Lisa Graves
| Lisa Graves | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Expertise: | Law | ||
| Education: | •University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (B.A.) •Cornell University Law School (J.D.) | ||
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Lisa Graves is a progressive political activist who is the former executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. Graves also served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice during the Clinton administration.[1][2][3][4][5]
Career
Graves previously served as the chief counsel for nominations on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee under Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and as deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice during the Clinton Administration.[1] Graves has also worked for the American Civil Liberties Union.[6][7] Graves joined the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive watchdog group, as executive director in 2009.[8][9]
Graves has made financial contributions to Democratic politicians including Mark Pocan, Russ Feingold, Patrick Leahy, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Bob Casey Jr. Additionally, she has supported EMILY's List, a political action committee designed to elect pro-choice Democratic women to office, and the Democratic National Committee.[10]
Views on Governor Scott Walker recall effort
Graves' organization was supportive of the 2012 recall effort against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
At the progressive Netroots Nation conference in 2012, Graves expressed her disappointment that President Barack Obama had not done more to support the recall effort against Walker.
Graves made the following statement:[11]
"The fact that Obama tweeted the day before the election his support of Barrett was an insult. Quite frankly, it took many people who were out there fighting to get the vote out. And quite frankly, we covered it through PR Watch.org, we covered extensively what was happening on the ground. And the apologist sort of approach that’s being taken by some, and the blaming labor when they knocked on doors to get people out, it’s sort of astonishing Monday-morning quarterbacking quite frankly."
John Doe investigations
Two John Doe investigations, beginning in 2010 and ending in 2015, were launched by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm (D) into the activities of staff and associates of Gov. Scott Walker (R).[12] Unrelated, a state committee was fined $58,000 by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) for violating campaign law, though the state never investigated any possible state violations. In November 2013, Lisa Graves, director of the Center for Media and Democracy, admitted that the same type of activity occurred on the left but had never been investigated. She stated that “they’re advancing not just an ideological agenda but an agenda that helps advance the bottom line of their corporate interests. That’s quite a distinct difference from some of the funders in the progressive universe.”[12][13]
See also
- Sara Jerving
- Center for Media and Democracy
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The New York Times, "Newest Spy Court Pick Is a Democrat but Not a Liberal," August 20, 2013
- ↑ Wisconsin Public Radio, "Liberal Research Group May Settle Open Records Case," December 4, 2013
- ↑ Tinley Park Patch, "Leftist Billionaires Club Meets This Weekend to Plot Next Political Move," May 3, 2014
- ↑ NPR, "Liberal Watchdog Group: 'Fix The Debt' Movement More Astroturf Than Grassroots," February 23, 2014
- ↑ Capital Times, "Progressive Watchdog Group Gets Two Big Anonymous Donations," December 7, 2013
- ↑ Watchdog.org, "Liberal ‘media’ group gets $520k dark money donation for war on right," December 4, 2014
- ↑ AZ Central, "Vilified right-wing ALEC has its left-wing counterpart," March 23, 2014
- ↑ The Daily Page, "Exposing Alec: The Center for Media and Democracy Goes After the Right-Wing Powerhouse," May 10, 2012
- ↑ The Atlantic, "Exposing ALEC: How Conservative-Backed State Laws Are All Connected," April 14, 2012
- ↑ Lakeland Times, "Targets of John Doe call probe payback for their political successes," February 2, 2014
- ↑ Legal Insurrection, "Argument at Netroots 2012 over Obama abandoning Walker Recall," June 10, 2012
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 United States District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin, "Case No. 14-C-139," accessed December 1, 2025 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "USDCED" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Wisconsin Reporter, "Disparate treatment: Civil rights lawsuit claims conservative speech trampled," February 11, 2014
