Phillips, Tim AmFP

=see hot air bus tour said fork?! gubmint= =<a href="https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/573610-koch-backed-group-launches-7-figure-ad-blitz-opposing">https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/573610-koch-backed-group-launches-7-figure-ad-blitz-opposing</a>the hill no lnxKoch-backed group launches 7-figure ad blitz opposing $3.5T billAmericans for Prosperity (AFP), an advocacy group backed by GOP mega-donor Charles Koch, launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign Thursday attacking Democrats’ $3.5 trillion social spending package.The connected TV, radio, direct mail and online ad blitz argues that the bill would lead to more government control and higher inflation. It will target 25 Democrats, including moderates who have expressed reservations about the $3.5 trillion price tag such as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.).“A government takeover of our economy is a fundamental departure from the spirit of entrepreneurialism we’ve relied on for generations to drive prosperity, and there’s only one outcome — unmitigated economic disaster that will be difficult to reverse,” AFP President Tim Phillips said in a statement.In recent months, AFP has orchestrated an extensive effort to oppose both Democrats’ reconciliation package and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which it argues doesn’t make sufficient changes to regulations needed to improve roads and bridges.The group’s most recent ad campaign comes as House Democrats prepare to vote on the infrastructure bill Monday. Democratic leaders say the bill must be passed alongside the party-line spending package that invests in climate, child care and other Democratic priorities.The Democrats’ reconciliation package has come under fire from business lobbying groups and conservative organizations over its proposed tax increases on large corporations and wealthy individuals, as well as its measure to allow the federal government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday announced a six-figure ad campaign urging moderate House Democrats to oppose the $3.5 trillion bill after warning that it would revoke endorsements for Democrats who vote for the measure.The National Federation of Independent Business, a GOP-aligned small business group, also launched a six-figure ad campaign Wednesday urging Rep. Cindy Axne (D-Iowa) and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) to vote against the reconciliation bill.Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has punched back at the campaigns to sink the spending packages filled with Democratic priorities.“This is what oligarchy and a corrupt political system are all about," he tweeted in response to a corporate lobbying blitz announced last month.  "The rich and large corporations get richer, and their lobbyists do everything possible to protect their wealth and greed. Not this time."==<a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/08/26/david-koch-donald-trump/">https://theintercept.com/2019/08/26/david-koch-donald-trump/</a>lee fin other instances, the propaganda techniques bordered on comical. One television advertisement <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/front-group-for-polluter-billionaires-wastes-140k-on-goofy-global-warming-denial-ads-a4af63f2738f/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">featured an actor</a> who played “Carleton the eco-hypocrite,” who sought action on global warming only to enrich himself and cause “massive unemployment.” Another Americans for Prosperity campaign <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100417035059/http://regulationreality.com/blog/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">depicted</a> the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate policies represented as a Big Brother-style power grab, falsely claiming that “carbon cops” would arrest Americans and regulate <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100403015229/http://regulationreality.com/2010/03/15/epa-regulation-and-single-family-homes/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">churches</a> under the guise of combating global warming. The campaign toured throughout the country with free food and an inflatable bounce house for children shaped as a <a href="https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/4462067391_aeb48903b8.jpg" style="font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">giant green police car</a> to illustrate the point....[https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/4462067391_aeb48903b8.jpg  ] regulation reality tour
<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity">https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity</a>...June, 2011AFP took their “<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/koch-money-fuels-afp-misinformation-campaign-gas-prices" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Running on Empty</a>” campaign tour to Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio with the purpose to “teach” Americans about how AFP believes President Obama is making them pay higher prices at the pump.AFP claims that Obama is intentionally keeping gas prices high because he refuses to allow oil companies to drill for oil in protected areas of the United States.March, 2011Americans for Prosperity<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150710214417/http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/151869-coal-group-presses-senators-on-looming-vote-to-kill-epa-climate-rules" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> sent memos to U.S. senators</a> to support an attack on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lawful regulation of greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act. <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity#s6" style="text-decoration-line: none;">[6]</a>2011Americans for Prosperity is behind the “No Climate Tax Pledge” where congress members promised not to spend any federal money to fight climate change without equal tax cuts. According to a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150710232835/http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/the_koch_club/story/Koch_millions_spread_influence_through_nonprofits/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2013 investigative Report on Koch Industries</a>, most pledge signers had also received campaign contributions from Koch Industries. <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity#s26" style="text-decoration-line: none;">[26]</a>March 22, 2010AFP’s 2010 Regulation Reality Tour, featuring Smart cars and “carbon cops” at stops across the country, was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150710214738/http://thinkprogress.org/green/2010/03/20/174602/regulation-propaganda-tour/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">launched to obstruct U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a> regulation of major greenhouse gas emitters and undermine the seriousness of climate change.<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity#s12" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> [12]</a>Citizens observing the tour were <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110102113830/http://regulationreality.com/carbon-cop-citations/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">given fake citations</a> for mowing their lawns or filling gas tanks, falsely alleging that the EPA would regulate individual consumers. <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity#s7" style="text-decoration-line: none;">[7]</a>

December 28, 2010

Republican Congressman Fred Upton,<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/03/10/koch-brothers-new-brand/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> described as a “moderate who took global warming seriously until, in 2010, he wanted to be chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee</a>,” co-authored a highly publicized Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal alongside the head of Americans for Prosperity, Tim Phillips. <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity#s46" style="text-decoration-line: none;">[46]</a>

The WSJ Op-Ed, titled “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703929404576022070069905318" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">How Congress Can Stop the EPA's Power Grab</a>,” describes the EPA's move to regulate carbon dioxide emissions as “an unconstitutional power grab that will kill millions of jobs—unless Congress steps in.” <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/americans-for-prosperity#s47" style="text-decoration-line: none;">[47]</a>

