2014 Annual Report

An Update On Our Program Work In 2014

To Our Members

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1ON THE COVER: 1) Stop Antibiotics Overuse Program Director Sujatha Jahagirdar releases our doctor’s poll, “Prescription For Change” 2) PIRG’s Abe Scarr kicks off our “Democracy For The People” campaign 3) Federal Tax and Budget Associate Jaimie Woo 4) PIRG canvassers in action

Photos: All photos taken by our staff unless noted here. Front Cover: (counter-clockwise from top) Beverly Jensen, Stefan Klapko Photography, Kristopher Connor, Johnathan Comer. Page 2: Mark Hines. Page 3: branislavpudar/shutterstock.com. Page 4: Beverly Jensen. Page 6: Stefan Klapko Photography. Page 7: Fox Business Channel. Page 10 notice: Ryan Wick*. (*Photos used under a Creative Commons license)3 4

Dear WISPIRG member,

I took over as WISPIRG’s director in March after joining our team last summer, and wanted to take a few lines to introduce myself, share with you what’s ahead for WISPIRG in the coming months, and thank you for your support that makes our work possible.

I fell in love with community organizing and advocacy during my time in college in Chicago. So joining PIRG after graduation—an organization that shares my passion for making common-sense, positive social change—was a no-brainer. For the past few years, I worked with NJPIRG in Trenton, New Jersey, where I trained student leaders, mobilized community members, and knocked on thousands of doors across the state to win real reforms for a stronger democracy, tax fairness, and public health.

Something I’ve noticed wherever I’ve gone over the past few years, however, is the talk of a growing partisan divide in America. Progress is stalled on countless issues, the thinking goes, because of an unbridgeable gap between a Red America and a Blue America. And although this polarization can seem to be the reality in the halls of Congress or on the floor of the legislature in Madison, most of us can generally agree that there are plenty of solutions that we’re just not using to address the problems we face.

Solutions like stopping the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms, to keep our life-saving medicines effective. Or empowering small donors in elections, to counter the influence of big money in our democracy. Or rethinking our transportation priorities, so we’re not spending billions on wasteful highway expansions when local infrastructure is crumbling and so many of us are looking for alternative ways to get around.

To stand a chance at winning change, you need to show that you can back your solutions up. And that’s what we do best—by building our case through research, getting the public involved at the grassroots, and taking the solutions you support to decision-makers at all levels of government. This kind of change is never easy, and it can be easy to get frustrated. The progress we’re making might not always appear in the headlines, but it’s happening every day, and it’s vitally important—not just to the well-being of our country, but to the well-being of its citizens as well.

In the following pages, you’ll read some of the progress we’ve made toward those solutions. I hope you enjoy this report, and seeing what we’ve been able to do in the last year, thanks to your support.

Sincerely,

Peter SkopecDirector

21st Century TransportationMaking Smarter Transportation Choices & Stopping The I-94 Highway Boondoggle

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After decades of focusing on expanding our roads and building more and more new highways, the time has come to rethink Wisconsin’s—and America’s —transportation priorities. As more people move off the roads, and with many others wishing they could be less reliant on their cars, WISPIRG Founda-tion is calling on our decision-makers to give people the alternative options they want, while also cutting back on wasteful, expensive projects.

We’re Moving Off The RoadsNew technologies—from smartphone apps, to bikesharing and ridesharing ser-vices—are giving people the freedom to go “car-free” or “car-light.” Meanwhile, total driving peaked in America in 2007. In 2014, more people used public trans-portation than in any year since 1956.

The Millennial Generation—people born between 1983 and 2000 —is leading this trend, and our report, “Millennials in Motion,” documented the mounting evidence that this shift is more than temporary. It explains that even as the economy improves, the continued decrease in per-capita driving among younger Americans is likely to continue.

Stop the I-94 Highway BoondoggleDespite these well-documented chang-es in how we get around, we’re still spending billions expanding roads and building new highways every year. In September, WISPIRG Foundation re-leased our “Highway Boondoggles” re-port, which highlighted 11 of America’s most wasteful highway projects, and one of them was the proposed $1.2 billion widening of I-94 in Milwaukee. After

Wisconsin Department of Transporta-tion (WisDOT) officials unveiled their plans, WISPIRG sprung into action and organized a campaign to stop this billion-dollar highway boondoggle.

The expansion plan, which initially included a 40-foot high, double-deck-er highway as an option, is a massive, wasteful project that comes as many existing roads and bridges aren’t even receiving the repairs they need to re-main in good condition.

