Daniel Bice

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Every year, desperate candidates and outside groups run political ads of questionable taste.

But it's going to be hard to find one worse this year — by a long shot — than a radio ad being run in a three-way Democratic primary for an open Assembly seat representing the Madison area.

A third-party group calling itself the Construction Trades Coalition is attacking candidate Jimmy Anderson for not signing the petition to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker back in late 2011. The winner of the primary is all but assured of representing the 47th Assembly District because no Republican is running.

"When it comes to Scott Walker, Jimmy Anderson likes to talk tough," says the 30-second ad running on Madison radio. "But to take on the governor, we need more than talk. When it came time to sign the recall petition, Jimmy Anderson didn't sign, refusing to give Walker his walking papers."

But as Anderson explains, he was paralyzed from his chest down as a result of a 2010 crash in California that killed his parents and brother and he was still unable to write — or even hold a pen — when the recall came around a year later. “Whenever people collecting signatures would approach me, I would tell them that of course I would love to sign it, but I just physically can’t," Anderson said in a statement.

The radio ad ends by saying: "He may claim to be strongest progressive in the race, but voters can't trust Jimmy Anderson to stand up to Scott Walker."

Stand up to Walker?

Anderson, 29, can't stand up, period. He campaigns by going door-to-door in his electronic wheelchair, which he has used since his accident.

So who exactly is behind this vicious attack?

It appears it is the Operating Engineers Local 139, a union that represents 9,000 heavy equipment operators in Wisconsin.

The listed contact for the Construction Trades Coalition is Michael Ervin, an organizer for the operating engineers. His union just gave $20,000 to the Construction Trades Coalition on July 21, the coalition's only recent donation.

That would be more than enough to cover the $10,000 ad buy for the radio spot.

The operating engineers also are endorsing one of Anderson's opponents, having given $1,000 to Fitchburg Ald. Julia Arata-Fratta on July 11.

Ervin stood by the ad in an email on Tuesday, saying that Anderson could have — and should have — had someone else sign the recall petition for him, as is permitted under state law.

"Anderson’s legal right to sign the Walker recall petition was not affected by his physical inability to sign," Ervin said.

What makes the attack even more outlandish is that the operating engineers have backed Walker in the past. The group endorsed the second-term Republican governor in 2010 and again in 2014.

There has been a falling out between Walker and the union since his successful re-election after the governor signed right-to-work legislation. Terry McGowan, who heads the operating engineers, has accused Walker of lying to him over the measure.

Still, McGowan's group was one of the few unions to back the Republican governor over the years. It does not appear that McGowan or Ervin signed the recall petition, according to online databases.

Anderson suggested the union was guilty of hypocrisy with its ad.

“I was shocked to find out that a group that endorsed Walker in 2010 and 2014 paid for an attack ad criticizing me for not signing my name at a time in 2011 when I had not yet regained the ability to hold a pen after the crash that killed my family and left me paralyzed," Anderson said via email.

But Ervin said there's nothing hypocritical about the group's commercial.

His coalition is made up of more groups than just the operating engineers, he noted. As for that union, he said there is "deep disappointment" with Walker for not keeping his word on prevailing wage, right to work and transportation funding.

"Anderson claims he is the right progressive for the 47th District," Ervin said. "His failure to sign the recall petition is a fact the voters need to know."

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @ DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.