December 2, 2010At the 2010 international climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, AFP had a<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120312045241/http://www.americansforprosperity.org/120310-hot-air-tour-live-cancun-full-broadcast" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> live broadcast </a>of its Hot Air Tour featuring Senate climate denier <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/james-inhofe" style="text-decoration-line: none;">James Inhofe (R-OK) </a>and conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. Video below:---ref  11/5/09 not epa?<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/astroturf-in-action-right-wing-billionaire-david-koch-pays-for-40-buses-to-haul-in-protesters-518e8aed42f5/">https://thinkprogress.org/astroturf-in-action-right-wing-billionaire-david-koch-pays-for-40-buses-to-haul-in-protesters-518e8aed42f5/</a>
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the corporate front group founded in the 1980s by Koch Industries billionaire David Koch, worked closely with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to orchestrate the anti-health reform <a href="http://archive.thinkprogress.org/2009/11/05/holocaust-sign/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">rally</a> today. As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, AFP has been encouraging right-wing activists to board their buses — <a href="http://archive.thinkprogress.org/2009/11/04/king-astroturf-paulrevere/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">free of charge</a> — to attend the <a href="http://archive.thinkprogress.org/default/2009/11/05/67968/akin-pledge/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">rally</a>. While AFP does not disclose all of its corporate donors, foundations controlled by David and Charles Koch provide millions in yearly funding, and David continues to chair the AFP foundation and <a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/62453/david-koch-at-defending-the-american-dream-summit" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">preside over</a> AFP’s annual convention.ThinkProgress found at least a dozen AFP staffers standing at their designated bus drop off point near the Capitol, handing out signs, directions, talking points, petitions, and donuts to protesters. Many of the people who work at AFP are longtime Republican operatives, like <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/041709-ben-marchi-afp-va-state-director" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Ben Marchi</a>, the AFP Virginia director who previously worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee and for Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX). Victor Zapanta produced this video report of AFP staffers talking about their exploits at the rally today:<blockquote name="e85b" id="e85b" class="graf graf--blockquote graf-after--p" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 0px 1.5625rem; padding: 0px; position: relative; border-left: 3px solid rgb(87, 87, 206); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AFP STAFFERS: We have 25 buses just from Pennsylvania, New Jersey we probably have 5 or 6 from Maryland.</blockquote><blockquote name="eba4" id="eba4" class="graf graf--blockquote graf-after--blockquote" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 0px 1.5625rem; padding: 0px; position: relative; border-left: 3px solid rgb(87, 87, 206); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AFP STAFFERS: We have about 40 buses coming.</blockquote>Watch it:[vid]Koch’s AFP has a long history of marshaling “grassroots” support for GOP objectives. In the early 1990s, AFP, then known as Citizens for a Sound Economy, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/may96/background/health_debate_page3.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">worked secretly</a> with then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) to organize angry crowds following the Clintons as they touted their health reform bill. Industry money from health insurance, telecommunications, oil, and other companies <a href="http://www.citizen.org/documents/Citizens%20for%20a%20Sound%20Economy%20Report.pdf" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">has flowed freely</a> to AFP over the years to help AFP promote an agenda of boosting the rich, stripping consumer safeguards, and maintaining corporate monopolies. Phillip Morris rented out AFP from the Koch family, contributing millions to the organization in exchange for AFP <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/index.php/2009/10/01/echoes-of-philip-morris-and-hillarycare/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">to build opposition</a> to tobacco regulations.AFP’s daily activities are managed by <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Tim Phillips</a>, an infamous astroturf lobbyist who built a career using Christian front groups to wage stealth campaigns. For example, his work <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">includes fighting under the radar</a> to promote energy deregulation for Enron and helping Jack Abramoff clients continue forced abortion sweatshops in the Northern Mariana Islands.Will the media report on the true driver of today’s rally? Or will they leave David Koch out of the equation, despite his hand-in-glove involvement.<h4 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Update:</h4>This afternoon on the House GOP’s live webcast, Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) praised the anti-health reform protesters for arriving to the Capitol without any assistance paying for the buses. He also said no central organization was orchestrating the effort:<blockquote name="3cdf" id="3cdf" class="graf graf--blockquote graf-after--p" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 0px 1.5625rem; padding: 0px; position: relative; border-left: 3px solid rgb(87, 87, 206); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">LATTA: Some stakes took over 20 buses […] You know, they’re not rabble-rousers.KINGSTON: Who paid for them?LATTA: They all paid for themselves. You know, these people came down on their own.</blockquote>Watch it:---ref tim p 404http://dnserrorassist.att.net/search/?q=http%3A//wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/&r=&t=0&bc=<a href="https://archive.thinkprogress.org/tim-phillips-the-man-behind-the-americans-for-prosperity-corporate-front-group-factory-8437d7fa8a7e/">https://archive.thinkprogress.org/tim-phillips-the-man-behind-the-americans-for-prosperity-corporate-front-group-factory-8437d7fa8a7e/</a>lee f 5/09The rate at which the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Koch Industries</a> funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) churns out front groups to promote its right-wing corporate agenda sets the organization out among similar conservative “<a href="http://archive.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/14/lobbying-clients-teaparties/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">think tanks</a>.” This week, AFP created their latest front group called “<a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/pun/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Patients United Now</a>,” an entity set up to defeat health care reform. Patients United follows a familiar pattern AFP has used for their other front groups: create a new stand alone <a href="http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/05/26/more-right-wing-lies-with-beer-chaser.aspx" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">website</a>, fill it with lines like “We are people just like you” to give the site a <a href="http://www.theseminal.com/2009/05/26/new-anti-obama-health-care-front-group-patients-united-now/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">grassroots</a> feel, and then use the new group to recruit supporters and run <a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200905270002" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">deceptive advertisements</a> attacking reform. This “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">astroturfing</a>” model has been used by AFP to launch groups pushing distortions against other progressive priorities:<blockquote name="8d35" id="8d35" class="graf graf--blockquote graf-after--p" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 0px 1.5625rem; padding: 0px; position: relative; border-left: 3px solid rgb(87, 87, 206);">— The “<a href="http://www.hotairtour.org/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Hot Air Tour</a>” promoting global warming skepticism and attacking environmental regulations. — “<a href="http://www.freeourenergy.com/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Free Our Energy</a>,” a group promoting increased domestic drilling. — The “<a href="http://www.savemyballot.com/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Save My Ballot Tour</a>,” a group that pays <a href="http://archive.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/01/joe-plumber-stumped/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Joe the Plumber</a> to travel around the country smearing the Employee Free Choice Act. — “<a href="http://www.noclimatetax.com/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">No Climate Tax</a>,” a group dedicated to the defeat of Clean Energy Economy legislation.  — “<a href="http://nostimulus.com/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">No Stimulus</a>,” a group launched to try to stop the passage of the Recovery Act.</blockquote>Notably, AFP was also instrumental in <a href="http://archive.thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/04/09/37433/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">orchestrating</a> the anti-Obama, anti-tax tea party protests in April.With nearly 70 Republican operatives and former oil industry spokesmen <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/staff" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">working</a> behind the scenes of AFP’s various fronts and <a href="http://mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=8806" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">disclosures</a> that point to ever <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3511" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">increasing</a> oil and corporate donations to the group, one must wonder, who is guiding this massive front group factory? The answer is <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/staff/tim-phillips" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Tim Phillips</a>, the President of AFP who has built a long career of inventing fake grassroots causes. In Phillips’ official biography, there appears to be over a 10 year gap — but that period was when Phillips developed his very first astroturf groups to do everything from smearing his opponents with anti-Semitic attacks to laundering money for criminal lobbyists.Click More To Read The WonkRoom’s Investigation Of AFP’s Tim PhillipsAs a Virginia-based political consultant, Phillips got his first big break managing the campaign of Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). After serving as Goodlatte’s chief of staff for four years, Phillips joined former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed in 1997 to create an astroturf lobbying and campaign consulting operation called <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Century_Strategies" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Century Strategies</a>. The firm promised to mount “grassroots lobbying drives” and explained its strategy as “it matters less who has the best arguments and more <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0304-06.htm" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">who gets heard</a> — and by whom.”After being recommended by Karl Rove, Century Strategies signed its first major corporate client — <a href="http://www.time.com/time/2002/enron/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Enron</a>. Phillips and Reed were paid $380,000 to mobilize “religious leaders and pro-family groups” to push energy deregulation in Congress and on the state level, a <a href="http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/Enron/articles.cfm?ID=7104" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">policy shift</a> that led to the energy crisis and economic meltdown of 2001. The Washington Post reported that the pair informed Enron that they had leveraged their relationships with members of Congress and “<a href="http://bodurtha.georgetown.edu/enron/Bush%202000%20Adviser%20Offered%20To%20Use%20Clout%20to%20Help%20Enron.htm" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">placed</a>” articles in prominent papers like the New York Times.Part of Phillip’s role at Century Strategies was to <a href="http://politicalvine.com/complaints/EXHIBIT%20A.pdf" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">manage</a> the firm’s direct mail subsidiary, Millennium Marketing. In 1998, now disgraced lobbyist <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010300474.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Jack Abramoff</a> hired Phillips’ firm to pressure members of Congress to vote against legislation that would have made the U.S. commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands subject to federal wage and worker safety laws. A federal report “found that Chinese women were subject to forced abortions and that women and children were subject to forced prostitution in the local sex-tourism industry.” Nonetheless, Phillips sent out mailers claiming Chinese workers “are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ” while on the islands, and many “are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/28/AR2006052800964.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Bibles in hand</a>.” The mailers then encouraged the recipients to contact lawmakers and ask them to oppose the Marianas labor reform legislation.The Marianas stealth lobbying effort was not the only time Phillips worked with Abramoff. Reed and Phillips <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/reed.php" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">conspired</a> to generate conservative Christian outrage towards gambling at Indian casinos in a cynical plot to encourage those same tribes to hire Abramoff to lobby on their behalf. In some cases, Phillips’ anti-gambling crusade would simply be part of an effort to kill off competition to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50258-2004Sep25?language=printer" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Abramoff’s clients</a>. And while Phillips and Reed postured to be motivated by anti-gambling Christian values, the pair helped <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101501539_pf.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">launder</a> lobbying money from an Abramoff Internet gambling client called eLottery.Though Phillips and Reed are best known in the campaign consulting world for engineering the dual <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/us/2002-elections-georgia-senator-cleland-loses-upset-republican-emphasizing.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">victories</a> of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Republican Gov. Sonnie Perdue in Georgia (by associating images of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKFYpd0q9nE" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">Osama bin Laden</a> with the incumbent Democratic senator), the pair can also be credited with the most below the belt tactics ever seen in modern Republican primaries. The duo “<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20041214162123/www.censtrat.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Team.View&Biography_id=2" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">spearheaded</a>” the telemarketing and direct mail efforts for George Bush against John McCain in the 2000 primaries. It is widely believed that Century Strategies executed the mass mailers and robo-calls which accused McCain of fathering an <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/01/10/post_270.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">illegitimate child</a> with a black woman, using the image of McCain’s adopted daughter from Bangladesh.Phillips’ brass knuckled hits on fellow Republicans almost prevented the only Jewish Congressman in the GOP caucus from ever being elected. Phillips set up a 527 called “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Faith_and_Family_Alliance" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">The Faith and Family Alliance</a>,” a group supposedly designed to support conservative and Christian causes. But like his other front groups, Phillips used the Family Alliance to simply slime his political opponents with an organization that appeared to represent a grassroots community. The Richmond Times Dispatch reported that Phillips was hired by State Sen. Stephen Martin to manage his direct mail campaign against State Del. Eric Cantor in the 2000 Republican primary for the Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Tom Bliley (R-VA). Phillips used his Family Alliance to blast robo-calls and mass mailers claiming Cantor did not represent “Virginia values” and that his opponent was the “<a href="http://spectator.org/blog/2006/01/13/cantor-survived-abramoff-reed" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">only Christian in the contest</a>.”Larry Sabato, a political analyst and the director of University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/gop_chair_tied_to_group_that_attacked_cantor/39925/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">noted</a>:<blockquote name="dbc7" id="dbc7" class="graf graf--blockquote graf-after--p" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 0px 1.5625rem; padding: 0px; position: relative; border-left: 3px solid rgb(87, 87, 206); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A despicable, underground campaign that was unquestionably anti-Semitic nearly beat Cantor in the GOP primary for U.S. House to succeed Tom Bliley in June 2000. Cantor had been heavily favored over state Sen. Steve Martin, but in the end he won by a couple hundred votes. Now the national and state GOP appears grateful for its lone Jewish House member — but the Republican base and some Christian groups almost insured his defeat. I’m amazed that Democrats and even Republicans haven’t raised this matter.</blockquote>Indeed, after the Phillips’ anti-Semitic attacks, Cantor went from being high in the polls to barely winning the primary by a mere <a href="http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2009/2009-04/200904-Eric_Cantor.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">264 votes</a>. Phillips still holds rallies — under the umbrella of AFP — to boost his old <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/afp-va-activists-rally-against-kaine-tax" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">client</a> Sen. Martin.Phillips managed to escape most of the controversy that eventually embroiled his partners Reed and Abramoff. Working under the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/4028#" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">slush fund</a> provided by oil baron <a href="http://64.203.97.162/index.php?static=455" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">David Koch</a> — with a salary <a href="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2007-afp990.pdf" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">approaching</a> $300,000 a year and <a href="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2007-afpfoundation-2007-2.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(144, 141, 255);">at least</a> a $7 million annual budget — Phillips continues to lead AFP in building front group after front group to advance his radical right wing agenda.===

<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;">AFP’s daily activities are managed by <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Tim Phillips</a><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;">, an infamous astroturf lobbyist who built a career using Christian front groups to wage stealth campaigns. For example, his work <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">includes fighting under the radar</a><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;"> to promote energy deregulation for Enron and helping Jack Abramoff clients continue forced abortion sweatshops in the Northern Mariana Islands.

==

rs 12

As leader of AFP, a corporate front group that funnels cash to the Tea Party, Phillips is on a mission to convince Americans that global warming is a plot hatched by Al Gore to take away their freedom and destroy the economy. Backed with $5 million from foundations funded by Koch Industries, Phillips launched a "Hot Air Tour" of America last year, staging faux-populist protests against climate legislation. In California, he organized "No Jobs" fairs to encourage voters to support Proposition 23, the referendum backed by the oil industry that would have scrapped the state's crackdown on global warming. And during the midterm elections, he cooked up a "No Climate Tax" pledge for conservative candidates, making them all but promise never to utter the words "cap and trade" in public, let alone vote for it in Congress. The political pressure worked: More than 600 candidates signed the planetary death warrant.

---demon spawn
<div style=""><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">cabot Phillips (born November 29, 1993) is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States" title="Conservatism in the United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">conservative</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activism" class="mw-redirect" title="Political activism" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">political activist</a> and American television personality. He is Editor-in-Chief<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-Cabot_Phillips-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[1]</a> of the conservative publication <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campus_Reform" title="Campus Reform" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">CampusReform.org</a> and serves as the Director of Campus Outreach<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[2]</a> for The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_Institute" title="Leadership Institute" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Leadership Institute</a>, a conservative grassroots organization<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a> in Arlington, Virginia. In 2016, he was named to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Alert_Politics" title="Red Alert Politics" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Red Alert Politics</a> "30 Under 30" list,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a> which recognizes the nation's most influential young conservatives.</div><div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr;"><div class="mw-parser-output"><h2 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Early life and education[</h2>Phillips is from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leesburg,Virginia" title="Leesburg, Virginia" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Leesburg, Virginia</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a> He is the son of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Phillips(political_strategist)" title="Tim Phillips (political strategist)" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Tim Phillips</a>, president of the political advocacy group <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[6]</a>. He graduated from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_University" title="Liberty University" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Liberty University</a> in 2015, where he was a recipient of The Dean's Award and host of a primetime FM radio show on 90.9 WQLU.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a><h2 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Career[</h2>Formerly, he served as Digital Grassroots Director on Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Rubio" title="Marco Rubio" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Marco Rubio</a>'s 2016 Presidential campaign.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a>Phillips is a regular guest on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News" title="Fox News" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Fox News</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[9]</a> The Blaze, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsmax_TV" title="Newsmax TV" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Newsmax TV</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[10]</a> providing political commentary from a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials" title="Millennials" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">millennial</a> point of view. Throughout the 2016 Presidential campaign, his conservative "man on the street" videos garnered millions of views<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[11]</a> and appeared on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drudge_Report" class="mw-redirect" title="The Drudge Report" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">The Drudge Report</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rush_Limbaugh_Show" title="The Rush Limbaugh Show" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The Rush Limbaugh Show</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_O%27Reilly_Factor" title="The O'Reilly Factor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The O'Reilly Factor</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[12]</a> Hannity, and more.Phillips is a  partner,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a> creating and starring in a series of videos which have been viewed over 100 million times on a variety of online platforms. In April 2016, his video "Brothers Convince Little Sister of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_apocalypse" title="Zombie apocalypse" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Zombie Apocalypse</a>"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a> went <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_video" title="Viral video" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">viral</a>, landing him and his siblings an appearance on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ellen_DeGeneres_Show" title="The Ellen DeGeneres Show" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Ellen DeGeneres Show</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a> The video was viewed over 80 million times online and was named to YouTube's official list of the Top 10 most popular viral videos of the year.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Phillips#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a></div></div>==

tea party

former partner ralph reed?

Americans for Prosperity: This group, run by Ralph Reed’s former lobbying partner Tim Phillips, is handling the PR and planning the events in the following states: New Jersey, Arizona, New Hampshire, Missouri, Kansas

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Here is a profile of just one of the Koch tentacles: Americans For Prosperity. AFP, the third-largest recipient of Koch foundation largesse, is the brothers' overtly political unit. Essentially, it is a front group for mass-producing front groups. Much like McDonald's churns out Big Mac franchises, AFP can pop out a grassrootsy-looking, cookie-cutter political operation on demand.

It has a $7 million annual budget that supports dozens of GOP operatives and former corporate PR veterans, all standing ready to assemble, fund, staff, and package a hot-to-go front group for any issue that comes up. Its menu includes such garnishes as hoked-up studies, alarmist talking points, deceptive attack ads, divisive hate messages, celebrity and religious endorsers, and a menagerie of media stunts.

AFP was launched by David Koch in 1984 as Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), a moniker it used until switching to its present name in 2003. It refuses to disclose its list of donors, but when it was known as CSE, about 70% of the $18 million it spent came from the Koch foundations. There's no reason to think that AFP is any less of a Koch-funded operation today, and David, as one of its top officers, continues to be actively engaged in directing the organization's work.

And what a piece of work it is.