“We need to hit the reset button on transportation policy and rethink how to build a transportation system that meets our needs for the 21st cen-tury,” said WISPIRG Foundation’s Bruce Speight.

In the fall, WISPIRG Foundation part-nered with an experienced transpor-tation planner to propose an alterna-tive. The proposal would bring the highway back to a state of good repair, and would also establish a high-qual-ity transit system that would enhance economic development, better con-nect people to jobs in the region, and support local communities.

In early 2015, WisDOT officials an-nounced that they would not be choosing the double decker as their preferred option, but are still moving forward with the expansion project. We’ll keep working with residents, communities and our state decision-makers until we finally stop this high-way boondoggle.

CALLING FOR AN END TO WASTEFUL HIGHWAY PROJECTS—WISPIRG Foundation’s Bruce Speight released our “Highway Boondoggles” report in Milwaukee, near the site of the proposed I-94 highway expansion project.

Antibiotics are a critical component of modern medicine. Doctors rely on them every day to keep people alive and well—whether it’s fighting pneumonia, or dealing with infections that set in from scrapes or as a result of chemo-therapy and major surgeries. But fueled by the misuse and overuse of the drugs, some bacteria are becoming “super-bugs” that are resistant to antibiotics. Public health experts overwhelmingly warn that antibiotic resistance is a seri-ous, growing public health threat.

In response to these warnings, WISPIRG, along with our nationwide federation, launched a campaign to stop the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms, one of the primary drivers of this problem. In 2014, we called on the Obama administration to take action to address this problem, by enacting stronger guidelines on the overuse of antibiotics on healthy animals.

A Growing Public Health ThreatUp to 70 percent of antibiotics in the United States are sold for use on livestock and poultry. Antibiotics are typically routinely given to livestock, mostly to animals that aren’t even sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned, “much of antibiotic use in animals is unnec-essary and inappropriate and makes everyone less safe.”

According to the CDC, every year at least 2 million Americans become in-fected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections. The World Health Organi-

zation has also warned that “without urgent, coordinated action … the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill.”

10,000 Health Professionals JoinOver the summer, WISPIRG launched a citizen outreach campaign to con-vince the Obama administration to direct the Food and Drug Adminis-tration (FDA) to define the acceptable use of antibiotics on factory farms, and ban the practice of routinely giving an-tibiotics to healthy animals. Alongside our national federation, we talked to

hundreds of thousands of citizens and called on our decision-makers to act, now. We also worked to enlist more than 10,000 health professionals, along with more than 100,000 concerned cit-izens, to convince our elected officials that strong action is both medically necessary and politically popular.

The FDA has asked pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily stop the sale of antibiotics to farms for growth pro-motion. Unfortunately, this action is unlikely to solve the problem. Without a stronger requirement to reduce the amount of antibiotics fed to livestock, the development and spread of anti-biotic-resistant bacteria will not slow down.

Executive Order Must Go FurtherIn July, WISPIRG’s Federal Program Director testified before the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, urging them to recom-mend strong actions against the over-use of antibiotics on factory farms.

We also released several reports out-lining the problem. We partnered with local doctors to release a new white paper, “Ending the Abuse of Antibi-otics in Livestock Production,” and alongside our research partner, Frontier Group, we released “Prescription for Change,” which critiqued the current, weak FDA guidelines.

Then in September, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that took several important steps necessary to control the spread of antibiotic-re-sistant bacteria. The executive order

Stop The Overuse Of AntibioticsCalling On Our Leaders & Businesses To End Antibiotic Misuse On Factory Farms

OVERUSE ON FACTORY FARMS— Up to 70 percent of all antibiotics in the U.S. are sold for use on livestock and poultry, and are routinely given to animals that aren’t even sick.

2014 Annual Report

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also formed a presidential task force to determine what next steps should be taken. However, both missed the opportunity to call for critical reforms in the agricultural sector that are es-sential to protect public health. In the meantime, WISPIRG will keep working to convince the administration to enact stronger measures to stop the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

93% Of Doctors ConcernedIn October, WISPIRG and coalition partners released a poll commissioned by Consumer Reports that asked medical professionals about their con-cerns and experiences with antibiotic resistance. According to the poll, an overwhelming majority of doctors—93 percent—are concerned about the over-use of antibiotics on factory farms. And 85 percent of doctors have treated a patient experiencing a case of drug-re-sistant bacteria in the past year.

