Uline and the Uihleins
Did the Uihleins fund groups involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol Riots?
In 2018 the New York Times called Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein “the most powerful Conservative couple you’ve never heard of”. The Uihleins, who don’t seem to crave the spotlight, downplay that claim when asked about it in other interviews. One thing is certain, the Uihlein family, who own the shipping material and product company Uline (pronounced the same as their name) Inc., is leaving their mark on the American politics by their extremely generous donations to political PACs in support of far right candidates.
Uline is headquartered Pleasant Prairie, WI (in Kenosha County), but the Uihleins are based 20 miles away in Forest Lake, IL, a suburb of Chicago. Heir to the Schlitz Beer fortune, Dick likes to describe the start of their business in 1980 with an emphasis on a narrative that involves hard work, family involvement, determination and humble beginnings; much like the folksy account that Jeff Bezos has recounted regarding his start-up time. They moved their business to WI from IL in 2010 when they were offered 18.6 million dollars in incentives by then Governor of WI, Jim Doyle, for moving their business across state lines.
During the pandemic, the upper management of Uline landed in the camp of those who opposed mask wearing and state shutdowns. Liz is the one in currently in charge of the management of their daily businesses operations and I’m guessing that her love of Fox News and unwavering support of Trump might have influenced these views. Uline has been known to discourage their employees from unionizing. They have also been sued by a potential employee who claimed that she was overlooked for employment because of her ongoing and managed health condition and 30-40 employees sued Uline in 2013 for their failure to address a pattern of incidents involving sexual and physical assault, as well as groping. During the pandemic, management sought to silence employees who complained of symptoms that are common for both cold/allergies or could be symptoms of Covid-19. An email reportedly sent to call center employees discouraged them from discussing their symptoms.
In a twist of fate, the Dick and Liz Uihlein became positive for the coronavirus around the time period that Mark Meadows also came down with it at one of the events at the White House. Liz Uihlein, who was appointed in 2019 by former President Donald Trump to his economic advisory team, denied that she caught the virus at the White House, but says that she was exposed to it though a friend. The company email announcing Liz’s positive test result was sent on November 11th. The couple, who are in their 70s, has since recovered. Liz Uihlein was also appointed in 2019 to the Republican National Committee’s Trump Victory fundraising committee, along with Diane Hendricks, billionaire owner of ABC Supply of Wisconsin. It’s also worth mentioning that former Vice President Mike Pence made a personal visit in the fall of 2019 to Uline’s headquarters.
The Uihleins are known for their Tea Party style political beliefs and have a long history of funding ultra conservative political causes and candidates. According to an April 30, 2018 article in the Washington Post, “Uihlein has described his conservative priorities as “freedom of speech, limited government, sanctity of life and, also, Second Amendment rights,”. Sounds like any average supporter of the GOP. However, some of the candidates they have backed are controversial and have held extreme views. They funded former judge Roy Moore for Alabama Senate, a candidate Steve Bannon also backed, but whose campaign fell apart when he was accused of child sexual abuse.
A candidate they supported for governor of Illinois, Jeanne Ives, ran hateful, anti-trans and anti-immigration political ads. Failed Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson was another Republican they bankrolled, among dozens of others, including congressman from Texas and recent metal detector dodger at the U.S. Capitol, Louie Gohmert. Obviously, they upheld Trump in both of his campaigns. They have backed candidates that support the platforms of opposing gun control, unionization, corporate taxation and trans rights. They not only supported the Janus decision, but helped pay for the legal team that opposed AFSCME.
They have also funded many of these candidates and causes through conservative PACs and SuperPACs with money from their charitable foundation. If you are not familiar with the term, PAC stands for Political Action Committee. A SuperPAC is a PAC that has a higher donation threshold, but has extra limitations and guidelines. I have included an informative video, after the source list, if you want to learn more about PACs. The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation is managed full-time by Dick Uihlein and he is the current president of the foundation. Back in 2014 the Uihleins were reported to have spent 5 million dollars on campaign contributions and that amount rose to 38 million in 2018. Open Secrets disclosed that the Uihleins have contributed 62.8 million dollars in the recent election cycle.They often give the maximum allowable donation to many of the candidates and PACs that they fund.
