**UPDATED**
The complaint cites Crossroads GPS, co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove; Americans For Prosperity, supported by the billionaire industrialists David and Charles Koch; and 60 Plus, which bills itself as the senior citizens’ conservative alternative to AARP. The three groups have all told the IRS they are social welfare organizations, just like thousands of local civic groups and definitely not political committees. Canter said they’ve collectively spent about $22 million attacking Democrats in Senate races this cycle. – Democrats Say Anonymous Donors Unfairly Influencing Senate Races [NPR]
BUYING AMERICAN ELECTIONS has now become possible due to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. However, the nakedness by which it’s being done is alarming and as usual it’s Republicans who have managed to rig the game in their favor. Democrats just aren’t as good at this stuff and in 2012 it could make the difference, not just in the presidential race that is currently deadlocked, but tipping the Senate to Republicans as well. That’s why the Obama administration has already filed a complaint, and now the DSCC is filing a complaint to stop the onslaught they’re facing, because they believe Republican groups are flouting election law.
Roll Call reports on just how wide and deep Crossroads GPS, the so-called “social welfare” arm of Rove’s machine, as well as American Crossroads, the Super PAC, will be involved to turn the Senate over to Republicans, but also what amounts to a slush fund of cash he controls, which is being mimicked in other anonymously funded Republican-aligned groups like the Koch Bros. and 60 Plus.
American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS spent a total of $70 million during the 2010 cycle, including $50 million on Senate races and $20 million on House contests. This year, their proposed $70 million expenditure on the Senate represents less than a quarter of a planned $300 million budget that includes a heavy focus on the presidential race and limited investment in House races. Last cycle, the National Republican Senatorial Committee spent about $105 million. [Roll Call]
It’s hard to imagine anyone believing Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS is an innocent “non-political,” “social welfare” organization and not a political committee. On NPR, the spokesman for Rove’s group claimed their ads simply utilize the First Amendment to talk about unemployment and government overspending, trying to make the case that it would be censorship to disallow what they’re doing. But as you’ll see in the ads below by Crossroads GPS, they don’t just talk about issues, they target Democrats while doing it.
“These groups’ major purpose is to influence elections,” said the complaint filed by DSCC Executive Director Guy Cecil. “These organizations are actually claiming that they are no more political than a church, a synagogue, or even the American Cancer Society. It is patently absurd and we certainly expect that the FEC would take action.” – Koch and Rove Groups Facing New Legal Challenge from Democrats [Bloomberg]
Would you believe the Koch Bros. would anonymously give millions of their money to a “social welfare” group like Americans for Prosperity, which can legally hide their involvement and massive donations, with altruism as their guide? A report back in May revealed the Koch Bros’ association with AFP raised over $55 million for the 2010 election, which delivered a Republican Congress. Oh, and of course, the Koch Bros. expected nothing in return. This graphic outlines how Joe Sestak along with other Democrats were targeted through anonymous multi-millionaire donations. Are we to believe the Koch Bros. simply want to dump millions of dollars into ads for the welfare of society, without getting political payback for it by electing more Tea Party conservatives?
A group called 60 Plus doesn’t get much attention for their “social welfare” advocacy, but it’s interesting to note that they have no “dues paying members.” Here’s what appears at the bottom of a letter sent to the House Ways and Means Committee:
The 60 Plus Association is a 19-year-old nonpartisan organization working for death tax repeal, saving Social Security, affordable prescription drugs, lowering energy costs and other issues featuring a less government, less taxes approach as well as a strict adherence to the Constitution. 60 Plus calls on support from over 7 million activists. 60 Plus publishes a newsletter, SENIOR VOICE, and a Scorecard, bestowing awards on lawmakers of both parties who vote “prosenior.” 60 Plus has been called, “an increasingly influential senior citizen’s group” and since 1992 “the conservative alternative to the AARP.”
“Saving Social Security” is a red flag, especially when it comes with the chaser of “less taxes approach.” It’s why the ultra conservative Pat Boone is one of their spokesmen. Oh, and let’s not forget it’s all done in “a strict adherence to the Constitution.”
