Sheila Harsdorf

Sheila Harsdorf is a Republican member of the Wisconsin State Senate. She serves on the following Senate Standing Committees: Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Higher Education; Committee on Finance; and the Committee on State and Federal Relations and Information Technology (Chair). She is also the Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Information Policy and Technology, and a member of the Joint Committee on Finance.

Harsdorf was reelected on November 6, 2012.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Sen. Harsdorf is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Sen. Harsdorf co-sponsored 6 bills that reflect ALEC models, according to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy.

Harsdorf and ALEC Tobacco Legislation
In May 2011, Harsdorg co-introduced an amendment to the state budget bill that would have changed the way moist snuff and other smokeless tobacco products are taxed.[3] The amendment would have benefitted Big Tobacco company Altria, a member of the the American Legislative Exchange Council's Private Enterprise Board and contributor to Olsen's campaign account, by making smokeless tobacco products less expensive and more appealing to the youth market.

Compare Senator Harsdorf's effort to implement a weight-based tax on smokeless tobacco products to ALEC's model bill, the "Resolution on the Enhancement of Economic Neutrality, Commercial Efficiency, and Fairness in the Taxation of Moist Smokeless Tobacco (MST) Products."