The backdrop for many of Wisconsin’s current ethical controversies is an unprecedented flow of money into the state’s political machinery. With last year’s Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, some loopholes in the state’s campaign finance laws have grown even wider.

Two Wisconsin Supreme Court justices are calling for the state to consider ending direct elections of court members, citing the negative role of money in judicial campaigns.

Compared to Texas, New York and California, where super PACs raised upwards of $10 million, the few Wisconsin donors contributed a whole lot less in 2011. Search our database of $93 million worth of itemized contributions from across the nation.

It’s difficult to write about the levels of money now being pumped into Wisconsin’s electoral process without using terms like “jaw-dropping” and “eye-popping.” It’s a wonder we can still recognize ourselves in the mirror, with all these contortions.

It makes sense to study contributions in search of larger patterns. So MapLight, a national nonpartisan research organization, recently launched a new feature that tracks campaign contributions by company for the U.S. Congress and two state legislatures, in California and Wisconsin.

Bob Ziegelbauer, the lone independent among the Wisconsin Legislature’s 132 members, says raising money has never been a big factor in his political career, which spans three decades. But Ziegelbauer, who recently announced that he will not seek reelection this fall, does not deny the critical role that money plays in the political process.

Almost as if it were a holiday present to us, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board updated the campaign finance database with receipts from anti-Walker forces late last month. So as promised, I made a new interactive graphic to pair with my Dec. 20 visualization of Gov. Scott Walker’s support in 2011.

Nearly half of Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011 campaign contributions so far have come from outside Wisconsin. And, as he’s facing a potential recall, the normal individual limits do not apply. Explore where the money’s coming in from with our interactive map.