MADISON, Wis.—A pair of donations at the legal limit of $10,000 from a Denver businessman and his wife are helping to fuel the campaign of Supreme Court candidate Michael Gableman.
The contributions from John and Carolyn Saeman were denounced by a government watchdog group as showing the growing influence of wealthy donors who can’t even vote in the race. The donations made March 17 were the largest given by individuals to either Gableman or his opponent Justice Louis Butler.
Even Gableman’s own father, Norbert Gableman, gave less at $5,500.
The Saemans’ donations show a disturbing trend of wealthy people outside the state trying to influence elections, said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
“He shouldn’t have a role to play in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race,” McCabe said. “A lot of times, a wealthy donor is able to have a bigger impact on the race than a single voter.”
Candidates are under pressure to raise large sums of money for television advertising.
In addition, third-party groups that are not required to file with the state have poured millions of dollars into the race. The latest tally showed the groups had spent more than $2 million on television advertising alone through Sunday. But that total will increase dramatically given the onslaught of ads in the final week leading up to the election.
Wealthy donors who want to contribute more than the $10,000 limit to candidates can secretly funnel even more money to those groups to influence the race, McCabe said.
Butler’s campaign consultant Sachin Chheda was not surprised by the big donations.
“His entire campaign has been about special interests and the well-to-do trying to get a seat on the court so they can avoid accountability,” Chheda said.
Saeman and his wife have not donated to a Wisconsin candidate before, according to a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign database of contributions that goes back to 1993.
But he has been a frequent contributor to races in Colorado and elsewhere. In 2004, Saeman and his wife donated $149,000 in political races. In 1992, he gave $25,000 to support an unsuccessful petition drive to legalize school vouchers in Colorado.
Gableman campaign consultant Darrin Schmitz didn’t explain why the Saemans decided to give money in a Wisconsin race now or why they decided to donate to Gableman. He said they had not contacted the campaign, and Gableman does not know them.
“Louis Butler is considered one of the leading judicial activists in the country, authoring opinions that have gained national negative attention for Wisconsin,” Schmitz said, restating some of Gableman’s campaign themes. “Judge Gableman is perceived as a leading law enforcement-supported candidate and they are supportive of his campaign.”
A message left for Saeman at the Cable Center in Denver, where he serves as an honorary board member, was not immediately returned. His home phone number was not listed.
Saeman was born in Madison and was a pioneer in the cable television industry. He served as past chairman of both the National Cable Television Association and C-SPAN in the early 1980s. Along with his wife, he founded Medallion Enterprises, an investment and management company in Denver in 1988.
The Saemans’ donations were just two of 16 that Gableman has received from contributors outside of Wisconsin totaling $57,655.
This week alone he got two more $10,000 donations. They came from Paul Singer and Bonnie Loeb, both of New York City. Singer is the founder of Elliott Asset Management and Loeb is the executive assistant.
According to its Web site the company “provides wealth management solutions for high net worth individuals and investment/management solutions for small businesses.”
Like Saeman, Singer has a history of making big donations to political campaigns and is a longtime backer of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, providing his presidential campaign with a corporate jet last year.
Loeb has also been a frequent contributor to Giuliani.
Singer and Loeb have never donated to a Wisconsin race before, according to the WDC database.
Gableman got more than $98,000 from 1,194 donors in Wisconsin. Counting donations from political action committees and other groups, Gableman raised $315,000 to date.
Butler has received more than $95,000 from individual donors, with $5,760 coming from 11 people out of state. The largest single out of state donation was $2,500 from Suzanne Herzing of Palm Breach Gardens, Fla. She is the director of communication at the private Herzing College in Madison. Butler has raised about $665,000 total.
