Messages Reveal Steen Campaign Conspiracy to Launder Donations

Telegram and Signal messages from the Adam Steen for Wisconsin Assembly campaign prove Steen was illegally directing his campaign to launder money through the Langlade County Republican Party in order to get around donation limits.

Steen challenged Assembly Speaker Robin Vos for his seat in the 63rd Assembly District last year. He very nearly won the primary before launching an unsuccessful write-in campaign in the general election.

Two days before that election, Wisconsin Right Now published phone calls Steen had recorded with various political figures, including Langlade County GOP Chairman Terry Brand. He can be heard in one call discussing "who that county party is going to be that is going to wash that money" former President Donald Trump's Save America PAC wanted to donate to Steen.

Wisconsin law caps donations to state legislative candidates at $1,000, but donors can give unlimited amounts of money to state and local political parties. They cannot, however, earmark those donations for specific candidates.

The messages prove that donors to the Langlade County GOP were doing just that.

"Do we have PAC info yet?" asked one member of the "63rd Champion" Telegram group, which was set up to discuss Steen campaign matters.

"Let me check with Adam again," responded Steen campaign staffer Kelly Clark.

After a brief pause in the messages in which she contacted Steen, she sent the following message:

PAC:

Republican Party of Langlade County

Payable to

RPLC

PO Box 463

Antigo, WI 54409

In check memo 63

The "63" in the check's memo was a reference to the 63rd Assembly District and a signal to the Langlade County Republican Party that said check was to be earmarked for a donation to Steen.

"Adam told me that RPLC info is not public and is only for people that donated over $1,000," Clark said in a follow-up message. "I didn't look at yesterday's donations yet but up through the 13th everyone who donated more than $1,000 had been given that info."

Save America PAC gave the Langlade County GOP $9,000, while Trump ally Mike Lindell--the founder of MyPillow-- gave $4,000. Langlade County gave upwards of $25,000 to Steen's campaign even though it is nowhere near the 63rd Assembly District. Trump and Lindell were enraged by Vos' perceived refusal to crack down on voter fraud in Wisconsin following the 2020 presidential election.

Brand, the Langlade County Republican chairman, denied any wrongdoing.

"We’ve done nothing illegal. It’s all within the law that was changed about four or five years ago — by Robin Vos," he told the Antigo Journal in March. "It allows county parties to accept unlimited donations from individuals or, I think it’s $12,500, from a PAC. Then it allows county parties to support candidates unlimited."

While this is true, Wisconsin Statute § 11.1202(3) expressly provides that "no committee may transfer to another committee the earmarked contributions of others." Intentional violation of this statute is punishable by a maximum penalty of six months in jail and $1,000 in fines.

Members of the Steen campaign spoke openly in Telegram groups about intentionally receiving earmarked donations from Langlade County throughout his run. On August 28, 2022, a Steen supporter in the H.O.T. Wisconsin Telegram group asked the campaign's treasurer, Carol Vaclavicek, "what the max individual contribution would be for Adam?"

"$1,000 per individual in a calendar year," replied Steen campaign volunteer Adrianne Melby.

"That said, Adam has had a couple of sizable donors we've sent through the GOP of Langlais [sic] County who agreed to act as a conduit," answered Vaclavicek. "Political parties don't have individual donor limits, so if you happen to know of anyone in that category, that's the place to send them.

"Very necessary to compete financially with all of Vos' PACs," she added.

This remark would indicate that both the Steen campaign and Langlade County GOP were intentionally and unlawfully coordinating to launder money for Steen in direct violation of Wisconsin law and potentially subject members of both entities to criminal penalties.

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission has been conducting an investigation into the Steen campaign, which has also been the subject of a Racine County Sheriff's Department investigation.

Steen did not respond to "The Dan O'Donnell Show's" request for comment.