Politics & Government
GOP Megadonor Who Took Justice Thomas On Luxury Trips Has Given $50k To Wisconsin Republicans
The recipients include U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, Rep. Mike Gallagher, and Rep. Derrick Van Orden.
April 13, 2023
Harlan Crow, a Republican megadonor who has secretly taken U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on luxury vacations, has given $53,000 to the Republican Party of Wisconsin and Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation over the last 20 years.
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ProPublica reported last week that Crow had flown Thomas on his private jet to expensive vacations sailing on Crow’s super-yacht across Indonesia and allowed Thomas to stay at his secluded luxury resort in upstate New York. Thomas had not reported the gifts on ethics filings. Crow has given millions of dollars to conservative causes, groups and political figures. ProPublica reported that he’d given $10 million in publicly disclosed contributions, yet that does not include donations to dark money groups that do not need to be reported.
The Texan also has a collection of Nazi paraphernalia, including two paintings by Adolf Hitler, a signed copy of and in his garden are statues depicting 20th century dictators, including Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. Crow has said he collects these items because he “hates communism and fascism.”
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Campaign finance reports from the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) show that Crow has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Wisconsin Republicans in recent years. The Republican Party of Wisconsin’s financial relationship with Crow began in 2004 when he gave $5,000. Since then he gave contributions of $10,000 to the party in 2016 and 2020. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has received $11,200 in donations from Crow since 2015, Green Bay-area Rep. Mike Gallagher has received $11,100 since 2018 and La Crosse-area Rep. Derrick Van Orden has received $5,700 since 2020. Spokespeople for the state party, Gallagher, Johnson and Van Orden did not respond to requests for comment.
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