Who Buys Senator John Cornyn Face Time? See the List.

December 8th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Election 2014 | Politics | Republicans - (0 Comments)

When you attend the December 11 invitation-only fundraiser for Senator John Cornyn, you’re supposed to make a check out to “Texans for John Cornyn,” supporting the Republican politician in his bid for re-election in 2014. But “Texans for John Cornyn” isn’t actually a Texas organization; as this invitation obtained by the Sunlight Foundation shows, it operates out of a headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

Are any of the people hosting the “Texans for John Cornyn” fundraiser actually from Texas?

To confirm your attendance, you’d send an e-mail to Magda Patrick or Claire Willis of the Aristeia Group at (703) 549-5090 or magda@aristeiagroup.com. Don’t bother looking up aristeiagroup.com online: as with most political fundraising firms, it keeps a low public profile so that its political beneficiaries can’t get hurt. But the 703 area code isn’t a Texas area code. It’s a Northern Virginia area code. As this secondary profile indicates, the Aristeia Group works in Alexandria, across the Potomac river from the White House and the Capitol Building and just a block from where suburban Washington’s elite practice their rowing.

What about individual hosts Marilyn Harris, Doyce Boesch and Jim Courtovich? They’re not really “Texans for John Cornyn” either. Marilyn Harris is the “Vice President, Federal and International Government Affairs” for Marathon Oil company. Translation: she’s a Washington, DC lobbyist who walks the halls of Congress for one of the largest oil corporations in the world and a descendant of the Standard Oil trust. Also a Washington DC lobbyist is Doyce Boesch, a lobbyist for massive health care corporations and Performant Corp., an outfit that makes its profit by squeezing poor people for every last drop of outstanding student loan and hospital bills. Doyce Boesch’s address isn’t in Texas. It’s 1120 G Street NW, Washington DC. As for Jim Courtovich, he specializes in throwing exclusive parties for Washington’s social, political and diplomatic elite when he isn’t lobbying for foreign telecommunications giants Abertis Infraestructuras and Telefonica Internacional.

The other sponsors of John Cornyn’s fundraiser can’t possibly be Texans because they aren’t even people. They’re political action committees for some more of the world’s largest, most aggressive corporations:

Fluor PAC
Koch Industries PAC
International Paper PAC
Aflac PAC
Boeing PAC
Amgen PAC
Altria PAC
Akin Gump Civic Action PAC
DaVita PAC
DynCorp International PAC

By the look of it, there may not be a single actual Texan for John Cornyn at next week’s fundraiser, not unless you count John Cornyn himself.

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John Thune Finds The Heartland In Washington D.C.

November 20th, 2012 | Posted by jclifford in Politics | Republicans - (0 Comments)

A week from tonight, Senator John Thune will be attending a fundraiser set up to funnel money into his political action committee. Thune’s political action committee is called the Heartland Values PAC.

Heartland values? Where is this Heartland?

heartland senatorThe Sunlight Foundation has documentation on Heartland Values PAC fundraisers from the last four years. 68.4 percent of those fundraisers for Thune have been in Washington D.C. Two have been in Naples, Florida. One has been in New York City.

Though Senator John Thune is supposed to be representing South Dakota in the Senate, only one fundraiser to support his Heartland Values PAC was held in South Dakota.

Are those Heartland values?

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No Labels PAC? No Follow Through.

October 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Politics - (4 Comments)

In August 2012, the DC Beltway political corporation called No Labels announced that “We’re building a No Labels PAC in order to provide financial support for elected officials who are committed to problem solving. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more details.”

But there have been no more details. No Labels has made no further communication on the subject. No PAC or independent expenditure committee appears in FEC registrations under any variant of the name of No Labels or operating at the two known addresses of No Labels (1070 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, Suite 202, Washington DC 20007 and 1680 Wisconsin Ave NW Washington D.C. 20007).

No Labels PAC? Despite the huge gobs of undisclosed money orbiting around the influence sphere of billionaire Peter G. Peterson, there’s been No Action.

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Why Doesn’t Ending Spending End Spending?

September 27th, 2012 | Posted by Peregrin Wood in Politics - (0 Comments)

A political action committee just spent one million, forty six thousand, four hundred and nine dollars within a 48-hour period.

The PAC calls itself Ending Spending.