Start with Tim Phillips, brought in to be AFP's president and Koch's point man in 2006. As a longtime Republican campaign director and Washington lobbyist for corporate interests, Phillips earned a reputation as one of the GOP's "Mr. Nasties," in the Karl Rovian mold.

His credits include helping George W. Bush win the pivotal 2000 GOP primary in South Carolina by spearheading a smear campaign that used images of John McCain's adopted daughter from Bangladesh to claim that he had fathered a black child; helping Saxby Chambliss defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland (a highly decorated Vietnam vet who lost both legs and an arm in that war) in the 2002 Georgia election by creating a TV ad linking the Democrat to Osama bin Laden and claiming that he lacked the courage to fight terrorists; and working with super-sleaze corporate lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 1998 to stir up evangelical churches in opposition to a labor-law reform that would've ended the brutal exploitation of Chinese girls and young women enslaved in sweatshops on the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth. (Phillips rallied evangelicals by asserting that many of the Chinese workers "are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ" while on the islands "and return to China with Bibles in hand, so Congress should not interfere.)

At AFP, Phillips has the Kochs' deep pockets and political network at his disposal to take on a broad range of right-wing corporate causes. While the organization has 23 state "chapters" and immodestly bills itself as the nation's "premier grassroots organization," it has only 8,000 actual members, is totally controlled by corporate money, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and is run by the exact same kind of professional political insiders it pretends to detest.

Consider the boisterous "tea bag" rebellion. No one professes more hatred for the two-party, business-as-usual political system in Washington than those angry Americans who're caught up in the tea-bag rallies. Yet unbeknownst to most of the mad-as-hellers who have showed up, it was AFP's Republican-tied lobbyists and political functionaries who cynically financed, organized, and orchestrated the very first tea-bag protest. AFP has steadily coopted the tea-bag faction to make it a front for the corporate agenda, and many of the tea-bag groups have devolved into subsidiaries of the Republican party. Indeed, AFP has become the Astroturf-To-Go Store, fabricating and spreading fake grassroots organizations all across the country. It was especially busy during the 2008 presidential campaign and in the first year of Obama's presidency. Here are a few recent AFP-manufactured campaigns on major public-policy issues:

PATIENTS UNITED NOW. The website for PUN (odd choice for an acronym, huh?) proclaims, "We are people just like you." However, that statement is true only if you're one of the people working as paid political hacks for AFP. PUN is nothing but a shell created by AFP's laissez-faire corporate extremists. The goal of this front group is to kill legislation that would restructure the rip-off health-insurance industry so real patients can get fairly priced, quality care. In addition to running farcical, antireform TV ads under PUN's name, the AFP-directed effort has included a "Hands Off My Health Care" bus tour. Its message wasn't subtle--a giant bloody hand was painted on the side of the bus, and a speaker traveling with the group repeatedly compared the Democrats' health-reform plans to the Holocaust.

HOT-AIR TOUR. During the past two years, people in 40 cities have been greeted by the sight of a 70-foot-tall hot-air balloon drifting over them. It heralded the arrival of a barnstorming tour to expose "the ballooning costs of global warming hysteria." This stunt had a just-folks veneer on it, but it was another AFP production--after all, as owners of the largest privately held oil corporation, the Koch brothers have a special interest in spreading denial about the existence of climate change. AFP ran ads mocking proponents of fossilfuel regulations as elitist brats more concerned about their "three homes and five cars" than about the jobs of working-class families (an incredible rhetorical gusher from a privileged billionaire like David, who lives the high life in Manhattan, where he hobnobs with the richest elites at society galas, while also owning a mansion in Aspen where he can curl up in luxury and sip fine wine from his collection of 5,000 vintage bottles). Perhaps he was tipsy on some of those grapes last fall when he attended an AFP summit of tea-party leaders and personally embraced the histrionics of a climate-denial film that accuses such leaders as Al Gore of wanting to bring back "the Dark Ages and the Black Plague."

Among AFP's other fronts are: FREE OUR ENERGY, which clamored during the 2008 election season to open up our seashores and national parks to oil drillers; NO STIMULUS, which tried to rev up the tea-party network last year to kill Obama's economic-recovery plan; and SAVE MY BALLOT, yet another "grassroots tour," this one to rail against a proposal to stop corporate intimidation of workers trying to unionize (AFP paid Joe the Plumber to front this smear campaign).

===

The rate at which the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Koch Industries</a> funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) churns out front groups to promote its right-wing corporate agenda sets the organization out among similar conservative “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/14/lobbying-clients-teaparties/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">think tanks</a>.” This week, AFP created their latest front group called “<a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/pun/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Patients United Now</a>,” an entity set up to defeat health care reform. Patients United follows a familiar pattern AFP has used for their other front groups: create a new stand alone <a href="http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/05/26/more-right-wing-lies-with-beer-chaser.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">website</a>, fill it with lines like “We are people just like you” to give the site a <a href="http://www.theseminal.com/2009/05/26/new-anti-obama-health-care-front-group-patients-united-now/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">grassroots</a> feel, and then use the new group to recruit supporters and run <a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200905270002" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">deceptive advertisements</a> attacking reform. This “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">astroturfing</a>” model has been used by AFP to launch groups pushing distortions against other progressive priorities:

– “<a href="http://www.freeourenergy.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Free Our Energy</a>,” a group promoting increased domestic drilling.

– The “<a href="http://www.savemyballot.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Save My Ballot Tour</a>,” a group that pays <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/01/joe-plumber-stumped/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Joe the Plumber</a> to travel around the country smearing the Employee Free Choice Act.

– “<a href="http://www.noclimatetax.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">No Climate Tax</a>,” a group dedicated to the defeat of Clean Energy Economy legislation.

– “<a href="http://nostimulus.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">No Stimulus</a>,” a group launched to try to stop the passage of the Recovery Act.

</blockquote>

With nearly 70 Republican operatives and former oil industry spokesmen<a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/staff" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">working</a> behind the scenes of AFP’s various fronts and <a href="http://mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=8806" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">disclosures</a> that point to ever <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3511" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">increasing</a> oil and corporate donations to the group, one must wonder, who is guiding this massive front group factory? The answer is <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/staff/tim-phillips" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Tim Phillips</a>, the President of AFP who has built a long career of inventing fake grassroots causes. In Phillips’ official biography, there appears to be over a 10 year gap — but that period was when Phillips developed his very first astroturf groups to do everything from smearing his opponents with anti-Semitic attacks to laundering money for criminal lobbyists.

Click More To Read The WonkRoom’s Investigation Of AFP’s Tim Phillips

As a Virginia-based political consultant, Phillips got his first big break managing the campaign of Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). After serving as Goodlatte’s chief of staff for four years, Phillips joined former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed in 1997 to create an astroturf lobbying and campaign consulting operation called<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Century_Strategies" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Century Strategies</a>. The firm promised to mount “grassroots lobbying drives” and explained its strategy as “it matters less who has the best arguments and more<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0304-06.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">who gets heard</a> — and by whom.”

After being recommended by Karl Rove, Century Strategies signed its first major corporate client – <a href="http://www.time.com/time/2002/enron/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Enron</a>. Phillips and Reed were paid $380,000 to mobilize “religious leaders and pro-family groups” to push energy deregulation in Congress and on the state level, a <a href="http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/Enron/articles.cfm?ID=7104" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">policy shift</a> that led to the energy crisis and economic meltdown of 2001. The Washington Post reported that the pair informed Enron that they had leveraged their relationships with members of Congress and “<a href="http://bodurtha.georgetown.edu/enron/Bush%202000%20Adviser%20Offered%20To%20Use%20Clout%20to%20Help%20Enron.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">placed</a>” articles in prominent papers like the New York Times.

Part of Phillip’s role at Century Strategies was to <a href="http://politicalvine.com/complaints/EXHIBIT%20A.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">manage</a> the firm’s direct mail subsidiary, Millennium Marketing. In 1998, now disgraced lobbyist <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010300474.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Jack Abramoff</a>hired Phillips’ firm to pressure members of Congress to vote against legislation that would have made the U.S. commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands subject to federal wage and worker safety laws. A federal report “found that Chinese women were subject to forced abortions and that women and children were subject to forced prostitution in the local sex-tourism industry.” Nonetheless, Phillips sent out mailers claiming Chinese workers “are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ” while on the islands, and many “are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/28/AR2006052800964.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Bibles in hand</a>.” The mailers then encouraged the recipients to contact lawmakers and ask them to oppose the Marianas labor reform legislation.

The Marianas stealth lobbying effort was not the only time Phillips worked with Abramoff. Reed and Phillips <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/reed.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">conspired</a> to generate conservative Christian outrage towards gambling at Indian casinos in a cynical plot to encourage those same tribes to hire Abramoff to lobby on their behalf. In some cases, Phillips’ anti-gambling crusade would simply be part of an effort to kill off competition to<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50258-2004Sep25?language=printer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Abramoff’s clients</a>. And while Phillips and Reed postured to be motivated by anti-gambling Christian values, the pair helped <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101501539_pf.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">launder</a> lobbying money from an Abramoff Internet gambling client called eLottery.

Though Phillips and Reed are best known in the campaign consulting world for engineering the dual <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/us/2002-elections-georgia-senator-cleland-loses-upset-republican-emphasizing.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">victories</a> of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Republican Gov. Sonnie Perdue in Georgia (by associating images of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKFYpd0q9nE" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Osama bin Laden</a> with the incumbent Democratic senator), the pair can also be credited with the most below the belt tactics ever seen in modern Republican primaries. The duo “<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20041214162123/www.censtrat.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Team.View&Biography_id=2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">spearheaded</a>” the telemarketing and direct mail efforts for George Bush against John McCain in the 2000 primaries. It is widely believed that Century Strategies executed the mass mailers and robo-calls which accused McCain of fathering an<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/01/10/post_270.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">illegitimate child</a> with a black woman, using the image of McCain’s adopted daughter from Bangladesh.

Phillips’ brass knuckled hits on fellow Republicans almost prevented the only Jewish Congressman in the GOP caucus from ever being elected. Phillips set up a 527 called “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Faith_and_Family_Alliance" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">The Faith and Family Alliance</a>,” a group supposedly designed to support conservative and Christian causes. But like his other front groups, Phillips used the Family Alliance to simply slime his political opponents with an organization that appeared to represent a grassroots community. The Richmond Times Dispatch reported that Phillips was hired by State Sen. Stephen Martin to manage his direct mail campaign against State Del. Eric Cantor in the 2000 Republican primary for the Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Tom Bliley (R-VA). Phillips used his Family Alliance to blast robo-calls and mass mailers claiming Cantor did not represent “Virginia values” and that his opponent was the “<a href="http://spectator.org/blog/2006/01/13/cantor-survived-abramoff-reed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">only Christian in the contest</a>.”

Larry Sabato, a political analyst and the director of University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/gop_chair_tied_to_group_that_attacked_cantor/39925/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">noted</a>:

A despicable, underground campaign that was unquestionably anti-Semitic nearly beat Cantor in the GOP primary for U.S. House to succeed Tom Bliley in June 2000. Cantor had been heavily favored over state Sen. Steve Martin, but in the end he won by a couple hundred votes. Now the national and state GOP appears grateful for its lone Jewish House member — but the Republican base and some Christian groups almost insured his defeat. I’m amazed that Democrats and even Republicans haven’t raised this matter.

</blockquote>

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24.75px; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Indeed, after the Phillips’ anti-Semitic attacks, Cantor went from being high in the polls to barely winning the primary by a mere <a href="http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2009/2009-04/200904-Eric_Cantor.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">264 votes</a>. Phillips still holds rallies – under the umbrella of AFP – to boost his old <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/afp-va-activists-rally-against-kaine-tax" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">client</a> Sen. Martin.

Phillips managed to escape most of the controversy that eventually embroiled his partners Reed and Abramoff. Working under the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/4028#" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">slush fund</a> provided by oil baron<a href="http://64.203.97.162/index.php?static=455" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">David Koch</a> – with a salary <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2007-afp990.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">approaching</a> $300,000 a year and <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2007-afpfoundation-2007-2.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">at least</a> a $7 million annual budget – Phillips continues to lead AFP in building front group after front group to advance his radical right wing agenda.

