After less than two weeks of <a href="http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/04/american-future-fund-iowa-futu.php">intense scrutiny</a> from the blogosphere, Iowa Republicans abandoned the Iowa Future Fund and created the Iowa Progress Project.

From the 4/10/08 Iowa Progress Project <a href="http://iowaprogressproject.com/">press release</a>:

Des Moines, IA -- Iowa Progress Project announced today its formal organization and outlined its goals and objectives in the near and long-term.

President David Kochel said, "Iowa Progress Project is the direct result of the response thousands of Iowans have had to ads and issues highlighted by the Iowa Future Fund. While the Iowa Future Fund has been very effective at highlighting important issues in our state, what was also abundantly clear is that a grassroots-centered conservative issues organization is also needed in this state. IPP will provide citizens from all corners of Iowa a voice in their community and state."

IPP announced the following Board of Directors for the organization:

President: David Kochel
Director: Kathy Pearson
Director: Gary Grant

Be sure to to check the comments here for more on the Iowa Progress Project!

(Crossposted at Daily Kos) 

Everyone in the know agrees that 501(c)(4)s are this year's 527s. David Corn called them the new mudslingers and Paul Kiel wonders which one will emerge as the successor to Swift Boat Vets. Last week, I posted here about two new ones, American Future Fund and Iowa Future Fund, being operated by Holtzman Vogel.

501(c)(4)s are supposed to be non-profit social organizations as defined by the IRS. Key is the fact that donors can secretly contribute unlimited amounts of money. Campaigning is limited to adressing issues but that leaves a lot of leeway for abuse.

The story behind the Progressive Policy Council is an easy-to-follow textbook example of how a 501(c)(4) Republican front operates.

On October 30, 2006, Paul Kiel at the TPM Muckraker asked his readers for help in identifying the people behind the Progressive Policy Council's campaign mailer. The mailer compared the similiarities of the views held by Rick Santorum on certain social issues like gay marriage  with those of Bob Casey and was meant to discourage Democrats from turning out to vote in the senate race.

The next day, Kiel identified Jason Torchinsky, an attorney with Holtzman Vogel, as the one who registered the Progressive Policy Council in Virginia in June 2006.

Torchinsky, along with his bosses, Alex N. Vogel and his wife, Jill Holzman Vogel, are among the dirtiest of dirty Republican operatives. Along with Mark "Thor" hearne, they operated the American Center For Voting Rights and the Free Enterprise Coalition through which they promoted the suppression of Democratic voters by disenfranchisment, redistricting schemes and other hardball tactics.

(See Sourcewatch's entry for the Progressive Policy Council for more information and links.)

For quite awhile, Torchinsky was the only name linked to the Progessive Policy Council. At some point, however, the Virginia corporate registration was changed to include the names of the officers.

Surprise, surprise! All three officers are Republican consultants:

Mike Devanney
Craign Snyder
Corrin Merritt

Devanny is based in Pennsylvania and previously worked on Bill Scranton's failed governor campaign.

Snyder and Merritt are partners in a political consulting firm, Ikon Public Affairs.

The Progressive Policy Council 990 tax return was not filed until November 2007, long after the 2006 election. The delay underscores another problem with 5019(c)(4)s, untimely information.

The Council reported $255k in revenue. $85k was paid to the officers and $117k was spent on postage and mailings which left $1k in the bank at the end of June 2006.

The Council was dissolved as a corporation in June 2007.

The Progressive Policy does appear to have engaged in any activity other than sending out those campaign mailers. It was clearly an election day scam but it was legal. And that's the problem.  

(Crossposted from Daily Kos without links)

As David Corn at Mother Jones recently wrote, "the current presidential contest promises to be more cacophonous and mud strewn than any in recent history, with a record number of down-and-dirty ads financed on the sly by big-money interests." But the big money and dirty tricks aren't confined to presidential politics this year.

American Future Fund (AFF) is running ads in support of Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) and Iowa Future Fund (IFF)is running ads against Governor Chet Culver (D-Iowa)and there has been speculation in the media as to who is behind AFF and IFF. Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker posted about AFF and IFF and the Des Moines Register and Minnesota NPR among others have run stories about the two entities.

Last week, Minnesota Democrats filed an FEC complaint against American Future Fund.

