Patriot Majority

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kobach
5/17
Ever since Indiana State Police raided a voter registration office in Indiana and effectively shut down a voter registration drive aimed at getting African-American voters to the polls, there have been a lot of unanswered questions.
Among the biggest: What actually initiated the state police investigation? What was the motivation? What happens to the thousands of legitimate registration forms submitted through the voter registration drive under investigation?
Here’s what we know.
On Oct. 4, the Indiana State Police executed a search warrant and raided the Indiana Voter Registration Project’s office. They took phones, paperwork and computers as evidence in their investigation into alleged voter fraud.
The raid and subsequent statements about the case by the state police have received a lot of media coverage in Indiana, and nationally. “State Police raid Indy office in growing voter fraud case” read the headline in the state’s largest newspaper, the Indianapolis Star. Another one from the Star: “Top Indiana election official alleges more voter fraud.” The case has also been followed by the Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times and The New Republic.
Exactly what sparked that initial raid, however, is still murky. The LA Times reported the investigation had been “prompted by a tip” and that a Hendricks County Clerk had reported 10 suspicious voter registrations that had “signatures on some forms” that “did not match images in a county database.”
The New Republic reported at the end of September that Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson had sent a message to state election officials that “unfortunately, it has recently come to my attention that nefarious actors are operating here in Indiana.”
Lawson also cited 10 voter registration forms she believed were fraudulently filled out and turned in by the Indiana Voter Registration Project, a group that focused on African-American voter registration and was under the umbrella of the D.C.-based group Patriot Majority. But, it was is unclear if she was referring to the same 10 that the Hendricks County clerk was referring to.
To be clear, under Indiana law, canvassers have to turn in all forms – even ones that are partially filled our or are suspect. Patriot Majority spokesman Bill Buck explained to TPM that the protocol is for someone from the voter registration drive to flag the forms in question to a local election official. It’s unclear if the 10 questionable voting forms referred to by Lawson were also flagged by the Indiana Voter Registration Project.
On Oct. 6, Indiana State Police announced that they were going to expand their investigation from nine to 57 counties in the state. A local NBC affiliate reported that officials believed the number of voter registration forms that could have errors “could number in the hundreds.”
There was no evidence given or further explanation into what the forms in question included.
Buck told TPM their group has little information about how widespread alleged errors are or even what kinds of errors investigators were looking into. Patriot Majority has also been arguing that Indiana’s voter rolls contain inaccuracies in themselves that may help to explain why some of the voter registration forms they turned in did not match up with the state records.
“Hundreds of thousands of the Indiana Voter File records are inaccurate, duplicative, outdated, erroneous, invalid, inconsistent, and/or clearly the product of poor data management by Republican Secretary of State Connie Lawson,” Patriot Majority said in a statement this week.
Intensifying the tensions even more, Indiana’s top cop Doug Carter went on WRTV in Indiana last week and said “there’s voter fraud and voter forgery in every state of America,” but he wouldn’t reveal what evidence he had to make such a claim.
“Carter refused to provide details about how many instances of voter fraud police have found, or the exact nature of the fraud — whether investigators found, for example, cases of people registering to vote multiple times or whether those ineligible to vote tried to register,” the LA Times wrote.
That has worried voting rights advocates who say a state police investigation shortly before an election could have chilling effects on voting as well as perpetuating a false belief that voter fraud is widespread. It is not. Studies have found actual instances of voter fraud are exceedingly rare.
“I don’t want to allow the specter of fraud to be so overblown that it justifies policies that are a disproportionate response and disenfranchise voters needlessly,” said Myrna Perez, the deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy ProgramIn response to the media storm and very public battle over the case, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry asked Wednesday that the Indiana State Police stop talking about the investigation, which he argued could be jeopardized by the widespread discussions of “voter fraud” that were being tossed around.

The biggest question remaining, however, is what will happen to the 45,000 individuals the Indiana Voting Project registered.
Perez argued that anyone who registered to vote should still go to their polling place and vote. If they aren’t on the rolls, they should fill out a provisional ballot, but again, the fear of not actually being registered could be a deterrent for voters and something that advocates want to avoid.
Before the Indiana State Police stopped commenting on the investigation Wednesday, Dave Bursten, the chief public information officer for Indiana State Police told Think Progress that what happens to each of the registrants “will be up to each prosecutor to review the completed investigation and take whatever action they, as the local prosecuting authority, deem appropriate.”
“Investigations of this nature are complicated and can take an extended period of time to complete,” he added.
In other words, no one really knows.
ABOUT THE AUTHORLauren Fox Lauren Fox is a reporter at Talking Points Memo.=<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.issueone.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-outside-spending.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.issueone.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-outside-spending.pdf</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">s Democrats and Republicans battled for dominance in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2018, super PACs and dark money groups collectively outspent the candidates’ own campaigns in a recordbreaking 16 races, according to data provided to Issue One by the Center for Responsive Politics. Control of the House and Senate for the next two years was determined by a small number of elections in 2018. </div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Super PACs and dark money groups focused most of their spending in these races. Democrats needed a net gain of 23 seats to win a majority in the House and a net gain of two seats to win control of the Senate. Democrats ultimately flipped the House, but Republicans added one seat to their majority in the Senate. The new data shows that candidates were outspent by outside groups in seven Senate races and nine House races. </div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This amounted to more than half of the 13 competitive Senate contests and about 10 percent of the House races ranked as competitive by the Cook Political Report. Non-candidate, non-party groups have now outspent candidates in 48 congressional races since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, with one-third of that total occurring in 2018. </div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This phenomenon occurred 11 times in 2016, and only once in 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. “When outside groups are spending more than candidates are on their own campaigns, we’re in the danger zone,” said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. “This is especially troubling because so much of this money purchases negative TV ads. A political system this broken means that fewer people consider running for office, good leaders retire early, and those who continue serving frequently spend too much of their time raising money. This startling development should worry Democrats, Republican...</div><div>
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</a><a href="http://patriotmajority.org/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">Patriot Majority USA</a> was founded in 2005 by Democratic political strategist <a href="http://www.varoga.us/page.php?id=94510" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">Craig Varog</a><a href="http://www.varoga.us/page.php?id=94510" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">a</a>, who managed former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s presidential campaign in the 2008 election and was national field director for Gen. Wesley Clark’s 2004 campaign. Varoga is also the group’s president.

