rosebush

==

==

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/10/donors-to-anti-obama-dark-money-grp/

Former “dark money” giant Americans for Job Security has walked out from the shadows, disclosing its donors last week following years of complaints and lawsuits filed by ethics watchdogs.

Between 2010 and 2012, the group raked in at least $65 million from billionaires, corporations and nebulous groups that don’t disclose their own sources of funding, recent filings show. Many of the group’s top donors have now lined up behind President Donald Trump, cutting big checks to his reelection bid. The now-defunct conservative group was largely active in the 2012 election cycle, spending $15.2 million on political ads attacking then-Democratic President Barack Obama during his reelection bid. The group also spent almost $5 million on independent expenditures in the 2010 cycle targeting Democrats and promoting Republicans in congressional races. Between late 2011 and 2012, the group gave out $26.3 million in grants, most of which went to the Center to Protect Patient Rights, another dark money group with close ties to the Koch brothers. Americans for Job Security’s political activities triggered a 2012 complaint by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning watchdog group, alleging that the conservative business league acted — yet failed to register — as a political committee. The recent disclosure was prompted by several lawsuits the ethics group filed against the Federal Election Commission over the years and a September agreement requiring the dark money group to register as a political committee and reveal its donors. “This is a major victory for transparency and the rule of law,” said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of the watchdog group, in a press release. “This is the first major release of dark money sources in the post-Citizens United era, a rare and long overdue victory in the fight against the illegal use of dark money in politics.” Among the group’s biggest donors are billionaires with a history of bankrolling conservative causes, records show.

Showing 1 to 10 of 172 entries

John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics and son of Gap Inc. founders Donald and Doris Fisher, gave generously to the group, shelling out $5 million between 2010 and 2012. His mother and his two brothers, Robert and William Fisher, also combined to give the group another $5 million, making the Fisher family the group’s biggest donor.  The California philanthropist mostly gave to conservative causes in the past, doling out $416,400 to Republican candidates and parties last cycle. Spreading his fortune between the two major parties, Fisher also gave $2,800 each this year to several Democratic presidential hopefuls, including self-funded businessman John Delaney and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). Paypal executive Peter Thiel gave the conservative group $500,000. An outspoken Trump supporter and GOP donor, the venture capitalist gave a $1 million check last year to Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC, and $100,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017. He also gave a total of $500,000 to Trump’s joint fundraising committee, Trump Victory. Many of the group’s top donors between 2010 and 2012 are now Trump allies. Billionaire investor Charles Schwab delivered $8.8 million to the conservative group between 2010 and 2012. A longtime GOP donor, the brokerage firm chairman has given $9.4 million to conservative outside spending groups from 2011 to 2019. Schwab became a staunch Trump supporter in 2016, giving $1 million to the president’s inaugural committee and more than $100,000 to the Republican National Committee legal fund, which helps pay for Trump’s legal bills. Schwab and his wife Helen each gave $1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC Future45 last year.

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam also chipped in $250,000 to fuel the conservative group. Longtime Republican megadonors, the couple shelled out $122.3 million to conservative political groups in 2018, including $10 million to pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. The couple doled out $20 million in 2016 to Future45 and gave $5 million to fund Trump’s inaugural festivities in 2017.

Adelson’s support for the president earned him a seat at the dining table at the White House with Trump, Jared Kushner and then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2017, as well as closer access to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his casino bid in Japan, ProPublica reported. Real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer, who gave Americans for Job Security almost $2 million between 2010 and 2012, has given America First Action a total of $6 million to support Trump since 2017. Palmer also gave $5 million to pro-Trump super PAC Rebuilding America Now and $765,200 to Trump Victory. The late Richard and Helen DeVos, in-laws of current Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, gave Americans for Job Security $2 million. The couple gave $2.8 million to conservative groups during the 2016 election cycle — right before their daughter-in-law became Trump’s appointee — with the entire DeVos family giving more than $10 million throughout the cycle. Many other current and former Trump cabinet members are also among the group’s now disclosed donors. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, who was previously an investment banker, gave $5,000 to the group in 2012. Linda McMahon, formerly the head of the Small Business Administration under Trump, left the cabinet to chair America First Action in May. McMahon and her husband Vince gave Americans for Job Security $10,000 in 2012. Americans for Job Security also attracted millions of dollars from corporations whose executives tend to give to Republicans. 

