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State Rep. Joel Kleefisch announced Tuesday that he is killing his controversial bill that would have capped how much wealthy Wisconsin residents would pay in child support.

No Quarter documented earlier this week that Kleefisch's office consulted regularly with Wisconsin businessman Michael Eisenga and his lawyer when putting together the measure. Eisenga is a major Republican donor who has been ordered to pay $18,000 a month in support for his three children.

“After careful deliberation and consulting with my colleagues, I have decided to pull back AB 540," wrote Kleefisch, an Oconomowoc Republican.

In his release, Kleefisch said he will continue to work to improve child support laws in Wisconsin. He told the Journal Sentinel earlier this week that he has been focused on this issue for at least six years.

"While I am frustrated by the amount of misinformation the bill has encountered," Kleefisch said Tuesday, "I believe a fair and equitable child support system, one that fundamentally recognizes the value of both parents in the upbringing of a child, is an important issue and one that warrants serious conversation."

News that the legislation had been withdrawn was applauded by lawyers for Eisenga's ex-wife, Clare.

"It should never have been submitted in the first place," said Richard Podell, a Milwaukee divorce attorney.

State Rep. Sandy Pasch credited the news media for shedding light on the proposal. She noted that some Republicans continued to argue for the legislation even after Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin State Journal made public Eisenga's role.

“Rather than apologizing for the crooked appearance of allowing a wealthy campaign donor to help craft extremely self-serving legislation, the author instead blamed misinformation," said Pasch, a Shorewood Democrat.

The liberal group One Wisconsin Now sent a letter to Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel asking him to investigate the drafting of the special-interest bill, saying "this affair reeks of impropriety."

The bill had been scheduled for a committee hearing on Wednesday. It has now been removed from the agenda.

At a media conference Tuesday on other legislation, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said that he hadn't asked Kleefisch to pull the bill but agreed with the decision, calling the questions over the bill's origin a "distraction" from other business.

Without taking a side, Vos did show openness to looking at the issue of child support payments in the future. He said that child support should go toward caring for the child and not providing for the other parent.

"If there are abuses in that law, we should change it," said the Rochester Republican.

In drafting documents, Eisenga -- president of American Lending Solutions -- and his attorney, William A. Smiley, can be seen offering line-by-line instructions in emails, notes and letters to Kleefisch's staff on the bill during the past two years.

Under current law, judges determine child-support payments based on a percentage of annual income and, in some cases, assets. Kleefisch's bill would have capped the amount of income subject to child support to $150,000 a year — and assets could not be used in the calculation.

Contained within the bill was a financial trigger that could have allowed Eisenga to reopen his case.

Records show Eisenga, president of American Lending Solutions in Columbus, has donated $3,500 to Kleefisch over the years and $7,500 to his wife, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, in 2010. He has chipped in another $15,000 to Gov. Scott Walker.

Eisenga has not discussed his role in putting together the bill. Smiley was tight-lipped about the bill.

"I'm not going to comment on that at all," the Portage attorney said over the weekend.

Kleefisch had argued that the measure was needed to prevent individuals from being ordered to pay excessive child support payments. He said he didn't write the bill solely for Eisenga.

Michael and Clare Eisenga filed for divorce in 2010 after six years of marriage. An arbitrator determined that the father should pay $18,000 a month in child support at the time of the divorce and that the amount could never fall below $15,000 montly. He did not have to pay alimony under a prenuptial agreements.

Court records indicate Eisenga had assets of about $30 million and earned nearly $1.2 million in 2010.

He initially did not challenge the decision, which was included in the divorce decree. But he headed back to court 10 months later in an attempt to lower his child support. He was rebuffed first by a circuit court judge and then a three-judge panel in October.

Kleefisch introduced his bill two months later.

Eisenga, the former mayor of Columbus, has garned media attention in the past for issues related to his divorce and his multiple businesses.

In 2011, a Madison television station reported that he had enrolled his three young boys -- the eldest of whom is 8 -- in BadgerCare after the courts ordered him to provide them with health insurance. BadgerCare is the state's plan for low-income individuals.

In addition, one of Eisenga's firms, First American Funding, had to pay the state $144,000 after being accused of contacting more than a million consumers on the state's do-not-call list.

Eisenga also disclosed that former Walker aide Kelly Rindfleisch worked as an administrative assistant for his telemarketing firm from October 2011 to January 2012, when she resigned days before being criminally charged.

Rindfleisch pleaded guilty to one felony count of misconduct in office and was sentenced to six months behind bars. She is now appealing that conviction.

By 2012, Eisenga had also run up a state tax debt of $224,000 for Kestrel Ridge Golf Club, a Columbus course that he owns. He told WKOW-TV (Channel 27) in Madison that the debt was a result of a sales tax "miscalculation." The course no longer owes that sum, according to online state records.

In an interview, Podell acknowledged that the amount Eisenga pays in child support is substantial. But Podell noted that all three children have special needs and receive such help as occupational, speech and vision therapy.

Besides, the divorce lawyer said the Columbus businessman has the ability to make the support payments. Court records, Podell said, indicate Eisenga has two Rolls-Royces, full-time bodyguards, a full-time nanny and blueprints for a new home. He also vacations annually in the Cayman Islands.

"His lifestyle has not changed," Podell said.

Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report from Madison.