A GOP candidate for Wisconsin state senator is under criticism for accepting campaign contributions from donors who benefitted from her tort reform bill.
In 2011, Leah Vukmir co-sponsored a bill that made it tougher to win large amounts of money in damages in nursing home and assisted living cases. The Legislature approved the measure, which had originally been proposed by Gov. Scott Walker (R), the Journal Sentinel reported.
Vukmir’s former sister-in-law, Sally Sprenger, and Gary Sprenger own ANEW Health Care Services and ANEW Management, and have given Vukmir almost $18,000 in the past 14 years. Vukmire also worked at part-time for ANEW as a certified nursing assistant trainer, the newspaper reported.
But Sprenger told the Journal Sentinel that ANEW provides assisted living services at two Milwaukee facilities and that the companies did not benefit from the 2011 legislation.
“This is a made-up farce by Democrats,” Sprenger said last week.
But a spokesman for the state Democratic Party said Vukmir pushed legislation benefiting her employers and campaign donors, describing it as “pay-to-play politics.”
Vukmir is challenging Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D).
For more on Vukmir and ANEW, click here.
