Democratic advisor alleges Crowley sought $250,000, job for wife in endorsement deal

A senior Democratic political advisor with firsthand knowledge of the events and familiar with Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez’s gubernatorial campaign’s internal discussions has alleged in an affidavit that Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley conditioned his July primary endorsement of Rodriguez on a promise of $250,000 and a paid position for his wife in a future Rodriguez administration.

The Crowley campaign has denied the allegations. 

After his campaign gained little traction in polling, Crowley withdrew from the Democratic primary on July 8 and endorsed Rodriguez the following day. However, by that time, the senior Democratic political advisor said negotiations with Rodriguez over his potential withdrawal had been ongoing for about a month.

“The Crowley campaign made it clear that David [Crowley] would not endorse the lieutenant governor unless $250,000 was promised for his next run for county exec or for future political activities, and that his wife, Ericka Crowley, would have a paid position within a Rodriguez administration,” the advisor told The Lakeland Times.

The Democratic advisor has signed an affidavit detailing the allegations. The Times has reviewed the document and verified its authenticity.

The Times also reached out to both the Crowley campaign and the lieutenant governor to inform them of the allegations. The Crowley campaign and a Rodriguez spokesperson categorically denied the allegations.

“These claims are not true, and this never happened,” campaign spokesperson Philip Shulman said in a statement. “This is yet another desperate attempt by a flailing campaign to make up lies about David and his family to try to distract from the real issues in this race like lowering costs, expanding healthcare access, and standing up to the corruption in DC.”

Christina Freundlich, a spokesperson for Rodriguez, likewise said the claims were untrue.

"These allegations are false,” Freundlich said. “Whoever is spreading them is trying to distract Wisconsinites from the clear choice they face in the final week of this election."

Lieutenant governor directs negotiations

In addition to the Crowley campaign’s endorsement requirements, another serious allegation involves Rodriguez, specifically that she was not only aware of the negotiations but directed them.

“The lieutenant governor directed staff to enter into negotiations/pursue an agreement with the Crowley campaign,” the advisor said.

That would have been the month of June, when the race for the nomination was in considerable flux. Democratic socialist Francesca Hong was surging in the polls, and former lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes was also still hanging in the race.

“And at that time, the Rodriguez campaign and other Democratic Party insiders and advisors decided that there was a need and an urgent need to clear the field for a candidate other than Hong or Barnes,” the Democratic advisor told the Times. “And the lieutenant governor was polling in third and had support from institutional donors, so that’s where that support was being directed, that push was.”

But Rodriguez needed more than just for Crowley to drop out, the advisor said.

“Because Crowley was polling at about 6 percent in Marquette and with the party as well, it wasn’t enough for him to drop out,” the advisor said. “They really needed the endorsement.” 

And that’s when the Crowley campaign made it clear that the endorsement was contingent upon the two concessions, according to the senior advisor.

“So after the agreement was reached, then David Crowley made the announcement that he would be withdrawing from the race,” the senior advisor said. “That happened on Wednesday, July 8. And then his endorsement happened on Thursday, July 9, at a press conference with the lieutenant governor.”

At the press conference, Crowley stressed that no deal-making was involved in his endorsement of Rodriguez and that he was supporting the lieutenant governor because she was the best choice for the people and the party. 

“Nobody called me or anything like that to ask me to step out of the race,” Crowley said at the press conference. “This race is about making sure we can have the best candidate …. I think it is extremely important that all of us as candidates start to make decisions about how we need to win this race and making sure that we’re keeping the Democratic Party, keeping people, at the center of these decisions. So I want to be very clear there was no establishment process. This is me making a good decision in this race to support Sara Rodriguez because I believe she is the best candidate.”

Crowley’s support for Rodriguez was short-lived. The lieutenant governor herself dropped out of the race on July 17 after problems emerged with her campaign finance reports, including inaccuracies and a serious cash shortfall.

The next day, Crowley re-entered the race, with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers quickly endorsing his candidacy.

By that time, the field had narrowed. In addition to Rodriguez’s seemingly sudden implosion, WEDC secretary and CEO Missy Hughes dropped out on June 22, and Barnes bowed out on July 30.

State Sen. Kelda Roys of Madison and former DOA secretary Joel Brennan stayed in the race, though each had only marginal impact.

With prominent Democratic Party supporters and insiders behind him, Crowley went on to stun Hong, who had wide leads in pre-election polls, to win the Democratic nomination, setting up his Nov. 3 contest against Republican nominee Tom Tiffany.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.