By Kevin Lee     Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON  — Money is beginning to pour into campaigns aimed at recalling state senators.

The two completed recall petition efforts against Republican state senators received more than $58,000 in money and services in a little more than a month, with two-thirds of the proceeds coming from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

On Thursday, recall organizers submitted boxes filled with signed petitions to the Government Accountability Board seeking the recall of state Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac. The GAB also received signed recall petitions for state Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, on April 1.

Public documents reveal that the Committee to Recall Hopper collected $40,142.67 in loans and contributions and spent $39,652.67 in March.

Out of the 31 contributions in money and services to the Hopper committee, 30 came from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin totaling $31,667.63.

The “in-kind contributions,” totaling $8,894.35, were for such things as office supplies, postage, petition printing, cell phone and Internet service, according to the documents. Nearly all of those contributions were reimbursed by the recall committee.

Public documents show the DPW also contributed $22,773.28 to the Hopper recall committee on March 17, with no explicit purpose listed for the money. Documents also show that on that same day, the recall committee spent that same amount, $22,773.28, on a group called the Solidarity Political Action Committee, also with no explicit purpose listed for the money.

Solidarity PAC is a relatively new organization. Records from the Government Accountability Board, the state agency which oversees elections and campaign contributions, show registration paperwork for Solidarity PAC was submitted March 17.

That paperwork lists a sponsoring organization name, Advancing Wisconsin, which “uses aggressive, innovative and sophisticated plans to advance a progressive public policy agenda with three distinct components,” including grassroots advocacy, voter mobilization and education, and independent expenditures against specific candidates, according to its website.

Messages left with a number listed on the Advancing Wisconsin website were not returned.

“These recall campaigns are grassroots efforts within the districts,” Melissa Block, DPW executive director, said in an email. “The DPW is providing support in the way of infrastructure, and we are also helping to get the word out to our activists about opportunities for them to get involved.”

Block did not return an email or a phone call asking what role the Solidarity Political Action Committee played in recall efforts.

The committee also received and reportedly paid back both a $8,053.12 “in-kind” contribution from the Wisconsin Progress Political Action Committee and a $421.92 loan from one of the recall committee’s organizers, Lamartine resident Scott Dillman.

Wisconsin Progress describes itself as an organization aimed at “creating a sustainable system to help train and recruit progressive leaders.”

Calls and emails to Wisconsin Progress were not successful. The telephone number listed on the GAB Special Interest Registration Statement was disconnected.

Dillman said he submitted receipts to the recall committee treasurer, Peter Larson, but has not receive any reimbursement. He said he was surprised to see that the committee funding report indicated such.

“I paid out of my own pocket, and I never asked for it back,” he said. “I’m not holding my breath.”

A message left with Larson was not returned.

Dillman also did not recognize the name Solidarity PAC or recognize the $22,723.28 that transferred from the DPW to the recall committee, then to the PAC.

“I guess they thought we needed the money and wanted to give it to us, but we didn’t need anything like that (amount),” he said.

Between March 1 and April 1, the Committee to Recall Kapanke received $17,987.42 from the DPW and Wisconsin Progress, all of it in in-kind contributions.

Sixteen state senators, eight Democrats and eight Republicans, are currently eligible for recall:

From the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board:

The threshold of signatures required to prompt a recall election are a fraction of the number of voters from the 2008 election, when these 16 lawmakers last ran for office.

State senators are facing recall efforts because of the political fallout over Gov. Scott Walker’s attempted legislative changes to collective bargaining and union organization.

More than one committee can initiate a recall petition, such as in the cases of Miller, Wirch and Hansen, who are each facing a recall effort backed by the Utah-based American Recall Coalition and other local recall groups.

The GAB is reviewing the signed petitions submitted for the recall of Hopper and Kapanke. State Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse is expected to announce her candidacy as a recall election challenger to Kapanke this Saturday.

Not all recall committees have submitted financial paperwork to the GAB.