Bice: Waukesha County GOP boss accused by predecessor of skirting campaign rules with WisRed PAC

With their party holding its national convention in Wisconsin less than a year from now, top Republicans in the state's largest GOP stronghold are at each other's throats.

On one side, John Macy, a former chairman of the Waukesha County Republican Party, is accusing the current leadership of improperly coordinating with a political action committee, paying two party leaders through the PAC and using the fund to make payments to advisers of failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels.

Macy has hired — in a real head-scratcher — well-known Democratic lawyer Michael Maistelman to represent him in this dispute.

"All my client wants is compliance with the law and the constitution of the Republican Party of Waukesha County," Maistelman said in a written statement.

On the other side, Waukesha County Republican Party Chairman Terry Dittrich dismissed the criticism, which was shared with him. Dittrich has been chairman since 2019; Macy preceded him in the post.

"I have always scrupulously followed all the political laws and regulations and am very proud of my part in making gains for conservatives in Waukesha County," Dittrich said.

The dispute has to do with the Waukesha County Republican Party's decision in 2020 to begin intervening in nonpartisan races in local elections, such as judicial and school board contests. The party called the effort the WISRED Initiative, which involves endorsing and promoting a slate of conservative candidates.

In 2021, a group of conservatives then set up WisRed PAC, an independent committee that can support political candidates financially. The treasurer for the PAC was an employee of Belt Accounting, a Pewaukee-based firm owned by Kelli Belt, who is the treasurer of the Waukesha County Republican Party.

The PAC was busy throughout 2021 and 2022 but has done very little this year, despite numerous races in April 2023. Its website is now defunct.

"WisRed PAC is an organization committed to providing the resources to support conservative candidates in local elections throughout Waukesha County, Wisconsin and beyond," said the WisRed PAC website in 2022. "For too long, liberals have encroached on boards at the local level, attempting to transform and control our communities and displace our traditional conservative American values."

In its first filing with the state, WisRed PAC reported raising more than $47,000 from many deep-pocketed Waukesha County Republicans. Overall, the PAC has raised more than $133,000.

WisRed PAC also reported in its first filing that it spent more than $8,300 — with $8,000 of that being paid to TWD Global Enterprises. State records show that TWD Global is owned by Terence W. Dittrich of Hartland, better known as Terry Dittrich, chairman of the Waukesha County Republican Party.

In addition, WisRed PAC has paid $1,600 to Belt's accounting firm, including $350 in June.

The constitution for the Waukesha County Republican Party says its officers are to be unpaid volunteers.

Maistelman said it appears that Dittrich may have used WisRed PAC for his own benefit in violation of the party constitution.

"Based upon the paper and money trail, we believe that the Republican Party of Waukesha County, through its Chairman Terry Dittrich, may have illegally coordinated with the WisRed Political Action Committee that he helped create to circumvent campaign finance laws and to, amongst other things, enrich himself," Maistelman said.

Dittrich rejected the claim. He said he had "never received any compensation from the party" for his work as county GOP chairman.

WisRed donated to firms with ties to the Michels campaign

Early on, WisRed gave money to firms associated with several Republicans who played an important role in Michels' gubernatorial campaign in 2022.

For instance, Edge Messaging LLC was paid $30,000 for media services in February 2022. Edge Messaging is owned by longtime Republican Brian Fraley. Fraley's firm aired a TV ad encouraging Waukesha County residents to vote for conservative candidates in the April 2022 election.

The PAC also made two payments, one in March 2022 and one in May 2022, for a total of $25,000 to Americans 4 Security for consulting. Brandon Rosner, a veteran Republican operative, is the "principal officer" for the nonprofit organization.

Also, Take Back Action Fund, an Alabama nonprofit, received $8,000 in February 2022 to do a survey for WisRed PAC. The president of Take Back Action is John Pudner, a conservative political consultant for more than three decades.

All three Republicans — Pudner, Rosner and Fraley — ended up helping the Michels' campaign. Their groups received a total of $63,000 from the Waukesha County PAC between February and June 2022, nearly half of its total spending.

Maistelman said these payments may have indirectly helped out Michels, a multimillionaire construction executive. He lost to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, whom Maistelman has represented and advised in the past.

“We believe that WisRed PAC's beneficiary was Tim Michels before the primary against (Republican candidate) Rebecca Kleefisch," Maistelman said.

One problem with that assertion is that Michels didn't get into the race until late April 2022, and with one exception, WisRed's payments to the firms tied to Pudner, Rosner and Fraley were sent before that date.

Rosner said Macy had his timeline all wrong. He said Michels brought Fraley, Pudner and him on board only after they helped win nearly 90% of the races in Waukesha County's April 2022 election. It was their success that attracted Michels to the three of them.

Rather, he said, Macy was attacking them now because he can't get over the fact that Michels beat Kleefisch, whom Macy backed, in the GOP gubernatorial primary in August 2022.

"They need to check the scoreboard," Rosner said. "She lost."

Pudner said Macy was taking campaign finance information and posted poll results and weaving them into a conspiracy theory. He said his later work in 2022 for Michels had nothing to do with any previous work he had done for other clients.

As for Fraley, he said Edge Messaging provided WisRed with communication advice and video production services and purchased advertising for it before the April 2022 primary. He said he had his first substantive talk with Michels later that month.

The allegations from Macy, he said, were unexpected.

“I’ve not heard from John nor his attorney, nor would I expect to hear from them," Fraley said. "That accusation is crazy as it is untrue."

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

THANK YOU: Subscribers' support makes this work possible. Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Waukesha County GOP boss accused of skirting campaign rules with PAC