I reviewed AFF and IFF documents filed with the Iowa Secretary of State on 8/7/07 and the incorporator is Jessica Young at 98 Alexandria Pike, Ste 53, in Warrenton, VA. That is the address of Holtzman Vogel, a law firm owned by two very influential and well-known Republican operatives, Alex N. Vogel and his wife, Jill Holtzman Vogel.

americanfuturefund.com and iowafuturefund.com were both registered privately on 10/19/07 and the youtube accounts were opened on 2/25/08 and 2/26/08.

Although AFF and IFF were registered as non-profits in Iowa and have been referred to as 501(c)(4)s, neither corporation is listed in the IRS non-profit database. As 501(c)(4)s, AFF and IFF would not be required to disclose donor names and would only file annual 990s with the IRS.

On 2/7/08, an Eric Peterson filed a fictitious name resolution in order for Iowa Future Fund to do business as "IFF". Peterson listed himself as IFF president, secretary and director but no address or phone number was provided.

Jessica Young as IFF incorporator has the power to appoint directors so I assume she appointed Eric Peterson. But Young isn't talking. I called her at Holtzman Vogel and was referred instead to an attorney named Teresa who told me that it was the firm's policy to keep client matters confidential. When I pointed out that HV seemed to be the client, she refused to comment.

Alex and Jill Holtzman Vogel along with Mark "Thor" Hearne, were behind American Center For Voting Rights, another GOP front set up for the despicable purpose of disenfranchising poor and minority voters. After reviewing the 990s filed with the IRS by ACVR, I realized that the law firms and consultants were the big winners. Holtzman Vogel, Lathrop  Gage,  Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, Squire Sanders & Dempsey and Jim Dyke & Associates all took in big fat fees.

According to Stu Rothenberg at the Rothenberg Report, Republican operatives Ben Ginsberg and Edward T. Tobin III are also involved in IFF and AFF. Ginsberg, former counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign, is a partner in Patton Boggs's public policy and lobbying group. Tobin, former executive director of the Republican Governors Association, is a partner in Wilmer Hale's fairly new Public Policy and Strategy Group.

David Kochel has acknowledged that he isan IFF advisor but refuses to say anything more. Kochel, a former Iowa Republican Party director, was most recently an advisor to the ill-fated Romney campaign and he advised Lamar Alexander in 2000. Kochel, along with Jennifer Dean, owns JDK Marketing and Public Affairs.

Who is Eric Peterson, Iowa Future Fund president, secretary and director? One guess is that he is Eric Peterson, Summit Farms business manager. A 2007 Iowa State U. grad, Peterson donated $2k to Rudy Giuliani in December as did other Summit Farms employees along with Peterson's employer, wealthy Iowan businessman, Bruce Rastetter.

Bruce Rastetter, a big Republican donor, owns Hawkeye Renewables which owns and operates four ethanol plants in Iowa. Last September, the Washington Post ran a story, "Corn Farms Prosper But Subsidies Still Flow" which mentioned Rastetter and his well-attended summer bash:

"On a once quiet highway west of Iowa Falls, a constant stream of tractor-trailers pound the road, hauling corn to the Hawkeye Renewables ethanol refinery and soybeans to Cargill Inc.'s biodiesel plant.

To celebrate a banner year, Hawkeye founder and chief executive Bruce Rastetter pulled out the stops for his annual midsummer bash. Several hundred politicians, businessmen and farmers mingled at his richly landscaped hilltop estate, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) made his entrance in a wagon pulled by Rastetter's team of Percheron draft horses.."

Rastetter himself is politically ambitious and considered running against Senator Tom Harkin this year.

Wanderindiana and I (actually mostly wanderindiana) came up with a list of donors who all contributed to Norm Coleman on 10/24/07. Rastetter contributed $2k as did his brother, Brent Rastetter and business partners J. D. Schlieman and Kent Krause. Robin Sampson and Todd Steen, Rastetter employees, also contributed to Coleman.

Iowan businessman, Roger Underwood and ISB banker, Alan Rosendahl contributed to Coleman. So did Ken Mehlman, now at Akin Gump, and Ken's brother, Bruce Mehlman, at Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti.

Is Bruce Rastetter, a least in part, funding Iowa Future Fund and American Future Fund? It would certainly suit him politically to do so because he can keep the extent of his financial support of the Republican Party secret. Rastetter seems to be a practical guy in that he just made his first ever contribution to a Democrat, $25k to Gov. Culver. I doubt if Rastetter would want the governor to know he is funding ads criticizing him.

