Elon Musk's $1M Wisconsin voter giveaway likely was illegal, panel finds (Finya Swai, The Hill, July 17, 2026)

"My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it till now. -- (JFK comment,  April 10, 1962, in reaction to news that U.S. Steel was raising prices by $6 per ton, right after the unions negotiated a modest new contract under pressure from JFK to keep inflation down.)

John F. Kennedy, "A Thousand Days," by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. [1965] 35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 - 1963)   

Is energetic extremist energumen ELON REEVE MUSK, the world's richest man, "too big for his britches," as well as the current undisputed king (or queen) of those "sons of bitches?"  

You tell me.  

Is ELON REEVE MUSK's $1,000,000 open, notorious bribe offer is a contact violation of public policy?  Restatement of Contracts, section 178?  

You tell me.

FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2000 file photo, PayPal Chief Executive Officer Peter Thiel, left, and founder Elon Musk, right, pose with the PayPal logo at corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

AP file

From The Hill and Defend OUR Courts:

Fri, Jul 17 at 8:10 PM

In 2025, Elon Musk spearheaded a corrupt scheme to entice select voters in Wisconsin with a $1 million payout who pledged  to help Republicans try to win the hotly-contested State Supreme Court race. And now the Wisconsin Elections Commission, a BIPARTISAN panel consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 in closed session to refer two complaints against Elon Musk of alleged election bribery to the Brown County District Attorney.  The Commissioners found “probable cause” that Musk broke state laws against election bribery in an illicit scheme to “induce” voters to vote in the Supreme Court election. Brown County is home to Milwaukee and Green Bay—cities where Musk personally handed out oversized checks to voters just days before the election. The Brown County District Attorney is a Republican who must now choose whether to prosecute Musk, the world’s richest man, or to let him violate Wisconsin state law with impunity. We called it bribery at the time when our team was working to help elect the Democratic candidate in that race. We called it bribery even after the WI Attorney General unsuccessfully sued to stop Musk’s payouts .  And we still call it bribery, because that’s exactly what it is. Musk broke the law on a massive scale and he should be locked up for it. For years now, Defend Our Courts has been building the firewall of state courts and judicial posts to safeguard our elections and hold MAGA accountable when they violate the law, trample on our rights, and try to destroy our democracy. If charges are brought against him, Musk is sure to appeal all the way to the State Supreme Court — the very Court that he spent $100 million trying to stack with MAGA loyalists. The work we do to elect good, qualified people who respect and uphold the Constitution in top judicial posts in key swing states, including Wisconsin, will play a pivotal role in determining Musk’s fate.