Media profits from false ads. Case against Meagan Wolfe riddled with lies. | Opinion

Editor's Note: The newsroom and advertising departments at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel operate independently. The Journal Sentinel published a PolitiFact Wisconsin story Oct. 4 detailing that the impeachment articles against Meagan Wolfe are riddled with false and misleading claims. A Nov. 2 story on the $100,000 ad buy noted the false claims made in the spots.

Democratic strategist James Carville once said, “Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find.” This was Carville’s way of defending President Clinton against claims of sexual assault. So much for the idea that women deserve to be believed. Carville, in his own misogynist way, was describing the political form of grifting, taking advantage of political events to get rich.

During my two stints on the Wisconsin Elections Commission, I have called out grifters. In 2016, when Jill Stein used a certain-to-fail recount to raise millions of dollars, I called her campaign a grift-PAC.  More recently, I have called out those grifters who peddle lies about Wisconsin’s election system to generate donations.

Ad uses lies to call for Meagan Wolfe's impeachment

Demonstrating how profitable grifting can be, some of these same grifters are spending more than $100,000 to peddle lies about Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, urging legislators to impeach her. Let me be clear, not everyone who believes Wolfe should be removed as administrator is a grifter. There are many uninformed folks who honestly believe these lies; I talk to them all the time. My ire is saved for those who know the truth yet perpetuate lies for profit.

And now, major Milwaukee media outlets, including TV and radio stations and the Journal Sentinel, have joined the ranks of the grifters, perpetuating lies about Wolfe for profit. These outlets are running paid advertisements with claims that are demonstrably false. In the case of the Journal Sentinel, it is running an ad it knows is false.

These ads claim that Wolfe was responsible for allowing “illegal drop boxes and ballot harvesting.” The truth is my predecessors on the commission, not Wolfe, authorized the use of drop boxes that were later declared illegal by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The commission was unanimous, including my predecessor and the other two GOP commissioners, in authorizing unstaffed drop boxes. Similarly, it was the commission members, not Wolfe, who authorized the return of multiple ballots, sometimes described as ballot harvesting. 

More Millis:Blame Democrats, not senate, for Meagan Wolfe's removal from Wisconsin Election Commission

The ads continue, accusing Wolfe of permitting local governments to accept private funds to run elections, described as “Zuckerbucks,” from an organization affiliated with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Wolfe has no authority to allow or deny the receipt of “Zuckerbucks.”  In fact, it was the commission, not Wolfe, that rejected a complaint challenging the acceptance of “Zuckerbucks” and, on appeal, the courts sustained the commission, concluding state law does not prevent local governments from receiving private funds to pay for elections.

Media zealous in pointing out Donald Trump's false claims

The media outlets accepting big bucks to run these false ads know better. In fact, one month ago the Journal Sentinel ran a fact-checking article describing the false and misleading claims found in the impeachment articles mentioned in the ads. The article rebuffed the same claims found in the false ads about Wolfe.

PolitiFact:Impeachment articles against Meagan Wolfe riddled with false and misleading claims

When President Trump made false claims, the media would immediately correct him, going so far as to running a chyron during his speeches pointing out his misstatements. Moreover, it became a journalistic norm to call out false claims about stolen elections in straight news coverage. Notably, none of the Milwaukee media running these ads placed a disclaimer or otherwise indicated that the ads they were running were false.

To paraphrase Carville, drag $100,000 through the Milwaukee media market and you never know what type of lies the media will publish and broadcast without question or disclaimer.

Don Millis is chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.