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Within the Fb publish, the feminine editor of a Northwoods newspaper stands over the paper’s writer. She is sporting the latex and rubber gear of a dominatrix and holding a using crop. The writer is telling her “whip me more durable.”
The picture is a Photoshop creation, with cartoon-style speech bubbles, and the publish explicitly states that it’s a parody. Nonetheless, it had a heavy impression on the editor, Heather Holmes of Minocqua’s Lakeland Instances. She informed police she “gasped” when she noticed the publish. She felt degraded by the picture and afraid it will make her a goal of assaults on-line and even in particular person. She had been sleeping with a knife close to her mattress, based on courtroom paperwork.
The picture was posted in August by Kirk Bangstad, proprietor of Minocqua Brewing Firm and the affiliated Minocqua Brewing Firm Tremendous PAC, which advocates for liberal causes.
Two months later, Bangstad can be arrested and charged with felony defamation in Oneida County. He’s combating the fees and says he believes Wisconsin’s felony defamation statute is unconstitutional. He has petitioned to have a brand new decide assigned to the case and is asking that the case be dismissed. The subsequent listening to is in early April.
Bangstad’s enterprise and his political activism are entwined, and high-profile authorized disputes have drawn media consideration throughout Wisconsin and nationally. Inside days of his arrest, he wrote that he had raised $20,000 in donations to the tremendous PAC.
To some Wisconsin liberals, Bangstad is a minor movie star, promoting irreverent T-shirts, brewing beers themed round Democratic politicians and posting provocative, generally inflammatory essays on-line. He’s stated his newsletters exit to an inventory of some 100,000 individuals.
He considers himself a “fighter,” he stated in an interview. He paints himself as a crusader in opposition to “Republicans who I really feel are feeding us misinformation and Democrats for not being robust sufficient.” He sees his adversaries as enemies of democracy and free speech. To critics, he’s an internet troll centered extra on private vendettas and self-aggrandizing publicity stunts than on altering public opinion in Northwoods Wisconsin.
Those that have labored with him say he could be impulsive and needlessly confrontational. A sequence of lawsuits filed by the tremendous PAC aiming to alter coverage in Wisconsin have all failed. And a detailed take a look at the group’s spending raises questions on how he’s utilizing his donors’ cash.
This story is the product of greater than a dozen interviews, together with with individuals who’ve labored with Bangstad or interacted with him in Democratic Celebration circles within the Northwoods, in addition to authorized consultants and officers. Some spoke on background as a result of talking on the file might jeopardize their present jobs. A couple of stated they feared Bangstad’s means to harass them on-line.
Bangstad spoke with WPR for greater than an hour about his authorized instances and political opinions, together with monetary and strategic choices round his tremendous PAC. However when WPR requested him for particulars on sure funds made by the PAC, he abruptly ended the interview.
Bangstad’s false claims on-line led to huge defamation judgment
Bangstad stated the manipulated picture of Holmes and Lakeland Instances editor Gregg Walker was “clearly not in the perfect style.” It was a response, he stated, to a Lakeland Instances editorial attacking a Minocqua-area instructor for instructing a e book that features a same-sex couple.
Bangstad has spent years feuding with Walker, whose newspaper’s editorial web page as soon as referred to as Bangstad a “jackbooted liberal.” To mock Walker, Bangstad put Walker’s face on one among his firm’s beers, referred to as Snowflake Ale.
The August Fb publish got here lower than a 12 months after Bangstad was discovered liable in a defamation lawsuit by Walker. Bangstad was fined $750,000 in that case, reportedly the largest defamation high quality in state historical past. In October he settled the case for $580,000, largely paid by his insurance coverage firm.
Walker informed police he believed the picture was partially retaliation in opposition to Holmes for testifying within the civil defamation trial. Holmes and Walker every declined to remark.
The Lakeland Instances initially sued Bangstad in 2021 after Bangstad referred to as Walker a “criminal” and a “misogynist.” One authorized professional stated Bangstad’s odds of profitable that case had been excessive. The statements had been confrontational but in addition more likely to be labeled by a decide as issues of opinion protected by the First Modification.