<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2009/05/29/170792/afp-timphillips-astroturf/">http://thinkprogress.org/health/2009/05/29/170792/afp-timphillips-astroturf/</a>

The rate at which the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Koch Industries</a> funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) churns out front groups to promote its right-wing corporate agenda sets the organization out among similar conservative “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/14/lobbying-clients-teaparties/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">think tanks</a>.” This week, AFP created their latest front group called “<a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/pun/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Patients United Now</a>,” an entity set up to defeat health care reform. Patients United follows a familiar pattern AFP has used for their other front groups: create a new stand alone <a href="http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/05/26/more-right-wing-lies-with-beer-chaser.aspx" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">website</a>, fill it with lines like “We are people just like you” to give the site a <a href="http://www.theseminal.com/2009/05/26/new-anti-obama-health-care-front-group-patients-united-now/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">grassroots</a> feel, and then use the new group to recruit supporters and run <a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200905270002" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">deceptive advertisements</a> attacking reform. This “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">astroturfing</a>” model has been used by AFP to launch groups pushing distortions against other progressive priorities:

– The “<a href="http://www.hotairtour.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Hot Air Tour</a>” promoting global warming skepticism and attacking environmental regulations.

– “<a href="http://www.freeourenergy.com/" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Free Our Energy</a>,” a group promoting increased domestic drilling.

– The “<a href="http://www.savemyballot.com/" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Save My Ballot Tour</a>,” a group that pays <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/01/joe-plumber-stumped/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">Joe the Plumber</a> to travel around the country smearing the Employee Free Choice Act.

– “<a href="http://www.noclimatetax.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">No Climate Tax</a>,” a group dedicated to the defeat of Clean Energy Economy legislation.

– “<a href="http://nostimulus.com/" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">No Stimulus</a>,” a group launched to try to stop the passage of the Recovery Act.

</blockquote>

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: 24.75px; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Notably, AFP was also instrumental in <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/04/09/37433/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: underline;">orchestrating</a> the anti-Obama, anti-tax tea party protests in April.

</blockquote>

==

AFP’s daily activities are managed by <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/">Tim Phillips</a>, an infamous astroturf lobbyist who built a career using Christian front groups to wage stealth campaigns. For example, his work <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/">includes fighting under the radar</a> to promote energy deregulation for Enron and helping Jack Abramoff clients continue forced abortion sweatshops in the Northern Mariana Islands.

</center>

<h1><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2009/05/29/170792/afp-timphillips-astroturf/">Tim Phillips, The Man Behind The ‘Americans For Prosperity’ Corporate Front Group Factory</a></h1>

By Lee Fang on May 29, 2009 at 3:00 pm

The rate at which the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity">Koch Industries</a> funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) churns out front groups to promote its right-wing corporate agenda sets the organization out among similar conservative “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/14/lobbying-clients-teaparties/">think tanks</a>.” This week, AFP created their latest front group called “<a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/pun/">Patients United Now</a>,” an entity set up to defeat health care reform. Patients United follows a familiar pattern AFP has used for their other front groups: create a new stand alone <a href="http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/05/26/more-right-wing-lies-with-beer-chaser.aspx">website</a>, fill it with lines like “We are people just like you” to give the site a <a href="http://www.theseminal.com/2009/05/26/new-anti-obama-health-care-front-group-patients-united-now/">grassroots</a> feel, and then use the new group to recruit supporters and run <a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200905270002">deceptive advertisements</a> attacking reform. This “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf">astroturfing</a>” model has been used by AFP to launch groups pushing distortions against other progressive priorities:

– The “<a href="http://www.hotairtour.org/">Hot Air Tour</a>” promoting global warming skepticism and attacking environmental regulations.

– “<a href="http://www.freeourenergy.com/">Free Our Energy</a>,” a group promoting increased domestic drilling.

– The “<a href="http://www.savemyballot.com/">Save My Ballot Tour</a>,” a group that pays <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/01/joe-plumber-stumped/">Joe the Plumber</a> to travel around the country smearing the Employee Free Choice Act.

– “<a href="http://www.noclimatetax.com/">No Climate Tax</a>,” a group dedicated to the defeat of Clean Energy Economy legislation.

– “<a href="http://nostimulus.com/">No Stimulus</a>,” a group launched to try to stop the passage of the Recovery Act.

</blockquote>

Notably, AFP was also instrumental in <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/04/09/37433/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/">orchestrating</a> the anti-Obama, anti-tax tea party protests in April.

With nearly 70 Republican operatives and former oil industry spokesmen <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/staff">working</a> behind the scenes of AFP’s various fronts and <a href="http://mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=8806">disclosures</a> that point to ever <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3511">increasing</a> oil and corporate donations to the group, one must wonder, who is guiding this massive front group factory? The answer is <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/staff/tim-phillips">Tim Phillips</a>, the President of AFP who has built a long career of inventing fake grassroots causes. In Phillips’ official biography, there appears to be over a 10 year gap — but that period was when Phillips developed his very first astroturf groups to do everything from smearing his opponents with anti-Semitic attacks to laundering money for criminal lobbyists.

Click More To Read The WonkRoom’s Investigation Of AFP’s Tim Phillips

After being recommended by Karl Rove, Century Strategies signed its first major corporate client – <a href="http://www.time.com/time/2002/enron/">Enron</a>. Phillips and Reed were paid $380,000 to mobilize “religious leaders and pro-family groups” to push energy deregulation in Congress and on the state level, a <a href="http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/Enron/articles.cfm?ID=7104">policy shift</a> that led to the energy crisis and economic meltdown of 2001. The Washington Post reported that the pair informed Enron that they had leveraged their relationships with members of Congress and “<a href="http://bodurtha.georgetown.edu/enron/Bush%202000%20Adviser%20Offered%20To%20Use%20Clout%20to%20Help%20Enron.htm">placed</a>” articles in prominent papers like the New York Times.

Part of Phillip’s role at Century Strategies was to <a href="http://politicalvine.com/complaints/EXHIBIT%20A.pdf">manage</a> the firm’s direct mail subsidiary, Millennium Marketing. In 1998, now disgraced lobbyist <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010300474.html">Jack Abramoff</a> hired Phillips’ firm to pressure members of Congress to vote against legislation that would have made the U.S. commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands subject to federal wage and worker safety laws. A federal report “found that Chinese women were subject to forced abortions and that women and children were subject to forced prostitution in the local sex-tourism industry.” Nonetheless, Phillips sent out mailers claiming Chinese workers “are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ” while on the islands, and many “are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/28/AR2006052800964.html">Bibles in hand</a>.” The mailers then encouraged the recipients to contact lawmakers and ask them to oppose the Marianas labor reform legislation.

The Marianas stealth lobbying effort was not the only time Phillips worked with Abramoff. Reed and Phillips <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/reed.php">conspired</a> to generate conservative Christian outrage towards gambling at Indian casinos in a cynical plot to encourage those same tribes to hire Abramoff to lobby on their behalf. In some cases, Phillips’ anti-gambling crusade would simply be part of an effort to kill off competition to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50258-2004Sep25?language=printer">Abramoff’s clients</a>. And while Phillips and Reed postured to be motivated by anti-gambling Christian values, the pair helped <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101501539_pf.html">launder</a> lobbying money from an Abramoff Internet gambling client called eLottery.

Though Phillips and Reed are best known in the campaign consulting world for engineering the dual <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/us/2002-elections-georgia-senator-cleland-loses-upset-republican-emphasizing.html">victories</a> of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Republican Gov. Sonnie Perdue in Georgia (by associating images of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKFYpd0q9nE">Osama bin Laden</a> with the incumbent Democratic senator), the pair can also be credited with the most below the belt tactics ever seen in modern Republican primaries. The duo “<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20041214162123/www.censtrat.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Team.View&Biography_id=2">spearheaded</a>” the telemarketing and direct mail efforts for George Bush against John McCain in the 2000 primaries. It is widely believed that Century Strategies executed the mass mailers and robo-calls which accused McCain of fathering an <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/01/10/post_270.html">illegitimate child</a> with a black woman, using the image of McCain’s adopted daughter from Bangladesh.

Phillips’ brass knuckled hits on fellow Republicans almost prevented the only Jewish Congressman in the GOP caucus from ever being elected. Phillips set up a 527 called “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Faith_and_Family_Alliance">The Faith and Family Alliance</a>,” a group supposedly designed to support conservative and Christian causes. But like his other front groups, Phillips used the Family Alliance to simply slime his political opponents with an organization that appeared to represent a grassroots community. The Richmond Times Dispatch reported that Phillips was hired by State Sen. Stephen Martin to manage his direct mail campaign against State Del. Eric Cantor in the 2000 Republican primary for the Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Tom Bliley (R-VA). Phillips used his Family Alliance to blast robo-calls and mass mailers claiming Cantor did not represent “Virginia values” and that his opponent was the “<a href="http://spectator.org/blog/2006/01/13/cantor-survived-abramoff-reed">only Christian in the contest</a>.”

Larry Sabato, a political analyst and the director of University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, <a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/gop_chair_tied_to_group_that_attacked_cantor/39925/">noted</a>:

A despicable, underground campaign that was unquestionably anti-Semitic nearly beat Cantor in the GOP primary for U.S. House to succeed Tom Bliley in June 2000. Cantor had been heavily favored over state Sen. Steve Martin, but in the end he won by a couple hundred votes. Now the national and state GOP appears grateful for its lone Jewish House member — but the Republican base and some Christian groups almost insured his defeat. I’m amazed that Democrats and even Republicans haven’t raised this matter.

</blockquote>

Indeed, after the Phillips’ anti-Semitic attacks, Cantor went from being high in the polls to barely winning the primary by a mere <a href="http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2009/2009-04/200904-Eric_Cantor.html">264 votes</a>. Phillips still holds rallies – under the umbrella of AFP – to boost his old <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/afp-va-activists-rally-against-kaine-tax">client</a> Sen. Martin.

Phillips managed to escape most of the controversy that eventually embroiled his partners Reed and Abramoff. Working under the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/4028#">slush fund</a> provided by oil baron <a href="http://64.203.97.162/index.php?static=455">David Koch</a> – with a salary <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2007-afp990.pdf">approaching</a> $300,000 a year and <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2007-afpfoundation-2007-2.pdf">at least</a> a $7 million annual budget – Phillips continues to lead AFP in building front group after front group to advance his radical right wing agenda.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/employee-free-choice-act/">Employee Free Choice Act</a></li>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/energy/">Energy</a></li>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/global-warming/">Global Warming</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2009/05/29/170792/afp-timphillips-astroturf/">http://thinkprogress.org/health/2009/05/29/170792/afp-timphillips-astroturf/</a>

do not confuse with tom

Thomas L. Phillips

Chairman, Eagle Publishing, Inc.