They have also given large sums of money to schools, churches and neighborhood amenities, like parks, trails and sport facilities. This is especially true in the small town of Manitowish Waters, WI, where the Uihleins have a summer home. They have also owned a condominium, hotels, a coffee shop, a spa and a supper club in the town which caters to tourists in season. They have offered businesses in the area funds or free labor in order to spruce up their appearance. One of the stories I encountered had a distinctly Emily Gilmore of the show “Gilmore Girls’ vibe, with Liz Uihlein threatening to withhold $300,000 of promised donations if the town did not relocate an existing boat ramp that she thought was too close to a pavilion that she had built. This was not just a one-off situation, Mrs. Uihlein is used to getting special treatment. In 2019 she sued for special immigration visas (H-1B) for Uline workers and in 2020, during the pandemic, she skipped the mandatory quarantine to enter Canada. She has also been involved in numerous conflicts with the Wisconsin DNR.
All of this leads us to that fateful day at the U.S. Capitol. The day of January 6, 2021. The failed insurrection, the attempted coup, the fatal riot — whatever you want to call it. I’m sure the Uihleins called it “Stop the Steal” or “March to Save America”. Whether the Uihleins knew about the plans to try to stop a lawful election from becoming certified, the threats and the means to hang former Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or the mayhem, death and destruction within the Capitol building, it appears that they financed groups who planned and tried to carry out their nefarious goals.
The Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund is a PAC that has been connected to the riots and was funded by the Uihleins to the tune of 4.3 million dollars in the past 5 years. The Tea Party Patriots have wiped their online accounts of their involvement in the mayhem of January 6th. Tea Party Patriots has also funded the campaigns of Senator Josh Hawley of MO, Senator Ted Cruz of TX and Reps Mo Brooks of AL and Louie Gohmert of TX. Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA was another organization at the Capitol and the Uihleins recently donated $275,000 to Turning Point USA.
Let’s not forget that back in 2019, Mother Jones reported that the Uihleins donated a total of a million dollars to Brad Parscale’s fraudulent America First and America First Policies PACs that became infamous for being included in the indictments of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Parnas and Fruman were involved in a scheme to remove U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch who stood in the way of their desire to investigate Hunter Biden for crimes he did not commit.
Since the Capitol Riots, the Uihleins and their extraordinary contributions have come into question. Sean Rankin, the executive director of the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) released a statement to RAGA on 6/14/21: “Republican AGs should refuse contributions from donors like the Uihleins. This declaration and other corrections to their association are necessary actions on the only path forward for those who claim to believe in the rule of law and protecting our democracy. Republican AGs or candidates who choose to accept Uihlein money moving forward will be turning their backs on our country and ignoring the deadly attack on Congress on January 6th.” Despite the clout of DAGA, I doubt that the Uihleins will face censure or legal involvement.
However, as news of their involvement in funding far right groups and their agendas is quickly spreading, public awareness is growing. Even before January 6th, small and larger businesses have discovered the anti-LGBTQIA stance of the owners of Uline after being alerted by their customers or through doing their own due diligence. This has caused some companies, notably in the beauty industry, to stop support Uline and instead using other companies for their shipping and other supplies. I expect this trend to grow and I hope that the White House, under President Joe Biden’s leadership, will discontinue their use of Uline’s products.
As far as I am aware the Uihlein family has complied with the legal rules for donating to political candidates and PACs. If it is found that they exceeded the allowed donation amount or hid their activities, that would be another story. I wonder about the appropriateness of billionaires being placed on a presidential economic advisory committee and the potential financial benefits that they might have received during that tenure. I also wonder if it is wise for private citizens to influence the outcome of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, as the Uihleins were in providing legal defense in the Janus decision.
I am not a lawyer or nor am I particularly politically savvy. These are just the observations of a somewhat average person who has a slightly more than average interest in the inner workings of influential organizations and individuals. Generally my interests lie in the inroads and connections of Evangelical religious beliefs and U.S. politics. I was unable to dig up the current religious association of the Uihlein family, but I noticed large donations to a Presbyterian Church, among smaller donations to other religious organizations. I am fairly confident that the Uihleins have some Christian affiliation and belief system since their stated ideologies line up well with the mindset of those who support Christian Nationalism and/or Christian Dominionism.
Sources and further research:
