Alliance for America's Future

<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">taken over b y rove gps:<div class="entry-content" style="margin: 5px 0px; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(33, 43, 74); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">One of the most active groups in the 2016 cycle wasn’t a super PAC — though those were plenty busy — but a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, One Nation. From mid-2015 through 2016, the group spent about $40 million in a largely successful push to protect the GOP’s fragile majority in the Senate. And it did so without disclosing a single donor to the public.This was One Nation’s first election in its current form, but the group <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/05/roves-new-group-isnt-new-and-that-could-be-the-point/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">is not new</a>. Founded in 2010 as the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2010&strID=C90011628" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Alliance for America’s Future</a>, it had been dormant for years until operatives from another dark money powerhouse, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/02/how-crossroads-gps-beat-the-irs-and-became-a-social-welfare-group/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Crossroads GPS</a>, took over last year.
Under new management and a new name, One Nation’s revenues went from nothing <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3220899-One-Nation-2015-990.html#document/p1/a328462" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">to more than $10 million</a>, according to newly filed tax documents obtained by the <a href="http://opensecrets.org/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Center for Responsive Politics</a> that cover 2015. (One Nation’s tax filing covering its 2016 activities isn’t due until November 2017.)More than 61 percent of those revenues came from just <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3220899-One-Nation-2015-990.html#document/p25/a328477" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">four anonymous donors</a> who gave $1 million or more; one topped out at $2.5 million.Politically active nonprofits like One Nation are not supposed to be primarily focused on political activity. But a mixture of lax oversight, unclear rules and the best lawyers in the country have allowed some of these groups <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/08/study-outside-groups-secret-money-far-more-prominent-than-ever-before/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">to spend much of their time and money politicking</a> without significant risk of penalty.One Nation’s ad buys through August 2016 alone were enough to rank it 27th on a list of the top 50 outside spending groups (including super PACs) that have aired the most ads since 2000, according to <a href="http://mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/blog/disclosure-report/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">a report published</a> by the <a href="http://mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Wesleyan Media Project</a> and <a href="http://opensecrets.org/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">CRP</a> in August.Despite having millions of dollars in the bank, One Nation has <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3220899-One-Nation-2015-990.html#document/p1/a328487" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">no employees and no volunteers</a>. Of the $7 million it spent in 2015, 78 percent went to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3220899-One-Nation-2015-990.html#document/p8/a328488" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">two media firms</a> that specialize in political ads. The vendor that received the bulk of those payments, Main Street Media Group, counted among its top clients this year two super PACs — <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00571703&cycle=2016" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Senate Leadership Fund</a> and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00580381&cycle=2016" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Granite State Solutions</a> — that are run by the same people who operate One Nation.While both super PACs were required to report their spending to the Federal Election Commission throughout the election cycle, One Nation was not. Its ads in 2015 all referenced Republican senators in tight races, but they were framed as so-called “issue ads” — supposedly advertisements aimed at educating the public or mobilizing grassroots support for an issue. Those don’t have to be reported to the FEC except when they air shortly before an election — 30 days or less in the case of a primary, 60 or fewer prior to a general. Politically active nonprofits increasingly spend the bulk of their money <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/11/as-fec-window-opened-subjects-of-dark-money-issue-ads-became-targets-for-defeat/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">before those reporting windows</a> open, and in 2016, that <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/10/dark-money-ads-plunged-when-reporting-requirement-kicked-in/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">trend continued</a>.During the period covered by its latest form 990, One Nation spent nearly $6 million on ads mentioning endangered senators, according to a CRP analysis of One Nation’s press releases.One Nation spokesperson Ian Prior confirmed in an email that, in all, One Nation spent about $40 million in the 2016 cycle, enough to put it in <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/summ.php?cycle=2016&chrt=V&disp=O&type=P" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">the top 10 of all groups active this cycle</a>, had it reported the spending to the FEC. As it stands, though, the group only reported <a href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/big-spending-non-profit-one-nation-exploiting-online-ad-loophole/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">$3.4 million.</a>Prior noted that two pieces of legislation advanced in the wake of being featured in One Nation’s ads. The first was the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act which passed <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/114-2016/s34" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">overwhelmingly in the Senate</a> with bipartisan support. It hardly seemed in danger of failing even if it had lacked the support of Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who was featured in the <a href="http://www.onenationamerica.org/one-nation-launches-1-12-million-ad-campaign-focused-on-the-comprehensive-addiction-and-recovery-act/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">$1.1 million ad buy</a>. The second was the Military Family Stability Act, which was passed by the Senate as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act.Other ads, however, didn’t reference a particular bill, but <a href="http://www.onenationamerica.org/one-nation-launches-with-ad-blitz-promoting-congressional-consensus-on-medicare/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">called on</a> listeners and readers to contact <a href="http://www.onenationamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/OneNation-Burr-Charlotte-9.96x21.5.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Sen. Richard Burr</a> (R-N.C.) or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISR5oHtFQk0" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)</a> with a vague request “to keep working across party lines to preserve Medicare and Medicare Advantage— and support legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act with pro-patient reforms.”In the seven races in which One Nation was active early in the cycle, four of the candidates it supported won. And even where it lost, the margins were slim — with the exception of Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s resounding defeat of GOP incumbent Sen. Mark Kirk in Illinois.In its new filing with the IRS, One Nation didn’t report any of the $6 million it spent on ads in 2015 (out of about $40 million for the two-year cycle). On the section of the form that asks whether the group engaged in “direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office,” <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3220899-One-Nation-2015-990.html#document/p3/a328540" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">it answered no</a>.
