Over a week since the Milwaukee Courier report, Sara Rodriguez continues to face scrutiny  for accepting tens of thousands of dollars from We Energies—the company that continues to jack up rates on Wisconsin families and attempted to pass data center costs onto ratepayers.

As reported by the Milwaukee Courier:

  • Sara Rodriguez received a $12,800 contribution from We Energies after she voted to create a tax loophole for utility companies.
  • Rodriguez was one of just 4 Democrats to vote for the bill. Evers vetoed the bill explicitly because Wisconsin would “lose millions in taxes owed by utility companies.”

During her time in the state legislature, Sara Rodriguez was the third most conservative Democrat according to the American Conservative Union.

Read more below:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

  • Rodriguez also has received donations before entering the governor’s race from the PACs of WEC Energy Group, which owns We Energies, the State Farm Federal PAC and a donation from the PAC tied to engineering firm HNTB Holdings Ltd.
  • Rodriguez was responding to an audience member asking about her campaign donations from We Energies at a time when energy rates were rising.
  • Republican Governors Association communications director Kollin Crompton blasted Rodriguez for the claim, arguing Rodriguez “says one thing behind closed doors and does another when in power.”

Hoodline:

  • According to reporting from The Milwaukee Courier, Lt. Gov. Rodriguez received three checks from the corporate PAC of WEC Energy that together came to about $13,800 between 2020 and 2023. State campaign-finance records and compiled data indicate that nearly all of that total, $12,800, hit in 2022, according to Transparency USA.

Urban Milwaukee:

  • “In 2021, she was one of just four Democrats who voted with every single Republican on … a bill to repeal the personal property tax,” the story noted. Gov. Tony Evers vetoed it, warning it could exempt utility personal property from ad valorem taxes and cost Wisconsin “tens of millions in general fund tax revenue, if not more.”

WPR:

  • “Unlike my opponents, I’ve never been bought by the utilities that are jacking up rates. I don’t take their money and I don’t vote for their tax loopholes,” Barnes wrote on social media.