Wisconsin Democrat congressional nominee Fred Clark cosponsored legislation during his time in the State Assembly that would have created special “Support Planned Parenthood” license plates, authorized $23,700 in state funding for their initial production, and directed proceeds from an additional $25 annual plate fee, after initial production costs, to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
Clark, who is now running against Trump-endorsed Republican Michael Alfonso in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, joined then-state Rep. Mark Pocan, now a Democratic congressman representing Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District, and other Democratic lawmakers in sponsoring Assembly Bill 667 in 2012.
The bill would have established an authorized special group for people interested in obtaining Wisconsin license plates displaying the words “Support Planned Parenthood” and required the state Department of Transportation to issue the plates subject to the conditions established in the legislation.
Section 10 of the proposal would have increased the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s appropriation by $23,700 for the fiscal year in which the provision took effect “to increase funding for special registration plates displaying the words ‘Support Planned Parenthood.’”
Motorists choosing the plates would have paid additional charges. The Legislative Reference Bureau’s analysis states that, in addition to the regular vehicle registration fee, participants would have paid a $15 fee for issuance or reissuance of the special plate and a $25 annual fee.
The legislation provided that money collected through the additional annual fee, in excess of the $23,700 initial production cost, would be deposited into the state’s general fund and credited to an appropriation for payments to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
Under the bill, the Department of Transportation “shall make payments to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Inc.,” using money credited to that account. Those payments could be used only for “funding cervical and breast cancer screenings and family planning services, including birth control.”
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin would also have been required to submit an audited financial statement to the presiding officer of each chamber of the Wisconsin Legislature for every year it received payments through the program. Payments would have ceased if the organization dissolved, became insolvent, filed for bankruptcy, or was no longer exempt from taxation under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The bill also required DOT to obtain any necessary approval to use a logo, trademark, service mark, trade name, or other commercial symbol associated with the plates before issuing them. That approval would have had to be provided “without fee and as a condition of receiving payments” under the program.
The approval would have been irrevocable for plates already issued. If it were later withdrawn, DOT could continue renewing registrations for vehicles that had already received the plates without replacing them, but would have been required to stop collecting the additional fee on those renewals and discontinue issuing new plates unless it obtained new approval.
Clark’s sponsorship of the measure comes to light as he faces Alfonso in the November race for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. Clark narrowly won the Democratic primary with 37.6 percent of the vote, while Alfonso won the Republican nomination with 48.9 percent.
The district is solidly Republican and is currently represented by Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), who is vacating the seat to run for governor.
On his campaign website, Clark says he wants to make the abortion pill more widely available and says states that receive any type of federal funding must guarantee access to abortion, though he does not specify what type of federal funding.
Clark has also maintained political ties to Pocan, with whom he sponsored the Planned Parenthood plate legislation during their time together in the Wisconsin Assembly.
Pocan has since become a prominent progressive Democrat in Congress. He has expressed support for implementing policies associated with Zohran Mamdani, dismissed Antifa as “nothing,” called Charlie Kirk an “extremist,” and supported policies allowing sex-change procedures for minors and transgender-identifying males to participate in women’s sports.
Alfonso, meanwhile, has been endorsed by CatholicVote and Pro-Life Wisconsin.
Trump appeared in a district-wide television advertisement for Alfonso ahead of Wisconsin’s August 11 Republican primary, declaring, “He has my complete and total endorsement,” and saying Alfonso would “stand up to the radical left communist in Congress.” Trump previously called Alfonso a “MAGA Warrior” and a “young ‘STAR,’” while Alfonso said it was his “greatest honor” to receive Trump’s backing and pledged to be a “steadfast MAGA warrior” for Wisconsin’s 7th District. Alfonso, 26, is the son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy and, if elected, would surpass Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) as the youngest member of Congress.
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