Washington, D.C.
=from?----
https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/
<h1 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; padding-top: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">americans for Prosperity explained</h1><div class="InfoBox" style="float: right; clear: right; border: 1px dotted rgb(224, 192, 128); padding: 0.5em; background: rgb(248, 248, 248); margin-left: 0.5em; max-width: 50%;"><table><tbody><tr><td class="H1" colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top;">Americans for Prosperity</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Membership:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">2.3 million (2013)</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Predecessor:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Citizens_for_a_Sound_Economy/" title="Citizens for a Sound Economy was a conservative political group operating in the United States.">Citizens for a Sound Economy</a></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Type:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">Nonprofit political advocacy group</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Mission:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">"To mobilize citizens to advocate for policies that cut red tape and increase opportunity, put the brakes on government overspending, and get the economy working for hard workers– not special interests."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-1">[1]</a></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Headquarters:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Arlington%2c_Virginia/">Arlington, Virginia</a><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-2">[2]</a></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Formation:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-3">[3]</a></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Leader Title:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/President(corporation)/" title="A president is a leader of an organization, company, community, club, trade union, university or other group.">President</a></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Leader Name:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Tim_Phillips(political_strategist)/" title="Tim Phillips is the president of Americans for Prosperity and an early Tea Party movement organizer.">Tim Phillips</a></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Leader Title2:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Chief_Operating_Officer/" title="A chief operating officer is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " c-suite="C-suite">Chief Operating Officer</a></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Leader Name2:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">Luke Hilgemann</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Tax Id:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">75-3148958</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Status:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">501(c)(4)</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Revenue:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">$82,682,125</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Revenue Year:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">2014</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Expenses:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">$90,412,075</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Expenses Year:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">2014</td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;">Affiliations:</td><td style="vertical-align: top;">Americans for Prosperity Foundation,
PDIST LLC</td></tr></tbody></table></div>Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Libertarian_conservatism/" title="Libertarian conservatism is a political philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the ...">libertarian conservative</a> political <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/advocacy_group/">advocacy group</a> in the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/United_States/" title="The United States is a country primarily located in North America.">United States</a> funded by <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/David_Koch/">David Koch</a> and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Charles_Koch/">Charles Koch</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-4">[4]</a> As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one of the most influential American conservative organizations.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-5">[5]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-6">[6]</a>After the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, AFP helped transform the Tea Party movement into a political force. It organized significant opposition to Obama administration initiatives such as <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/global_warming/" title="The climate change is not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing.">global warming</a> regulation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the expansion of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Medicaid/" title="Medicaid is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources.">Medicaid</a> and economic stimulus. It helped turn back <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/emissions_trading/" title="Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentive s for reducing the ...">cap and trade</a>, the major environmental proposal of Obama's first term. AFP advocated for limits on the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/collective_bargaining/" title="Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate ...">collective bargaining</a> rights of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Public-sector_trade_unions_in_the_United_States/">public-sector trade unions</a> and for <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/right-to-work_law/">right-to-work law</a>s, and it opposed raising the federal <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/minimum_wage/" title="Minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees ...">minimum wage</a>. AFP played an active role in the achievement of the Republican majority in the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/United_States_House_of_Representatives/" title="The United States House of Representatives is the lower house of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper ...">House of Representatives</a> in 2010 and in the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/United_States_Senate/">Senate</a> in 2014.In the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/2014_United_States_elections/">2014 mid-term election</a> cycle, AFP led all groups, other than <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/political_action_committees/" title="Political action committee is a 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to ...">political action committees</a> (PACs), in spending on political television advertising. AFP's scope of operations has drawn comparisons to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/political_party/" title="A political party is an organization that coordinates candidate s to compete in a country's election s.">political parties</a>. AFP, an educational social welfare organization, and the associated Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a public charity, are <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/tax_exemption/" title="Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ...">tax-exempt</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/nonprofit_organization/" title="A nonprofit organization is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast ...">nonprofits</a>. As a tax-exempt nonprofit, AFP is not legally required to disclose its donors to the general public. The extent of AFP's political activities while operating as a tax-exempt entity has raised concerns among some <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States/" title="Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels.">campaign finance</a> watchdogs regarding the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Transparency(behavior)/" title="Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed.">transparency</a> of its funding.<h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Background, founding, and growth</h2>Americans for Prosperity was founded in 2004 when internal rivalries caused a split in the conservative political advocacy group <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Citizens_for_a_Sound_Economy/" title="Citizens for a Sound Economy was a conservative political group operating in the United States.">Citizens for a Sound Economy</a> (CSE), creating Americans for Prosperity and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/FreedomWorks/" title="FreedomWorks is a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.">FreedomWorks</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-7">[7]</a> AFP's founding was funded by businessmen and philanthropist brothers <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/David_H.Koch/">David H. Koch</a> and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Charles_Koch/">Charles Koch</a>, of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Koch_Industries/" title="Koch Industries is an American multinational corporation based in Wichita, Kansas.">Koch Industries</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-8">[8]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-9">[9]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-10">[10]</a> The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is the Koch brothers' primary political <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/advocacy_group/">advocacy group</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-11">[11]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-12">[12]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-13">[13]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-14">[14]</a> According to a spokesperson from Koch Industries, the Koch companies do not direct the activities of AFP.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-8">[8]</a>AFP's original stated mission was "educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing citizens as advocates in the public policy process".<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-15">[15]</a> Its current stated mission is "to mobilize citizens to advocate for policies that cut red tape and increase opportunity, put the brakes on government overspending, and get the economy working for hard workers– not special interests".<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-1">[1]</a> It is focused on "fiscal responsibility," and in particular on cutting taxes, reducing regulation of business, and limiting the power of the courts.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-16">[16]</a> According to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/FactCheck.org/" title="FactCheck.org is a nonprofit website that describes itself as a " consumer="consumer" advocate="advocate" for="for" voters="voters" that="that" aims="aims" to="to" reduce="reduce" the="the" level="level">FactCheck.org</a>, "AFP seeks to support free markets and entrepreneurship by advocating lower taxes and limited government spending and regulation."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-17">[17]</a> Its leaders view the organization as a counterbalance to the progressive movement's unions and activist organizations. According to NBC News, The New York Times and others, some of AFP's policy positions align with the business interests of the Koch brothers and Koch Industries, including its support for rescinding energy regulations and environmental restrictions; expanding domestic energy production; lowering taxes; and reducing government spending, especially <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Social_Security(United_States)/" title="Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program and is ...">Social Security</a>, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Medicare(United_States)/" title="Medicare is a national health insurance program in the United States, begun in 1965 under the Social Security Administration ...">Medicare</a>, and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Medicaid/" title="Medicaid is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources.">Medicaid</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-18">[18]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-19">[19]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-20">[20]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-21">[21]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-22">[22]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-23">[23]</a>From 2004 to 2007, AFP was led by <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Nancy_Pfotenhauer/">Nancy Pfotenhauer</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-24">[24]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-25">[25]</a> In 2005, the Kochs hired political strategist <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Tim_Phillips(political_strategist)/" title="Tim Phillips is the president of Americans for Prosperity and an early Tea Party movement organizer.">Tim Phillips</a> to work at AFP.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-26">[26]</a>AFP had a staff of 116 employees in September 2012, and the next year it had chapters in 34 states and reported a membership of 2.3 million.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-27">[27]</a> In June 2014, it had 240 employees in 32 states.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-28">[28]</a> AFP has been active in national, state,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-27">[27]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-29">[29]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-30">[30]</a> and local elections. AFP registered to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Lobbying/" title="Lobbying is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, ...">lobby</a> in 2014.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-31">[31]</a> According to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/FactCheck.org/" title="FactCheck.org is a nonprofit website that describes itself as a " consumer="consumer" advocate="advocate" for="for" voters="voters" that="that" aims="aims" to="to" reduce="reduce" the="the" level="level">FactCheck.org</a>, by 2011, AFP had "emerged as one of the most influential conservative issue advocacy groups on the national and state political scene".<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-17">[17]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-32">[32]</a> The <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Los_Angeles_Times/" title="The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper based in El Segundo, California, which has been published in Los Angeles, ...">Los Angeles Times</a> said AFP performed roles typical of national and state political parties. <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/ABC_News/" title="ABC News is the news division of Walt Disney Television 's ABC broadcast network.">ABC News</a> said in August 2014 that AFP was "poised to be the most influential conservative group in the nation this year, and among the most influential and heaviest spending across the political spectrum this year and into the looming presidential race".<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-33">[33]</a>As of mid-September 2018, AFP has become one of just 15 groups which account for three-quarters of the anonymous cash; following the 2010, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Citizens_United_v.FEC/">Citizens United v. FEC</a> decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which paved the way for <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/dark_money/" title="Dark money is something other than electoral politics.">dark money</a> to flow into U.S. elections.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-34">[34]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-35">[35]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Leadership, structure and funding</h2><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Tim_Phillips(political_strategist)/" title="Tim Phillips is the president of Americans for Prosperity and an early Tea Party movement organizer.">Tim Phillips</a> is president of both AFP and the AFP Foundation. AFP has been called both the political and educational arm of the AFP Foundation. AFP and the AFP Foundation share offices and staff.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-36">[36]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-37">[37]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">AFP</h3>As of 2014, New Jersey businesswoman Frayda Levin chaired the board of directors of AFP.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-38">[38]</a> Other directors include Pfotenhauer, former U.S. government official and economist <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/James_C.Miller_III/">James C. Miller III</a>, James E. Stephenson, and Mark Holden.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-39">[39]</a> Filing with the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Internal_Revenue_Service/" title="The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government responsible for collecting taxes ...">Internal Revenue Service</a> (IRS) as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, tax-exempt, social welfare organization,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-40">[40]</a> contributions to AFP are not tax deducible. AFP is legally required to operate as non-partisan, it may not endorse or oppose political candidates, its primary purpose may not be political,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-27">[27]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-17">[17]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-41">[41]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-42">[42]</a> it must be primarily engaged in social welfare activities,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-28">[28]</a> and no more than half of its expenditures may be political.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-42">[42]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">AFP Foundation</h3><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/David_H.Koch/">David H. Koch</a> chaired the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/board_of_directors/" title="A board of directors is a group of people who jointly supervise the activities of an organization, which can be either a ...">board of directors</a> of the AFP Foundation.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-43">[43]</a> Other directors include Pfotenhauer, economist <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Walter_E.Williams/">Walter E. Williams</a>, Debra Humphreys, and Cy Nobles.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-8">[8]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-44">[44]</a> The AFP Foundation is an associate member of the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/State_Policy_Network/" title="The State Policy Network is an American nonprofit organization that functions primarily as an umbrella organization for a ...">State Policy Network</a>, a national network of free-market oriented think tanks.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-45">[45]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-46">[46]</a> As a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/501(c)(3)/" title="A 501 organization is a corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal ...">501(c)(3)</a> non-profit, tax-exempt charity, contributions to the AFP Foundation are tax deducible, and such charities are largely prohibited from political activity.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-17">[17]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-24">[24]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-42">[42]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Transparency</h3>Tax-exempt, nonprofit charitable organizations such as AFP are generally not required to disclose their contributors, in contrast with <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/political_action_committee/" title="Political action committee is a 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to ...">political action committee</a>s.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-42">[42]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-47">[47]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-48">[48]</a> Some campaign finance <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/watchdog_journalism/" title="Watchdog journalism is a form of investigative journalism where journalists, authors or publishers of a news publication ...">watchdogs</a> and Democrats have criticized AFP for what they perceive to be its funding of political activities from undisclosed sources. For example, the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Sunlight_Foundation/" title="The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501 nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government.">Sunlight Foundation</a> and others have accused non-disclosing political groups like AFP of filing for nonprofit status solely to invoke the right to hide their donors.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-49">[49]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-50">[50]</a> President Obama, speaking at a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Democratic_National_Committee/" title="The Democratic National Committee is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party.">Democratic National Committee</a> fundraising dinner in August 2010, criticized AFP for its political spending and non-disclosure of donors.