So, how is this “conservative alternative” to AARP funded? From the same letter referenced above:
Technically, it is true 60 Plus has no ‘dues paying members’. From its creation, no dues have been assessed to any person wishing to be affiliated with 60 Plus, because many of the over 7 million senior activists we represent are on limited incomes, and so many of them struggle daily to meet the costs of basic living. Therefore, we do not feel that they must ‘pay to play’; even the poorest seniors amongst us deserve to have their voices heard and their interests considered. [...] [Sincerely, Roger H. Zion - Former Member of Congress 1967-1975 Evansville, IN]
We are to believe 60 Plus simply “publishes a newsletter, SENIOR VOICE, and a Scorecard, bestowing awards on lawmakers of both parties who vote ‘prosenior’” and does all this work for 7 million “senior activists” for the “social welfare” of America. Who pays for the messaging of “saving Social Security” and the “less taxes approach” advertising?
If 60 Plus, along with Rove and the Koch Bros’ groups, couldn’t use the “social welfare” label they’d have to disclose their donors, making a lot of very rich Republicans, Sheldon Adelson perhaps, a lot more squeamish about forking over tens of millions of dollars, because they’d be named.
Anonymity is the linchpin leading to large amounts of cash, with “social welfare” the scrim behind which Rove, the Koch Bros., 60 Plus and other groups hide while acting very much like a political committee.
NPR’s report today on the brazen tactics being utilized by Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, and AFP, as well as groups like 60 Plus:
At Crossroads GPS, spokesman Jonathan Collegio said their ads talk about things like unemployment and government overspending. “Those are all issues and advertising that’s protected by the First Amendment, and it would … be de facto censorship for the government to stop that type of advocacy from taking place,” says Collegio. And on Fox News recently, Rove said the Crossroads organization is prepared to defend itself and its donors’ anonymity. “We have some of the best lawyers in the country, both on the tax side and on the political side, political election law, to make certain that we never get close to the line that would push us into making GPS a political group as opposed to a social welfare organization,” says Rove.
Few voters are aware of the legal distinctions when they watch a negative ad. Is that a “social welfare” spot or a political committee targeting a Democratic politician? No one asks if the negative ads they’re watching are legal under election law. By the time the dust has cleared the ad has done its job and no one really cares whether it’s being done fairly and legally. It’s confusing as hell even for professionals.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s director Matt Canter was on NPR explaining what’s happening, announcing the DSCC complaint with the FEC “accusing a trio of ‘social welfare’ groups of actually being political committees.” From the complaint:
Each group shields its donors from disclosure by disavowing political committee status under FECA, and claiming exemption from tax under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. None has a legitimate claim. On June 27, The Wall Street Journal reported: “The Internal Revenue Service is taking initial steps to examine whether Crossroads GPS, a pro-Republican group affiliated with Karl Rove, and similar political entities are violating their tax-exempt status by spending too much on partisan activities.”
Crossroads’ application for (c)(4) exemption remains pending, and the IRS’s recent disposition of similar claims by other groups raises the
likelihood that it will be denied on the grounds of its massive political activity.Outrageously, 60 Plus and AFP each told the Internal Revenue Service on its 2010 Form 990 that it engaged in no direct or indirect activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates at all during the bulk of the 2010 cycle.
These claims are risible on their face, given what is known publicly about these groups’ activities.
These examples below are considered “social welfare” ads by Rove’s Crossroads GPS, allowing them to accept anonymous donations from Republican fat cats to help them get on the air, while looking an awful lot like the actions of a political committee instead. They’re going to run for 10 days in battleground states, with “issue advocacy” how Rove’s Crossroads GPS gets to keep its donors secret and the millions upon millions undisclosed, while slamming Democrats under the cloak of “social welfare,” which the Obama administration and now the DSCC calls political committee actions.