**Hensel Phelps Construction**, one of the biggest construction managing companies in the country, coughed up $2.93 million to support the group. Since 1990, affiliates of the Colorado-based firm have combined to give $914,458 to political candidate campaigns, 94 percent of which went to support Republicans. Jeffrey Wenaas, the CEO of Hensel Phelps, gave exclusively to conservative causes over the years.

The dark money group also hauled in $3 million from oil and gas giant **Devon Energy**, whose PAC gave exclusively to conservative groups in the past. Texas-based Beal Bank also shelled out $1 million to fund the conservative group between 2010 and 2012. Andrew Beal, founder of Beal Bank, spent more than $300,000 to fund a Facebook meme campaign to support Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, CNBC reported. While Americans for Job Security disclosed its sources of revenue, many of its donors are limited liability companies or tax-exempt organizations whose sources of income remain hidden under federal law. Some of those groups that donated to Americans for Job Security keep on giving large sums to other similar organizations, making the money flow among a network of conservative dark money groups virtually untraceable.

**Rosebush Corp**, a 501(c)(4) organization that was once denied tax-exempt status by the IRS, gave a $2 million grant to Americans for Job Security in 2012, as first disclosed in Rosebush’s tax filing. In 2011, the 501(c)(4) also gave a $750,000 grant to **Americans for Limited Government**, a dark money group led  by real estate developer Howard Rich, which spent millions running ads against Democrats. Like with the Center to Protect Patient Rights, money shuffled between the Rich-linked group and Americans for Job Security. Rich’s group received $10,000 from Americans for Job Security in 2011 and another $100,000 from the group in 2012, two years after it gave the dark money giant $60,000, recent filings show.

**Wellspring Committee**, another dark money group residing on the web of conservative tax-exempt organizations, gave Americans for Job Security $346,098 in 2010. OpenSecrets previously reported that the committee injected a total of nearly $3 million into the conservative group from 2008 to 2010 and gave out grants worth more than $17 million from 2008 to 2011. The group officially shut down in December 2018.  Reporter Karl Evers-Hillstrom and researchers Anna Massoglia and Alex Baumgart contributed to the report.

==

==

https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/summary?id=453199086

Rosebush Corp

PHILADELPHIA, PA (Legal domicile: PA)

Parent OrganizationN/ATypeCivic Leagues, Social Welfare Organizations, and Local Associations of EmployeesYear Founded2011Reported Political Activity to IRS?NoPeriod of Last ReportJan 2014 - Dec 2014IndustryN/A

Total number of volunteers0Total number of employees0

Overall FEC-reported spending from Jan 2014 - Dec 2014 $0 Overall Political Spending of all known grant recipients $0 Recipient Political Spending Attributable to Donor $0 FEC-reported spending since last IRS filing $0

Longterm Political Activity Ranking259

==

1/24/2015 In the Garden of Dark Money, the Thorny Case of Rosebush Corp. | OpenSecrets Blog

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/01/in­the­garden­of­dark­money­the­thorny­case­of­rosebush­corp/?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=c5a… 1/5

In the Garden of Dark Money, the

Thorny Case of Rosebush Corp.

by Robert Maguire on January 22, 2015

Former IRS official Lois Lerner became the face of the IRS “scandal,” though the agency rarely

rejects exemption applications. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Ever since news broke in 2013 that the IRS had targeted the exemption applications of tea party and

some other politically­oriented groups for extra scrutiny, conventional wisdom had it that the agency

throws up roadblocks for organizations trying to obtain its seal of approval.

But much evidence indicates the IRS backs down without much fuss when groups seeking 501(c)(4)

“social welfare” status come calling.