Former head of the IRS exempt organization division Marc Owens says that, had some or all of this spending been reported to the IRS as campaign-related, “it would certainly be a ‘red flag.'”Owens added that media spots can be “carefully constructed” to fit the argument that the group’s intent was to engage only in permissible “lobbying or educational communications,” but “whether those arguments could withstand scrutiny in an IRS audit is another matter as the IRS would review internal documents for evidence of campaign intervention.”Luckily for One Nation, there’s very little chance the group’s filings will be audited. In 2015, the IRS closed 2,831 audits in a year when more than 787,000 annual returns were filed by exempt organizations, according to the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/15databk.pdf" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">IRS 2015 Data Book</a>. Roughly speaking, that’s about 1 in every 278 filings.Still kickingThe third largest payment One Nation made in 2015, after the outlays to media firms, was to Crossroads GPS: <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3220899-One-Nation-2015-990.html#document/p8/a328574" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">$674,808 for “administrative services”</a> linked to the groups’ shared staff and office space.Started in 2010, GPS quickly became one of the largest and most powerful political organizations in the country. In its first four years, it reported nearly $114 million in spending to the Federal Election Commission, and tens of millions more that the group spent, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/11/as-fec-window-opened-subjects-of-dark-money-issue-ads-became-targets-for-defeat/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">particularly in 2014</a>, were framed as “issue ads” and run during periods when such ads don’t have to be reported to the FEC.Tax documents obtained by <a href="http://opensecrets.org/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">CRP</a> show that Crossroads GPS was largely dormant in 2015. Its revenues dropped from $69 million in 2014, when it was very active in helping Republicans <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/11/as-fec-window-opened-subjects-of-dark-money-issue-ads-became-targets-for-defeat/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">take the Senate</a>, to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3220835-Crossroads-GPS-2015-990.html#document/p1/a328575" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">just $3.5 million in 2015</a>. Some of its largest payments in 2015 — aside from $775,000 it paid to the opposition research firm America Rising LLC — went to high powered law firms that were helping the group battle, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/02/how-crossroads-gps-beat-the-irs-and-became-a-social-welfare-group/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">and beat</a>, the IRS for tax exempt status.In 2016, Crossroads GPS did not report any spending to the FEC, sitting out an election for the first time since it was created in the immediate wake of the Citizens United decision.</div><footer class="entry-meta" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
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Tags: <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/501c/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">501(c)</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/501c4/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">501(c)(4)</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/501c/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">501c</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/501c49737/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">501c4</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/dark-money/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">dark money</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/one-nation/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">One Nation</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/robert-maguire/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Robert Maguire</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/shadow-money-trail/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">Shadow Money Trail</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/social/" rel="tag" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(17, 123, 184); text-decoration: none;">social</a></footer><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/nonprof_contrib.php?id=271937961">http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/nonprof_contrib.php?id=271937961</a><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Paula Melton of<a href="http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2013/1/25/Taxpayers-Group-Targets-Federal-Government-s-Use-of-LEED/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Environmental Building News </a>describes how the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for all of the emails (nine years worth) between the US Green Building Council, creators of LEED, and the General Services Administration. TPA President David Williams tells<a href="http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/17/watchdog-group-demands-information-on-green-building-program/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;"> the Daily Caller:</a><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">We’re trying to see if there is a connection between the U.S. Green Building Council, a 501(c)3, that is benefitting financially from these new standards, to get to the genesis of these LEED standards and see exactly just how much influence this nonprofit had.</blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On their website,<a href="http://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/index.php?blog&action=view&post_id=276" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;"> the TPA explains in more detail,</a> (emphasis mine)<blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">TPA has been concerned about private,<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"> non-science based non-profit organizations like the USGBC being involved in creating environmental standards that are then relied upon to dictate government policies and in turn cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Last year, TPA highlighted the fundamental problems with LEED and the attempt to institute LEED v.4. In TPA’s public comment letter to the USGBC, TPA pointed out that products such as plastic insulation, vinyl roofing, and LED lighting are discouraged through the chemical avoidance credits in LEED v4, which uses the European Union’s REACH regulations as a benchmark. This is a standard that small and medium U.S. based manufacturers are unfamiliar with and will struggle to meet. <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);">Moreover, there are credits for certification in this new standard that could reward architects for rejecting modern technology and chose instead to use a thatched straw roof, yet the standards dissuade builders who use bullet resistant glass in federal courthouses. LEED v4 is filled with arbitrary and requirements that pick winners in losers in the marketplace. The USGBC seems to have undue influence in mandating LEED standards and now TPA wants answers.</blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So who is the TPA and who is behind it? Paula Melton asked TPA President Williams.<a href="http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2013/1/25/Taxpayers-Group-Targets-Federal-Government-s-Use-of-LEED/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">She writes:</a><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">This attention from a tax-focused interest group comes on the heels of aggressive lobbying against LEED by certain segments of the forestry and chemical industries. Their efforts have contributed to anti-LEED legislation in a few states and, at the federal level, restrictions on LEED for the U.S. military. When EBN asked if industry groups are backing his efforts, Williams refused to say. “It comes from private sources, and I don’t reveal who my donors are,” he replied.</blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">David Williams does not have much of a paper trail. On the<a href="http://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/index.php?about" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;"> website his bio says </a>that he is "an expert in finding and exposing government waste and has helped fine tune criteria in identifying and ultimately eliminating earmarks. " He has a "Senior Fellow",<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Johnson(politics)" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Drew Johnson</a>, who has been a guest on Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity shows, and got famous for going after Al Gore in 2007 for using as much electricity in his house in a month as average Americans use in a year. Neither of them are big fish.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...owever when you <a href="http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/450/450702828/450702828_201202_990EO.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: 17px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">dig up the 990,</a> a form required by the IRS for every tax-exempt non-profit, you find some very big fish indeed.<h2 style="margin: 20px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans Narrow', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1em; font-size: 1.714em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Barry Bennett and the Alliance for America's Future</h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Barry Bennett is described lovingly in<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/barry-bennett-anti-bain-documentary-maker_n_1204944.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Huffington Post:</a><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bennett has a history as a frontman for Republican Party ventures financed by donors intent on maintaining their anonymity. Since the 1990s, he has headed two nonprofits set up for the purpose of influencing elections while maintaining donor secrecy. He has operated within the underbelly of politics where secret money flows through obscure trusts and foundations to finance attack ads and campaigns free of fingerprints.</blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bennett now runs The Alliance for America's Future; Paul Blumenthal<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/barry-bennett-anti-bain-documentary-maker_n_1204944.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;"> continues in Huffpo:</a><blockquote style="font-size: small; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);">Joining him at the new conservative nonprofit were Mary Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Kara Ahern, Cheney's former chief of staff. The nonprofit was formed after the Citizens United ruling that, among many other things, allowed nonprofits to spend money on express advocacy for candidates seeking election. This change effectively sanctioned much of the activity that Bennett and CCF [his former gig] had pursued in the 1990s. The CCF ads had to mask their negative message about a candidate behind criticisms over issues. The Alliance for America's Future, however, could raise unlimited contributions from anonymous donors to fund ads that openly call for the victory or defeat of candidates.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: inherit; font-size: 17px; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The nonprofit is part of a network of independent conservative groups that have either been established or increased their visibility in the wake of the Citizens United decision. They include the Karl Rove-linked American Crossroads and the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Job Security....<h2 style="font-family: 'PT Sans Narrow', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.714em; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Stephen Demaura and Americans for Job Security</h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And who is president of Americans for Job Security? Why, it is Stephen Demaura, Treasurer and Secretary of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance. According to<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Job_Security" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 66, 118); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sourcewatch,</a><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">AJS has long been ahead of the trends for dark money political spending. "You could say Americans for Job Security has been keeping donors anonymous since before it was cool," Talking Points Memo wrote in December 2012....in a FEC Complaint, Public Citizen wrote that AJS is a "sham front group that would be better called Corporations Influencing Elections ... masquerading as a non-profit to conceal its funders and the scope of its electioneering activities."</blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">No wonder TPA Prez David Williams refused to tell Paula where his money came from; he's the front man for two of the biggest conservative dark money organizations in the country, funded by the Kochs and no doubt the American Chemistry Council and SFI, who are all working together to gut LEED and make America safe for the makers of formaldehyde, vinyl and clearcut lumber...<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/60-pro-keystone-xl-comments-tied-industry-group-says" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://insideclimatenews.org/content/60-pro-keystone-xl-comments-tied-industry-group-says</a><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 29.39999771118164px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">==</blockquote>