UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 9: Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday, September 9, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Tom Tiffany accepted political contributions from notorious Islamophobic CEO who settled largest civil rights case over discriminatory hiring practices
Sep 18, 2026, 9:45 AM ET
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Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tom Tiffany has accepted thousands in political donations from a CEO whose company settled the largest civil rights case in Washington state history over discriminatory hiring and workplace practices.
Tiffany accepted the money from Electroimpact CEO Peter Zieve before he voted against the Respect for Marriage Act and the Equality Act, which would have strengthened protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere.
According to a criminal complaint, in 2016, Zieve asked for a photo of all job applications and then screened out anyone who said they were Muslim or who he believed to be Muslim based on their name, photograph or national origin.
Zieve reportedly replied to jokes in emails about killing Muslims with smiley faces and told employees they must have babies to keep America from being “backfilled with rubbish from the desperate and criminal populations of the third world.”
According to the Seattle Times, "Marsha Chien, the assistant attorney general who led the Electroimpact investigation, said: ‘We are probably used to discrimination that is not quite so explicit. This one was so explicit and so blatant that it reminds you of discrimination that might have happened in a different era.’ It was alarming not only that it was happening today, but in a sizable company, she said."
Between February to March 2026, Tiffany accepted $2,000 from Zieve, according to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission.
According to the Advocate, in recent years, Tiffany voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested the Court should reconsider decisions including Obergefell v. Hodges. Tiffany later described the legislation as “fearmongering and misdirection.” He also voted against the Equality Act, which would have added explicit federal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, education, and public accommodations.
Tiffany’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Drake Bentley is the general assignment reporter for the Milwaukee Courier, covering politics, sports and the community. He is an award-winning investigative journalist who has worked for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Newsweek, Heavy and The Sporting News. He is a northside Milwaukee native, former political staffer and graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Nebraska.