However Bangstad didn’t cease posting about Walker. In August 2021, after Walker had filed go well with, Bangstad wrote on Fb that Walker “allegedly stood by and did nothing whereas his brother unintentionally fell from a tree stand and died” as a result of he “allegedly knew he would inherit the once-legitimate Lakeland Instances if his brother was out of the image,” based on courtroom paperwork.
This wholly false declare can be added to the lawsuit and would outcome within the largest share of damages awarded to Walker within the case. Walker was a toddler on the time of his brother’s loss of life, and he was not current when the accident occurred.
Bangstad stated he had heard from a Minocqua resident that there was one thing “fishy” in regards to the loss of life.
“I feel I made a little bit of a leap,” Bangstad stated, although he maintains he believed the content material of the publish on the time. “(However) I by no means stated it is a assertion of reality. I stated, it is a story I heard. … I believed ‘alleged’ was a get-out-of-jail-free card on the time.”
On the trial, Bangstad taunted Walker within the courtroom, the Lakeland Instances reported. He was ultimately discovered to be in contempt, fined and threatened with jail time when his disruptive habits continued.
Bangstad calls the case a travesty of justice, and authorized consultants interviewed for this story did have criticisms of choices made by Choose Leon Stenz.
However the jury’s determination in favor of Walker was unanimous. Bangstad, who has maintained that it’s unattainable for him to get a good trial in a largely Republican county, stated he sought to enchantment however his insurance coverage firm had argued that his conduct was not lined beneath his coverage and they need to not should pay. In a negotiated settlement, he paid $50,000 of the full damages.
“I can both go bankrupt for 50 (thousand) or I can accept 50 (thousand),” Bangstad stated in characterizing the selection he confronted. “However that’s the one cause I made that call, as a result of to at the present time, I want the Supreme Courtroom would have taken (my enchantment) as a result of we have to repair these legal guidelines.”
Felony defamation prices just like the one Bangstad now faces are comparatively uncommon, although authorized scholar David Pritchard of Marquette College has tracked 337 of such instances in Wisconsin filed over 16 years.
In a 2009 paper, Pritchard discovered that felony defamation was “largely a small-town crime, at the least in Wisconsin. There have been no felony libel instances within the state’s most populous county within the 17 years beneath examine.”
Bangstad stated that’s proof the legislation ought to be abolished. The American Civil Liberties Union additionally takes the place that the statute is unconstitutional.
However Pritchard, who labored as an professional witness on Bangstad’s facet within the civil defamation trial, stated that isn’t his view. For instance, he stated, a civil lawsuit shouldn’t be an efficient instrument in opposition to somebody who doesn’t manage to pay for to be involved about damages.
“Regardless of what some could declare or want, the First Modification shouldn’t be absolute,” Pritchard stated. “Neither felony nor civil libel is protected by the First Modification.”
Walker and Holmes have filed a brand new civil lawsuit in Oneida County, naming Bangstad, Minocqua Brewing Firm and the Minocqua Brewing Firm Tremendous PAC as defendants.
Earlier than defamation prices, Bangstad fought yearslong zoning battles
The felony defamation prices Bangstad faces now should not his solely authorized troubles in Oneida County. For years, he has been embroiled in a sequence of zoning disputes with the city of Minocqua over his enterprise.
In 2020, Bangstad put a big banner supporting Democratic candidate Joe Biden for president on the facet of Minocqua Brewing Firm’s constructing. Authorities within the city stated the banner’s measurement violated an area ordinance.
Bangstad, then a Democratic candidate for state Meeting, refused to take the banner down. He appealed to his followers on-line to assist pay for authorized charges and fines. He informed the Wausau Day by day Herald that the hassle raised “means, far more” than he anticipated.
The controversy established a sample Bangstad would return to repeatedly: interesting to on-line supporters to assist him fund efforts to struggle native officers.
“Thank God I’ve 90,000 Fb followers and a really giant electronic mail record that I can ask them to assist offset a few of my prices occasionally,” Bangstad stated within the interview with WPR. “I might have gone bankrupt aside from that.”
