Mining interests prevail in Wisc. county election

Taconite deposit appears in red; mine site is circled

"In a sparsely populated northern Wisconsin county where residents are split over a proposed open-pit iron mine, five pro-mining candidates prevailed in Tuesday’s county board election after receiving last-minute help from a well-funded national conservative group," while four others lost, Steven Verburg reports for the Wisconsin State Journal.

All received "aggressive support from the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which was founded by billionaire businessmen David and Charles Koch," Verburg writes. "The Madison-based group sent a field organizer to Iron County after a strongly pro-mine candidate for the board was defeated in a three-way primary in February," and ran a direct-mail campaign.

Bob Seitz, a spokesman for Gogebic Taconite, which wants to open the mine, "said the most vocal anti-mine challengers lost. Seitz said the current board has been cooperative."

Opponents of the mine pointed out that "three other AFP-supported incumbents lost along with one challenger who had the group’s backing," Verburg reports. "AFP didn’t indicate a preference in the other contested race. Losses by incumbents are unusual in a county where the election clerk can’t remember the last time anyone even filed to challenge a board member in an election." (Read more)