Spring Election 2009 Wrap-Up

No official reports have been released yet but it looks like we either matched our 20% voter-turnout from last spring election or slightly exceeded it.  According to preliminary results, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson beat Judge Randy Koshnick last night for the ten-year term on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court by 60% to 40%.  In the State Superintendent of Public Instruction race, Deputy Superintendent Tony Evers beat outsider Rose Fernandez by a 57% to 43% margin.

Both the Supreme Court and Superintendent races were hard fought and intense, although decidedly low profile.  After a highly contested, highly controversial, high-profile Supreme Court race last year, the disparity between the funding for the two Supreme Court candidates is worth noting.

Abrahamson received over $98,000 in Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions compared to Koschnick’s $300 in PAC contributions.  Abrahamson, who is a brilliant fundraiser with 30 years of campaign experience, raised over $1.3 million.  Koschnick, on the other hand, raised nearly $124,000.  It’s safe to assume both candidates spent just about everything they raised, which would mean that Abrahamson spent roughly $2.75 per vote to Koschnick’s $.39 per vote.

The story was very similar in the Superintendent race.  Tony Evers received over $97,000 in PAC contributions.  Rose Fernandez, on the other hand, received about $4,650 from PAC’s.  Evers raised over $200,000 while Fernandez raised just over $78,000.  Again, assuming the candidates spent everything they raised, Evers spent roughly $.42 per vote while Fernandez spent about $.24 per vote.

The bulk of the special interest spending went to Abrahamson and Evers in the two statewide races, although very little has been said about that in comparison to the general outrage over special interest last year. Notable outside spending included over $15,000 from Planned Parenthood’s PAC for Abrahamson and Evers and $700,000 from WEAC for Evers.

We can only conclude that those who had a stake/interest in the outcome of the Supreme Court and Superintendent races backed up their interests with money.  The over $423,000 Abrahamson received from lawyers/law firms/lobbyists and the $700,000 WEAC spent on Evers speak for the importance of these two positions to those groups, as do all the contributions the four candidates received.

The individuals, interest groups and PAC’s who cared about the balance of the State Supreme Court and the leadership in the Department of Public Instruction dug into their apparently deep pockets and got their people elected.  Koschnick and Fernandez, who both ran intense, passionate races on shoestring budgets, were left footing the bill for two campaigns that, for one reason or another, did not receive the major fiscal support of conservative organizations and PAC’s.