That was certainly true in the case of Rosebush Corp., OpenSecrets Blog has learned. The

Pennsylvania­based nonprofit has been a conduit for large sums of money destined for other, more

politically active, groups — includingAmericans for Job Security (AJS), which spent more than $15

million attacking President Obama in his 2012 re­election bid.

In what appears to have been a highly unusual move, in 2013 the IRS initially denied Rosebush’s

application for exempt status. Rarer still, though, the agency largely reversed its decision in August

2014, when it recognized the group as a 501(c)(4) organization.

Out of the bush, into the spring

OpenSecrets Blog obtained Rosebush’s denial letter only because it is part of the group’s 1024

application materials that must be made available once a group’s exemption is approved. (Normally,

only heavily redacted denial letters are released, with all identifying information removed.) The

documents offer a rare glimpse at the applicant’s interaction with the IRS, and the agency’s reasoning

for denying the exemption.

Rosebush is the largest of the few donors known to have boosted the coffers of a 501(c)(4) social

welfare organization called the Wellspring Committee, the hub of a complex dark money network that

OpenSecrets Blog, in partnership with NPR, wrote about in 2013. The report showed that, for years,

money flowed into Wellspring before being doled out to a set of politically active nonprofits, many of

which engaged in direct or indirect electioneering in races on the state and federal levels.

1/24/2015 In the Garden of Dark Money, the Thorny Case of Rosebush Corp. | OpenSecrets Blog

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/01/in­the­garden­of­dark­money­the­thorny­case­of­rosebush­corp/?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=c5a… 2/5

At the time, Rosebush was not recognized by the IRS. But the documents show it had been seeking

an exemption since April 2012; in December 2013, the agency rejected the request.

In doing so, the IRS raised a number of concerns about the group. Foremost was the fact that

Rosebush described its social welfare function as “making contributions to other like­minded Section

501(c)(4) organizations.” As the IRS pointed out, “making a grant only promotes social welfare if the

recipient of the funds uses the proceeds to promote social welfare.” The IRS said it was “unable to

determine” whether the funds Rosebush distributed were used for social welfare purposes, in part

because Rosebush didn’t present any documentation to that effect.

The question was particularly relevant in Rosebush’s case because of the AJS grant, reported here for

the first time. AJS is a 501(c)(6) trade association, not a social welfare group. The grant — which left

Rosebush tied with Crossroads GPS as AJS’ most generous known benefactors in 2012 — made up

78 percent of Rosebush’s 2012 expenditures and 56 percent of its total $3.6 million expenditures over

three years.

Trade associations like AJS, the IRS pointed out, “have the exempt purpose of promoting common

business interests for their members; they do not have the exempt purpose of promoting social

welfare.” It’s not impossible for a trade group to use funds received from a social welfare organization

for activities that fit both missions, but the IRS was concerned that Rosebush “had no formal written

grant agreement with [AJS] requiring it use the grant proceeds for specific activities or projects that

promote social welfare” nor did Rosebush “receive any reports from [AJS] describing how it used the

proceeds.”

After bringing in more than $51 million in 2012, AJS revenues plummeted to just $817,975.

The questions seemed apt, since AJS has been one of the most politically active nonprofits in the

country, and politics does not qualify as social welfare. For more than 17 years, it has spent heavily in

elections around the country, leading to scandals in Alaska and California, all without revealing its

donors. AJS’ revenues ebb and flow from election year to off year, and those gyrations have grown

more marked in the post­Citizens United era.

Other substantial Rosebush grantees aren’t strangers to the political arena, either. In 2011, Rosebush

directed $750,000 — 67 percent of its total expenditures that year — to Americans for Limited

Government, a 501(c)(4) linked to the libertarian real estate developer Howard Rich in Rosebush’s

home city of Philadelphia. The Rosebush grant amounted to more than 90 percent of ALG’s revenues

that year.

1/24/2015 In the Garden of Dark Money, the Thorny Case of Rosebush Corp. | OpenSecrets Blog

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/01/in­the­garden­of­dark­money­the­thorny­case­of­rosebush­corp/?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=c5a… 3/5

In a letter, ALG explained that the funds were used for “choice in education options,” mostly in 2012.