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-24">[24]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-51">[51]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-52">[52]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-53">[53]</a> The <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Democratic_Congressional_Campaign_Committee/" title="The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of ...">Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee</a> filed a complaint with the IRS charging that the AFP Foundation had funded political advertisements in violation of the law applicable to the foundation's tax-exempt classification. AFP responded that the charges were without merit.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-54">[54]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-55">[55]</a> President of AFP <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Tim_Phillips(political_strategist)/" title="Tim Phillips is the president of Americans for Prosperity and an early Tea Party movement organizer.">Tim Phillips</a> later suggested that the reason behind the Democrats' filing of the complaint was simply that they were scared of the impact the organization was having.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-56">[56]</a>In 2010 and 2011, AFP reported to the IRS that it was not involved in political activities.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-57">[57]</a> Questioned by a reporter before the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Wisconsin_gubernatorial_recall_election/" title="The 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election was a special election to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of ...">2012 Wisconsin recall elections</a>, AFP's Wisconsin director said AFP was educating the public and not engaging in political activity.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-58">[58]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-59">[59]</a> In 2014, an AFP spokesperson said AFP had the right to keep its donors private, citing <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/NAACP_v.Alabama/">NAACP v. Alabama</a>, a 1958 Supreme Court ruling that protected National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) donors from potential harassment.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-60">[60]</a> In 2014, AFP president Phillips said that protecting donors' identities was prudent given the Obama administration's ideology-based <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/IRS_targeting_controversy/">IRS targeting</a> of citizens.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-61">[61]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-62">[62]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-63">[63]</a> The AFP Foundation said its supporters have received serious threats. In February 2015, a federal judge granted the Foundation's motion for a preliminary injunction staying <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/California_Attorney_General/" title="The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California.">California Attorney General</a> Kamala Harris's request for the names and addresses of Foundation donors, pending resolution of the legality of the request.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-64">[64]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-65">[65]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Funding</h3>While AFP does not disclose its funding sources, some supporters have acknowledged their contributions and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/investigative_journalism/" title="Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as ...">investigative journalism</a> has documented others. AFP has been funded by the Kochs and others.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-17">[17]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-40">[40]</a>At AFP's 2009 Defending the Dream summit, David Koch said he and his brother Charles provided the initial funding for AFP.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-66">[66]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-67">[67]</a> In initial funding, David Koch was the top contributor to the founding of the AFP Foundation at $850,000. Several American companies also provided initial funding of the AFP Foundation, including $275,000 from <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/State_Farm_Insurance/">State Farm Insurance</a> and lesser amounts from <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/1-800_Contacts/" title="1-800 Contacts is an American contact lens retailer based in Draper, Utah.">1-800 Contacts</a>, medical products firm Johnson & Johnson, and carpet and flooring manufacturer <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Shaw_Industries/" title="Shaw Industries is one of the world's largest carpet manufacturers with more than $6 billion in annual revenue and ...">Shaw Industries</a>.Later grants from the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Koch_family_foundations/" title="The Koch family foundations is the US's second-largest privately held company.">Koch family foundations</a> include $1 million in 2008 to AFP from the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-68">[68]</a> and $3 million between 2005 and 2007 to the AFP Foundation from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-69">[69]</a> controlled by Charles Koch.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-68">[68]</a> Other grants from Koch-related funding sources include $32.3 million in 2012 and $1.5 million in 2013 from <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Freedom_Partners/" title="Freedom Partners was a nonprofit 501 organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.">Freedom Partners</a><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-70">[70]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-71">[71]</a> and $4.2 million through 2011 to the AFP Foundation from the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights/" title="The American Future Fund is a 501 tax-exempt organization based in Iowa.">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-72">[72]</a>Between 2003 and 2012, the AFP Foundation received $4.17 million from the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/John_William_Pope_Foundation/" title="The John William Pope Foundation is a non-profit 501 private charitable foundation based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that ...">John William Pope Foundation</a>, chaired by AFP director Pope, the largest identifiable donor to the AFP Foundation.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-37">[37]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-73">[73]</a> In 2011, the AFP Foundation received $3 million from the foundation of the family of billionaire <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Richard_DeVos/">Richard DeVos</a>, the founder of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Amway/" title="Amway is an American multi-level marketing company that sells health, beauty, and home care products.">Amway</a>, making the DeVos family the second largest identifiable donor to the AFP Foundation.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-37">[37]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-74">[74]</a> In 2010, AFP received half a million dollars from the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Bradley_Foundation/" title="The Bradley Foundation is an American charitable foundation with more than $800 million U.">Bradley Foundation</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-75">[75]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-76">[76]</a> AFP received smaller grants in 2012 from tobacco company <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Reynolds_American/" title="Reynolds American is an American tobacco company which is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco and is the ...">Reynolds American</a> and in 2010 and 2012 from the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/American_Petroleum_Institute/" title="The American Petroleum Institute is the largest U.">American Petroleum Institute</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-77">[77]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-78">[78]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-79">[79]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-80">[80]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-81">[81]</a> The <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/donor-advised_fund/" title="Donor-advised fund is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a public charity created to manage charitable donations on ...">donor-advised fund</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Donors_Trust/" title="Donors Trust is an American non-profit donor-advised fund.">Donors Trust</a> granted $11 million to AFP between 2002 and 2010 and $7 million to the AFP Foundation in 2010.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-82">[82]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-83">[83]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Tea Party and 2010 midterm election</h2>AFP helped transform the nascent Tea Party movement into a political force.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-84">[84]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-85">[85]</a>AFP supported the Tea Party movement by obtaining permits and supplying speakers for rallies.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-86">[86]</a> AFP helped organize and publicize a "Porkulus"-themed protest on the state capitol steps in Denver, Colorado on February 17, 2009, in conjunction with Obama signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-87">[87]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-88">[88]</a> Within hours of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/CNBC/" title="CNBC is an American pay television business news channel owned by NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, with ...">CNBC</a> on-air editor <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Rick_Santelli/">Rick Santelli</a>'s remarks on February 19, 2009, that criticized the Act and called for a "Chicago tea party," AFP registered and launched the website "TaxDayTeaParty.com," calling for protests against Obama.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-87">[87]</a> AFP had a lead role in organizing Taxpayer Tea Party rallies in Sacramento, Austin, and Madison in April 2009.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-89">[89]</a> AFP was one of the leading organizers of the September 2009 <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Taxpayer_March_on_Washington/" title="The Taxpayer March on Washington was a Tea Party protest march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol held on ...">Taxpayer March on Washington</a>, also known as the "9/12 Tea Party," according to The Guardian.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-6">[6]</a> On April 16, 2011, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker at an AFP annual tax day tea party rally at the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-67">[67]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-90">[90]</a>In the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/2010_United_States_elections/">2010 midterm elections</a>, AFP played a major role in achieving a Republican majority in the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/United_States_House_of_Representatives/" title="The United States House of Representatives is the lower house of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper ...">U.S. House of Representatives</a>. AFP supported tea party groups, purchased political advertisements,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-91">[91]</a> and sponsored a nationwide bus tour themed "November is Coming" to recruit organizers and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/canvassing/" title="Canvassing is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaign s.">canvassers</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-92">[92]</a> AFP helped Tea Party groups organize voter registration drives.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-9">[9]</a> An AFP website offered "Tea party <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/talking_point/" title="A talking point is a pre-established message or formula used in the field of political communication, sales and commercial ...">Talking Points</a>." The organization provided Tea Party activists with education on policy, training in methods, and lists of politicians to target.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-8">[8]</a> In October 2010, AFP sponsored a workshop on the political use of the internet at a Tea Party convention in Virginia.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-93">[93]</a> AFP said it spent $40 million on rallies, phone banks, and canvassing during the 2010 election cycle. Of the six freshman Republican members of the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/United_States_House_Committee_on_Energy_and_Commerce/">House Committee on Energy and Commerce</a> in 2010, five benefited from AFP advertisements and grassroots activity.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-94">[94]</a><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/David_Weigel/" title="David Weigel is an American journalist.">David Weigel</a> wrote in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Slate(magazine)/" title="Slate is a progressive online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States.">Slate</a> that AFP "in the Tea Party era evolved into one of the most powerful conservative organizations in electoral politics."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-95">[95]</a> AFP and the Tea Party share many of the same principles. In 2010, AFP was one of the most influential organizations in the Tea Party movement, and the largest in terms of membership and spending.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-96">[96]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-97">[97]</a> According to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Bloomberg_News/" title="Bloomberg News is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.">Bloomberg News</a>, with AFP the Koch brothers "harnessed the Tea Party's energy in service of their own policy goals, including deregulation and lower taxes....As the Tea Party movement grew in the aftermath of Obama's election, the Kochs positioned Americans for Prosperity as the Tea Party's staunchest ally".<h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Labor law</h2>AFP advocates for a reduction in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Public-sector_trade_union/" title="A public-sector trade union is a trade union which primarily represents the interests of employees within public sector or ...">public sector union</a> benefits and pensions, in conjunction with curtailments of public sector <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/collective_bargaining/" title="Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate ...">collective bargaining</a> rights.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-98">[98]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-99">[99]</a> AFP has opposed raising the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/minimum_wage/" title="Minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees ...">minimum wage</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-100">[100]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-101">[101]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Wisconsin collective bargaining</h3>AFP's activities in Wisconsin developed the state into the nation's foremost conservative-progressive battleground,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-102">[102]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-103">[103]</a> and AFP used tactics in Wisconsin that were applied in later campaigns.AFP has been a major supporter of Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-104">[104]</a> In 2009 and 2010, AFP helped raise the statewide profile of Walker, then <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Milwaukee_County%2c_Wisconsin/">Milwaukee County</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/county_executive/" title="County executive is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county.">county executive</a>, by inviting him to address its rallies.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-105">[105]</a> In 2011, when Walker's agenda of reduced spending, cuts to union benefits, and limits on public-sector collective bargaining drew thousands in opposition to the streets around the state capitol in Madison, AFP bussed in hundreds to counter-protest.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-106">[106]</a> AFP spent $320,000 on television advertisements and sponsored a website and bus tour themed "Stand Against Spending, Stand With Walker",<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-58">[58]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-107">[107]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-108">[108]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-109">[109]</a> and spent a total of $7 million in support of Walker.AFP spent $3 million in opposition to the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Wisconsin_gubernatorial_recall_election/" title="The 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election was a special election to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of ...">recall campaign against Walker</a> in 2011–2012 and sent 75 trained <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Canvassing/" title="Canvassing is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaign s.">canvasers</a> to Wisconsin.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-110">[110]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-111">[111]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-112">[112]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-113">[113]</a> After the passage of Walker's signature legislation, the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/2011_Wisconsin_Act_10/" title="The 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 is legislation proposed by Republican Governor Scott Walker and passed by the Wisconsin ...">2011 Wisconsin Act 10</a>, which limited <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/collective_bargaining/" title="Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate ...">collective bargaining</a> rights for most public employees, AFP ran advertisements and held town-hall meetings with the theme "It's Working Wisconsin!"<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-114">[114]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-115">[115]</a> Days before the recall election, AFP sponsored a ten-city bus tour themed "A Better Wisconsin."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-116">[116]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-117">[117]</a> In the context of Walker's 2014 re-election campaign, AFP purchased television issue advertisements in support of Act 10.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-118">[118]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Michigan right-to-work</h3>Americans for Prosperity's Wisconsin campaign curtailing collective bargaining rights and turning back a recall demonstrated to AFP that similar efforts could succeed in Michigan.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-119">[119]</a> A top priority of AFP in Michigan was <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Right-to-work_law/">right-to-work legislation</a>, which prohibited employers from deducting union dues from employee pay checks and prohibited labor contracts from excluding non-union members.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-120">[120]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-121">[121]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-122">[122]</a>AFP had opposed Michigan Governor <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Rick_Snyder/">Rick Snyder</a>, a Republican, on a number of issues, including the Detroit River International Crossing Bridge project, an expansion of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Medicaid/" title="Medicaid is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources.">Medicaid</a> funded by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and a road bill which raised taxes.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-121">[121]</a> AFP coordinated support for right-to-work in Michigan.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-121">[121]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-123">[123]</a> The AFP Foundation produced a 15-page booklet titled Unions: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: How forced unionization has harmed workers and Michigan. AFP's website urged members to gather at the state capital in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Lansing%2c_Michigan/">Lansing</a> on December 6, 2012, and some three hundred protestors showed up.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-121">[121]</a> AFP bussed in activists<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-120">[120]</a> and offered supporters $25 gas cards, free lunch, and drinks.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-124">[124]</a> AFP reserved space and erected a large heated tent near the Capitol steps for supporters.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-125">[125]</a> On the morning of December 6, during a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/lame_duck(politics)/" title="Lame duck is free to make decisions that exercise the standard powers with little fear of consequence, such as issuing ...">lame duck</a> session of the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature, Snyder called a joint press conference with the legislative leadership to announce fast-track right-to-work legislation. The legislation passed both houses of the Michigan legislature that day, as protesters and counterprotesters demonstrated outside.