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Every Sitting Member of Congress Endorsed by FreedomWorks Voted for Anti-Freedom FISA Amendments Act

September 13th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Election 2012 | Homeland Insecurity | Legislation | Liberty | Politics | Republicans - (1 Comments)

The FreedomWorks For America Super PAC tosses the mantle of Less Government and the sash of Freedom about its well-endowed shoulders:

FreedomWorks for America endorses true champions of freedom and supports them on the ground with our battle-tested, grassroots get-out-the-vote techniques…. these candidates have been consistent voices for… less government and more freedom.

Let’s fact check that by taking the complete list of all sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives endorsed by FreedomWorks and seeing how they voted yesterday on H.R. 5949, the bill to reauthorize the FISA Amendments Act for 5 years without any civil liberties reform whatsoever.

The FISA Amendments Act gives the federal government the power to grab Americans’ personal communications and papers without their knowledge, without their permission, and without the judge’s finding of reasonable cause specified in the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Your activity on cell phones, GPS devices, smart phones, online shopping, emails, internet browsing and even your ebooks on your Kindle is vulnerable to being collected by the goverment in warrantless sweeps, and you don’t have to be a criminal to be watched. The government doesn’t have to prove any suspicion of terrorism or other dastardly act. It doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody about what it’s been seizing and who it’s been seizing from — not since the FISA Amendments Act was passed.

Because it abrogates Americans’ 4th Amendment freedoms without reform, yesterday’s vote by the House of Representatives to extend FISA Amendments Act powers for 5 years is a vote for more government, not less. A vote for H.R. 5949 is a vote against American freedoms, not for them. If FreedomWorks really is all about freedom and smaller government, then FreedomWorks should not be endorsing members of Congress who erode freedom and expand government power.

Without further ado, here’s how each FreedomWorks-endorsed incumbent voted on H.R. 5949:

Republican Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-25): FreedomWorks endorsed, voted for big government surveillance without warrants

Republican Rep. Mike Coffman (CO-6): FreedomWorks endorsed, voted for big government surveillance without warrants

Republican Rep. Steve King (IA-5): FreedomWorks endorsed, voted for big government surveillance without warrants

Republican Rep. Jeff Landry (LA-3): FreedomWorks endorsed, voted for big government surveillance without warrants

Republican Rep. David Schweikert (AZ-5): FreedomWorks endorsed, voted for big government surveillance without warrants

Republican Rep. Joe Walsh (IL-8): FreedomWorks endorsed, voted for big government surveillance without warrants

Republican Rep. Allen West (FL-22): FreedomWorks endorsed, voted for big government surveillance without warrants

Fact check result: Judging by endorsements, this Super PAC ought to rename itself AntiFreedomWorks.

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No Labels Sets Up PAC and Social Media Astroturf Team for Election 2012

August 20th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Election 2012 | Ethics | Mail | Media | Politics - (4 Comments)

No Labels is a section 501(c)(4) corporation dedicated to influencing American politics. There are a lot of groups trying to influence American politics, but a number of features distinguish No Labels:

Against this backdrop of opacity and covert collaboration, it is notable that the DC Beltway corporation has announced two new initiatives:

As one of our top activists, we wanted to give you an exclusive update of everything that’s been happening with No Labels. Our movement is growing rapidly -- largely thanks to your support. We’ve also been building the Digital Leaders program -- a group of citizen activists who take one coordinated online action per week to make our voices heard. It only takes 30 seconds to make a difference. Click here to join us. We’re building a No Labels PAC in order to provide financial support for elected officials...

1. A “Digital Leaders” program of people willing to “take one coordinated online action per week.” Sign up for the program and you’ll be taken to a web page which announces just what that entails:

Do you use Facebook? Email? Linked In? Twitter? Do you blog? Comment? Or use Reddit or Pintrest?

I need your help to spread the No Labels message online. Join me as a Digital Leader to help spread the No Labels message online in a coordinated fashion. As a Digital Leader you will receive an action alert once or twice a week on how to utilize your digital habits to grow the movement. Maybe that’s posting a No Labels blog, or using a specific hashtag, or emailing your listserve about a particular topic.

This streamlined digital communication will make each 30 second action have a larger impact on the online community.

There are names for the practice of people taking a corporation’s words and making it appear to be their own. One of those words is “plagiarism,” and No Labels is not new to plagiarism, having previously run a campaign of letters to the editor written by No Labels. “Astroturf” is another of those words, referring to fake grassroots. No Labels won’t be asking those who sign up to sit down and write their own heartfelt, considered messages. It tells you as much when it describes writing blog posts and e-mails as “streamlined digital communication” involving a “30 second action.” The only way to write a non-trivial e-mail or blog post in 30 seconds’ time is to cut and paste. It looks suspiciously like No Labels will again be engaging a top-down machine to put its corporate, DC beltway words in people’s mouths, creating the appearance of a “bottom-up” “grassroots” “movement” where none actually exists.

