MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A new article from Up North News outlines the sharp contrast between David Crowley’s newly unveiled anti-corruption platform and MAGA Congressman Tom Tiffany’s legislative record of making it harder to investigate corrupt politicians, including a bill Tiffany once said he wanted “to be my legacy.”

Crowley’s plan would ban state elected or appointed officials from trading individual stocks based on insider knowledge; close off prediction markets to those same officials seeking to cash in on inside information; impose a two-year “revolving door” ban to keep former regulators from taking jobs with the utility and energy companies they used to oversee; and close a records-retention loophole that has let officials delete documents and shield public records from courts, journalists and the public.

Meanwhile, Congressman Tiffany has a long history in the Wisconsin State Legislature of backing politicians who engage in corruption. He was the lead author of a bill that gutted John Doe investigations, the confidential process used to probe potential political corruption, including one tied to Gov. Scott Walker’s first term. Tiffany also supported a bill under Scott Walker that allowed unlimited contributions to political parties and political action committees (PACs) and raised contribution limits to $20,000 for candidates for statewide office.

What they’re saying:

Up North News: Crowley has a list to fight corruption, Tiffany has a list of votes enabling it

  • When Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley unveiled an anti-corruption reform package on Monday, his Republican opponent Tom Tiffany said he would want an even stronger plan. But Tiffany was an architect of the Republican-written law that made it harder to investigate corrupt politicians and said at the time, “I can tell you I want this to be my legacy.”
  • Crowley’s four-point anti-corruption plan starts with banning state politicians from engaging in any stock trading based on insider information they learn from their privileged position. It would require lawmakers’ investments be in diversified, mutual, or index funds or a blind trust, rather than being bought and sold as individual stocks.
  • “State elected officials—whether they be governors, legislators, or regulators—are there to do public service, not sit in public office,” said Crowley. “They are there to use their offices to help people. What it should not be is a vehicle to get rich by gaming the system. We see that running rampant in Washington right now, while Wisconsinites are facing higher costs on everything from gas to groceries to healthcare. While we suffer, they profit.”
  • Now Tiffany is seeking the governorship with the endorsement of President Donald Trump, whose pardons have included politicians, like former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who tried to sell the former US Senate seat of Barack Obama after he was elected president in 2008; and at least 70 people convicted of wire fraud, securities fraud, Medicare fraud, and other crimes, leading to millions of dollars in repayments and restitution being wiped out by Trump’s pardons.