Take a look at pages 5 and 6 of this excerpt of the Americans Elect Mission Report. As you can see from that excerpt, the report features a letter signed by Peter Ackerman and dated August 20. August 20 is a full 12 days after August 8, the day an FEC report shows Ackerman gave $250,000 to Americans Elect for the purpose of spending money “independently” to promote Angus King’s bid for the U.S. Senate.
At the bottom of each of the pages of the report appear the words “Americans Elect is not affiliated with and does not support or oppose any candidate or candidate’s committee.”
But at the top of page 9 of the Americans Elect Mission Report, Americans Elect Chairman Peter Ackerman finishes his letter by writing:
"An external force must precipitate change. Angus King, the former two-term independent governor of Maine, who is now running for the Senate to succeed Olympia Snowe, offers some hope."
This was written 12 days after Americans Elect Chairman Peter Ackerman donated $250,000 to Americans Elect to be spent promoting the Senate candidate of Angus King — Federal Election Commission records tell us so.
Before Americans Elect published a Mission Report declaring that it “does not support any candidate,” it had already started collecting money to spend in support of candidate Angus King.
Ed. note, 4:35 pm: This article originally also noted the continued identification of Angus King campaign Chair Eliot Cutler as an Americans Elect member of the Board of Directors in the August 2012 Mission Report, published after Americans Elect Peter Ackerman provided the first $250,000 of contribution money for pro-King spending. See the comments for Eliot Cutler's response, which is backed by an affidavit. Upon emergence of the affidavit, that portion of the article is retracted.
Peter Ackerman's contribution of $250,000 to Americans Elect to be spent supporting Angus King's Senate candidacy, before publishing a Mission Report declaring that Americans Elect supports no candidate, remains unexplained.
The explanation is pretty simple. I and all of the other independent directors resigned from the AE board of directors on June 26, but the organization’s web site was never fixed to reflect that fact. A copy of my letter of resignation and an affidavit regarding the complete absence of any coordinating activity have been filed with the Federal Elections Commission and are matters of public record.
Mr. Cutler,
Thank you for writing. I’ll change the text of this article to reflect your writing, although it’s important to note that:
1. I’m not writing about the Americans Elect web site; I’m writing about the Americans Elect Mission Report, which is a communication to Americans Elect insiders that (prior to David King’s kind favor to me) had not been made available to the public. There’s no reason for the Americans Elect Mission Report to continue to list you as on the Board of Directors as of August 2012, unless Americans Elect is sloppy. Given Americans Elect’s history, this is possible.
2. There was no result for any such affidavit by Eliot Cutler in the searchable FEC public records for the committee of Americans Elect or either of the two Angus King committees. However, I do see upon searching the internet more broadly that you’ve made a non-posted affidavit just as you’ve said here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114065382/Cutler-Americans-Elect-Resignation-Letter . That affidavit was posted to Scribd after this article was written and no publicly viewable version of the affidavit seems to have been available before that.
Here is a copy of Mr. Cutler’s letter:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/114065382/Cutler-Americans-Elect-Resignation-Letter
Looks like we had a simultaneous comment-fest, Gerald. Thanks for writing.
Note: According to Topsy, Gerald Weinand was assistant for online communications for the Angus King for Senate campaign.
Eliot Cutler is listed as a director on this form filed June 29:
http://ucc.state.ri.us/CORP_DRIVE1/2012/0629/000000000/4192/201294412450_1.pdf
#2
From: hscpub
To: ssharon
Cc: bensdad2
Date: Fri, Nov 23, 2012 11:40 am
I just realized by clicking on the original Irregular Times Link below
that it now redirects to a new (and different URL) story instead. I see
the reason why in the comments section, which reads “4 Responses to
August 8: Americans Elect Starts Collecting $$ for Angus King. August
20: Americans Elect Says it Supports No Candidate
Eliot Cutler says:
11/21/2012 at 3:27 pm
The explanation is pretty simple. I and all of the other independent
directors resigned from the AE board of directors on June 26, but the
organization’s web site was never fixed to reflect that fact. A copy of
my letter of resignation and an affidavit regarding the complete
absence of any coordinating activity have been filed with the Federal
Elections Commission and are matters of public record.
Reply
Jim Cook says:
11/21/2012 at 4:35 pm
Mr. Cutler,
Thank you for writing. I’ll change the text of this article to reflect
your writing, although it’s important to note that:
1. I’m not writing about the Americans Elect web site; I’m writing
about the Americans Elect Mission Report, which is a communication to
Americans Elect insiders that (prior to David King’s kind favor to me)
had not been made available to the public. There’s no reason for the
Americans Elect Mission Report to continue to list you as on the Board
of Directors as of August 2012, unless Americans Elect is sloppy. Given
Americans Elect’s history, this is possible.
2. There was no result for any such affidavit by Eliot Cutler in the
searchable FEC public records for the committee of Americans Elect or
either of the two Angus King committees. However, I do see upon
searching the internet more broadly that you’ve made a non-posted
affidavit just as you’ve said here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/114065382/Cutler-Americans-Elect-Resignation-Letter
. That affidavit was posted to Scribd after this article was written
and no publicly viewable version of the affidavit seems to have been
available before that.”
Also: Checking into Eliot Cutler’s Americans Elect Resignation –
http://bit.ly/SNH3h4
In my opinion it is very ambiguous or unsure in regard to what may have
occurred (see also Jim Cook’s last sentence above). It may be true or
it may not be true. People can swear to anything, I believe it needs to
be considered within a total context of evidence or information.
Alex
—–Original Message—–
From: hscpub
To: ssharon
Cc: bensdad2
Sent: Fri, Nov 23, 2012 11:08 am
Subject: Susan and Governor King
I think the below is newsworthy but it isn’t my decision and I could be
wrong about that.
Alex
—–Original Message—–
From: hscpub
To: ssharon
Sent: Wed, Nov 21, 2012 12:55 pm
Subject: Susan – FYI
—–Original Message—–
From: hscpub
To: bensdad2
Cc: matthew.o.gagnon ; jbaldacci
; lyle
Sent: Wed, Nov 21, 2012 12:49 pm
Subject: Re: Americans Elect Aug. 2012 Document Lists Angus King Chair
Eliot Cutler on its Board of Directors
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2012/11/21/americans-elect-aug-2012-document-lists-angus-king-chair-eliot-cutler-on-its-board-of-directors/