Millionaire Alex Lasry is one of several U.S. Senate candidates who received an extension to file an annual financial disclosure report after their partisan primary, which government watchdogs say violates the spirit of a law meant to help voters stay informed.
Lasry’s 90-day extension allows him to file a report outlining his assets by Aug. 15. The Democratic U.S. Senate primary is Aug. 9.
The extension was granted by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics despite a clause in the ethics code saying extensions should not be granted within 30 days of an election. Committee staff did not respond to more than a dozen requests for comment about their decision.
According to Lasry’s campaign, that 30-day window doesn’t apply if the candidate already filed the report in the prior year. Longtime Democratic attorney Joe Sandler said for as long as he can remember the committee has granted extensions for candidates filing reports beyond election dates as long as it wasn’t the candidates’ first report.
Besides Lasry, other candidates receiving extensions beyond their respective primary election dates this cycle include Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Steven Olikara, Georgia Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman. In all of those cases, including Lasry’s, the candidates listed their assets in 2021.
“My question is, ‘Why 90 days?’” said Beth Rotman, director of money in politics and ethics at the liberal government watchdog group Common Cause. “Ninety days is a long extension and taking it after the election instead of before the election, I think, deprives the public of information.”
Kendric Payne, an executive at the nonpartisan government watchdog group Campaign Legal Center, said the law governing financial disclosures exists “because voters have a right to know a candidate’s financial interest that may conflict with the duties of office before they cast a ballot.”
“When candidates delay transparency, they deny voters the truth,” said Payne, former deputy chief counsel at the federal Office of Congressional Ethics, where he oversaw financial disclosure violations in the House of Representatives.
Within the Senate committee’s instructions for candidates filing forms is a stipulation that candidates can file for extensions to provide their financial disclosure reports, which detail their salaries and financial assets. But a note below it clarifies, “Extension requests for Candidate Reports cannot be granted if the requested due date is fewer than 30 days prior to a primary or general election in which the reporting individual is a candidate.”
Lasry campaign spokesperson Thad Nation said the committee told Lasry’s campaign that the requirement to file a report within 30 days of an election only applied to a candidate’s first report, not their second or subsequent reports. Nation pointed out that other campaigns receive extensions that go past primary dates.
But Nation declined to say whether Lasry — a Milwaukee Bucks executive-on-leave whose form last year detailed millions of dollars in real estate and an ownership stake in the Milwaukee Bucks of more than $50 million — would file his report before the Aug. 9 primary.
“We will file when all the information is collected. We are following the same protocol we followed with our original financial disclosure statement last year,” he said.
‘Feingold’s seat’
Irene Lin, a spokesperson for U.S. Senate candidate Tom Nelson, one of Lasry’s opponents in the Aug. 9 primary, noted the last Democrat to hold the seat for which Lasry is running was a champion of campaign transparency.
“This is Russ Feingold’s seat,” Lin said. “It is an act of supreme cynicism and arrogance for Alex Lasry to try and get away with hiding his million-dollar investments and conflicts of interest from the public. If he wants to hide in the dark, he should go under the Brooklyn Bridge.”
Lasry also delayed filing last year’s form, receiving an extension in May 2021 to file his form in August 2021.
Lasry’s asset disclosure last year revealed stock in dozens of public entities, including millions of dollars in real estate, mutual funds and public companies like Walmart, Uber, Moderna, Amazon and Facebook. His disclosure showed a $300,000 salary and at least $5 million in private equity funds as well as the over $50 million in Milwaukee Bucks stock.
“Unless there’s some extraordinary circumstance here that we may not know about, then I would hope that this candidate would file before the deadline and before the election,” Rotman said. “That is certainly the purpose and the intent of these filings, that the public has clear information of any potential conflicts of interest so an informed decision can be made.”
Other candidates
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who holds a slight edge in the latest Marquette Law School Poll, shows a salary of just under $110,000 and between $5,005 and $75,000 in assets in his filing.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski’s form shows millions in public and non-public stocks, real estate, money market accounts and government securities. Among her stock holdings are Alphabet, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Uber, Lyft, PayPal and General Electric.
Nelson’s form shows a $111,000 salary, at least $250,001 in a pension plan, at least $350,002 in term life insurance policies and tens of thousands of dollars in mutual funds.
Ron Johnson
JACQUELYN MARTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, has supported federal abortion bans in the past and praised the leaked Roe draft opinion but said the matter is best be handled by each state. Still, the Oshkosh Republican's spokesperson, Alexa Henning, would not clarify whether Johnson would support a federal ban.
"The reality is there is no consensus on passing federal legislation, nor will there be without the process first playing out in the states," she said in a statement. "The Senator has always felt that this issue is best decided by the people on a state-by-state basis."