While the activities of American Future Fund and Iowa Future Fund have been limited to Iowa and Minnesota to date, there is every reason to think that AFF will expand its operations, given the big money names involved in it.

From today's New York Sun story, "Prostitution Case Features Prosecutors of Corruption":

During a court hearing in the case, at which the four people were arraigned, it emerged that all three of the assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the prosecution are part of the U.S. attorney's public corruption unit. One is the bureau's chief, Boyd Johnson III. The unit investigates wrongdoing by both elected and nonelected officials and bureaucrats at various levels of government

Why was the federal public corruption unit investigating a prostitute ring? Was Spitzer the target all along?

I've long wondered about the real story behind the New Square Four pardon and whether it had the potential to bite Hillary Clinton on the ass if she became the presidential nominee. To me, the New Square Four pardon was every bit as scandalous as Marc Rich's.

The gist of the story is that Bill Clinton reduced the sentences of four residents of the the Hasidic village of New Square in Rockland County NY on his last day in office. The four men had swindled the government out of $40 million in student grants, small-business loans and housing subsidies. The men had only been convicted in 1999 but Clinton still substantially shortened their sentences.

In August 2000 during her senate campaign, Hillary held a meeting in New Square which was arranged by Paul Adler, Rockland County Democratic Chairman and Clinton confidante. During the '90s, Adler was a White House guest and he worked closely with Hillary Clinton during her campaign. Adler was subsequently convicted on corruption charges in February 2001.

I found an excellent recap of the New Square Four pardon on the Jewish Sightseeing website:

Washington (special) --Not only is U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White of New York concerned about former President Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich -- in whose behalf many Jewish leaders in Israel and the United States made pleas--she also is looking into the clemency granted four Chasidim who were convicted of obtaining federal funds by fraud.
Kalmen Stern, David Goldstein, Benjamin Berger and Jacob Elbaum, residents of the Chasidic village of New Square, had been convicted in 1999 on charges of swindling the government of $40 million in student grants, small-business loans and housing subsidies. They were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 30 months to 78 months.

Berger's sentence was reduced by Clinton from 30 months to 24 months, while Stern, Goldstein and Elbaum received reductions to 30 months.

The four men are followers of Rabbi David Twersky, the Skverer rebbe, who participated in an enthusiastic town reception last Aug. 7 for Hillary Clinton in her U.S. Senate campaign against Republican Rick Lazio. Mrs. Clinton subsequently received the votes of 1,359 New Square residents, compared to only 10 for Lazio. This contrasted with the votes in the Nov. 7 election of Chasidim in the nearby villages of Kiryas Joel and Kaser, which together favored Lazio over Mrs. Clinton by a margin of 3,480-152.

Since the furor erupted over the grants of clemency, Senator Clinton has said that the issue did not come up during the August campaign stop in New Square, located about 20 miles north of New York City in Rockland County. However, the New York Post, quoting unidentified sources, has reported that the matter in fact was discussed either during the visit in which Mrs. Clinton met with both Rabbi Twersky and his wife, or closer to the election. The newspaper identified Paul Adler, then a Rockland County Democratic party official, as a behind-the-scenes player. Adler since has been indicted by federal officials on an unrelated corruption charge.

Prior to the election, a letter from President Clinton was posted in the main synagogue in which he said he looked forward to making his own visit to New Square someday.

On Dec. 22, Rabbi Twersky and the deputy mayor of New Square, Izzy Spitzer, met President Bill Clinton and then Senator-elect Clinton in the White House Map Room, where the issue of clemency was discussed, along with other issues like the Middle East peace process and education, according to Rabbi Mayer Schiller, a spokesman for New Square.

What White is probing is whether clemency was promised before Mrs. Clinton was elected to the Senate, in exchange for a promise by the Chasidic leaders to urge a bloc vote for Mrs. Clinton's candidacy.--Donald H. Harrison

On 2/11/08, Greg Sargent <a href="http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/sources_hillary_to_be_endorsed.php">reported</a> that former Senator John Glen was going to endorse Senator Clinton.

No endorsement from Glen to date. Maybe Clinton did her homework and realized that an endorsement from one of the Keating Five was not in her best interest. Another member of <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five">the Keating Five</a>, of course, is John McCain.
 

Long time, no post.