Posted on 09/09/2025 6:18:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Former employees at Minocqua Brewing Company's Madison tap room question how the brewery's political Super PAC, Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC, uses donations, saying employees were paid from the PAC despite doing no work for it.
Brewery owner Kirk Bangstad, has raised more than $2 million since the PACs creation to support liberal political causes. The $2 million raised by the Minocqua Brewing Super PAC represents a small fraction of Super PAC spending in Wisconsin, where such organizations spent $49 million on the state's most recent Supreme Court race alone. However, former employees say some of those funds went toward paying regular brewery staff rather than political activities.
"I was hired as a manager to basically take care of the bar, take care of his tap room in Madison," said a former employee who requested anonymity. "At first, I was paid by a regular direct deposit, and then he said he's going to pay me from the Super PAC and from the business. And I started to do some research. I spoke with a couple attorneys and an accountant, and they said, that's kind of shady, not a good idea."
The former employee provided documentation showing he received checks from the Minocqua Brewing Super PAC with "organizing" written in the memo line, despite saying he never performed organizing work or any duties for the Super PAC. Two other former employees confirmed the employee's account.
Bangstad doesn't dispute some employees are paid through the Super PAC. He said the current bar manager also receives PAC funds. While sending emails and text messages to discredit the employees who talked to Channel 3, Bangstad sent text messages describing how bar managers are paid $5 an hour from the brewery and $15 an hour from the Super PAC. Bangstad said the employees are paid to be organizers too.
"Yeah, he was working for the Minocqua Brewing Company, and he punched in hourly to our square kind of punch in, punch out. And he was working for the Minocqua Brewing Company, super PAC. He was being paid through two separate accounts," Bangstad said.
He said he needed to pay employees from both places to have a proper sales ratio at the brewery because they are also doing political organizing. The organizing for the Super PAC was taking any donation that comes through the door.
"So I'm telling you the background here is the best way to understand if your bar or restaurant is healthy is you look at a labor to sales ratio," Bangstad said. "So bars need to keep their labor costs at about 20% of what their total revenues are. Beer is 20%, it'd be 25% for restaurants, 20% for bars, and that's a healthy what you're paying for labor versus what your revenues are. If I'm hiring (someone) to be a political organizer during the day where most people aren't drinking beer, that's going to drive my my labor to revenue costs sky high. So there's a reason, there's a business reason that I'm paying him to through two different accounts. One is because the work he's doing is political organizing and B, if I combined it all with the Minocqua Brewing Company, then I couldn't manage my business correctly, because I can't understand how successful we are at actually selling beer."
Much more of the story at link.
Our other major brewery, New Glarus Brwewery, is as far-left leaning as this guy. Investigate HER, too!
How does a brewery PAC raise $2,000,000.00 dollars?
Let me guess. Money laundered by an NGO that got funding from USAID or some other slush fund.
Does DC still own it?
And:
When an explanation takes that long it’s bogus.
How does a brewery PAC raise $2,000,000.00 dollars?
Let me guess. Money laundered by an NGO that got funding from USAID or some other slush fund.
“Our other major brewery, New Glarus Brewery, is as far-left leaning as this guy.”
I like Capital Brewery in Madison - especially their Supper Club brand. Having been born in Wisconsin and with family in the Wausau-Marshfield area, I am acquainted with supper clubs.
But what little I know about the owner of Capital Brewery, he sounds like a liberal too.
$49 million on the state’s most recent Supreme Court race alone. “
Well as you know it worked and that one hurt.
Diana....Isn’t his brewery located just downstream from a paper pulp mill? Or do I have the wrong brewery?
“Well as you know it worked and that one hurt.”
It did, but Brad Schimmel was a lousy candidate for WI SC Judge. He was the ONLY ONE ‘our betters’ could tap for us? I find that hard to believe.
I pulled the lever, but held my nose.
Minaqua does have paper mills. 24 are still active in Wisconsin along the Fox River route.
“How does a brewery PAC raise $2,000,000.00 dollars?”
In a town of 5,000 people - all blue collar workers.
Interesting...
Supper Club IS good. Not as into the Craft Bears as I was in my 20’s.
When we were young and broke we had to make a CASE of bottled Leinenkugel’s (Or Huber or Point whichever was on sale) last for the whole month! If we broke a bottle, it HURT - couldn’t get our $2 deposit back, LOL!
I grew up in Milwaukee. If my family hadn’t of escaped, I’d probably have grown up to BE either Laverne or Shirley! ;)
All of my Uncles were either cops, firefighters or worked for Miller or Pabst. Dad and both Grandpas were Machinists for Allis Chalmers. Good Times in the 1960’s.
In 1970 Dad got his First Big Break and got us the heck OUT of there and into the ‘Burbs outside of Madistan. It was the same year Sterling Hall (UW Madistan Campus) was bombed by the LOSERS protesting the Vietnam war. One researcher died. Dad took us girls down there to see the damage. A good Life Lesson on how NOT to grow up to be a Socialist Democrat and/or a Home Grown Terrorist.
Pretty much! Glad they’re looking into this shyster.
Finally!
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