” in a fundraising email.
This sparked immediate backlash against the Club from Wisconsin’s most prominent conservative talk radio hosts. Many questioned how the Club, whose only interactions with Wisconsin seem to be U.S. Senate primaries, could charge Vukmir with such a title, since these local hosts have known her to be a stalwart conservative on every issue possible as a state legislator.
The Club’s response to this criticism essentially was, Our research says otherwise.
This led to an open invitation from James Wigderson, editor-in-chief of the website RightWisconsin, to Club for Growth President David McIntosh to explain his group’s criticism of Vukmir. McIntosh responded with an op-ed of his own. (Disclaimer: I was employed by RightWisconsin from 2013-2016 when it was owned by Scripps Media as an online brand extension of now-retired conservative radio host Charlie Sykes at 620AM WTMJ in Milwaukee. Scripps transferred the site to Wigderson in 2017.)
In his op-ed, McIntosh offered this critique:
Instead of having the matter settled, this only made matters worse for the Club.
In Wisconsin, the 2011 state budget is better known as “The Act 10 Budget.” It was this state budget that further cemented into law the various public employee and collective bargaining reforms that had triggered weeks of protests. For the Club to say it opposes a “yea” vote for that particular budget is to essentially say it opposes Act 10 and the billions in taxpayer savings it has provided to Wisconsinites.
But the embarrassment didn’t end there. Following all of these events was Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform and originator of the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” who issued his own statement on the Club’s charge against Vukmir:
Since Norquist’s statement was made public, the Club for Growth has offered no response. Meanwhile, Badger State talk radio hosts have urged Nicholson to personally call out the Club for its blatant dishonesty on his behalf.
So far he hasn’t.
All this Christmastime back and forth has raised concern among Badger State Republicans that a repeat of the 2012 GOP Senate primary is imminent. In that race, a flurry of interference from out-of-state groups created a bloody primary, which essentially handed the general election to Madison liberal Tammy Baldwin. Republican primary winner and former Gov. Tommy Thompson spent the race raising money and not answering the millions of dollars in ads Baldwin’s campaign was airing across Wisconsin.
This concern has gotten so strong, Sen. Ron Johnson and the state GOP recently created a “Unity Pledge” to avoid a repeat of six years ago. Both the Nicholson and Vukmir campaigns have indicated their intentions to sign the pledge.
The pledge is meant to be “a respectful pursuit of the endorsement of grass-roots conservatives at the state convention and the Republican nomination, running a campaign focused on defeating Senator Tammy Baldwin, and supporting whoever the Republican nominee is when the primary is over.”
Whether this pledge keeps the peace remains to be seen. But the actions so far by the Club for Growth are but a microcosm of the current divides within the conservative movement: divisions that existed long before this current election cycle and have cost Republicans a number of Senate seats since 2010.
So while the Club for Growth should be embarrassed for its inability to understand Wisconsin politics, it’s nothing compared to how its handiwork in Senate primaries has helped keep tax-and-spend liberal Democrats competitive once the fallout clears on the Republican side.
Kevin Binversie is a Wisconsin-based writer who has been active in Badger State conservative politics for more than a decade. His past endeavors have included serving as Research Director for Senator Ron Johnson’s 2010 campaign and as Managing Editor for RightWisconsin.com.