Calling On McDonald’s For Action We can’t wait for our policymakers to act to protect our antibiotics. If we want

factory farms to rein in their misuse and overuse of antibiotics, we need to put pressure on the restaurants that buy their meat. That’s why WISPIRG Foundation launched a campaign calling on McDon-ald’s to stop buying meat raised with the unnecessary use of antibiotics.

McDonald’s is one of the largest restau-rant chains in the world. They’ve said

they want to do something about the overuse of antibiotics in their meat supply, and some restaurants, such as Chipotle and Panera, already offer an-tibiotic-free options.

In March 2015, McDonald’s announced that they’re phasing out the use of medi-cally-important antibiotics in their chick-ens. This is a huge win for public health, but we won’t stop there. This summer, we’ll be calling on Subway—the largest fast food chain in the world—to make a similar commitment. If they do, it could change the industry, and help keep our antibiotics effective for generations to come.

DOCTORS CALLING FOR ACTION—Dr. Lance Price, a specialist in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, joined PIRG as we released our poll of doctors, “Prescription For Change.” In the poll, an overwhelming majority of doctors—93 percent—said they’re concerned about the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

How the overuse of antibiotics

on factory farms puts our health at risk

Up to 70% of antibiotics in the U.S. are sold for use on

livestock and poultry, mostly to animals that aren’t even sick.

Resistant bacteria Overuse of antibiotics has led to the rise of drug-resistant

bacteria that can spread from animals to humans through our

food, water and air.

More than 2 million Americans fall ill from antibiotic-resistant

bacteria every year, and at least 23,000 people die from those infections.

PNEUMONIA • STREP THROAT • E-COLI • WHOOPING COUGH • BRONCHITIS • PINK EYE • MALARIA • MRSA • EAR INFECTION • IMPETIGO • SALMONEL-LA • TUBERCULOSIS • MASTITIS • RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS • E-COLI • WHOOPING COUGH • PNEUMONIA

Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group

One person, one vote: That’s how we’re taught elections in our democra-cy are supposed to work. Candidates should compete to win our votes by revealing their vision, credentials and capabilities. We, the people, then get to decide who should represent us.

But following a series of wrongheaded Supreme Court decisions, Super PACs and mega-donors now have the abil-ity to drown out the voices of regular voters in our elections. WISPIRG is part of a growing movement working to restore common sense to our de-mocracy, calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn these rulings, and empowering small donors to have a greater stake in elections.

Citizens United 2.0Special interest money has long had a corrosive effect on our politics, but in 2010, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision unleashed a new era of unprecedented spending by a handful of millionaires and corporations on our elections. Since then, we’ve seen the floodgates open to waves of big money that threatens to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens in our democracy.

In January 2014, on the fourth anniver-sary of the Citizens United decision, WISPIRG and our sister PIRGs held more than 30 lobby meetings in Wash-ington, D.C., with decision-makers, calling on them to help reclaim our democracy and support an amendment to overturn Citizens United.

Then in April, the Supreme Court sided with mega-donors over voters yet again, making it clear that it has a fundamentally different vision of democracy than the American people.

In McCutcheon v. FEC, the Court struck down the overall limit on what an indi-vidual can give to federal candidates, parties and PACs in a two-year election cycle. That limit stood at $123,200—more than twice the average household income in the United States. In 2012, only 1,219 donors came within 10 percent of hitting the aggregate limit. Research from WISPIRG and Demos projects that now that the aggregate limit has been struck down, that same set of 1,219 donors will be able to more

than triple their contributions, to a grand total of $459.3 million. The 2014 congressional elections were the first under the new rules.

Despite this setback, there have been signs of progress. In September, a con-stitutional amendment to restore limits to campaign contributions went to the floor of the Senate for a vote. While a majority of the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the amendment, it failed to earn the two-thirds majority it needed to advance. In the meantime, WISPIRG is at the forefront of a growing nation-al movement that has led 16 states and nearly 600 cities to go on record in favor of an amendment to restore common sense to campaign finance.

2014 Elections: More Big MoneyWith the campaign finance laws gov-erning the 2014 midterm elections be-coming more lenient, it was no surprise that they ended up being the most expensive midterm election in history, costing approximately $3.7 billion.

In addition to drowning out the voic-es of regular voters, big money also worked to determine who ran for office in the first place, as the pursuit of me-ga-donors priced out other candidates who might not be able to afford the sort of high-priced campaign that is required to win an election.