I have signed up for the Digital Leader program so that I can monitor it and identify instances in which No Labels promotes top-down astroturf. I’ll keep you informed about these instances so that you can respond — but unlike No Labels, I encourage you to take longer than 30 seconds to think what’s happened, engage your independent critical thinking capacity, make a considered judgement and tell others what you think using your own words.

2. A Political Action Committee to fund the campaigns of political candidates running for Congress. A check with the Federal Election Commission shows no PACs containing the name “No Labels” have been registered, and no Independent Expenditure Committees with that name either. Should No Labels move into directly funding the campaigns of congressional candidates, the names of those funding its PAC will have to be released. Funding for any associated No Labels 501(c)(4) corporation, however, is likely to remain obscured.

I’ll keep looking for indications that these two programs have been activated. If you find something related to No Labels astroturf or PAC activity, would you let me know?

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National Map of Donors to Restore Our Future, the Mitt Romney Super PAC

April 5th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Economy | Election 2012 | Politics | Republicans - (1 Comments)

Anxious to know who’s been contributing a quarter million, a half million, an even million or more to Restore Our Future, the Super PAC sweeping up unlimited donations to the Mitt Romney campaign?

For raw data, visit this web page at the Federal Election Commission. The scale of big money flowing from a small number of people is overwhelming.

To get a idea of where the big money’s coming from, zoom into the map below (bigger version available at BatchGeo):

View Restore Our Future Mitt Romney Super PAC Donor Map in a full screen map

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Corporate Executives Continue to Hide Contributions to Tim Pawlenty Behind their Wives

April 25th, 2011 | Posted by Jim Cook in Election 2012 | Ethics | Politics | Republicans - (3 Comments)

Last November I reported on a curious practice taking place within the presidential campaign of GOP candidate Tim Pawlenty. From January 2009 through the end of September 2010, Tim Pawlenty’s “leadership PAC” took in contributions from 19 individuals, each of whom promptly retracted the contribution before giving it to Tim Pawlenty again in exactly the same amount, on exactly the same day, but as a contribution listed as a “homemaker” or “retired.” Every one of the 19 contributors was a male corporate executive, and every “homemaker” or “retired” to whom the contribution was reattributed was his wife.

What is the possible advantage of a corporate executive contributing, withdrawing and then recontributing money to Tim Pawlenty in the name of his wife? Here’s one: muckraking organizations like Open Secrets understandably use computer programs to comb through millions of federal campaign contribution records in search of connections between corporate executives and candidates for office. After a contribution switcheroo, those programs won’t connect a contribution to a corporate executive, but the Pawlenty campaign will know exactly who to thank. Take, for example, Raymond Barton. Barton, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the haircutting chain Great Clips, made a $5,000 contribution to Tim Pawlenty on December 5 2010, but immediately withdrew it and had another $5,000 contribution made in the name of his wife: Mary Barton, “Homemaker.” Look for a summary of campaign contributions made by Great Clips executives at Open Secrets and you won’t find any reference to the Tim Pawlenty campaign. The Great Clips contribution to Pawlenty has been made invisible.

The Bartons’ corporate contribution switcheroo is joined by another switcheroo in the last three months of 2010. Robert Klas, Chairman of the Tapemark Company, contributed $1500 to the Tim Pawlenty presidential effort in October 2010 before reclaiming and immediately recontributing those funds in the name of his wife Sandra Klas, of no reported profession.

The Bartons and the Klases bring the running total of Tim Pawlenty wife-swap corporate campaign contributors up to 21. A report for the first quarter of 2011 should be posted by the Federal Election Commission in the next few days, giving us a chance to make a further update.

If you’ve made it to the end of this post and are wondering why this Tim Pawlenty fellow is worth caring about, take a gander at these stats from an online political betting market. They show that among people trading bets on the Inkling Market about the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, shares predicting Pawlenty’s nomination are fetching the highest prices by far:

The price of Inkling Marketplace Bets on GOP candidates for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012

Political bookies are betting on Tim Pawlenty to get the GOP nod next year, and that’s what makes the practices of Tim Pawlenty’s corporate investors relevant.

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