MADISON – As an out-of-state advocacy group spends tens of thousands of dollars to run “issue ads” attacking state Senate candidate Jim Holperin, Holperin’s opponent Tom Tiffany has refused to repudiate the ads for the lies they contain, even after he condemned similar ads that were running against him.
“We’re patiently waiting for Tiffany to condemn these ads helping him, just as he condemned ads that were supposedly helping Jim Holperin,” said Joe Wineke, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair.
A Michigan special interest group, All Children Matter, has now purchased more than $50,000 in television ads attacking Holperin for supporting a health care plan that Holperin has said is flawed. This same group was fined over $5.2 million after the 2006 election for illegal campaign activity in Ohio.
“I call on Tom Tiffany to speak out against these baseless attacks on Holperin,” Wineke said. “It’s pretty outrageous that Tiffany thinks third party intervention is a big scandal when the ads are aimed at him, but they’re O.K. when they’re aimed at Holperin.”
Wineke said it might be Tiffany’s own campaign finance history that keeps him silent, including being fined three times for illegal campaign contributions.
According to Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board, Tiffany’s campaign was fined in May, 2007 for illegally accepting too much Political Action Committee money. He was also fined in 2004 for failing to file several required campaign finance forms, and fined again that year for failing to disclose corporate contributions.
