To Citizens of the 17th WI Senate District,

You’ve probably heard enough radio ads about terrible taxes and wasted tax money if you vote for Kriss Marion or Jeff Wright. You’ve probably received many cards with ugly pictures and red headlines telling you to call their personal numbers and tell them a simple sound-byte message.

Misleading messages, folksy scripts and downright lies written by political action groups funded by unknown contributors are flooding mailboxes, radio and TV. According to the WI Democracy Campaign, a watchdog for following the money, the WI Alliance for Reform and Jobs First Coalition have targeted both Marion and Wright in 2018.

Here are a few facts.

Wisconsin Farmers Union does not endorse candidates or make campaign donations. Our members voted to provide educational information that encourages civic engagement, advocate for policy positions – that are established by our grassroots membership – and stand by our values. Political attack ads violate our values of honesty, collaboration, and civility.

Kriss Marion is not “the local president of (South Central) Wisconsin Farmers Union”; although she was one of the founders five years ago, the fastest growing unit in WI with over 250 families in Green, Rock and Lafayette Counties brought together largely through her efforts. I know, because I am the President of SCWFU. Kriss resigned her position on our executive committee when she declared her candidacy in February, as per our by-laws. Every claim this ad makes regarding estate tax, renewable fuel standard and WFU policy is false. If you want to see our policy please visit https://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/legislation. If you would like to see who we really are, our annual meeting will be November 13th, at 6:00 p.m., in Monticello at T&D’s Pub and Grill.

The WI Alliance for Reform, using a Madison post office box and a Milwaukee phone number as its only contact information, is an outside, conservative, phony issue ad group that ran TV ads in the 2016 U.S. Senate and state Supreme Court races. It does not publish its contributors. This group was created in 2015 to support GOP conservative candidates for legislative and statewide offices. The Alliance’s decision to sponsor issue ads means that it can secretly raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on its outside electioneering activities.

Jobs First Coalition Political Fund has spent more than an estimated $1 million on outside electioneering activities between 2010 and 2016 to support GOP legislative candidates. At the beginning of October it reported spending nearly $11,000 on radio ads and mailings to support Republicans in three Wisconsin State Assembly races. The 51st Assembly race between Todd Novak and Jeff Wright is one of them. Consider their accusation that Wright is “double-dipping”.

How many of you would quit your current job to run for office? Would you ask a doctor, farmer, lawyer or hotel manager to stop working before they are elected? Yet, Jobs First would have Jeff Wright, the father of two young children, make the financially irresponsible decision to quit his job at Sauk Prairie Schools before being elected. I say, let’s wait until election results, and leave any employment decisions up to Jeff, his superintendent and school board. I personally would like to see Novak reject Jobs First support. Think how much money it takes to run all those negative ads. It’s not you or me footing the negative ad budget. I hope you will look and listen closely who is.

Pat Skogen,

Monroe