Rich GOP Donor Gets Lawmaker to Draft a Bill to Lower His Child Support Payments

[babylonsister]

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/01/gop-donor-lobbies-lawmakers-write-law-lowering-his-child-support-payments



Rich GOP Donor Gets Lawmaker to Draft a Bill to Lower His Child Support Payments

—By Molly Redden
| Mon Jan. 13, 2014 8:55 AM GMT


After Michael Eisenga, a wealthy GOP donor and Wisconsin business owner, failed to convince several courts to lower his child support payments, he came up with an inventive plan B—he recruited a Republican state legislator to rewrite Wisconsin law in his favor.

A set of documents unearthed Saturday by the Wisconsin State Journal shows Eisenga and his lawyer, William Smiley, supplying detailed instructions to Republican state Rep. Joel Kleefisch on how to word legislation capping child support payments from the wealthy. Kleefisch began work on the legislation last fall, weeks after an appeals court rejected Eisenga's attempts to lower his child support payments.

snip//

In 2010, Eisenga donated $10,000 to Kleefisch and his wife, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, according to the Journal Sentinel. Eisenga also donated $15,000 to Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

The drafting documents, available on the Wisconsin legislature's website, leave little not doubt that the bill was written to Eisenga's specifications. According to the documents, on September 5, Eisenga's lawyer briefed him on changes he was suggesting to a draft of Kleefisch's bill. "We focused only on the portion that would require the court to modify your child support order based solely on the passage of the bill," Smiley wrote. Eisenga then forwarded that letter to Kleefisch and one of his aides, saying, "Please have the drafter make these SPECIFIC changes to the bill." The next day, Kleefisch's aide forwarded the letter to the legislative lawyer drafting the bill.

more...

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/01/gop-donor-lobbies-lawmakers-write-law-lowering-his-child-support-payments

[Turbineguy]

1. That's the job of the republican party;

to help people avoid or evade their responsiblity. That's why they call it the party of personal responsibility.

[octoberlib]

2. This is why we need publicly funded elections.

The rich are just buying off elected officials and writing their own legislation now.

[WillyT]

3. Many Are Trying... Go Here:

http://www.wolf-pac.com/the_plan

Home page (sign the petition): http://www.wolf-pac.com/

[octoberlib]

4. I've heard about wolf pac but have never visited their site. Thanks, WillyT!

[WillyT]

5. Anytime octoberlib, Anytime...