On the eve of the 2020 election, each The Washington Submit and The New York Instances profiled the Meeting race for the stark contrasts between the 2 candidates, significantly on COVID-19 restrictions. Bangstad informed the Instances reporter that folks within the area supported Donald Trump as a result of they “haven’t been geared up with the instruments of media literacy or crucial pondering abilities.”
Bangstad misplaced his Meeting race in opposition to incumbent Republican Rep. Rob Swearingen. Later, he wrote that “shedding that race was a foregone conclusion.”
In January 2021, he launched the Minocqua Brewing Firm Tremendous PAC.
“The Minocqua Brewing Firm will commit 5 % of its earnings to donate to this tremendous PAC,” Bangstad wrote within the announcement, “however like-minded residents can even donate straight with out shopping for a factor from us.”
Bangstad opened a retail retailer on Entrance Avenue in Minocqua, doing brisk enterprise promoting liberal-themed beers and political T-shirts to vacationers. Some individuals who loved the tremendous PAC’s billboards attacking Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson even made pilgrimages there, a former worker stated.
Bangstad’s conflicts with city and county officers continued. He objected to zoning necessities that will have required him to pave the small parking zone and supply curb cut-outs accessible to wheelchairs. In 2023, the county briefly revoked the enterprise’s working allow. He sued the city of Minocqua in federal courtroom, alleging that his First Modification rights had been violated. That case was dismissed by a federal decide in June 2024.
“The whole lot is unfair, unfair, and it’s all about freedom of speech and his constitutional rights,” stated Scott Holewinski, chair of the Oneida County zoning committee. “Principally, he figures if he throws that on the market, that exempts him from following some other guidelines.”
Holewinski categorically denies focusing on Bangstad because of his politics.
“He blames us that we’re all in opposition to him due to his political opinions, and that’s completely mistaken,” Holewinski stated. “None of us has ever stated, ‘Nicely, we will’t do this as a result of he’s a Democrat.’ We don’t do this.”
Within the interview, Bangstad defended his fashion of rhetoric and his strategy to conflicts.
“The issues that matter to me most in life are seeing justice executed and bringing order to chaos,” Bangstad stated. “And possibly I’m only a cussed previous Norwegian who simply gained’t let issues go as a result of it pisses me off after I really feel I’ve been handled wrongly or unfairly.”
Bangstad stated the conflicts with officers had been a giant a part of the rationale he moved to Madison a number of years in the past. Final 12 months, he opened the Minocqua Brewing Firm Faucet Room on town’s east facet.
And he denied cultivating battle for publicity.
“It could look from afar that, as a result of I’m one of many few progressives that makes the information in northern Wisconsin regularly, that I’m doing this to get my title on the market,” Bangstad stated. “I might disagree. I’ve been put via a lot stress and a lot monetary ache. Why would I hold doing it?”
Minocqua Brewing Firm Tremendous PAC’s funds present unexplained bills
The Minocqua Brewing Firm Tremendous PAC has sponsored a sequence of billboards in several components of the state. It was behind a 2021 federal lawsuit that sought to compel masking in Wisconsin colleges as a COVID safety measure; a 2023 lawsuit that aimed to finish non-public voucher colleges; and a January 2024 lawsuit aiming to block Trump from showing on the poll in Wisconsin.
All of those lawsuits failed. Bangstad himself petitioned the courtroom to dismiss the masking lawsuit in early 2023; he stated the justice system moved too slowly to implement wise COVID restrictions in colleges. In a unanimous determination, the Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom refused to contemplate the voucher colleges lawsuit. Bangstad blamed Milwaukee Democrats, who he stated needed to torpedo the hassle. A Dane County decide dismissed the poll problem after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom dominated in opposition to an analogous lawsuit in Colorado.
Bangstad stated the work of making ready and submitting the policy-oriented lawsuits accounted for the “overwhelming majority of what we spent with the tremendous PAC as a result of getting good attorneys to do that work could be very costly.” In truth, about one-third of the PAC’s funds in 2023 and 2024 went to authorized companies, based on Federal Election Fee disclosure kinds.
