[Madison, WI] – Wisconsin State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski is refusing to answer questions about a massive in-kind donation she received from a PAC financed by disgraced film director Joss Whedon.
WISN News/Talk’s Dan O’Donnell reveals that Avengers director Whedon, who has been accused of “abusing his power,” “disturbing incidents [that] triggered a chronic physical condition” for one actor and being subject to a rule on set that barred him from being “in a room alone” with a 15-year-old actress, financed the One Vote at a Time PAC, which made a nearly $15,000 in-kind campaign contribution to Godlewski during her 2018 bid for State Treasurer.
Godlewski refused to renounce Whedon’s in-kind contribution to her campaign and would not answer questions on whether she is “tacitly expressing [her] approval or at least tolerance of his behavior” by not returning the $15,000 donation.
Read more from Dan O’Donnell here, or find excerpts below.
State Treasurer Silent About Big Donation from Disgraced Film Director
WISN News/Talk
Dan O’Donnell
March 1, 2021
Wisconsin Treasurer Sarah Godlewski won’t say whether she will disavow a $15,000 in-kind contribution from Hollywood director Joss Whedon, who faces multiple allegations of harassment and mistreatment of actors.
On September 23, 2018 Godlewski, a Democrat, received a $14,588.16 in-kind contribution for ad production from Whedon’s political action committee, One Vote at a Time.
Whedon, most famous for directing Marvel’s The Avengers and its sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron, has been under fire for years for a pattern of allegedly abusive behavior. This month, actress Charisma Carpenter accused him of “abus[ing] his power on numerous occasions while working…on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel” in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
[…]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Michelle Trachtenberg also echoed these complaints about Whedon’s toxic behavior, saying that he engaged in behavior that was “not appropriate.” Trachtenberg was 15 years old when she joined the show’s cast.
“The last comment I will make on this is that there was a rule saying [Whedon was] not allowed [to be] in a room alone with [me] again,” she wrote on Instagram.
“The Dan O’Donnell Show” reached out to both Godlewski and a spokeswoman in the State Treasurer’s Office seeking comment on the allegations but did not receive a response.
“D you renounce Whedon’s in-kind contributions to your campaign?” “The Dan O’Donnell Show” asked. “Do you believe that by not returning $15,000 (the amount of money said contribution is valued at), you are tacitly expressing your approval or at least tolerance of his behavior? What is your comment on the behavior of such a large donor to your campaign?”
Neither Godlewski nor her spokesperson responded to repeated requests for comment.