Sunday, February 22, 2026
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Sunday, February 22, 2026

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

List of April 6 Candidates Supported by Rebecca Kleefisch PAC

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In our effort to provide readers with more information about candidates on the ballot in the April 6, 2021, election, we asked the Rebecca Kleefisch PAC to provide a list for us of candidates it’s supporting.

Kleefisch, the former Republican lieutenant governor, launched the PAC in July 2020 to “support Republican legislative candidates across Wisconsin,” but is now also throwing her support to candidates for judgeships, school boards, and city councils.

“This year we’ll cede no heart, and cede no mind. We’re taking it to Democrats in the deepest blue districts,” she said in a press release when the PAC was launched. “It’s going to take a team effort to be successful this election, and we are going to do our part by providing support to conservative candidates across the state in order to get our team across the finish line.”

Here’s is a list of some of the candidates supported by the PAC (you can see our separate story here on some of the conservative candidates on the ballot tomorrow in local School Board races, which are seeing a surge in conservative grassroots candidates.) We aren’t telling you who to vote for, nor do we endorse in political races; however, we provide the following information to help voters become more educated on their choices.


Supported by Rebecca Kleefisch PAC

Court of Appeals II
Shelley Grogan

Court of Appeals III
Greg Gill

Wausau School Board
Jon Creisher

Wausau School Board
Karen Vanderberg

Wausau School Board
Cody Nikolai

Janesville City Council
Michael Jackson

Milton School Board
Leslie Hubert

SD 13
John Jagler

La Crosse School Board
Robert Abraham

DPI
Deb Kerr

Eau Claire City Council
Kyle Woodman

Eau Claire School Board
Kathy Kivlin

Whitewater School Board
Maryann Zimmerman

New London School Board
Erich Korth

Waupaca School Board
Joel Bartel

Oak Creek-Franklin School Board
Jeffrey Tilghman

Oconomowoc School Board
Alexandra Schweitzer

Fond du Lac City Council
Dan Degner

Menomonee Falls School Board
Jennifer Grant

Elmbrook School Board
James Gunsalus

State Assembly
Elijah Behnke

Hartford Union High School Board
James Gumm

Germantown School Board
Sarah Larson

Holmen School Board
Jennifer Westlie

De Pere City Council-District 2
Susan Netzel

De Pere United School District
Angela Hoisington

Holmen School Board
Amber Hackman

Greendale School Board
Mary Laurel Grogan

Oak Creek-Franklin School Board
Michael Dudzik

Oak Creek-Franklin School Board
Kelly Ganiere

Oak Creek-Franklin School Board
Jerry Krist

Mequon/Thiensville School Board
Andrew Hopkins

Beloit City Council
John Petersen

Waupun Common Council
Rohn Bishop

Burlington Area School Board
Marlo Brown

Burlington Area School Board
Taylor Wishau

Cedarburg School Board
Kate Koetzel

Oconomowoc School Board
James Wood

Oconomowoc School Board
Matt Carrico

Oconomowoc School Board
Jessica Karnowski

Muskego-Norway School Board
Kevin Zimmerman

Brown County Circuit Court
Kendall Kelley

Cedarburg School Board
David Krier

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The event included 88 expert educators who were subject to non-disclosure agreements related to the workshop, according to records obtained by Dairyland Sentinel.

The publication fought for more than a year to obtain records of the meeting through Wisconsin Open Records law and attributes the Monday release of 17 more pages of documents to the involvement of the Institute for Reforming Government.

“The agency did not provide receipts for staff time, food, travel, or lodging,” Dairyland Sentinel wrote of the event at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. “Taxpayers are left to wonder how much of that $368,885 was spent on resort amenities, alcohol, or water park access for the 88 educators and various staff in attendance.”

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WisconsinEye received $50,000 in funding through the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization to go on the air during February.

Assembly Bill 974 would allow the network to receive the interest from a $9.75 million endowment each year, estimated to be between 4-7% or between $390,000 and $682,000. The network would have to continue raising the rest of its budget, which board chair Mark O’Connell said is $950,000 annually.

He spoke during a public hearing in the Assembly Committee on State Affairs on Monday. A companion bill in the Senate is not yet filed.

“We’ll need some kind of bridge,” O’Connell cautioned, saying it will take time for the trust fund granted in the 2024-25 budget to earn interest and get it to the network.

O’Connell also said that he hopes the legislation can be changed to allow for the Wisconsin Investment Board to be aggressive while investing the fund.

O’Connell noted that WisconsinEye raised more than $56,000 through donations on GoFundMe since it went off the air Dec. 15 and that there are seven donors willing to give $25,000 annually and one that will donate $50,000 annually if the legislation passes, which he said would put the network in a “relatively strong position in partnership with the state.”

O’Connell noted that many states fund their own in-house network to broadcast the legislature and committees.

“This legislation will fund only about 1/3 of what we need,” O’Connell said.

The bill has four restrictions, starting with the requirement that appointees of the Assembly Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, Assembly Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader that are not members of the Legislature be added to the WisEye board of directors.

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The bill proposes granting WisconsinEye funds from $10 million set aside for matching funds in an endowment so that WisconsinEye can resume operations now, something that WisEye President and CEO Jon Henkes told The Center Square in November he was hoping to happen.

WisEye shut down operations and removed its archives from the being available online Dec. 15.

The bill, which is scheduled for both a public hearing and vote in committee Tuesday, would remove the endowment fund restrictions on the funds and instead put the $10 million in a trust that can be used to provide grants for operations costs to live stream Wisconsin government meetings, including committee and full Assembly and Senate meetings at the state capitol.

The bill has four restrictions, starting with the requirement that appointees of the Assembly Speaker, Senate Majority Leader, Assembly Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader that are not members of the Legislature be added to the WisEye board of directors.

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“Finally, under the bill, if WisconsinEye ceases operations and divests its assets, WisconsinEye must pay back the grants and transfer all of its archives to the state historical society,” the bill reads.

There is not yet a companion bill in the Senate. The bill must pass both the Assembly and Senate and then be signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers.

WisconsinEye has continued to push for private donations to meet the $250,000 first-quarter goal to restart operations with a GoFundMe showing it has raised $56,087 of the $250,000 goal as of Monday morning.

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