Johnson supported a federal 20-week abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother. He also signed onto the U.S. Supreme Court brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — the case poised to trigger the court overturning Roe — to uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban. The Mississippi law has exceptions for medical emergencies or “a severe fetal abnormality.”
"Roe v. Wade delayed a democratic resolution to the profound moral question of abortion for 50 years," Henning said in a statement.
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is the Democratic U.S. Senate frontrunner according to the Marquette Law School Poll, called for nationwide abortion protections and the abolition of the filibuster to achieve that goal.
“I firmly believe in every woman’s right to make decisions about her own body," he said in a statement. "Politicians have no right to put restrictions on that decision."
Barnes said he would vote in favor of the Women's Health Protection Act, the leading effort to codify the right to an abortion nationwide.
The measure would permit abortions any time before fetal viability and after viability as long as the pregnancy could pose a risk to the pregnant patient's life or health.
Milwaukee Bucks executive-on-leave Alex Lasry also said he supports Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin's Women's Health Protection Act.
Speaking from the U.S. Supreme Court the night the majority draft opinion came out, Lasry warned such a decision would lead to an almost complete abortion ban in Wisconsin.
Polling second in the Democratic Senate primary according to the Marquette poll, Lasry said he supports the proposal that guarantees "a pregnant person’s right to access an abortion — and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these abortion services — free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship."
State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, the only female top-tier Senate candidate, campaigned on codifying Roe before the leaked draft opinion made national headlines.
She "opposes abortion restrictions that endanger or punish women," Godlewski spokesperson Sarah Abel said in a statement. She has also expressed support for the Women's Health Protection Act.
After the leak, Godlewski expressed frustration at Democrats' fruitless attempts to codify Roe and ran an ad blasting Johnson for supporting reversing a case that guaranteed abortion protections nationwide for nearly 50 years.
"Sarah believes these personal and complicated decisions should be left to women and their doctors," Abel said.
Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson said he would vote to eliminate the filibuster and codify Roe if he were a U.S. senator after Politico broke the news about the leaked draft.
"A woman's right to choose is absolute. I trust women to make their own medical decisions," the Democratic Senate candidate said in a statement. "I have a 100% NARAL and Planned Parenthood voting record over three terms (2005-11) in the state Assembly — no one else in the field can match that."
Saying reproductive rights were on the ballot in November, Nelson also said he favors expanding the U.S. Supreme Court. Conservative justices currently hold a 6-3 majority on the court.
After the leak, Nelson said, "The Supreme Court has shown their hand. Senator Chuck Schumer must call a special session to blow up the filibuster and codify Roe now.”
Soon after the Roe leak made national headlines, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers led a coalition of 17 governors across the country calling on Congress to pass Baldwin's Women’s Health Protection Act.
Still on the books but unenforceable since Roe, a resumption of the state ban would swamp Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ efforts to stand as a bulwark between the Republican-controlled Legislature and a full-fledged abortion ban.
Still, he said he "will fight every day" for access to abortion and reproductive rights as long as he is governor.
Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, whom the Marquette poll shows is the clear Republican frontrunner in the gubernatorial race, said she supports Wisconsin's law that bans abortion in almost every instance except for when the mother's life is at risk.
Asked during a Fox6 interview whether she would support additional exceptions for rape and incest, Kleefisch said she wouldn't because she doesn't "think it’s the baby’s fault how the baby is conceived."
She also said she hoped and prayed for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe. In the past, Kleefisch said she would support a bill banning abortions after doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat.
State Rep. Tim Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, who is running for governor, also has called himself "100% pro-life."
Ramthun and Nicholson are the only two gubernatorial candidates endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin, a group that opposes abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest or the life and health of the mother.
He also voted against a package of anti-abortion legislation because they contained exceptions for when abortion would be permitted.
"A child should never suffer for the sins of their mothers or fathers, and all life is sacred," he said in a statement.
Where Wisconsin's top 10 gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates stand on abortion
Six months out from the November election, Republican and Democratic senatorial and gubernatorial candidates could hardly differ more on abortion policy.
Ron Johnson
JACQUELYN MARTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, has supported federal abortion bans in the past and praised the leaked Roe draft opinion but said the matter is best be handled by each state. Still, the Oshkosh Republican's spokesperson, Alexa Henning, would not clarify whether Johnson would support a federal ban.
"The reality is there is no consensus on passing federal legislation, nor will there be without the process first playing out in the states," she said in a statement. "The Senator has always felt that this issue is best decided by the people on a state-by-state basis."