Another Rosebush grantee, Legislative Education Action Drive or LEAD, is also headed by Howard

Rich and focuses on “the debate on choice in education by providing citizens the information and

resources to advocate for meaningful reform.” LEAD got $300,000 from Rosebush and $170,000 from

ALG in 2012 — the two grants making up 89 percent of the group’s revenues that year. Most of

LEAD’s expenditures that year went towards grants to two other groups, one of which, Young

Conservatives of Pennsylvania, was also a Rosebush grantee. The other grantee, which received

$200,000 from LEAD, was a group called Citizens in Charge, run by operatives who sit on the boards

of Rich’s other organizations.

The IRS made no mention of this churning of funds — a signature of Howard Rich’s operations — or

Rosebush’s role in it.

In 2010, ALG spent more than $1 million on that year’s midterm elections — all against Democrats —

and the year following Rosebush’s contribution, ALG would go on to be the largest donor to a

conservative super PAC called Now or Never PAC.

In fact, Rosebush itself gave $200,000 to super PACs. That was something the IRS did raise concerns

about, since super PACs are by their nature political.

The tax agency also had questions about the fact that Rosebush is “governed by a single individual

who is both your director and treasurer.” That would be Brian Sullivan, the only human linked directly to

Rosebush by name. The IRS pointed out that Rosebush doesn’t “have a paid staff” and its “governing

body has no other formal members.”

In 2013, Rosebush spent no money, according to a form 990 filed last July, because it was waiting to

sort out its status with the IRS. That doesn’t mean that Sullivan sat on the sidelines, though. He

started another (c)(4) with precisely the same mission statement as Rosebush’s; he called the new

group Green Orchard. As the Center for Public Integrity reported last October, Green Orchard has been

used to convey hundreds of thousands of dollars to super PACs and 501(c) organizations since 2013,

all in the name of a purpose identical to Rosebush’s.

Lowering the bar

What are the consequences of denying exempt status to a group that’s already operating? Very little,

really: The organization in question is simply required to pay taxes on its revenue. The IRS told

Rosebush that it does “not qualify for exemption as an organization described in Section 501(c)(4)

and…must file federal income tax returns.”

Even that doesn’t happen often. Denials are exceedingly rare: Less than 0.25 percent of 501(c)(4)

applicants are denied, according to an extensive report by the Center for Public Integrity last summer.

And even when a denial is imminent, the IRS often warns the applicant beforehand so it can withdraw

its paperwork prior to receiving the rejection.

None of the 501(c) organizations with the most reported political spending over the last three election

cycles were denied exempt status, or had their status revoked. One smaller group, a liberal 501(c)(4)

called Arkansans for Common Sense, was denied in 2013 for having a primary purpose that the IRS

described as “the participation in a political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate for

public office.”

One of the largest political spenders over the last few elections — a conservative group that spent

more than all liberal dark money organizations combined in both the 2010 and 2012 elections — is

Crossroads GPS, which applied for exempt status in 2010. It has yet to receive the green light,

according to IRS data, and was even slated for denial when the IRS scandal broke. However, GPS is

still in operation, spending $26 million on direct political advocacy in 2014.

Most of the time, organizations’ exemption applications are approved. Even a group that had spent the

majority of its funds over multiple years on direct political activity and engaged in “campaign money

laundering” was granted an exemption, as we have reported, despite the fact that the group —

Americans for Responsible Leadership, which is linked to then­Koch money man Sean Noble — said it

had no intentions of changing its activities in the future. Another Koch­backed group, Citizens

Awareness Project, was given an exemption despite having only two donors and spending a large

share of its funds directly on politics. Yet another group, a liberal nonprofit called American Bridge 21st

Century Foundation that specializes in doing opposition research on Republican politicians, received an

exemption.

How did Rosebush turn the IRS around? In a letter, Sullivan explained that Rosebush Corp. had

implemented, by decree of its sole director (himself), more stringent oversight of grantee spending. In

addition, he promised to go to each organization to which the group had already given money and

get assurances that the funds were used properly.

