Questions rise over campaign funding for MPS Recall Collaborative

In the last month, Milwaukee Public Schools has lost millions in state funding, a Superintendent, and a lot of confidence from the community.

That has fed the push to recall four members of the school board.

Now there are questions about the anonymous forces behind that push.

The grassroots organization MPS Recall Collaborative still has a ways to go before reaching the number of signatures needed for a recall, but now multiple ethics complaints have been filed against them for allegedly not telling voters where their campaign money is coming from.

With 37,000 signatures in tow, the Collaborative said they won't stop until Missy Zombor, Jilly Gokalgandhi, Erika Siemsen and Marva Herndon step down from their post.

Watch: Questions rise over campaign funding for MPS Recall Collaborative

Where's the money? Questions rise over campaign funding for MPS Recall Collaborative

"We're not going to quit until the job is done," said Tamika Johnson, an organizer with the group.

Meanwhile, questions continue to arise about the group's campaign financing.

"They're running that campaign in what we would like to consider secrecy," said Ingrid Walker-Henry, the president of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA).

Walker-Henry and the union filed an ethics complaint with the state's election commission on Friday.

Two other complaints were also filed last week, one by board member Missy Zombor, who claims the group started publicly fundraising in June and has not reported any of that money, which is against state law.

TMJ4 looked through their public campaign finance report from July 15. It shows a short itemized list of money spent on food, office supplies, and a website.

Public posts on social media from July 2 show the organization advertising jobs for $25 an hour.

We asked the group about that posting this week.

"Are you guys paying canvassers?" asked TMJ4's Megan Lee.

"We do have anonymous donors that are paying canvassers," replied Nicole Johnson with the collaborative.

Those payments are not listed on any reports. The group claims canvassers won't be paid until after all 60,000 signatures are gathered and verified and that they do not know the identity of the anonymous donors.

The teachers union and other complainants say the secrecy is violating state rules.

"It is so concerning that there is a paid operation to recall a publicly democratically elected school board that has not disclosed where the funding is coming from," said Walker-Henry.

In response to concerns, Tamika Johnson with the collaboration says any funds they receive will be properly reported.

With these complaints filed, the Wisconsin Elections Commission will ultimately decide whether to dismiss them or launch investigations into the group and its financing.

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