Johnson supported a federal 20-week abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother. He also signed onto the U.S. Supreme Court brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — the case poised to trigger the court overturning Roe — to uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban. The Mississippi law has exceptions for medical emergencies or “a severe fetal abnormality.”
"Roe v. Wade delayed a democratic resolution to the profound moral question of abortion for 50 years," Henning said in a statement.
Mandela Barnes
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is the Democratic U.S. Senate frontrunner according to the Marquette Law School Poll, called for nationwide abortion protections and the abolition of the filibuster to achieve that goal.
“I firmly believe in every woman’s right to make decisions about her own body," he said in a statement. "Politicians have no right to put restrictions on that decision."
Barnes said he would vote in favor of the Women's Health Protection Act, the leading effort to codify the right to an abortion nationwide.
The measure would permit abortions any time before fetal viability and after viability as long as the pregnancy could pose a risk to the pregnant patient's life or health.
Alex Lasry
Milwaukee Bucks executive-on-leave Alex Lasry also said he supports Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin's Women's Health Protection Act.
Speaking from the U.S. Supreme Court the night the majority draft opinion came out, Lasry warned such a decision would lead to an almost complete abortion ban in Wisconsin.
Polling second in the Democratic Senate primary according to the Marquette poll, Lasry said he supports the proposal that guarantees "a pregnant person’s right to access an abortion — and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these abortion services — free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship."
Sarah Godlewski
State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, the only female top-tier Senate candidate, campaigned on codifying Roe before the leaked draft opinion made national headlines.
She "opposes abortion restrictions that endanger or punish women," Godlewski spokesperson Sarah Abel said in a statement. She has also expressed support for the Women's Health Protection Act.
After the leak, Godlewski expressed frustration at Democrats' fruitless attempts to codify Roe and ran an ad blasting Johnson for supporting reversing a case that guaranteed abortion protections nationwide for nearly 50 years.
"Sarah believes these personal and complicated decisions should be left to women and their doctors," Abel said.
Tom Nelson
Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson said he would vote to eliminate the filibuster and codify Roe if he were a U.S. senator after Politico broke the news about the leaked draft.
"A woman's right to choose is absolute. I trust women to make their own medical decisions," the Democratic Senate candidate said in a statement. "I have a 100% NARAL and Planned Parenthood voting record over three terms (2005-11) in the state Assembly — no one else in the field can match that."
Saying reproductive rights were on the ballot in November, Nelson also said he favors expanding the U.S. Supreme Court. Conservative justices currently hold a 6-3 majority on the court.
After the leak, Nelson said, "The Supreme Court has shown their hand. Senator Chuck Schumer must call a special session to blow up the filibuster and codify Roe now.”
Gov. Tony Evers
RUTHIE HAUGE, THE CAPITAL TIMES
Soon after the Roe leak made national headlines, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers led a coalition of 17 governors across the country calling on Congress to pass Baldwin's Women’s Health Protection Act.
Still on the books but unenforceable since Roe, a resumption of the state ban would swamp Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ efforts to stand as a bulwark between the Republican-controlled Legislature and a full-fledged abortion ban.
Still, he said he "will fight every day" for access to abortion and reproductive rights as long as he is governor.
Rebecca Kleefisch
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, whom the Marquette poll shows is the clear Republican frontrunner in the gubernatorial race, said she supports Wisconsin's law that bans abortion in almost every instance except for when the mother's life is at risk.
Asked during a Fox6 interview whether she would support additional exceptions for rape and incest, Kleefisch said she wouldn't because she doesn't "think it’s the baby’s fault how the baby is conceived."
She also said she hoped and prayed for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe. In the past, Kleefisch said she would support a bill banning abortions after doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat.
Kevin Nicholson debate
SCOTT BAUER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Management consultant and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Nicholson has called himself "100% pro-life" and said he prays Roe gets overturned.
While he once supported abortion rights, Nicholson said in a survey that he would ban abortions in all cases.
"I’m honored to be the only candidate for governor endorsed by both Pro-Life Wisconsin and Wisconsin Family Action PAC," he said in a statement.
As governor, Nicholson said he would "(end) state funding of Planned Parenthood and (support) existing pregnancy resource centers around our state."
Timothy Ramthun
RUTHIE HAUGE
State Rep. Tim Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, who is running for governor, also has called himself "100% pro-life."
Ramthun and Nicholson are the only two gubernatorial candidates endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin, a group that opposes abortion ban exceptions for rape, incest or the life and health of the mother.
He also voted against a package of anti-abortion legislation because they contained exceptions for when abortion would be permitted.
"A child should never suffer for the sins of their mothers or fathers, and all life is sacred," he said in a statement.