In fact, in 2014, the top two vote-get-ters in the 25 most competitive House races got more than 86 percent of their contributions from large donors. Meanwhile, only two of those candi-dates raised less than 70 percent of

Democracy For The PeopleFighting Back Against Big Money & Empowering Small Donors In Our Elections

OVERTURN CITIZENS UNITED—We’ve helped 16 states and nearly 600 cities go on the record calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United.

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their individual contributions from large donors.

This new reality means that oftentimes elections—as well as the issues that get debated—can be determined long be-fore voters head to the polls. The result of this “money election”? Politicians of-ten favor the donors who funded their campaigns over the people they’re elected to represent.

Empowering Small DonorsTo address this problem, WISPIRG kicked off our “Democracy For The People” campaign to amplify the power of small donors in our elec-tions through a system of incentives and matching funds. Alongside our national federation, we’re working to pass small donor programs at the federal level, as well as in cities and towns across the country.

We’re already seeing results: In Sep-tember, the Montgomery County, Md., Council unanimously passed a bill to create a small donor empowerment program for county council and exec-

utive campaigns. The legislation will provide matching contributions for small donors if the candidates don’t take large or corporate contributions.

We also asked our representatives in Washington to co-sponsor the Govern-ment By the People Act, filed by Rep. John Sarbanes, which would change the way our elections are financed. If passed, contributions less than $150

would be amplified on a six-to-one basis, and the first $25 dollars people contribute would qualify for a refund-able tax credit. This would help spur more small contributions, allowing candidates to engage with everyday voters rather than just with big-money donors.

“The American people deserve a po-litical system that makes sure all of our voices are heard, not just special interests that can afford to spend the most,” said WISPIRG Director Peter Skopec. “This legislation will help to make that a reality.”

BIG MONEY VS. SMALL DONORS—PIRG’s Abe Scarr kicked off our “Democracy For The People” campaign to empower more small donors in our elections.

WISPIRG supports the Government By The People Act, a bill in Congress that will amplify the voices of small donors, and combat the dominance of

big money in our elections. Here’s what it does:

It will give a $25 tax credit for small donors to encourage more

participation in elections.

Small donor contributions will be matched, 6 to 1

when given to candidates who forego PACs. This means a $50 contribution

becomes a $350 contribution.

It will help candidates who rely on small donors

stay competitiveby giving additional resources to

those who raise at least $50,000 in small-dollar donations within the

60-day “home stretch” of the general election.

The Government By The People Act

ON ALERT FOR CONSUMERS—WISPIRG Foundation’s Sujatha Jahagirdar spoke on Fox Business Channel as we released our report, “Trouble in Toyland,” warning parents and consumers about dangerous toys on store shelves.

2014 Annual Report

The financial crisis and the recession that followed delivered a devastating blow to Wisconsinites and people across America. In its wake, WISPIRG helped win the creation of the Consum-er Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the first federal agency with just one job—protecting consumers from unfair financial practices.

Now, more than three years since the CFPB opened its doors, the agency has provided more than $5 billion in relief and refunds for consumers harmed by illegal practices. Yet now, many in Congress and the financial industry are trying to rein in the CFPB.

Defending The CFPBIn 2014, WISPIRG stepped up our cam-paign to mount a strong defense of the CFPB, advocating for better tools for consumers to navigate the marketplace and documenting the new challenges they face.

WISPIRG Foundation’s series of re-ports on the CFPB’s public complaint database helped shine a light on their growing set of tools to help protect consumers in the marketplace. The CFPB responded to the reports’ key recommendation when it proposed adding consumer “stories” to the pub-licly-available database.

The CFPB continues to hold major financial institutions accountable for deceptive practices. In 2014, it won settlements against JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and US Bank, return-ing more than $1 billion in refunds to consumers.

On Veterans Day, WISPIRG and our national federation called on the CFPB to enforce stronger rules against all payday and high-cost lenders. Most military families are young, on the move, and inexperienced in the finan-cial marketplace—making them perfect targets for predatory lenders. No one should be subject to these sorts of pred-atory financial practices—but especially not veterans, service members and their families.

Moving forward, WISPIRG will do whatever it can to stave off the contin-ued attempts to attack, repeal or defund the CFPB, and let the public, the media and our decision-makers know the val-ue of this important agency. After all, the idea of the CFPB needs no defense, only more defenders.