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-126">[126]</a> Michigan state police responded. AFP said protesters tore down the AFP tent. No arrests were made.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-125">[125]</a> On December 10, President Obama visited <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Daimler_AG/" title="Daimler AG is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.">Daimler AG</a>'s <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Detroit_Diesel/" title="Detroit Diesel is an American diesel engine manufacturer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States.">Detroit Diesel</a> factory in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Redford%2c_Michigan/">Redford, Michigan</a>, and told employees the legislation was about the "right to work for less money."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-127">[127]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-128">[128]</a> Snyder signed the legislation on December 11.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-126">[126]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-129">[129]</a> In 2014, Snyder ran for re-election and AFP posted an online advertisement praising his legislative record.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-130">[130]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Obama re-election</h2>AFP ran an early television advertising campaign opposing Obama's re-election.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-131">[131]</a> An August 2012 <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/ProPublica/" title="ProPublica is a nonprofit organization based in New York City.">ProPublica</a> analysis of broadcast television political advertising purchases by category showed that two nonprofit organizations, AFP and Crossroads GPS, combined, outspent all other categories, including political parties, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/political_action_committee/" title="Political action committee is a 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to ...">political action committee</a>s, super PACs, unions, and trade associations.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-132">[132]</a> While previously AFP had run <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/issue_advocacy_ads/">issue advertising</a> that opposed Obama's programs, in August 2012 the organization shifted to express advocacy, which explicitly called for his defeat.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-133">[133]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-134">[134]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-135">[135]</a> That month, AFP spent $25 million on television commercials against Obama. AFP said the goal of the commercials was to educate voters. AFP raised $140 million in the 2012 election cycle, and it spent $122 million, more than in all the previous eight years since its founding. The organization spent more than $33.5 million on television advertisements opposing Obama's re-election.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-27">[27]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-136">[136]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-72">[72]</a>In 2011 and 2012, AFP spent $8.4 million in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/swing_state/" title="Swing state is generally assumed that one candidate has a base of support from which they can draw a sufficient share of the ...">swing state</a>s on television advertisements denouncing a loan guarantee the Department of Energy had made to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Solyndra/" title="Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of copper indium gallium selenide thin film solar cell s based in ...">Solyndra</a>, a manufacturer of solar panels. Solyndra was the first recipient of such a guarantee under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the company went bankrupt.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-137">[137]</a> In January 2012, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/The_Wall_Street_Journal/" title="The The Wall Street Journal is an American business-focused, English-language international daily newspaper based in New ...">The Wall Street Journal</a> said AFP's Solyndra campaign was "perhaps the biggest attack on Mr. Obama so far in the 2012 election campaign."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-138">[138]</a> AFP sent a bus on a nationwide tour condemning Obama's economic policies called the "Obama's Failing Agenda Tour."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-139">[139]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-140">[140]</a>In April 2011 in New Hampshire, AFP sponsored an informal gathering of five Republican presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-141">[141]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-142">[142]</a> AFP offered tea party groups $2 for every new AFP member their volunteers signed up at polling places in the February 2012 <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Florida/" title="Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States.">Florida</a> Republican primary.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-143">[143]</a> AFP employed methodologies developed in its efforts to thwart the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Wisconsin_gubernatorial_recall_election/" title="The 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election was a special election to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of ...">recall</a> of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, including deploying a smartphone application called "Prosperity Knocks" to canvassers.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-136">[136]</a> AFP canvassers utilized "Themis," an online voter database of millions of Americans.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-41">[41]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-143">[143]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-144">[144]</a> AFP president Phillips said that AFP's canvassing support application offered field operatives the previous voting history of voters integrated with <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/United_States_Census/" title="The United States Census is a census that is legally mandated by the US Constitution, and takes place every 10 years.">Census</a> data and consumer data including purchases, magazine subscriptions, and favorite websites.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-145">[145]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Programs and advocacy</h2><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Energy and environment</h3>AFP supports oil and gas development and opposes regulation, including environmental restrictions.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-146">[146]</a> The AFP Foundation opposed President Obama's efforts to address <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/global_warming/" title="The climate change is not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing.">global warming</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-147">[147]</a> AFP was important in creating the Tea Party movement and in encouraging the movement to focus on <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/global_warming/" title="The climate change is not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing.">climate change</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-148">[148]</a> AFP helped defeat proposed U.S. legislation embracing <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/cap_and_trade/" title="Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentive s for reducing the ...">cap and trade</a>, a market-based approach to control <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/pollution/" title="Pollution is the introduction of contaminant s into the natural environment that cause adverse change.">pollution</a> by providing <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/economics/" title="Economics is the social science that studies how people interact with value ; in particular, the production, distribution, ...">economic</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/incentive/" title="An incentive is something that motivates or drives one to do something or behave in a certain way.">incentive</a>s.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-26">[26]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-149">[149]</a> In August 2009, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Mother_Jones(magazine)/" title="Mother Jones is an American magazine that focuses on news, commentary, and investigative reporting on topics including ...">Mother Jones</a> magazine identified cap and trade as one of the key domestic policy goals of the Obama administration, and identified AFP as one of the most prominent groups in opposition.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-150">[150]</a>In 2008, AFP circulated the No Climate Tax Pledge to government officials at the federal, state, and local levels, a pledge to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-149">[149]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-151">[151]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-152">[152]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-153">[153]</a> By July 2013, 411 lawmakers and candidates, including a quarter of U.S. Senators and more than a third of U.S. Representatives, primarily Republicans, had signed the pledge.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-149">[149]</a> Of the twelve Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2011, nine signed the pledge.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-154">[154]</a>AFP held more than eighty events in opposition to cap and trade,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-8">[8]</a> including the nationwide Hot Air Tour, which involved floating hot air balloons in protest of what AFP described as "global warming alarmism."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-24">[24]</a> AFP raised a balloon in Phoenix, Arizona, in fall 2008<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-155">[155]</a> and also over Al Gore's house in Tennessee.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-26">[26]</a> AFP described cap and trade as "the largest excise tax in history." AFP sponsored a Regulation Reality Tour to foment opposition to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/climate_change/" title="The climate change is not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing.">climate change</a> legislation and federal regulation of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/carbon_emissions/">carbon emissions</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-156">[156]</a> The tour involved fake "carbon cops" with badges in green <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Smart(automobile)/" title="Smart is a German automotive brand and division of Daimler AG.">Smart cars</a> with flashing lights who wrote citations for "carbon crimes" like running a lawn mower.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-157">[157]</a> In 2011, AFP launched a Running on Empty website and national tour featuring a 14-foot inflatable gas pump intended to link rising gas prices to the Obama administration's environmental regulations and to promote <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/offshore_drilling/" title="Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed.">offshore drilling</a> for oil.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-158">[158]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-159">[159]</a> Long lines formed in several states in 2012 when AFP offered drivers gas discounted to the price in effect when Obama took office.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-160">[160]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-161">[161]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-162">[162]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-163">[163]</a> In 2012, AFP campaigned against Republican political candidates who acknowledged the science of climate change.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-164">[164]</a>AFP advocates for the construction of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. In February 2015, AFP organized supporters to telephone the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/White_House/" title="The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States.">White House</a> urging Obama to sign legislation authorizing the project.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-165">[165]</a> AFP led an effort to repeal a federal <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/tax_credit/" title="A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from ...">tax credit</a> for <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/wind_power/" title="Wind power is a popular sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment compared to ...">wind power</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-166">[166]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-167">[167]</a> In Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, and other states, AFP campaigned to overturn <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/renewable_portfolio_standard/" title="A renewable portfolio standard is a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy ...">renewable portfolio standard</a>s, state laws that mandated a percentage of the state's electricity come from <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/renewable_resource/" title="A renewable resource is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, ...">renewable resource</a>s.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-168">[168]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-169">[169]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-170">[170]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-171">[171]</a> AFP announced plans to oppose Republican candidates who support a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/carbon_tax/" title="A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services.">carbon tax</a> in the 2016 <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/United_States_presidential_primary/">presidential primaries</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-172">[172]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Health care and 2014 midterm</h3>AFP has described itself as the nation's largest grassroots champion for health care freedom.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-17">[17]</a> In August 2009, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Mother_Jones(magazine)/" title="Mother Jones is an American magazine that focuses on news, commentary, and investigative reporting on topics including ...">Mother Jones</a> magazine identified health care reform as one of the key domestic policy goals of the Obama administration, and identified AFP as one of the most prominent groups in opposition.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-150">[150]</a> AFP sponsored two other groups advocating against the Obama administration's proposed <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/health_care_reform/" title="Health care reform is for the most part governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place.">health care reform</a>, Patients United Now and Patients First.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-150">[150]</a>In May 2009, AFP launched Patients United Now, which opposed a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/single-payer_health_care_system/" title="Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are ...">single-payer health care system</a> and a government-funded <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/health_insurance/" title="Health insurance is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses.">health insurance</a> option. It purchased television advertisements warning of "government-controlled health care" or a "Washington takeover" of health care.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-147">[147]</a> In one Patients United Now television advertisement, a Canadian woman, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Shona_Holmes_health_care_incident/">Shona Holmes</a>, said she could not get timely treatment in Canada and ultimately was treated in the U.S.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-173">[173]</a> Patients United Now staged more than three hundred rallies to oppose the Obama administration's proposed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-8">[8]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-174">[174]</a>In summer 2009, Patients First sponsored a six-week "Hands Off My Health Care" bus tour.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-175">[175]</a> Hands Off My Health Care events included rallies protesting against the health care plan and collected signatures in an effort to raise awareness about free-market-based health care reforms.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-176">[176]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-177">[177]</a>After the ACA became law, AFP worked for its repeal<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-27">[27]</a> and campaigned to block states from accepting federal funds made available under the law to expand <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Medicaid/" title="Medicaid is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources.">Medicaid</a>. State legislators who supported Medicaid expansion were targeted, including Republican Virginia state senators <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Emmett_Hanger/">Emmett Hanger</a> and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/John_Watkins(Virginia_politician%2c_born_1947)/">John Watkins</a>. AFP bussed in volunteers to a hearing in the state capital and to call constituents, distribute flyers, and send mailings.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-178">[178]</a> AFP campaigned against Medicaid expansion in Michigan, Louisiana, and Nebraska<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-179">[179]</a> and helped defeat Medicaid expansion in Florida. AFP president Phillips said AFP advocated for repeal of the ACA to keep the issue "in front of the public" and to use the threat of a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/presidential_veto/" title="A veto is the power to unilaterally stop an official action, especially the enactment of legislation.">presidential veto</a> to portray Obama as "unwilling to take some reasonable commonsense reforms."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-180">[180]</a> Phillips told The New York Times that a broader goal of AFP's anti-ACA advertising spending was to present the ACA as a "social welfare boondoggle" which would foster opposition to spending on climate change.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-19">[19]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-181">[181]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-182">[182]</a> In March 2012, AFP, with support from the California-based <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Tea_Party_Express/" title="The Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement.">Tea Party Express</a>, organized a rally at the Capitol during the Supreme Court's oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the ACA.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-183">[183]</a>AFP played a major role in the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/2014_United_States_elections/">2014 midterm elections</a>,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-184">[184]</a> helping Republicans achieve a majority in the U.S. Senate.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-185">[185]</a> AFP targeted legislators who had supported the ACA four years earlier.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-186">[186]</a> AFP's first campaign advertisement aired in September 2013,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-187">[187]</a> and by January 2014 the organization had spent $20 million,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-188">[188]</a> by May, $35 million,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-189">[189]</a> and by July, $44 million,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-186">[186]</a> amounts unprecedented so early in a political campaign cycle.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-180">[180]</a> Senators targeted <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Kay_Hagan/">Kay Hagan</a>, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Mary_Landrieu/">Mary Landrieu</a>, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Mark_Begich/">Mark Begich</a>, and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Jeanne_Shaheen/" title="Jeanne Shaheen is an American politician and retired educator serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire ...">Jeanne Shaheen</a>, all Democrats.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-188">[188]</a> In early 2014, AFP ran nationwide advertisements featuring stories about people whose health care, according to the ads, had been compromised by the ACA, whom AFP termed "ObamaCare victims."Between January 1, 2013, and August 31, 2014, in the campaign to control the Senate, AFP aired more than 27,000 television advertisements, about one in every 16 ads.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-190">[190]</a> AFP was one of the leading spenders on political advertising in 2014.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-191">[191]</a> AFP lead all non-<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/political_action_committees/" title="Political action committee is a 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to ...">political action committees</a> in terms of spending on television air time for political advertisements in the 2014 election cycle through April.