The 501(c)(4) organization focuses on economic issues, and, according to an e-mail Varoga sent to us, it “has a multi-year plan to promote policies at the local, state and federal levels that create jobs and help develop the American economy.” Its website also <a href="http://patriotmajority.org/about" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">says</a> that the organization “endorses the patriotic observation of President Theodore Roosevelt, who noted, ‘A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy.’ ”

Patriot Majority also has a 527 organization, and it spent nearly $4 million in the 2010 election cycle and $8 million in 2008, according to data compiled by the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail.php?ein=203985568&cycle=2010" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">Center for Responsive Politics</a>. It has received a lot of its donations from unions, including a total of <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?cycle=2008&ein=203985568" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">$5.8 million in 2008</a> from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. AFSCME gave <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?cycle=2010&ein=203985568" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">$500,000 in 2010</a>, when top donors also included the Service Employees International Union and the advocacy group <a href="http://www.americavotes.org/about" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">America Votes</a>. The 527 has been much less active in 2011. A<a href="http://forms.irs.gov/politicalOrgsSearch/search/Print.action?formId=60359&formType=E72" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">midyear report</a> filed with the IRS said the organization spent $20,342 and received only $1,470 for the first half of 2011.

Varoga said the group would not discuss its fundraising goals for the 2012 cycle, and the 501(c)(4) does not have to disclose its donors. The website says that in 2011, the group will “oppose fiscal policies that would end Medicare as we know it and destabilize America’s economic recovery.” And in July, the group spent $150,000 to air two ads that <a href="http://factcheck.org/2011/07/medicare-misrepresentation/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">distorted</a> a Republican House plan to change Medicare. The TV spots were aimed at countering messages from the conservative Crossroads GPS.

There’s also a <a href="http://patriotmajority.us/about" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">Patriot Majority political action committee</a>, which was launched in October 2009 and spent <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cmte=C00469890&cycle=2010" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">$3.3 million in the 2010 election</a>, again with the help of AFSCME money. Contributions also came from the SEIU Committee on Political Education, VoteVets.org Action Fund and MGM Resorts International. The PAC spent nearly <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/indexpend.php?cmte=C00469890&cycle=2010" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">$1.9 million</a> advocating against Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle in Nevada. For the first half of 2011, the PAC<a href="http://images.nictusa.com/pdf/241/11931529241/11931529241.pdf#navpanes=0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; transition: 0.2s ease;">reported to the Federal Election Commission</a> that it had received just $10,000 from the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin.

...shape shifter:

<div style="margin: 5px 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The first iteration of the group, Patriot Majority for a Stronger America, began as the 501(c)(4) <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/625583-patriot-majority-for-a-stronger-america-2006.html" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Midwest Alliance for Better Government</a> in 2006. It shut its doors in 2009. Meanwhile, though, another (c)(4), <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/676996-patriot-majority-ii-american-alliance-for.html" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">American Alliance for Economic Development</a>, had been formed in 2008 with the same employees — none of whom drew a salary — at the same address. (It was also the same address that Citizens for Strength and Security Action Fund, the group discussed above, would use in later FEC filings.)

In 2010, American Alliance <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/676997-patriot-majority-ii-name-change-2010.html#document/p1/a98947" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">changed its name</a> to Patriot Majority USA. Then, as OpenSecrets Blog reported last year, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/08/patriot-majority.html" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Patriot Majority USA gave large sums of money to two politically active, liberal 501(c)(4)s</a> — <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=America+Votes" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">America Votes</a> and <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=VoteVets.org" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">VoteVets</a>. Both of these groups then gave large grants to Patriot Majority’s own political 527 account. In essence, money appears to have gone from Patriot Majority USA’s nondisclosing social welfare account through two other social welfare groups, ultimately making its way into Patriot Majority’s 527 account.

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</a>In 2011, Patriot Majority USA began using a P.O. box as its mailing address, then <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/625581-patriot-majority-usa-2011-termination.html#document/p1/a96383" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">filed a termination report</a>. The same year, another 501(c)(4) called Patriot Majority USA — housed at that very same P.O. box, boasting the same board, and even listing the terminated Patriot Majority USA as an affiliate — filed <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/625580-patriot-majority-usa-2011-new.html" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">its initial tax return</a>. It would be Patriot Majority USA version 3.0 that would end up being the first to report to the FEC making direct, political expenditures — rather than passing the money first through a super PAC or 527.  </div>

<div style="margin: 5px 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The latest iteration of Patriot Majority USA was very active in the 2012 campaign season, telling the FEC it spent $7 million on ads. Yet despite the fact that it is not supposed to be primarily a political organization, it doesn’t appear to have done much since the elections. Its <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/patriotmajorityusa/videos?flow=grid&view=0" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">YouTube page</a> has not been updated in the six months since early November, and <a href="http://www.patriotmajority.org/" style="text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">its homepage</a> — which, structurally, has been virtually unchanged through the last two versions of the organization — has been stripped down to bare-bones auto-updating content such as a sidebar of “this day in history” facts. </div>

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