It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
 | Unity08 and Draft Bloomberg Have the Same Business Address |
Over at Donklephant, former Unity08 Vice President Bob Roth (who now writes from the e-mail address info@draftbloomberg.com) declared that:
Unity08 was not a process of tranfering, redirecting, re-allocating, re-structuring, re-constituting, or re-organizing into a pro-Bloomberg effort. No member information or money was moved from one organization to the other. They are completely separate organizations.
Unity08 Founder Douglas L. Bailey also insisted in his opening news conference earlier this month that the Draft Bloomberg Committee is “totally separate” from Unity08 and the two used their contacts with The Hill to arrange an interview there in which they also insist that the Draft Bloomberg Committee and Unity08 are “completely separate.”
“Completely separate.” “Totally separate.” “Completely separate.” Huh. Really now. They’re proclaiming this idea very loudly, aren’t they? But is it true? Well, we already know that Unity08 purchased the draftmichaelbloomberg.com domain name back in July of 2007 when Unity08 swore it wasn’t the stalking horse for any candidate. The Draft Bloomberg Committee initial filing with the IRS shows that Bob Roth isn’t the only Unity08 executive who has magically moved over to the Draft Bloomberg Committee — Unity08 corporate executives Doug Bailey, Gerry Rafshoon and N. Shilpi Niyogi have as well.
And, oh, dear, look at this. According to the Draft Bloomberg Committee IRS filing made January 15 2008, its business address is:
919 18th St NW Suite 650
Washington, DC 20006
According to the Unity08 IRS filing made January 30 2008, its business address is:
919 18th St NW Suite 650
Washington, DC 20006
Oh, my! What a coincidence! I mean, what do you think the chances of that are?
919 18th St NW in Washington, DC is a very rich place to have an office. Check out the neighborhood:
My, my. Just down the block from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the White House! Who managed to pay the rent for the office of both of these completely separate fake-grassroots no-people people’s movements?
Both of these organizations claim to still be in operation, and they also claim to be “completely separate,” but they report the same business address in their IRS filings. How is this possible?
My theory is that they’ve managed it just like in that old Laverne and Shirley episode, with them dividing the room down the middle with masking tape. Also, they try very hard not to look at each other, and put in ear plugs so they can’t hear one another’s meetings and phone calls. But that’s just my theory for which I have no evidence. Use of UFOs may also be involved.
Just keep mumbling “completely separate” to yourself and after a few hours it will all begin to feel better.
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To clarify something: Draft Bloomberg took over the lease from Unity08. Do you know how many Unity08 employees work at that address now? None. Zero. Zilch.
While they may be located at the same latitude, longitude, etc on a map, you are missing a crucial variable: Time. There was an important meeting that happened early in January in which Unity08 ceased to exist. I know, because I worked for them. Doug and Gerry said they would be starting a Draft Bloomberg movement, and the only two people involved were Doug Bailey and Gerry. Unity08 had to either eat their lease with an empty office or get someone to take it over: why not keep it in the same place and save some moving expenses? In the past couple of weeks they asked people who they had a known, working relationship with (Shilpi, Bob Roth) and invited them to work for Draft Bloomberg. What an amazing concept– hiring people you like working with to continue working with you!!! (As an aside, in my personal contacts with them, it is my understanding they are not receiving any or only a very small salary)
Unity08 does not “claim to still be in operation,” or didn’t you get the memo? Seems pretty obvious to me from the note on the website. but, again… fact-checking. (It’s a good thing) This is just another in the long line of mis- characterizations you seem intent on making in regards to Doug, Gerry, and others who are simply trying to do something good for their country. Right or wrong, at least they’re trying.
You guys have all the fact-checking acumen of a 2nd grade class newsletter, and more opinuendo than you can shake a schtick at. That’s not a good mix.
Comment by Andy Wilson — 1/31/2008 @ 7:23 pm
Then why does Unity08 continue to list the address as its billing address in its official IRS filing of January 30, 2008, Mr. Wilson? That’s yesterday. As in time.
You say Unity08 does not exist. But it says on its website that it does. It continues to file IRS forms. And, according to Unity08 itself, it continues to carry on a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission.
Very interesting, Mr. Wilson. And very curious. Anything else you want to share?
Comment by Jim — 1/31/2008 @ 7:31 pm
You wrote:
But golly, if you’re going to be snide, you need to check your facts. I mean, lordy, the Unity08 website says very clearly:
Gee whizzikers! Fact checking! You’re right, Mr. Wilson. It’s just the most amazing thing.
