Career
Block has previously worked for Americans for Prosperity. In the late 1970s, he worked for Republican Congressman William A. Steiger until Steiger"s death in 1978, and then took a job with National Cash Register Corporation from 1979 to 1990. Block has run and consulted on numerous campaigns in Wisconsin since the 1980s.
Among others, he ran Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson"s re-election campaign in 1990.
Following the 1997 campaign of Jon P. Wilcox for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, allegations were made by the Wisconsin Elections Board of election law violations. These were settled in 2001 when Block agreed to pay a $15,000 fine (though, without admitting any wrongdoing) and not to work on any campaigns until 2004.
By 2007, Block was serving as the Wisconsin director of the "pro-business" political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. Block met Herman Cain while working as Wisconsin state director for Americans for Prosperity, and both were traveling to meetings in launching branches in Ohio and Michigan.
At a March 2010 dinner with Cain in Las Vegas, Block and campaign aide Linda Hansen pitched a plan for how Cain could become a legitimate contender for the 2012 Republican nomination for President.
Block"s rising profile in the (including an October 3, 2011 profile in The Daily Caller) gained additional attention on October 24–25, 2011, when a campaign ad showing Block smoking a cigarette caused widespread consternation and amusement. On October 30, 2011, allegations surfaced that the might have been illegally funded by Block"s Prosperity United States of America. As a tax-exempt charity, Prosperity United States of America is not allowed to donate money or services to a political campaign.
