Glenn Grothman draws fire for outspending fellow House members from state on mail-related costs

As Republican Glenn Grothman seeks a third term in the U.S. House, records show he spent nearly as much on government mail and printing expenses as he has on his re-election campaign since the start of 2017.

Grothman leads all members of the House congressional delegation from Wisconsin on such expenses, federal records show.

The tab for mail, printing and reproduction costs is a sign, he says, that he is staying in touch with constituents, preferring mail over less-costly email because voters in his district like it that way.

But his Democratic opponent, Dan Kohl, is making an issue of the franking expenses and suggests that Grothman’s spending on mail is a way to supplement his campaign fund, which trails Kohl’s.

Grothman spent $268,939 on mail-related expenses from Jan. 1, 2017, to March 30, 2018, compared to the average for Wisconsin House members of $87,442, records show.

In the same period, Grothman’s campaign organization spent $283,590, according to the Federal Election Commission.

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Kohl’s campaign manager says the mail-related costs are a sign the incumbent is struggling with fundraising.

“Representative Grothman should be spending more time on building a campaign that could win and should be spending less time having his office staff fill in for his missing campaign,” said Rick Coelho of the Kohl campaign.

Said Grothman: “For Dan Kohl to attack me for not spending more time raising money is preposterous. I think that politicians spend too much time raising money, quite frankly.”

He also said the Kohl campaign is “cherry-picking” expenses. Other measures such as rent, communications and utilities, and staff salaries, rank on the bottom end compared to the state’s seven other House members.

Grothman had the lowest staff expenses and ranked next to the bottom in rent and related expenses between 2015 and 2017, according to LegiStorm, which tracks congressional activities.

In that same period, Grothman ranked third highest in overall congressional expenses, in large part because of franking costs. Grothman spent $610,130 on mail-related expenses. The average among all House members from the state was $185,785.

U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan, a Dane County Democrat, and Gwen Moore, a Democrat from Milwaukee, had the highest overall budgets.

Grothman said the demographics of his district can’t be overlooked — it skews older, with more than 126,000 residents age 65 or older, census figures show. That’s the second highest after Republican Rep. Sean Duffy’s northern Wisconsin district.

“We do email like everyone else, but when you have (many) seniors in your district, there are still a lot of people who want mail,” he said.

Federal election figures also show Grothman has used $4,250 to pay his chief of staff, Rachel VerVelde, for campaign and fundraising consulting.

Coelho acknowledged the practice is not uncommon. But he said, “Absent the presence of any other campaign staff,” it raises questions about the congressman’s political organization.

Grothman, who lives in Glenbeulah in Sheboygan County, said his chief of staff has worked on the campaign because she knows the district. He said he recently hired three people to run his election organization.

Nonpartisan race watchers such as the Cook Political Report consider the race as “likely Republican,” owing in part to the makeup of east central Wisconsin and the 6th Congressional District, which has been reliably Republican for decades.

But Democrats are optimistic about picking up seats in the midterms, and in Wisconsin they see the 1st District seat being vacated by House Speaker Paul Ryan and the 6th District as the most competitive.

“The difference this year,” Coelho said, “is we have in Glenn Grothman, a historically weak incumbent, and in Dan Kohl we have an exceptional strong challenger, and this race is happening in a year in which voters are clearly ready for a change.”

A third candidate, Scott Olmer, a Republican and marketing consultant from Plymouth, is challenging Grothman in the primary.

Grothman said he thinks his conservative record and voter attitudes on the economy will be deciding factors in November.

“Obviously, when you are running against a guy who just sold his house for $5 million and has close ties to George Soros and was a bundler for Hillary Clinton, I expect to be outspent,” said Grothman, who spent 21 years in the Wisconsin Legislature before his election to Congress in 2014.

Kohl, a resident of Mequon, is the nephew of former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl. He worked nearly four years for J Street, a liberal pro-Israel advocacy group, where he was vice president of political affairs. He also was a senior adviser at BakerHostetler, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm.

Billionaire Soros has been a financial supporter of J Street. Coelho confirmed a report on BlockShopper showing Kohl and his wife, Stacey, sold a home in Bethesda, Md., in October 2017 for $5 million.

RELATED: Wisconsin's Glenn Grothman: In 'toughest race of my political career,' has trouble raising money

Grothman said in an October radio interview he was facing the toughest race of his political career and although he said he expected to win, fundraising was not going as well as he would have liked.

Kohl has outspent Grothman $377,432 to $283,590 from the start of January 2017 to end of March, federal elections records show.

Records also show Kohl has raised $1.2 million, compared to $981,190 for Grothman.

Nearly all of the money Kohl has raised has come from individual contributions, compared to $482,337 for Grothman.

But Grothman has taken in much more from political committees — $403,000 to $38,500 for Kohl.