29th Annual Toy Safety ReportIn November, WISPIRG Foundation re-leased our 29th annual “Trouble in Toy-land” report, which found that while most toys meet safety requirements, some still put kids at risk. In response, the Consumer Product Safety Com-mission (CPSC) initiated “Stop Sale” orders on three toys in the report, and its Canadian counterpart fully recalled one of the three toys.

Thanks to Congress and the CPSC, we have seen dramatic increases in toy safety in recent years, with new safeguards to protect children. Unfor-tunately, the new rules still fall short. We’ll continue to push for more strin-gent safety standards on children’s toys and make sure that companies adhere to these rules.

Consumer ProtectionStanding Up For Consumers, Parents & Students In The Marketplace

Government spending transparency and accountability is essential to ensure that the public can trust that state funds are being spent properly. For years, WISPIRG Foundation has worked to improve access to this information for taxpayers, whether through critiquing existing systems and practices, or giving state officials guidelines on how to provide their citizens the most information possible.

In recent years, state governments across the country have created transparency websites that provide checkbook-level information on government spending. These websites allow residents and watchdog groups to ensure that taxpayers get their money’s worth.

Wisconsin Gets An “A-” — Making It A Leading State For TransparencyIn April, WISPIRG Foundation released “Following The Money 2014,” an annual grading of these state transparency websites. In the report, Wisconsin received an “A-” grade, ranking 6th out of all 50 states. This came just a year after Wisconsin earned an “F” and was considered a “failing state.” Grades were based on an inventory of the content and ease-of-use of states’ transparency websites.

Wisconsin’s “A-” grade means that their website is user-friendly and provides visitors with accessible information on an array of expenditures. Not only can ordinary citizens find information on specific vendor payments through easy-to-use search features, but experts and watchdog groups can also download and analyze the entire checkbook dataset.

“The state of Wisconsin has made great progress in becoming more transparent about where public money goes, providing citizens with the information they need to hold elected officials and recipients of public subsidies accountable,” said WISPIRG Foundation’s Bruce Speight.

New Websites Reap Rewards For Little Upfront Cost2013 marked the first time that all 50 states operated websites to make information on state spending accessible to the public. In fact, top-flight transparency websites can actually save money for taxpayers, while also restoring public confidence in government and preventing misspending and pay-to-play contracts. With the launch of OpenBook Wisconsin last year, Wisconsin saw the largest improvement of any state in the country, earning 90 out of 100 points in the report.

As a result, Wisconsin is now considered a “leading state” when it comes to government spending transparency. However, leading states can’t rest on their laurels, so WISPIRG Foundation has encouraged state leaders in Wisconsin to provide information on the funds recouped from economic development subsidy recipients that fail to deliver on the agreed-upon public benefits.

Government TransparencyShining A Spotlight On How Taxpayer Money Is Spent

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2014 TRANSPARENCY REPORT CARD

YEAR: 2014 GRADER: WISPIRG

WEBSITE: openbook.wi.gov

We graded Wisconsin’s online database of government expenditures for detail and

accessibility to the public.

A-

Contracts & Expenditures Checkbook-level detail

Search by Recipient

Search by Keyword

Search by Agency

Downloadable

Quasi-Public Agencies

Excluded Information

Economic Development Subsidies Checkbook-level detail

Downloadable

Projected Public Benefits

Actual Public Benefits

Tax Expenditure Reports

Extra Credit: Recouped Funds

TOTAL GRADE:

90 / 100

60 / 64

24 / 24

8 / 8

8 / 8

8 / 8

6 / 6

4 / 6

2 / 4

23 / 27

15 / 15

0 / 4

4 / 4

4 / 4

7 / 9

0 / 4

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S.POSTAGE PAID BROCKTON, MA PERMIT NO. 430

WISPIRGWisconsin Public Interest Research Group 122 State St., Ste. 500A Madison, WI 53703 Phone: (608) 251-9501

Address Service Requested

WISPIRG Staff (partial list) 2014 Annual Report

Peter SkopecDirector

Andre DelattreU.S. PIRG Executive Director

Allison CairoU.S. PIRG Deputy Director

Ed MierzwinskiConsumer Program Director

Chris LindstromHigher Education Program Director

Sujatha JahagirdarStop Antibiotics Overuse Program Director

Phineas BaxandallSenior Analyst & Program Director

Steve BlackledgePublic Health Program Director

Mario SalazarFederal Legislative Director

Dan SmithDemocracy Campaign Director

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