Wisconsin Republican Party Executive Director Mark Jefferson said Saturday that Senate candidate Mandela Barnes accepted “illegal contributions” from special interests, including a solar panel company wanting special favors.
“It’s a crime for a lobbyist to give these contributions to sitting elected officials outside the window,” Jefferson told Matt Boyle on Breitbart News Saturday about an ethics complaint filed this week with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission.
In Wisconsin, it is illegal for elected officials to accept funds from lobbyists while the state legislature is conducting legislative business in session. The Republican Party of Wisconsin has accused Barnes of accepting seven contributions during the state legislature’s session that began last year.
Barnes in Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor.
“He’s [Barnes] trying to skirt the law. He’s trying to accept these illegal contributions and basically sweep it under the rug and essentially say he’s exempt from the law,” Jefferson said. “We think there’s clearly some illegal activities here, so we filed a complaint with the ethics commission here in Wisconsin, and we’ll be waiting to hear back, but we believe this is an open and shut case that nobody is really paying attention to until now.”
Barnes, who is opposing Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) for Senate, could be campaigning in the coming months with an investigation hanging over his head that could develop into civil or criminal violations if the commission acts quickly.
Jefferson said the Wisconsin Ethics Commission is filled with appointees from both Republicans and Democrats. “We’ll see where it goes from there,” Jefferson said, noting fines could be imposed on the candidate and the lobbyist firm. “We’re doing everything we can to get the word out so that it doesn’t get swept under the rug.”
Jefferson explained Sunrun, a solar panel business, is one of the seven companies seeking gain from donating money to Barnes. “What they’re trying to do is essentially get a sweetheart deal from the state,” Jefferson said about Sunrun’s scheme. “They’ve faced class action suits for inappropriate activities, been accused of all sorts of consumer protection violations. So they’re trying to get the laws passed to favor them here in Wisconsin, and Democrats are happy to take their money.”
The donations may be intended “to make a law change without any legislative approval so that they can skirt regulatory and consumer oversight here,” Jefferson added. “These systems for subsidies and other customers, they drive up the prices for other customers.”
“What they do though,” Jefferson continued, “is try and put this political pressure on people, and say, ‘Well, if you don’t give us everything we want and all of these locales and sweetheart deals, then you must be anti-energy, you must be anti-solar.’ And so these Democrats bend over backward to give them everything they want without any thoughts of the consequences.”
“It’s a significant issue, and it has some very long-lasting implications if nothing’s done,” Jefferson concluded.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.