FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Contact: Eric Ming, 920-373-5900 Email: eric@allianceforabetterwi.org
Walker May Veto Cowles-Backed Provision That Would Hide Ethics Data Showing His Huge Porno Investments Legislation would shield Cowles and other politicians from ready public access to personal financial statements that reveal conflicts of interest or embarrassing investments
GREEN BAY – Rob Cowles has explicitly supported a controversial provision in the budget that would make it nearly impossible for citizens to access politicians’ ethics data regarding their personal financial interests. Cowles has a special interest in hiding such data from the public, after being embarrassingly outed for owning at least $100,000 in the stock of companies who own strip clubs, run a so-called “swingers” website, and peddle access online to “hardcore movies and videos” and “one-on-one stripping shows.” Critics on both the left and right have decried the move by Cowles and Republicans, and Democratic Senators even offered an amendment to the budget to strip the antitransparency measure out of the budget. Nevertheless, Cowles and his Republican allies shot down the measure on a party-line vote. God forbid anyone ever sift through Rob “family values” Cowles’ ethics data again and discover his financial well-being is tied up with this type of wholesome fun: “Get access to all of the hardcore movies and videos available. Get keys to them all right here and benefit from your total access. Whether you want LIVE XXX streaming action or you want to watch PORN cinema classics, we have them all.” Just how extreme is Cowles’ backing of the provision to hide access to his and other politicians’ ethics data? Scott Walker – whose administration is so anti-transparency they’ve been successfully sued over failing to comply with open records laws – indicated yesterday that he may veto it. “The rank hypocrisy of Rob Cowles trying to limit access to the very ethics data that showed his massive investments in strip clubs, XXX movie peddlers, and online hardcore pornography shows just how much he‟s morphed into a typical, self-serving politican over his years in Madison,” said Kelly Steele, spokesman for We Are Wisconsin. “The voters in Rob Cowles‟ district can decide whether or not they approve of a politician who talks about „family values‟ while investing heavily in strip clubs, XXX movie peddlers, and online hardcore pornography – but Cowles‟ attempt to hide that data from the public is truly disgraceful.”