That’s how Americans for Limited Government came to write that it received its $750,000 grant from

Rosebush in late September 2011 and used the money over the course of the following 12 months —

that is, well into the election year — for the promotion of “choice in education options.”

ALG’s own tax filings in 2011 and 2012 made no reference to such initiatives, however. In 2012, most

of ALG’s spending was in the form of grants to other 501(c) groups — many of which share board

members with ALG — and to a super PAC called Now or Never PAC, which received more than $2.5

million.

Rosebush’s largest grantee, Americans for Job Security, the trade association that received well over

half the money Rosebush doled out over three years, sent in a form letter that was supplemented with

a short note from AJS president Stephen Demaura thanking his benefactor for its “membership and

support.”

“Membership” is an important term for AJS. As a 501(c)(6), AJS technically doesn’t have donors —

rather, it has dues­paying members. Donors must be reported to the IRS (though not the public) in an

annual 990 filing. But dues­paying members are never reported anywhere. It’s not entirely clear how the

money that AJS collects as dues is substantially different from the funds that 501(c)(4) social welfare

groups collect as grants, though. The organizations paying dues to AJS are frequently social welfare

organizations. In 2008, about a third of AJS’ revenue, $4 million, came from two social welfare groups,

the Wellspring Committee — at the time, part of the Koch donor network — andFreedom’s Watch. In

2010, Wellspring gave $346,098, and the Center to Protect Patient Rights, the new conduit for Koch

cash, gave $4.8 million; their combined grants again made up about a third of the AJS haul that year.

OpenSecrets Blog research indicates that of the $14.6 million AJS is known to have received in 13

grants from 501(c)(4) organizations since 2008, only one grant, totaling $425,000, was reported to the

IRS as “membership.” None were reported as “dues.”

Demaura did not respond to requests for comment on this discrepancy.

The AJS letter in support of Rosebush’s appeal made no effort to convince the IRS that the funds it

received were spent on social welfare. AJS said that 15 months after Rosebush’s “membership,” it was

“unable to provide the representations you request.” The money went into AJS’ general fund that was

used for “our general purposes and various projects” — including a bungled injection of funds into

California ballot measures and significant direct political advocacy.

Demaura wrote that “the grant was to used solely for permissible Section 501(c)(6) activities” — which

is to say, not necessarily social welfare. He went on to explain that AJS is “designed to promote the

‘common business interest’ of its members,” which is the function of a 501(c)(6) trade association.

The IRS responded last August to Rosebush’s appeal by saying that it would grant the exemption if

Rosebush amended its grant agreement to make more specific the need for grantees to use the funds

for social welfare.

Rosebush agreed to those conditions, and after two years of correspondence with the IRS, another

dark money conduit was exempt in the eyes of the IRS.

Rosebush isn’t entirely out of the woods yet. Its exemption was effective going back to Jan. 1, 2013,

which means that it has not yet been cleared for activities during the time it was granting funds to1/24/2015 In the Garden of Dark Money, the Thorny Case of Rosebush Corp. | OpenSecrets Blog

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/01/in­the­garden­of­dark­money­the­thorny­case­of­rosebush­corp/?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=c5a… 5/5

Americans for Job Security. The IRS left the appeals door open for that period, though. Sullivan — who

would not comment on other aspects of this story — confirmed that Rosebush is indeed pursuing an

appeal and has not paid income tax on its activities before 2013.

Categories: 501(c) groups Outside Money

Tags: 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), Americans for Job Security, Brian Sullivan, dark money, denial, exempt status,

exemption, irs, IRS Scandal, Robert Maguire, Rosebush Corp., Shadow Money Trail, stephen demaura,

Wellspring Cmte, Wellspring Committee

Count Cash & Make Change.

OpenSecrets.org is your nonpartisan guide to money's influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Whether you're

a voter, journalist, activist, student or interested citizen, use our free site to shine light on your government.

The Center for Responsive Politics

Except for the Revolving Door section, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution­NoncommercialShare

Alike 3.0 United States License by OpenSecrets.org. To request permission for commercial use, please contact us.