They can spend money as they like
I read with interest the article on Oct. 20 headlined “3 Wisconsin billionaires give $70M to GOP” written by Daniel Bice.
The article stated that Diane Hendricks has given a total of $9.5 million to Republican candidates and she got to greet President Donald Trump on Air Force One. Good for her! She has earned her money, and I believe she has every right to spend it as she pleases. I will never have the money she has, but I sure wouldn’t want someone telling me what to do with my own money.
The article then went on to mention Richard and Elizabeth Uhlein and the fact that they have given $59.6 million to support Trump and Republicans. It was also pointed out that they own a $800,000 vacation home in Manitowish Waters. Why was this even mentioned? Sounds like jealousy to me.
It then goes on to say that the ads and fliers you see and get in the mail are all part of the spending of these groups of people. I, for one, am not influenced by a stack of junk mail or from the constant TV ads. All I can say is that I thought in America we can spend our money as we choose, and those that have more than most of us absolutely have the same right to do with their money as they please without getting crucified for it.
We should be praising people like the Uhlein’s for creating jobs and keeping work in Wisconsin rather than condemning them for spending what amounts to their own money they earned.
Beth A Bielewicz opinion in the infamous Citizens United case, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens expressed grave concerns and predicted substantial damage to our democratic institutions from the effect of unlimited political contributions.
Stevens, who was appointed by President Richard Nixon to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford, felt so strongly that he even took the time to read part of his opinion from the bench.
Now, 10 years later, Daniel Bice’s front page Oct. 20 article reporting that three Wisconsin billionaires have given $70 million to the GOP (of which Stevens was a member) confirms the accuracy of his predictions (“3 Wisconsin billionaires give $70M to GOP”).
Gifts of that size, and even much smaller, surely are made with the expectation of special favors far beyond anything the average citizen could ever expect. And coming at a time when so many people in our own community are unemployed, deeply in debt, homeless and hungry, such huge political gifts seem even more repugnant to any sense of fairness and decency.
Just think what a profound difference $70 million, or even much smaller amounts, could make in the quality of life of so many of our fellow citizens. Justice Stevens was right.
Frank J. Daily Whitefish Bay