The Progressive Change Campaign Committee announced Tuesday that it will send $100,000 to Wisconsin to help unseat Gov. Scott Walker (R), a cash infusion that will go to the state Democratic Party's field operations for next week's recall vote.
In a statement, the Washington, D.C.-based group said that it was frustrated with how little money the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has put into the recall fight and that it managed to raise the $100,000 in the last nine days. The haul was first reported by the Washington Post's Plum Line blog.
"The Wisconsin recall is a top national priority for progressives -- and it should be for the national Democratic Party," Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement. "When we heard that the Democratic National Committee wasn’t giving Wisconsin Democrats the resources needed to get out the vote, the PCCC made a strategic decision to do less fundraising for our own Wisconsin TV ads and instead focus our attention on righting the DNC's wrong."
Last week, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the Wisconsin recall election has little national import for the party. "I think, honestly, there aren't going to be any repercussions," Wasserman Schultz said on C-SPAN. "It's an election that I think is important nationally because Scott Walker is an example of how extreme the Tea Party has been when it comes to the policies that they have pushed the Republicans to adopt. But I think it'll be, at the end of the day, a Wisconsin-based election."
Nonetheless, the DNC has directed more than $1 million to Wisconsin to support Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's effort to knock off Walker in the June 5 vote, and the Obama campaign jumped into the recall effort earlier this month by helping establish phone banks and get-out-the-vote operations. The DNC has sent out its own fundraising appeals, and Wasserman Schultz pledged to host a fundraiser for Barrett as well.
Green said the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has already devoted roughly $100,000 to television and online advertising and general recall expenses.
Walker, a first-term governor, came under fire last year after successfully pushing legislation that stripped many state workers of their collective bargaining rights. Riding anti-Walker sentiment, Wisconsin activists gathered more than a million signatures to force next week's recall vote. Walker is currently polling slightly ahead of Barrett.