An organization called Opportunity Wisconsin is running a seven-figure ad campaign to unseat Reps. Bryan Steil (R-WI) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) in November. While the group maintains that it is a “coalition of Wisconsin residents,” corporate records show that it is a trade name for the North Fund, a massive Democrat-aligned dark money group based in the nation’s capital.
A trade name is an alias adopted and used by an entity that differs from its legal name, but under which it can still conduct business. “Opportunity Wisconsin,” thus, is one of the aliases under which the North Fund can operate.
“It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that out-of-state, dark money groups are again trying to mislead Wisconsin families,” Steil told the Washington Examiner.
The North Fund was previously part of a network of nonprofit organizations linked to the now-defunct consulting firm Arabella Advisors. After Arabella Advisors folded, a public benefit corporation called Sunflower Services took over much of its operations, primarily providing “back office services,” according to a spokesperson.
Arabella’s nonprofit organizations had attracted criticism over the years for operating what some deemed as “front” groups, organizations that claimed to represent people from a given location or identity group when, in reality, they were just a new name slapped on an established dark money group.
Opportunity Wisconsin’s continued affiliation with the North Fund and its continued spending in Wisconsin signal that the organizations that had previously been under the Arabella banner are not shuttering their local front operations.
Through its complex organizational structure, Opportunity Wisconsin can hide from the public to whom it provides funding and who it pays for services.
Opportunity Wisconsin, for example, does not file its own tax returns, meaning that its disbursements and general finances are not publicly disclosed. Further, operating under the North Fund makes it impossible to track who is funding the group and its expensive ad buys. The DC-based North Fund, with its tens of millions in assets from undisclosed donors, could very well be footing the bill.
Five individuals affiliated with the organization have public LinkedIn profiles indicating that they are located in Wisconsin.
Part of Opportunity Wisconsin’s recent ad campaign has attracted some local criticism.
The group recruited Kenosha Fire Department Lieutenant Joseph “Joey” Sielski to vent his frustrations at Steil for allegedly raising grocery prices through his support for tariffs. In the ad featuring Sielski, he claims he struggles to afford groceries.
Kevin Mathewson, writing for a local Kenosha publication, pointed out that Sielski had posted images on his personal Facebook page showing that he had installed a custom basketball, pickleball, and field hockey court in his backyard. Mathewson pointed out that Sielski probably earns a comfortable salary owing to his position in the local fire department and that his wife, a nurse, is likely a high earner as well. Also present on Sielski’s social media pages are posts about his family’s vacations and his children’s travel hockey, neither of which comes cheap.
All of this, in Mathewson’s view, calls into question whether Sielski is suffering from a funding shortage caused by trade policy changes.
The most recent ad, targeting Steil, hones in on his support for changes to state medical care access, accusing him of fighting to cut Medicaid to fund tax breaks.
“In Wisconsin, work requirements for able-bodied, childless adults of working age help protect programs for those they were designed for, pregnant women, children, and disabled Americans,” Steil told the Washington Examiner. “Eligible children in Wisconsin will continue to receive full access to the health coverage they need. These shadowy groups are spreading misinformation because they believe able-bodied, childless adults should be able to collect taxpayer-funded benefits without working — something 80% of Wisconsin families oppose.”
THE FALL AND RISE OF THE LEFT’S PREMIER DARK MONEY NETWORK
Oddly, Opportunity Wisconsin has not been filing independent expenditure reports with the Federal Election Commission, further obscuring the scope of its activities and who it’s paying to commission the ads.
“Individuals, groups, corporations, and labor organizations that make independent expenditures must disclose them quarterly on Form 5 and also as required on 24-hour and 48-hour reports,” according to the FEC.
Opportunity Wisconsin and the North Fund did not respond to requests for comment.