Gov. Scott Walker Crushes Tom Barrett in Fundraising Here

There's no way to tell just how well Gov. Scott Walker will do in Waukesha in Tuesday's until all the ballots are counted.

What is known, however, is that when it comes to campaign contributions, the incumbent Republican governor has outraised the Democrat Tom Barrett by an amazing 18-to-1 margin in the Waukesha area.

A Patch analysis of campaign finance reports filed last week with the state Government Accountability Board shows that Walker has raised $319,861 since January from donors with Waukesha mailing addresses.

By comparison, Barrett took in $18,051 from Waukesha donors since he launched his candidacy in March, campaign finance reports show.

See who is donating to Barrett and Walker with of campaign contributions

The Patch analysis looked at more than 196,000 individual contributions reported to the state — more than 152,000 records for Walker and more than 44,000 for Barrett. Those contributions totaled $16.9 million for the governor and $3.4 million for his challenger.

Robert Kern, the retired chairman and CEO of Generac Power Systems, and his wife, Patricia, were by far the top Walker donors in Waukesha — contributing a total of $200,000 to his campaign.

In all, 26 Waukesha donors gave Walker $1,000 or more for his recall battle. Other top local contributors include: Philip J. Ziegler, $10,000; Aldo Madrigrano, $10,000; David L. Bahl, $8,500; Phillip J. Rehberg, $5,000; Jack Jacobus, $2,500; Carol Taylor, $2,400; Susan Szymczak, $2,000; Brad Heimlich, $2,000; Walter L. Kolb, $1,500; Steve Martenet, $1,500; Mary C. Gerleman-Fahey, $1,500; and Don L. Taylor, $1,500.

Barrett, on the other hand, didn't receive any contributions of $1,000 or more from Waukesha. His top local donors were: Frederick Perillo, $900; Karen Gotzler, $500; John L. Jansen, $500; Ronald D. Waterman, $500; James A. Tarantino, $500; and Faye A. Flesia, $500.

The Patch analysis looked at individual contributions only. Money the two candidates received from political action committees and other outside groups were not included in the tally.

In addition, not everyone with a Waukesha mailing address lives in the city, so these figures don't reflect how much was money the candidates raised within city limits. For example, the Kerns live in the Town of Genesee, but have a Waukesha address.

The gap between Walker and Barrett in Waukesha is by far the largest among any of the 18 Milwaukee-area suburbs in the Patch coverage area, the analysis shows. But in almost each community, Walker took in more money than his opponent.

In all, Walker raised more than $822,000 in the 18 communities in the Patch coverage area, while Barrett took in about $259,000 in those places.

The community where residents gave the most to Walker was Waukesha. Barrett fared the best in Shorewood, where he took in about $60,000.

The only communities where Barrett raised more cash than Walker were Shorewood and Whitefish Bay.

Overall, 75 percent of the individual contributions to Barrett came from Wisconsin — about $2.55 million. After Wisconsin, Barrett took in about $152,000 from California and $134,000 from Illinois — each making up 4 percent of his total donations.

About 31 percent of Walker's total individual contributions were from Wisconsin — roughly $5.26 million. The governor received $1.36 million from Florida (8 percent of his total donations) and $1.23 million from California.

The $20 million or so raised by Walker and Barrett this year that has been spent so far in Wisconsin's heated recall election, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

According to the watchdog group, total spending is nearly double the record for a statewide race: $37.4 million set during the 2010 gubernatorial race, which was also between Walker and Barrett.