In recent days, voters in Wisconsin have received mailers calling David Crowley, the Democratic nominee for governor, “A COP’S BEST FRIEND.” The mailer, sent from the “Progressive Alliance of Wisconsin,” attacks Crowley, saying he “Backs the blue, NOT US.” It blames Crowley for various incidents of police violence, mistreatment of prisoners, and increased spending on public safety.
The flier does not mention Crowley’s Republican opponent, Congressman Tom Tiffany, but urges Wisconsinites to “VOTE NO NOVEMBER 3RD.” The mailer was obtained through Popular Information’s new app, PaidForBy.info:
The latest polls showed Crowley clinging to a small lead over Tiffany. Crowley, a political moderate, beat democratic socialist Francesca Hong in the primary by just 2,700 votes. So if even a small number of Hong’s most progressive supporters vote against Crowley — as the mailer encourages them to do — or decide to stay home, it could plausibly swing the race to Tiffany.
While the Progressive Alliance of Wisconsin purports to be politically left-leaning, its organizers have gone to considerable lengths to conceal who is behind the organization. It was only registered a few days ago, on October 19. Although it claims to be a Wisconsin organization, it is registered to a Chicago address. Since it has filed so recently, the Progressive Alliance of Wisconsin will not have to disclose its donors until 2027.
A Popular Information analysis of Progressive Alliance of Wisconsin’s initial expenditures, however, reveals that it is linked to Republican operatives.
Progressive Alliance of Wisconsin has reported $298,836 in expenditures, all for political mailers opposing Crowley. All of the money has gone to The Classen Group. The Classen Group has been active in Oklahoma, where it has been paid $470,000 for political services between 2022 and 2026. All of its political clients have been Republicans, including $236,449 from Majority Fund, an Oklahoma super PAC supporting state House Republicans.
Jake Parsons is the chair and treasurer of Majority Fund. On a 2022 FEC donation to a Republican candidate, Parsons also lists himself as a partner at The Classen Group. In Oklahoma campaign finance filings, Majority Fund and The Classen Group list the same address. Parsons has also been listed as a partner of G.R. Pro, another political consulting firm that is located on Classen Boulevard in Oklahoma City.
James Trammell is listed as the treasurer of Progressive Alliance of Wisconsin. James Bruce Trammell is also a GOP operative who was paid as a consultant for Charles McCall’s unsuccessful campaign for governor this cycle. Parsons was the manager for McCall’s 2018 Oklahoma House campaign and incorporated McCall’s 2026 gubernatorial campaign.
Parsons did not respond to requests for comment over phone, email, and text.
In addition to its connection to Republican operatives, the anti-Crowley mailer is highly deceptive. It quotes Crowley saying, “We cannot defund the police” during a July 2026 debate. But Crowley continued, “We should be investing in public safety, and that doesn’t mean more money to police officers. That’s like investing in systems like community violence interruption.” Hong, Crowley’s progressive opponent, said roughly the same thing, “The governor cannot defund police, and I’m not here to govern by slogan. I’m here to make sure that I am the governor that is most serious about public safety, and that means investing in the things that we know prevent crime.”
The connection to another sketchy operation in Minnesota
The mailers targeting Crowley in Wisconsin are very similar — in substance and style — to mailers attacking Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic nominee for governor in Minnesota. In Minnesota, a group called Citizens for Public Safety Transparency, LLC is sending mailers attacking Klobuchar from the left, citing police accountability and single-payer health care.
Citizens for Public Safety Transparency, LLC has not registered as a political committee with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, so there is no information about whether it is paying The Classen Group or someone else to produce the mailers. The entity has only registered as an LLC in Delaware.
Minnesota Democrats “filed a complaint on Thursday with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board against Citizens for Public Safety Transparency,” the Star Tribune reports. The address printed on the mailers “leads to an office and storage property in Walker, about three and a half hours north of the Twin Cities.” The owner of that property told the Star Tribune that Citizens for Public Safety Transparency, LLC “has no lease or office there.”
Cheat. LIE. Steal. That has been the GOP MO since Nixon, really, spanning our entire lifetime.
Deceptive quoting notwithstanding, what's irritating about these mailers is that they're employing genuine concerns progressives might have about police brutality and the criminal justice system but in a cynical way. The Democratic Party is certainly not above criticism, but urging Wisconsinites and Minnesotans not to vote pragmatically in such an underhanded way goes beyond the pale.