Care to try any other tests to see whether I’m completely stupid?
Comment by Jim — 1/31/2008 @ 7:40 pm
Oh, right, another question for you:
Regarding the Unity08 business address, which is it, Mr. Wilson? Has Unity08 filed a falsehood with the IRS, or were you telling me a falsehood just now?
Comment by Jim — 1/31/2008 @ 7:42 pm
Thanks for calling me a liar. It’s nice to see how civil you truly are. I’m trying to offer an insider’s view of what happened, and you insult me. (And when will you stop beating your wife?)
The truth is, I have every right to be disgruntled at Unity08. I was overworked (60-80 hour weeks, frequent travel between NY and DC away from my family), underpaid, and now unemployed and in severe financial circumstances due to Unity08 pulling the rug out from under me. If I wanted to crap all over them, I’d certainly have every right to. But I’m not, because they were some of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. You can read the financial disclosures yourself: no one there was getting paid anywhere near what they were worth, and every single one of us put blood, sweat and tears into something just because we believed in it. You can disagree with our idealism, insult our naivete, but at least we were trying to do something positive rather than sniping at the people in the arena.
The fact that Unity08 continues to fulfill its legal obligations by filing financial disclosures is not a bad thing and in no way suspicious. You will also notice that other defunct campaign campaign organizations and PACs continue to file paperwork and tie up loose ends, whether or not they’re actively campaigning or lobbying.
You seem to not take Unity08 at their word on anything else, but suddenly you’re quoting chapter and verse from their PR? Do you believe every word that they say or just those that are convenient for you to? In fact, when that was posted, Unity08 did scale back its operations…for a week or so while it finished tying up all its loose ends. I believe they did intend to continue forward, money allowing. As of now, I do not know a single person who is drawing a paycheck or publicly representing themselves as working for Unity08, so much so that no one has updated word one on that website for about 4 weeks. If you know someone, please let me know as I’d be curious. Again, time is the important variable here.
That being said, if Unity08 won the appeal and could continue their operation, it would take very little to start the whole thing back up again from a technical standpoint, so that could happen (although, in the Realpolitik of the situation where it increasingly looks like McCain will be the GOP nominee and at least the possibility of Obama as the Dem nominee– or at least a Hillary who has co-opted his best talking points– it seems unlikely that Unity08 has a place in this election.)
Now, since i will obviously not convince Jim, I am just offering what is an insider’s perspective from someone with no motivation to lie about anything and all the motivation to crap all over everything Unity08 did. Take my words for what they are worth (your choice), but I would take my word (eyewitness) over someone with secondhand information who seems to have an ax to grind and would rather insult people’s honesty than ever admit that their very small-minded worldview was in any way deficient.
Comment by Andy Wilson — 2/2/2008 @ 12:59 am
Wait a minute, Andy.
First, you come on here and act all arrogant saying that Jim has the fact-checking abilities of a second-grader, and you claim that Unity08 does not claim to be in operation.
Second, Jim checks the facts, and then shows you that Unity08 does actually still claim to be in operation. That’s a problem, because they have the same address as the Draft Bloomberg scam.
Third, you come back and get all huffy because Jim suggests that you might not have been completely truthful?
Come now, Mr. Wilson. Your bluster is not convincing.
Jim is indeed not inclined to accept the word of Unity08 at face value, and that’s because the people at Unity08 broke their word over and over and over again. That’s embarrassing for you, perhaps, but it’s a fact.
Jim checked it.
Comment by Peregrin Wood — 2/2/2008 @ 1:15 am
You just wrote a lot of words. Boy, there are a lot of them. But they have nothing to do with the matter at hand.
I don’t “have an ax to grind.” I’ve never met a single person associated with Unity08, I have no financial interest in Unity08. I was not rejected for a job with Unity08. I never applied for a job with Unity08. Politically speaking, I should be in favor of Unity08 if I were a Machiavellian, since liberals are motivated and organized while conservatives and Unity08 would mostly take votes from conservatives this year. My ongoing concern with Unity08 does not have to do with any sort of personal grudge, since I have no social contact with Unity08. It has to do with the sort of political operation that Unity08 has been.
What I’ve shown is documented. What you’ve done is to say “Forget the documents. Just trust me. I’m from Unity08!” Experience of the last year and a half suggests that is the last thing we ought to do.
Comment by Jim — 2/2/2008 @ 9:46 am