Bice: Susan Crawford says Elon Musk's spending is bad but George Soros' donation is just fine
Liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford has left little doubt about what she thinks of the millions of dollars that Elon Musk is spending on behalf of her opponent, conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, in their Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
Crawford and her campaign took to X, formerly Twitter, to air her thoughts last week. She and Schimel square off in the April 1 general election.
"Elon Musk is buying off Brad Schimel," said the account for Judge Crawford for Wisconsin.
That was followed up with this: "Elon Musk can bank on Brad Schimel to support big corporations, ban abortion with no exceptions, and take our state backwards."
But couldn't somebody say the same for Crawford and liberal megadonor George Soros and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker?
Last month, Soros and Pritzker gave $1 million and $500,000, respectively, to the state Democratic Party, which then transferred the funds to Crawford's campaign.
Reached Sunday at an event in Cambridge, Crawford said she sees a major difference between Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and her pair of billionaire backers.
First, Crawford cited Musk's work for the Department of Government Efficiency, which is laying off federal workers and canceling federal contracts in a bid to save money.
"The difference is that we have Elon Musk as Donald Trump's righthand man dismantling the federal government right now," Crawford said. "(Musk) has canvassers going around the state, hanging flyers from doors that say we need Brad Schimel to protect the Donald Trump agenda. You will not see anyone from George Soros to Gov. Pritzker making similar assertions about me."
Crawford is referring to the $1 million that America PAC, Musk's main political arm, is spending on voter outreach and canvassing in Wisconsin to help Schimel. Another Musk-backed group, Building America's Future, has purchased more than $1.5 million of airtime in the state's five markets so he can run attack ads on Crawford.
At the Cambridge event, Crawford continued.
"I've made it clear to anyone who wants to support me that I do not have an agenda. I am fair and impartial," she said. "I keep an open mind about any case until it's fully submitted to the court. And if you hear that and you want to support me, then good. I welcome your support."
OK, got that.
But you know who that sounds like?
Her opponent.
At a Milwaukee news conference last week, Schimel was asked about the Musk money that is flowing into the state. The former Republican attorney general said he has made clear that he is not for sale.
"If people want to support me because they see what I stand for and they see my history, and they think I'm the right candidate for the Supreme Court, I'm grateful for that support," Schimel told a small gathering of reporters. "But they're buying nothing. I will deliver nothing but justice on the Supreme Court without regard to person."
In truth, the election has been anything but nonpartisan. Both major political parties in the state realize the winner in the election will determine the direction of the high court for at least the next year.
As a result, the state Democratic Party has contributed $3 million to Crawford's campaign out of the $7.7 million that it has raised so far. Schimel has received $1.67 million from the state Republican Party from the $5.1 million that he has banked.
Both sides also have outside groups that are spending big on TV ads in hopes of electing one of the two candidates.
But much of the attention in the race has focused on the money being thrown around by Musk and Soros.
Derrick Honeyman, a spokesman for Crawford, said people cannot compare Musk's spending with the donations from Soros and Pritzker. He also noted that Tesla, Musk's firm, has asked an Outagamie County court to overturn a state ruling preventing the electric car company from owning its own dealerships.
Honeyman said: "There’s a difference between the richest man in the world building a massive and independent canvassing operation for a state judicial race and running huge amounts of ads versus donors to the state parties."
Jacob Fischer, spokesman for Schimel, laughed off the suggestion that Soros and Pritzker are just "donors to the state parties." State campaign laws allow parties to receive and transfer unlimited funds. An individual can only give up to $20,000 directly to a Supreme Court candidate.
Fischer also noted that Crawford has benefited from outside help, including TV ads run by A Better Wisconsin Together and a canvassing operation by the Wisconsin Neighbor Network Action Fund.
"George Soros loves (Crawford's) record of light sentences on dangerous criminals and poured a million dollars into taking her ideology to Wisconsin's highest court," Fischer said.
In the end, could it all be as simple as this?
Those on the right are just fine with Musk and his heavy spending in the state Supreme Court race, while lefties have no problem with their candidate benefitting from Soros' largess.
It's almost too predictable.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.