In accordance with the marketing campaign finance disclosure kinds submitted by Bangstad, the tremendous PAC took in about $1 million within the two-year interval. It spent roughly that a lot as effectively. The billboard spending incessantly touted by Bangstad accounted for simply $35,147, lower than 4 % of the PAC’s disbursements. It paid about $80,000 to Fb for digital promoting.
In accordance with Meta’s advert library, which catalogs Fb advertisements, most of those had been promoted posts that includes Bangstad’s newsletters, and some had been promotions of brewing firm merchandise. The PAC additionally promoted two posts promoting free music nights throughout Wisconsin sponsored by Minocqua Brewing Firm at the side of teams together with Deliberate Parenthood and Citizen Motion, branded as get-out-the-vote occasions for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The PAC didn’t make unbiased expenditures on behalf of any candidate.
And one other one-third of the PAC’s disbursements within the two-year interval — $333,890 in all — went to Effervescent Blue and NCPS, two organizations that haven’t any on-line footprint and for which data was not obtainable.
Effervescent Blue obtained $167,404 from the Minocqua Brewing Firm Tremendous PAC, all labeled within the classes of promoting or digital promoting. Effervescent Blue doesn’t have an internet site, and the tackle listed on FEC disclosure kinds is a jewellery retailer in Madison. When two digits of the listed tackle are transposed, it’s the tackle of a UPS Retailer, which provides publish workplace packing containers.
Equally, NCPS obtained $166,486 from the PAC throughout the identical time interval. Among the funds to NCPS are labeled as going to billboards, digital promoting or Fb advertisements. Greater than $117,000 paid to the group is assessed as going to “strategic consulting companies.” Its tackle is a UPS Retailer in Milwaukee.
Neither group is registered in Wisconsin, and based on the FEC’s marketing campaign finance database the Minocqua Brewing Firm Tremendous PAC is the one political group to have paid both group within the two-year window.
“That query is out of bounds,” Bangstad stated within the interview when a reporter requested him for data on Effervescent Blue and NCPS. “My political dealings and my tremendous PAC have put an enormous goal on my again by the Republican Celebration. I’ll by no means give any details about how I’m making an attempt to maintain Wisconsin blue as a result of it is a vicious political atmosphere on the market in Wisconsin. So the truth that you requested that query suggests that you’re a part of the Republican Celebration that’s making an attempt to harm my tremendous PAC and making an attempt to harm my political activism.”
Bangstad stated the query had “crossed a line” and threatened to finish the interview if WPR persevered with questions in regards to the funds. He briefly claimed to be talking off the file, then declined to reply any additional questions.
As WPR left, he stood behind the bar within the empty taproom.
“You’re doing a disservice to your nation and a disservice to the fourth property,” he stated. “That’s on the file.”
Marketing campaign finance consultants stated there are few checks on tremendous PAC funds.
“It’s exhausting for the Federal Election Fee to catch every little thing,” stated Brendan Glavin, deputy analysis director for the nonprofit Open Secrets and techniques, which tracks political spending. “They’re not going to flag one thing that’s being reported on time and all of the donor data is being correctly reported they usually’re exhibiting the expenditures.”
An legal professional who focuses on marketing campaign finance legislation stated the Effervescent Blue and NCPS funds did appear uncommon, however it’s conceivable they had been made to political consultants who needed to masks their involvement with Bangstad’s tremendous PAC.
Basically, consultants stated, there may be little enforcement of federal laws round tremendous PAC spending. One professional steered that the one recourse is that if donors understand that the PAC shouldn’t be spending their cash successfully, they might cease donating.
As his felony defamation case proceeds, Bangstad continues to wage battles in opposition to Oneida County officers. In October, he defied a decide’s order forbidding him to publish in regards to the felony defamation prices. Quickly after he made that publish, police say one among Bangstad’s on-line followers despatched a threatening electronic mail to the decide assigned to the case.
In December, the Lakeland Instances reported that Bangstad filed a declare asking Oneida County to pay him $10.7 million in damages; the declare is a precursor to a possible lawsuit. And the Oneida County Board of Adjustment was set to listen to his enchantment of a brand new revocation of his conditional use allow.
This story was initially printed by WPR.
