Whitburn Center
Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust
What We Do
The Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust (WisACT) is a cross-partisan network of Wisconsin residents. Our initiative includes elected officials, residents, religious leaders, college students, businesses, veterans, civic organizations, and more. We give individuals from diverse political backgrounds a space to work together. By focusing on shared democratic values, we demonstrate that constructive dialogue and mutual respect are possible, even amid political differences.
Our Principles
We Work to Build Civic Trust in the Political System
Our society works best when built upon a foundation of cross-partisan trust in democratic institutions. To support this, we work to provide accurate information and foster an environment for healthy political debate, grounded in verifiable facts.
We Support Fair, Safe, & Secure Elections
We must work hard to ensure that every eligible vote is counted accurately, and that our electoral system is free from intimidation and coercion. We advocate for and support electoral processes that are open, fair, transparent, and secure.
We Encourage Peaceful Engagement
Peaceful engagement between Americans, regardless of political affiliation, is fundamental. We promote nonviolence and collaboration to resolve differences and prevent identity-based and political violence.
Join Us
Our Senior Advisors
WisACT was launched by a cross-partisan team who continue with us as senior advisors. Learn more about our co-founders below.
David Haynes – Founding Democratic Co-Lead
David D. Haynes boasts decades of experience in Wisconsin media. He worked in a variety of roles at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, including business editor, opinion editor, Ideas Lab editor, and community engagement coordinator. In 2017, he founded the Ideas Lab, aiming to address Milwaukee and Wisconsin’s challenges through commentary and solutions journalism. As the leader of the organization’s statewide editorial board and the Journal Sentinel’s community engagement efforts, he collaborated with partners statewide to foster relationships centered on listening to the public.
Before joining the Journal Sentinel, Haynes served as a senior editor at The Sun in Lowell, Mass. Prior to that, he worked in his home state of Indiana, where he was part of the team at the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. Haynes’ journey in political reporting began with covering a stop in the Hoosier state by Walter Mondale during the 1976 presidential campaign.
Today, Haynes resides in a Milwaukee suburb with his wife, Lisa; they have two adult children.
Scott McCallum – Founding Republican Co-Lead
Scott McCallum served as Wisconsin Governor from 2001 to 2003 following a 14-year tenure as Lieutenant Governor and 10 years in the State Senate. He holds a B.A. from Macalester College, a M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, an Honorary J.D. from Marian University, and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
From 2005 to 2015, former Governor McCallum was President and CEO of the Aidmatrix Foundation in Dallas, TX. Under his lead, Aidmatrix expanded from a regional nonprofit to one of the world’s largest technology providers in the humanitarian sector, collaborating with over 32,000 clients across five continents.
McCallum taught at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, and later as an adjunct professor in the LaFollette School of Public Affairs. Currently, he teaches in the UW-Milwaukee Bader Institute of Nonprofit Management.
He has published and presented globally on technology for humanitarian purposes, its impact on jobs, and public policy. He also facilitates collaborative projects for health care and technology companies globally. His academic research sheds light on the technology revolution’s influence in the world economy.
Whitburn Center at UW-Oshkosh to take over programming for Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust
Press Release: On March 12, 2025, Michael R. Ford, founding director of the Whitburn Center at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh announced a new partnership today with the Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust, a cross-partisan citizen group focused on building trust in democratic institutions.
Under terms of the arrangement, WisACT’s programming will be managed by Whitburn staff, led by Whitburn Interim Director Samantha J. Larson. WisACT’s founders, former Gov. Scott McCallum, who also is chair of the Whitburn advisory board, and David D. Haynes, a former journalist, will continue in an advisory role.
Click Here to Read About WisACT’s Transition to the Whitburn Center
Learning from STAR: The 2024 Evaluation
Executive Summary
By: Beryl Levinger, Ph.D.
Evan Bloom
Nikki Gillette
(Published: February 28, 2025)
This report was prepared under a contract between Root Change and The Carter Center.
Key ways for WisACT members to get involved:
Encourage Civil Discourse
Promote peaceful resolution of disputes by equipping our members and Wisconsinites at large with the tools and skills necessary to engage constructively in conversations happening within their networks and communities.
Promote Accurate Information
Share accurate information, as well as encourage the fact-checking of information shared about our political process to help build trust in our elections.
Take Action
Actively counter acts of intimidation and violence by encouraging dialogue, communication to de-escalate, and coordinating rapid response efforts.
Principles for Trusted Elections
WisACT will help mobilize support for the Principles for Trusted Elections. Launched in 2022, the nationwide, cross-partisan initiative asks citizens, organizations, and public officials to uphold five core principles of democratic elections.
The principles are:
Honest Process
Cooperate with election officials, adhere to rules and regulations, and refrain from knowingly propagating falsehoods about the electoral process.
Nonviolent Campaign
Encourage a peaceful election atmosphere during the pre-election, polling, counting, and post-election periods. Denounce any attempt to intimidate, harass, threaten or incite violence against opponents, their supporters, and election workers. Respect voters’ freedom to exercise their lawful rights to register and vote, free from interference, obstruction, or intimidation.
Secure Voting
Publicly affirm the security and integrity of elections across the U.S. and avoid actively fueling doubt about elections in other jurisdictions. Support transparency and public outreach to reassure voters of election integrity.
Responsible Oversight
Encourage political parties and others to train poll-watchers on the election process and appropriate roles and behaviors, responsibilities, and obligations.
Trusted Outcomes
Make claims of election irregularities in accordance with the law and acknowledge the legitimacy of the outcomes after the results have been certified and all contestations decided.