Could This Pro-Walker Dark-Money Group Torpedo Recall Turnout?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/wisconsin-recall-coalition-american-values-scott-walker

Starting last week, a shadowy political group with a generic-sounding name and a scant paper trail unleashed a TV ad campaign in Wisconsin to convince voters that Tuesday's recall elections are "against the Wisconsin way." Bankrolled by the Virginia-based Coalition for American Values (CAV), the ads urge support for Gov. Scott Walker and, instead of attacking his opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, they assail the very premise of the recall effort. Though dark-money funded attack ads have flooded the Wisconsin airwaves targeting both candidates in recent months, Barrett supporters worry that CAV's last-minute effort could affect turnout among crucial undecided voters.

Mike McCabe, director of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks money in state politics, says dark-money outfits like CAV poison elections in the Badger State. "The public is totally in the dark as to who is really supplying this money," he says.

CAV has so far released two 30-second ads and a single 1-minute spot. One media buyer says the group has purchased airtime for its anti-recall ads in each of the state's seven media markets at an estimated cost of nearly $300,000 dollars. The ads depict various individuals who say they didn't vote for Walker in the 2010 election, yet oppose the recall. "I didn't vote for Scott Walker, but I'm definitely against the recall," one man says. "There's a right way, there's a wrong way, and I think this is the wrong way," says a woman in the same ad. "Recall isn't the Wisconsin way," the narrator says, ending with this message: "End the recall madness. Vote for Scott Walker June 5th."