High Road Strategy Center (HRSC)

The organization is directly affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin’s largest public university. Executive Director Joel Rogers claims that the High Road Strategy Center does not receive any direct funding from the university and is primarily funded by government and private grants ³

Advocacy

The High Road Strategy Center (HRSC) claims to be nonpartisan in its research and reporting. ³ In October 2014, the HRSC released “Raise the Floor Wisconsin – Minimum Wage Edition,” a report which advocated for raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage. The study claimed that one quarter of Wisconsin workers worked jobs paying less than $11.36 per hour. The report was subsequently used by Democratic lawmakers and left-of-center groups like the Economic Policy Institute to push left-of-center labor policies. ^{4 5}

The HRSC claims to provide research and reporting on city leadership, local policy, transportation, health, water, work & opportunity, the state economy, its Government Performance Action Lab (GPAL) program, and other associated projects. ⁶ In 2020, as part of its local policy advocacy, the HRSC launched the Progressive Local Government for the 21^st Century Program (ProGov21) as a collaborative effort between itself and its partners, claiming that the goal was to “bring resources and high road policies to non-federal and non-state public entities.” ⁷ ProGov21 is supported by left-of-center organizations and labor unions including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Aspen Institute, and the BlueGreen Alliance. ⁸

Controversy

In December 2014, the Wisconsin Reader used state open record laws to reveal that the High Road Strategy Center (then COWS) associate director Laura Dresser had received data for the study from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Wisconsin Jobs Now, a pro-union advocacy group. Unions like the SEIU stood to benefit considerably from minimum wage increases which would shift the scales of the wages guaranteed in union contracts. In one of the emails, Dresser admitted that she was not confident in data given to her by these groups, though she later publicly recanted her statement.⁹

Activities

State Innovation Exchange (formerly the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange)

In 2012, the High Road Strategy Center (then-the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS)) co-founded the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE), a web-based library of left-of-center laws and policy proposals at the state level. ALICE was designed to be the left-of-center counterpart to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-of-center membership conference of state legislators. The formation of ALICE attracted criticism from Wisconsin State Journal reporter Chris Rickert, who criticized the HRSC and ALICE for receiving indirect support from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is prohibited from engaging in pollical activism. Representatives from the university claimed that ALICE’s values of “democracy, sustainability and equality” are nonpartisan. ¹⁰

In 2014, ALICE merged with the Progressive States Network and the Center for State Innovation to become the State Innovation Exchange (SIX), funded by donors from the left-of-center Democracy Alliance. ¹¹

Mayors Innovation Project

In 2005, the High Road Strategy Center (then the Center on Wisconsin Strategy) and then-Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz (D) launched the Mayors Innovation Project (MIP), a network of left-progressive mayors that holds annual meetings. 6 The Project claims to be a resource for American mayors who are committed to “high road” policies that have been accused of advocating left-leaning “collectivist prosperity”, environmentalism, and social democracy.  ¹²

The State of Working Wisconsin Annual Reports

The High Road Strategy Center (HRSC) releases an annual report called The State of Working Wisconsin claiming to analyze data available on wages, jobs, and unions throughout the state at the end of every year. Previous reports have claimed to show positive trends like rising wages and declining unemployment. ¹³ Several repeating points of research include claims of a “wage gap” between white men and minority workers as well as a decline in union participation which the report blames on “restrictive policies” and “right to work laws.” ^{14 15}

Leadership

Joel Rogers is the founder and director of the High Road Strategy Center (formerly the Center on Wisconsin Strategy.) He is the Noam Chomsky Professor of Law, Political Science, Public Affairs, and Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rogers has worked as an advisor for several left-of-center to left-wing organizations including the Economic Analysis and Research Network, the Working Families Party, Apollo Alliance, the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, the Emerald Cities Collaborative, the State Innovation Exchange, and the Educational Partnership for Innovation in Communities Network. ¹⁶

Laura Dresser is the associate director of HRSC and a left-progressive activist. Dresser is a co-editor of the book The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market and lead author of the State of Working Wisconsin annual report. In prior years, Dresser signed the 2011 petition to recall former Republican Governor Scott Walker (R) and joined protests against Governor Walker’s collective bargaining reforms. ^{9 17}

Partner Organizations

The High Road Strategy Center lists partner organizations for four main research categories: Wisconsin economy, jobs & skills, cities & states, and transportation & energy. These include a number of left-of-center labor and advocacy organizations, including the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Economic Analysis and Research Network, the Economic Policy Institute, the National Employment Law Project, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, the Emerald Cities Collaborative, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Fresh Energy, Green for All, Policy Matters Ohio, and the Ohio Environmental Council.^{18 19 20 21}

Other COWS partners include the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, the National Skills Coalition, Regional Industry Skills Education, the Wisconsin Budget Project, the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, the Wisconsin Technical College System, the Working Poor Families Project, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the Federal Highway Administration, RE-AMP, the Apollo Alliance Project, Big Ideas for Jobs, Green Madison, Milwaukee Energy Efficiency, and the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association. ^{18 19 20 21}