Politics & Government

Tom Barrett Outraises Gov. Scott Walker in Whitefish Bay

Unlike the rest of the suburbs, Whitefish Bay residents contributed slightly more money to the Milwaukee mayor than they did to Republican governor in recall campaign.

Whether Gov. Scott Walker or Democrat Tom Barrett will win — or carry Whitefish Bay, for that matter — won't be known for sure until all the ballots are counted Tuesday night.

What is known, however, is that when it comes to campaign contributions, the Milwaukee mayor has narrowly outraised the Republican incumbent in Whitefish Bay.

In fact, Shorewood and Whitefish Bay are the only two suburbs in the Patch coverage area where that's happened.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A Patch analysis of campaign finance reports filed last week with the state Government Accountability Board shows that Barrett has raised $26,626 from Whitefish Bay residents since March.

By comparison, Walker took in $23,593 from Whitefish Bay since January, campaign finance reports show.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

See who is donating to Barrett and Walker with of campaign contributions

The Patch analysis looked at more than 196,000 individual contributions reported to the state — more than 152,000 records for Walker and more than 44,000 for Barrett. Those contributions totaled $16.9 million for the governor and $3.4 million for his challenger.

Carol Gehl, a Whitefish Bay attorney, is the biggest contributor to Barrett in the village — donating $9,600 to the Milwaukee mayor.

Other top Barrett contributors in Whitefish Bay include: Robert C. Menard, $1,500; George Morris, $1,500; Jerry Rubin, $1,025; and Frank J. Daily, $1,000.

Don H. Davis, former CEO of Rockwell Automation who is now retired, gave $5,000 to Walker's campaign, more than any other Whitefish Bay resident.

Other major contributors from Whitefish Bay are: Stephen Rolfs, $2,500; Larri J. Broomfield, $1,150; Susan F. Mikulay, $1,000; Jay O. Rothman, $1,000; Paul Stewart, $1,000; and Jeffrey S. Beischel, $1,000.

The Patch analysis looked at individual contributions only. Money the two candidates received from political action committees and other outside groups were not included in the tally.

In addition, some Whitefish Bay residents may have listed a Milwaukee mailing address with their contributions. If that's the case, those numbers are not included here.

In all, Walker raised more than $822,000 in the 18 communities in the Patch coverage area, while Barrett took in about $259,000 in those places.

The community where residents gave the most to Walker was Waukesha, where there were more than $319,000 in donations. Barrett fared the best in Shorewood, with about $60,000 in contributions.

Overall, 75 percent of the individual contributions to Barrett came from Wisconsin — about $2.55 million. After Wisconsin, Barrett took in about $152,000 from California and $134,000 from Illinois — each making up 4 percent of his total donations.

About 31 percent of Walker's total individual contributions were from Wisconsin — roughly $5.26 million. The governor received $1.36 million from Florida (8 percent of his total donations) and $1.23 million from California.

The $20 million or so raised by Walker and Barrett this year that has been spent so far in Wisconsin's heated recall election, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

According to the watchdog group, total spending is nearly double the record for a statewide race: $37.4 million set during the 2010 gubernatorial race, which was also between Walker and Barrett.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Whitefish Bay