Silent and out of the public eye, Sara Rodriguez continues to draw her taxpayer salary while her campaign committee owes nearly a quarter-million dollars to vendors.
A new financial disclosure filing reveals that Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez’s defunct gubernatorial campaign is buried under nearly $231,000 in unpaid vendor bills, even as she continues drawing her full taxpayer-funded executive salary.
The committee’s latest report, filed Sept. 30 with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission and covering activity through Sept. 23, shows Sara Rodriguez For Wisconsin holds just $21,745.54 in remaining cash against $231,330.56 in unpaid obligations.
The figures follow a previous investigation by Dairyland Sentinel highlighting a July 22 transaction in which the campaign sent $52,900 to the Wisconsin Forward Fund, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, with a memo stating the money was “borrowed from C4 account in error.”
While the new filing lists no additional charitable or nonprofit transactions, it underscores an operational tailspin that led Rodriguez to suspend her candidacy on July 17—weeks before she garnered 4.1% of the vote in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary.
$231,000 Owed to Media Buyers and Consultants
According to Schedule 4A of the filing, the campaign owes money to 10 separate political consulting, polling, and media vendors:
- Normington Petts (polling): $56,000.00
- Kane Communications Group (public relations): $45,158.98
- Declaration Media (advertising): $39,400.86
- Aperture (media production): $32,512.50
- Hudson Bay Company (direct mail): $26,420.00
- Grassroots Analytics (fundraising data): $11,726.16
- Wisconsin Department of Administration (state services/travel): $11,225.48
- Resonance Campaigns (voter contact): $4,852.58
- Amygdala Corporation: $2,285.00
- Bonterra / EveryAction, Inc.: $1,749.00
The committee also reports an outstanding $20,000 loan from Rodriguez herself dating back to August 2022, which remains unpaid.
Vendor Refunds and Legal Help
Outside of vendor debt, the committee brought in $45,350.55 during the reporting period. However, $40,000 of that total came from an expense refund issued Aug. 11 by media firm Old Town Media after planned ad purchases were canceled.
The filing also details $8,931.80 in payments to Milwaukee law firm Fox O’Neill Shannon and indicates the campaign issued $1,250 in refunds to individual donors after her exit from the race.
The Rise and Fall of Her Campaign
A registered nurse and healthcare executive, Rodriguez burst onto the political scene in November 2020 by pulling off an impressive victory in a traditionally conservative Waukesha County Assembly district. Her sharp healthcare background and pragmatic suburban appeal quickly caught the eye of Democratic strategists. Just two years later, in November 2022, she rocketed to statewide office alongside Gov. Tony Evers, winning the lieutenant governorship and establishing herself as a rising star in the Wisconsin Democratic party.
By late 2025, when Rodriguez launched her bid for Wisconsin governor, her campaign projected an image of unstoppable momentum. She touted a record of executive experience and claimed she had raised $1.5 million. To outside observers, her path to the Democratic nomination looked formidable.
Behind the scenes, however, the financial superstructure was built on quicksand.
The first public tremor struck in early July 2026 during a stunning admission to reporters. In a hastily convened press conference, Rodriguez acknowledged that her campaign’s reported finances were wildly inaccurate. Due to double-counted contributions, unrecorded vendor bills, and accounting miscalculations, the campaign was off by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Within days, campaign manager Kara Spencer was ousted, and the campaign plunged into operational triage.
On July 17, 2026, Rodriguez officially pulled the plug on her candidacy, issuing a statement admitting that the accounting chaos would prove an “ongoing distraction” to voters.
Yet the worst was still to come. Just five days after her withdrawal, on July 22, campaign ledgers revealed a jaw-dropping $52,900 transfer back to the Wisconsin Forward Fund, a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization. The campaign’s own filing line admitted the transaction was for “funds borrowed from C4 account in error,” an admission of commingling non-profit money with candidate campaign funds that puts the sitting Lt. Governor in legal jeopardy.
Taxpayer Compensation Continues
Rodriguez has offered minimal public comment since ending her campaign this summer, maintaining a low profile. Dairyland Sentinel found no on-record statement from her since she withdrew.
She remains in office as lieutenant governor through January 2027. Rodriguez continues to collect approximately $7,285 per month in taxpayer-funded salary while her campaign committee works through its debt and legal liabilities.
Previously at Dairyland Sentinel
