Props to the always-persistent Erik Gunn and the good folks at Urban Milwaukee for posting this 'goes-to-the-heart-of-the-matter' piece about the pathetic timidity displayed by metro Milwaukee's chamber of commerce on voting rights
currently under a power-grabbing attack by Republicans in Wisconsin:
MMAC Tightrope Walks on Voting Rights
Milwaukee business group supports voting rights in principle but won’t address barriers in GOP bills.
Milwaukee’s largest business group distributed a declaration and a set of bullet points Tuesday embracing a broad voting rights agenda, but stopped short of either endorsing or opposing recent bills that have drawn sharp criticism from voting rights activists.
And I'm fascinated by this presumably principled qualification in the MMAC document:
It also declares that “unreasonable obstacles” for voters “disenfranchises citizens and threatens the right to vote.”
So which "reasonable obstacles" for voters are OK in the MMAC's estimation?
Anybody want to walk with the group down that slippery slope?
Meanwhile, I think the documented political activities of the MMAC explain some of the organization's caution, including:
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has spent or funneled more than $2.4 million since 2010 on elections and lobbying activities to push pro-business policies at the expense of workers and consumers.
As with most powerful special interests and business groups, Republican legislative and statewide candidates have been the Milwaukee chamber’s chief beneficiaries, particularly GOP Gov. Scott Walker. The governor has received about $1.5 million in campaign contributions and election backing through the group, which claims 1,800 Milwaukee-area business members.
* This list of campaign-related donations between 2016 and 2020, recorded by the non-profit Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tilt heavily towards Republicans and includes $48,000 to the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee Segregated Fund.