WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday visits the company run by Lake Forest GOP megadonors Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein to promote passage of a new U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade deal.
Uihlein is the co-founder, with his wife, of Uline Corp., which distributes products such as bags, bubble wrap, bar-code labels and boxes.
After landing Air Force Two at Waukegan National Airport, Pence will travel to the Uline headquarters in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, just across the border from Illinois.
Uline switched its base from Waukegan about nine years ago. Uihlein, the CEO, accepted a financial assistance package for the company from then-Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle worth more than $6 million in connection with the move. Uline also has facilities in Lake County, Illinois.
The White House said Pence will tour the Uline headquarters “and deliver remarks on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as part of an America First Policies series called “USMCA: A Better Deal for American Workers.”
While this is an official government event, America First Policies has an affiliated super PAC, America First, which can take unlimited donations. It is the major super PAC working to re-elect President Donald Trump and Pence.
In March, according to Federal Election Commission records, Richard Uihlein gave America First $500,000 and Elizabeth Uihlein donated $500,000.
The Uihleins have contributed, either directly or through a family foundation, millions of dollars through the years to Republican and conservative candidates and causes. Among the biggest donors in the U.S., the Uihleins are involved in national and state politics, including Illinois, Wisconsin and most recently, in a Virginia state delegate race.
Uihlein drew the first significant attention to himself outside of conservative circles when he personally donated $2.6 million to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s 2014 run for governor. Uihlein tossed in an additional $350,000 to a Rauner-allied group seeking to turn out the vote for Rauner by pushing a term-limits drive.
Before touching down in Waukegan, Pence will be in Marinette, Wisconsin, to visit Fincantieri Marinette Marine Co., tour its shipyard and “deliver remarks to employees.”
Pence will return to Washington in the evening. President Donald Trump will be in Chicago on Monday — his first visit since becoming president — for a speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police and for a fundraising lunch, likely in Trump International Hotel and Tower.
