In 2005, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) funneled $870k through the American Justice Partnership (AJP) to American Tort Reform, according to the 2005 AJP 990.  Another $451k went to pay a "service fee". Total AJP expenditures were only $1.7 milllion.

Was AJP set up in 2005 to facilitate NAM's contribution to American Tort Reform? Is NAM legally prohibited from contributing directly to American Tort Reform?

The answer could, in part,  depend on which American Tort Reform received the $870k, the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) which is a 501(c)(6) or the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRAF), a 501(c)(3).

This is not the first time that I have suspected NAM of disguising illegal contributions. Last year, I speculated here in the TPM Cafe about whether the 2004 $650k grant made by Grover Norquist's Americans For Tax Reform to the National Alliance for Worker and Employer Rights (NAWER) was funded by NAM. NAM is prohibited from contributing directly to NAWER by law.

Dan Pero of Pero Consulting Incorporated and Steve Nowlan of Agincourt  Corporation are featured as leaders on the AJP website. Neither man is mentioned on the ATRA website but. according to its 2005 990, ATRAF paid $290k to Agincourt and $243k to Pero Consulting that year.

Dan Pero is a well-known GOP operative. From his AJP bio:

"... He was recently named Michigan’s best Republican political consultant of the past 50 years by the Michigan Political History Society.

In 2004, he was executive director of the highly successful state legal reform effort that has since become the American Justice Partnership, an affiliate of the National Manufacturers Association...



He was a founding partner of Sterling Corporation, a public affairs, issues management and political consulting firm based in Lansing, MI.  His clients included a diverse range of highly-respected business organizations, companies and political campaigns, including ...Bush-Cheney ’04."

More to come.