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-192">[192]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Fiscal policy advocacy</h3>AFP advocates <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/limited_government/" title="Limited government is the concept of a government limited in power.">limited government</a>. Within two days of Obama's inauguration in February, 2009, Americans for Prosperity launched a television advertising campaign and a website "nostimulus.com" which featured an online "No Stimulus" petition addressed to U.S. Senators, notifying them that the vote on Obama's first major legislative initiative, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, would be included in AFP's congressional rankings and urging a "no" vote. The petition characterized the Act as "dramatically increasing federal debt and spending...under the pretense of stimulus or recovery." Internet traffic overwhelmed the website, but it was unable to prevent passage in the legislature and a petition to repeal the act.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-87">[87]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-193">[193]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-194">[194]</a> In 2011, AFP opposed the extension of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/unemployment_benefits/">unemployment benefits</a>, writing that unemployment benefits increase unemployment.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-195">[195]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-196">[196]</a> In late 2012, AFP opposed a proposed federal relief bill after <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Hurricane_Sandy/" title="Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest, the most destructive, and the strongest hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season.">Hurricane Sandy</a>, the second-costliest hurricane in United States history.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-197">[197]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-198">[198]</a> AFP's New Jersey director questioned the federal government's role in natural disaster relief, saying it should be limited to the repair of federal buildings.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-199">[199]</a> AFP opposed smoking bans in Texas and Virginia.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-25">[25]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-200">[200]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-201">[201]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-202">[202]</a>"Government overspending is the greatest threat to economic prosperity," according to AFP.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-203">[203]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-204">[204]</a> In 2013, AFP launched a "Spending Accountability Project" which supported letting the $85 billion in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/budget_sequestration/" title="Budget sequestration is a provision of United States law that causes an across-the-board reduction in certain kinds of ...">automatic cuts</a> to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Federal_government_of_the_United_States/" title="The federal government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a federal republic in North ...">federal</a> spending required by the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Budget_sequestration_in_2013/">budget sequestration</a> take effect.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-205">[205]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-206">[206]</a> AFP opposed the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Bipartisan_Budget_Act_of_2013/" title="The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 is a federal statute concerning spending and the budget in the United States, that was ...">Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013</a>, also known as the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Paul_Ryan/">Ryan</a>-Murray deal, which proposed $40 billion in spending in excess of the sequestration. AFP called the deal "not just bad policy, it is bad politics" and noted the loss of the "hard-won bipartisan spending limits set by the sequester."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-207">[207]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-208">[208]</a>AFP advocates for lower taxes.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-17">[17]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-152">[152]</a> AFP opposed a 2006 cigarette tax hike in Indiana<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-209">[209]</a> and helped fund the "No on 29" effort in opposition to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/California_Proposition_29(2012)/">California Proposition 29 (2012)</a>, which would have placed a $1 <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/excise/" title="An excise is levied on goods that came into existence inland.">excise tax</a> on tobacco products to fund smoking medical research and smoking cessation.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-25">[25]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-210">[210]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-211">[211]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-212">[212]</a> In 2013 in Indiana AFP ran a television advertising campaign in support of Governor Mike Pence's ten percent state <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/income_tax/" title="An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities in respect of the income or profits earned by them.">income tax</a> cut.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-213">[213]</a> AFP advocates for the repeal of the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Estate_tax_in_the_United_States/" title="The estate tax in the United States is a tax on the transfer of the estate of a person who dies.">estate tax</a>, which they call the "death tax".<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-214">[214]</a>AFP advocates for <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/free_market/" title="Free market is a system in which the price s for goods and services are self-regulated by buyers and sellers negotiating in ...">free market</a> solutions.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-28">[28]</a> In 2011, AFP sent mailings and funded radio advertisements criticizing the proposed construction of a <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Detroit_River_International_Crossing/" title="The Gordie Howe International Bridge is a cable-stayed international bridge across the Detroit River currently under ...">Detroit River International Crossing</a> bridge, a publicly financed project that would compete with the nearby privately owned <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Ambassador_Bridge/" title="The Ambassador Bridge is a tolled, international suspension bridge across the Detroit River that connects Detroit, Michigan, ...">Ambassador Bridge</a> linking Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario; AFP charged that the project would be a waste of taxpayer money if toll revenues did not cover debt service.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-215">[215]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-216">[216]</a>AFP advocated the dissolution of the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Export-Import_Bank_of_the_United_States/" title="The Export–Import Bank of the United States is the official export credit agency of the United States federal government.">Export-Import Bank of the United States</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-217">[217]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-218">[218]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-219">[219]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-220">[220]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Other policy advocacy</h3>AFP opposes consideration of race and economic class in the assignment of students to schools. According to AFP's North Carolina state director, in 2009 AFP did voter education and supplied volunteers in school board-elections in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Wake_County%2c_North_Carolina/">Wake County, North Carolina</a>. Wake County includes the state capital, Raleigh, and has the 18th largest school district in the US. AFP supported a slate of candidates that opposed <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/desegregation_busing/">desegregation busing</a>, which AFP has called "forced busing."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-221">[221]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-222">[222]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-223">[223]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-224">[224]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-225">[225]</a> AFP ran phone banks and canvassed in another school board election in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Kenosha%2c_Wisconsin/">Kenosha, Wisconsin</a>, in 2014.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-104">[104]</a> AFP helped organize rallies in favor of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/virtual_school/">virtual</a> and <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/charter_school/" title="A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school ...">charter school</a>s.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-226">[226]</a>AFP is a member of the Internet Freedom Coalition, which opposes <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/net_neutrality/" title="Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service provider s must treat all Internet communication s equally, and not ...">net neutrality</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-227">[227]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-228">[228]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-229">[229]</a> AFP's vice president for policy <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Phil_Kerpen/">Phil Kerpen</a> chaired the Coalition.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-227">[227]</a> AFP supported January 2014's federal appeals court ruling against the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enforce net neutrality.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-230">[230]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-231">[231]</a> AFP urged Congress to legislatively pre-empt regulation of the internet.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-232">[232]</a>AFP sponsors the "Grassroots Leadership Academy", a training program designed to help build a conservative movement in respect to the rise of Trumpism.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-233">[233]</a><h3 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px;">Annual events</h3>In 2007, AFP began hosting a yearly Defending the American Dream Summit, now the second-largest annual gathering of conservatives in Washington, D.C.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-55">[55]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-234">[234]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-235">[235]</a> In conjunction with the July 2008 <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Netroots_Nation/" title="Netroots Nation is a political convention for American progressive political activists.">Netroots Nation</a> conference in Austin, Texas, AFP hosted RightOnline, a conference of conservative <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/bloggers/" title="A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal ...">bloggers</a> and activists that aimed to develop conservative social media strategies,<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-236">[236]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-237">[237]</a> which become an annual event.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-238">[238]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Election-related activities</h2>In June 2011, AFP placed fake <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Eviction/" title="Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord.">eviction notices</a> on doors in <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Delray%2c_Detroit/">the Delray neighborhood</a> of Detroit, stating that homes might be taken to make way for the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Detroit_River_International_Crossing/" title="The Gordie Howe International Bridge is a cable-stayed international bridge across the Detroit River currently under ...">Detroit River International Crossing</a> project.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-239">[239]</a>In August 2011, AFP mailed absentee voter applications to Democratic voters in at least two <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Wisconsin_gubernatorial_recall_election/" title="The 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election was a special election to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of ...">recall elections in Wisconsin</a> that included a filing deadline two days after the election. The return envelopes were addressed to an "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center" with the post office box number of Wisconsin Family Action, a socially conservative group, rather than to the clerk's office.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-240">[240]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-241">[241]</a> Responding to charges of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/voter_suppression/" title="Voter suppression is a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups ...">voter suppression</a>, AFP said the incorrect date was a "printing mistake" and was intended only for voters in the two districts where Democrats are set to face recalls on a later date.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-242">[242]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-243">[243]</a> The state board of elections opened an investigation.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-244">[244]</a>In 2013 in Virginia and 2014 in Arkansas, the AFP Foundation mailed "voter history report cards," which included the public-record voting history of both the addressee and its neighbors.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-245">[245]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-246">[246]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-247">[247]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-248">[248]</a>A 2014 television advertisement targeting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Gary_Peters(politician)/">Gary Peters</a> of Michigan for his support of the Affordable Care Act featured leukemia patient Julie Boonstra, who said she could no longer afford the cost of her treatment after the ACA.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-249">[249]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-250">[250]</a> The Washington Post reported that the advertisement had "significant factual errors and/or obvious contradictions."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-251">[251]</a> Boonstra would save at least $1,000 a year under the ACA, according to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/The_Detroit_News/" title="The The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.">The Detroit News</a>.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-252">[252]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-253">[253]</a> AFP aired another television advertisement in which Boonstra said Peters was trying to silence her.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-254">[254]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-255">[255]</a> AFP apologized for another television advertisement that criticized the ACA and Democratic Senator <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Mark_Udall/">Mark Udall</a>, a candidate for reelection, using images of a somber Obama and Udall from their visit to <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Aurora%2c_Colorado/">Aurora, Colorado</a>, in the wake of <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/2012_Aurora%2c_Colorado_shooting/">the mass shooting</a> there.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-256">[256]</a>In April 2014, AFP mailed voters in at least eight West Virginia counties material that may have led them to believe they were ineligible to vote in an upcoming primary election. The mailings, received just before the deadline to update voter registration, included registration cards and prepaid return envelopes addressed to county clerks, with a message cautioning voters that if they did not update their voter registration, they might lose their right to vote in the upcoming primary election. AFP's West Virginia director said the mailings were a non-partisan, <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/get_out_the_vote/" title="Get out the vote is generally not required for elections when there are effective compulsory voting systems in place, other ...">get out the vote</a> effort targeting unregistered voters.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-257">[257]</a>In September 2014, AFP was investigated by the state board of elections of North Carolina after the state Democratic Party filed a complaint regarding an AFP voter registration mailing labelled "official application form" containing inaccurate information including an incorrect filing deadline five days before the actual deadline.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-258">[258]</a> <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-259">[259]</a> AFP stated the mistakes in the North Carolina mailings were "administrative errors."<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-260">[260]</a>In 2017, AFP ran ads attacking Virginia Democratic candidate for governor Ralph Northam.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-261">[261]</a>In 2018, the New Hampshire attorney general's office began investigating the nonprofit status of AFP after a group of Republican representatives accused the conservative activist group of improperly wading into state elections. The investigation is ongoing.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-262">[262]</a>The organization may support Democrats in the <a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/2020_United_States_elections/">2020 United States elections</a> as part of a broader effort to adjust its strategy.<a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Americans_for_Prosperity/#Ref-263">[263]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Further reading</h2><ul style=""><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;">Alex Hertel-Fernande. 2019. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/state-capture-9780190870799" rel="nofollow" style="">State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States — and the Nation.</a> Oxford University Press.</li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">See also</h2><ul style=""><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Donors_Trust/" title="Donors Trust is an American non-profit donor-advised fund.">Donors Trust</a></li><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Mark_Block/" title="Mark Block is an American political strategist who served as chief of staff and campaign manager for Herman Cain during his ...">Mark Block</a>, former AFP Wisconsin state director</li><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://everything.explained.today/%5C/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_brothers/" title="The political activities of the Koch brothers is seen both directly and indirectly via various political and public policy ...">Political activities of the Koch brothers</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">External links</h2><ul style=""><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/" rel="nofollow">Americans for Prosperity website</a></li><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="http://www.americansforprosperityfoundation.org/" rel="nofollow">Americans for Prosperity Foundation website</a></li><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/753148958" rel="nofollow">Tax information on Americans for Prosperity, Pro Publica</a></li><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521527294" rel="nofollow">Tax information on Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Pro Publica</a></li><li style="padding-bottom: 0.25em;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/us/politics/paul-and-wealthy-libertarians-connect-as-he-weighs-running.html" rel="nofollow">Nicholas Confessore, "Rand Paul and Wealthy Libertarians Connect as He Weighs Running," The New York Times, April 24, 2014 (profile article on Frayda Levin)</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; clear: left; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 1px 1px 1px, rgb(136, 136, 136) 2px 2px 2px; margin: 1em 0px;">Notes and References [many many]</h2>townhall
Tim PhillipsBiographyTim PhillipsTim Phillips is president of Americans for Prosperity (AFP). AFP has enjoyed rapid growth, going from nine state chapters in January of 2006 to 34 state chapters and affiliates today, with more than 2 million grassroots activists in 50 states, who are fighting for free-market principles at the state, national, and local levels. During 2010, AFP held over 500 “November is Coming,” “Regulation Reality Tour,” and “Spending Revolt” bus rallies and town-hall meetings as part of their effort to educate and bring awareness nationwide about the out-of-control government spending. Throughout 2009, AFP executed over 300 “Hands Off My Health Care” events as part of their effort to defeat the health care takeover. AFP’s “Cost of Hot Air” tours have executed 82 events as part of a national effort to defeat cap-and-trade legislation.
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