Madison, Wis. (AP) – Billionaire Elon Musk says that a Voter from Wisconsin has received $ 1 million days for the conclusion of a brightly disputed elections of the Supreme Court of the State that broke the spending records and a referendum on Musk and the first months of President Donald Trump's government has become.
The payment to a Green Bay -Man, who announced Musk on Wednesday evening on his social media platform X, is comparable to a lottery that led the Political Action Committee of Musk in Wisconsin and other battlefield states last year before the presidential elections in November.
In the coming elections on Tuesday, which submits a seat by a liberal justice that retires, will determine whether the highest court of Wisconsin will remain liberal control under 4-3 or turns to a conservative majority. The race is a proxy struggle to become the policy of the country, in which Trump and Musk behind Brad Schimel, the candidate supported by the Republicans in the officially non-party competition.
The campaign for the Democratic-Supported Candidate, Susan Crawford, has destroyed the payment of $ 1 million from Musk as an attempt to buy illegal influence on the court in a state where Tesla, his electric car company, has a lawsuit that could end in court.
“It is corrupt, it is extreme and it is shameful for our state and judiciary,” said Crawford spokesperson Derrick Honeyman in a statement.
There were no legal steps against Musk's payments to voters in Wisconsin with the elections of the Supreme Court on five days.
Jay Heck, executive director of the common cause in Wisconsin, said that the payments were a last-minute attempt to influence the elections.
“Whether or not Wisconsinites will believe that this is legitimate or will not probably be arranged after the elections,” he said. “But this is not what an election of the Wisconsin Supreme Court should be decided. Races for the Supreme Court would be supposed to be at judicial temperament and impartiality, not huge amounts of money for part -time purposes.”
The Political Action Committee of Musk, America, announced last week that it offered $ 100 to voters who signed a petition in contrast to 'activist judges'. He did not say that there would be $ 1 million prizes at that time, but in his position on Wednesday said that an extra $ 1 million prize would be made in two days.
It was not clear who the winner of the $ 1 million determined or how it was done.
The Political Action Committee of Musk used an almost identical tactic last year before the elections of the White House and offered to pay $ 1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battlefield states who signed a petition to support the first and second changes.
It is a crime in Wisconsin to offer something of value, to give, borrow or promise to borrow or give something of value to make a voter to cast a vote or not to vote.
The Musk Petition says that it is only open to registered Wisconsin voters, but those who sign it are not obliged to show any evidence that they have actually voted.
The petition says: “Judges must interpret laws as written, not rewrite to fit their personal or political agenda. By signing below, I reject the actions of activist judges who impose their own views and interpret a judiciary that respects its role – do not legislation.”
The petition, although designed to collect data about voters in Wisconsin and confirm them, is also in accordance with the agenda of Trump who claims that “activist” judges work illegally against him. Trump's administration is involved in various lawsuits with regard to its flurry of executive orders and the efforts of the Ministry of Musk to reduce federal bureaucracy.
During last year's presidential race, the Public Prosecution Service of Philadelphia sued in an attempt to stop payments under the law of Pennsylvania. But a judge said that public prosecutors did not show that the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to take place through the election day.
America Pac and Building for America's Future, two groups that Musk Funds, have spent more than $ 17 million to help you choose Schimel, according to a census from the Brennan Center for Justice. This year, Musk has also given the Republican Party of Wisconsin $ 3 million, which can then give it to Schimel or spend on the race.
So far, more than $ 81 million has been spent on the race, so that the record for a judicial race in the US of $ 51 million in Wisconsin was erased in Wisconsin only two years ago, according to Brennan Center Tallies.