Crossroads GPS is a 501(c)4 nonprofit group, meaning most of its money must be spent on issue advocacy. As such, it does not disclose the identities of its donors; its sister group, the American Crossroads super PAC, does. – ABC News
The ad below is from Karl Rove’s Super PAC, American Crossroads, a registered political committee, which can target politicians openly. See if you can tell the difference in the ad below, which is political, and the ads above that are considered “social welfare” or “issue advocacy” ads.
Can you tell the difference in motive, “social welfare” versus “political committee”? The purpose is the same and I’d say the distinction is without much of a difference in these particular ads.
Democrats now have a federal appeals court ruling behind them to make sure the distinction is honored. Again from NPR:
But last month, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., said the FEC has the power to tell a social welfare organization that it’s advertising like a political committee and it has to play by those rules.
The Supreme Court unleashed anonymous donations legally and in large amounts, with all sorts of ways to keep donors giving without being named. Karl Rove, the Koch Bros., and 60 Plus are mining it for election gold, while Democrats fight to keep up and make Republicans follow the law.
Meanwhile, the buying of the 2012 election by an elite group of unknown, anonymous millionaires is underway, while the American electorate sits watching the negative ads fly by getting madder and madder at a system they don’t even understand in a country that no longer belongs to them.
image via Shutterstock
An article in the NYT a few days ago talked about the IRS’s reluctance to go after increasingly political clergy and their churches. Mr. Holder and his useless justice department have sat back until the last minute and let one state after another enact one voter ID law after another. If Obama’s own administration is so cowed by the republicans and their corporate benefactors, what on earth do the democrats think the FEC is going to do.
Maybe we should just go ahead and make it official: the WH is open to the highest bidder. Along with Cognress, of course. And by way of confirmation by those who bought the WH and the seats in Congress, SCOTUS.
The purpose of the last ad is to criticize Obama directly, where the others criticize other politicians for supporting him.
How that makes one political, but the others educational, I have no idea. There’s no educational value to any of them.
Joyce – ChuckG wrote something similar & I’m going to tell you what I wrote to him. You’re making a false equivalency on this one. Republicans are going well beyond what Dems are doing in this instance & they don’t have near the money in the mix on “social welfare” orgs or Super PACS either.
The complaints by Dems are justified.
Cujo359 – Thanks for answering that question. I could not agree more.
Complaints by Dems might be justified, but that said, I still feel as if we only have a choice between Republicans Lite (formerly known as the Democratic Party and now who unofficially represent the “moderate” wing of the Republican Party) and Republicans Hard (right-wing nuts who make Barry Goldwater look like a liberal).
They collectively belong to the Party of the Almighty Dollar, with the Hard guys bending the rules more than the Lite guys.
The rest of us are just collectively screwed.
Hey, there’s no way to argue against that larger point, which Joyce makes every day, as do I.
This is just one of those times that two separate issues must be held at once, with both equally valid.
As a political analyst it’s my job to separate truly important things happening that must be considered on their own merit. These complaints are valid and the issues they raise against what Republicans are doing are critical to assess by themselves and beyond what we all know to be true generally.
Sounds more like sour grapes to me and likely wouldn’t be an issue but for the fact that the conservative leaning groups are raising more money. An objective observer might conclude that the progressive oriented groups aren’t raising as much money because their message does not resonate with the voters. One might futhur conclude that this is a sign that 2012 is going to be another washout for the Democrats and that they have to resort to legal challenges because they are losing in the court of public opinion.
Interesting, PWT, but that ignores the corporate money being dumped in, which has absolutely nothing to do with “losing in the court of public opinion.”
The Koch Bros alone are the 3rd wealthiest corp. group in the country. That buys a lot of astroturfing masquerading as grass roots.
This goes well beyond “conservative leaning groups,” as far as I’ve been able to research. It’s the top 1% making sure their guy is in the White House so they’ll benefit.
But there’s reason to question whether Democrats would be going after Rove, Koch, 60 Plus if Democratic corporate honchos were similarly invested, which they are not.
Yes, it just so happens that this time around, unlike 2008, ‘their guy’ is a Republican.
Yes, Citizens United changed things, but, even if the ruling had been in effect for the 2008 election, I think that Mr. Obama would still have far outraised Mr. McCain.