Special interest groups in Wisconsin spent less trying to sway state law and policy in the first half of 2013 than in comparable past periods. But it’s still a whole lotta moolah.

Tagged with: AFL-CIO AFSCME Bill Lueders Government Accountability Board J.P. Cullen & Sons lobbying unions

The biennial state budget is, in theory, fundamentally about numbers.

Tagged with: Bill Lueders budget Scott Walker

Scott Lawrence, an attorney in eastern Wisconsin, thinks he knows why some state lawmakers want to make it harder to sue power companies over electrical problems that cause damage to farmers.

Tagged with: Bill Lueders Mark Honadel Paul Farrow Xcel Energy

It’s hard not to feel a bit sorry for Rebecca Blank, incoming chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tagged with: Bill Lueders NLRB

As the dust settles on the epic battles over collective bargaining for public workers in Wisconsin, two new major works aim to put these events into perspective.

Tagged with: Bill Lueders Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

During the past two years, money has played an unprecedented role in Wisconsin politics.

Tagged with: AFL-CIO AFSCME Bill Lueders Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce

Anybody with Internet access can do it.

Tagged with: Bill Lueders Brett Hulsey

For more than two decades, the rent-to-own industry, which leases such goods as televisions, appliances and furniture, has been fighting to free itself from certain provisions of Wisconsin law. Throughout, it has lubricated the gears of change with campaign donations and lobbying outlays.

Tagged with: Bill Lueders

The state’s roster of more than 500 lobbyists includes at least 16 former legislators.

Tagged with: Bill Lueders Jeff Fitzgerald

About 12 hours into the Jan. 23 state legislative hearing on a proposed bill to revamp the state’s metallic mining laws, a citizen who’d waited all day gave some unwelcome testimony.

Tagged with: Alberta Darling Bill Lueders Mike McCabe mining Sandy Pasch Tom Tiffany