Demaura, S

<h2 style="margin: 20px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></h2><h2 style="margin: 20px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">see forti and dubke</h2><h2 style="margin: 20px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></h2><div>Dark money dealerIn 1998, Dubke co-founded one of the earliest bona fide dark money groups, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/summary?id=522062978" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Americans for Job Security</a> (AJS). Long before Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions helped trigger the proliferation of such outfits, AJS went around the country advocating for and against candidates at the state and federal level and promoting the pet issues of its wealthy corporate and individual donors — who, of course, could remain unidentified under IRS rules.Over the years, AJS has pushed the boundaries of what many thought these groups could do in the political realm. In a landmark study of <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/08/study-outside-groups-secret-money-far-more-prominent-than-ever-before/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">dark money in elections from 2000 to 2016</a>, produced by the Center for Responsive Politics and the Wesleyan Media Project, AJS was one of the only politically active nonprofits active in the earliest cycles, running thousands of ads in presidential and Senate races as far back as 2000.But AJS was never just a dark money group that aimed to elect or defeat certain politicians. The group has advocated for “basically anything we label a ‘pro-paycheck’ message,” as Dubke <a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/WashingtonMonthly-2004may-00017" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">told the Washington Monthly</a> in 2004. He may have been talking about his own paycheck: From the outside, these campaigns looked less like the general promotion of business friendly policies and more like the sorties of a group willing to jump into any fight its wealthy anonymous donors were bankrolling.In 2008, for example, AJS paid the state of Alaska <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/us/politics/24donate.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">a $20,000 fine</a> for spending $1.6 million on a referendum that sought to restrict development of the Pebble Mine, a gold and copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. Alaska regulators were surprised to see a secretive group out of Washington swoop in and oppose such a specific project, so they investigated and found that AJS had received $2 million from a financier named Robert Gillam, who owned a private fishing lodge in the area. Gillam had been in touch with Dubke before becoming an AJS “member.”AJS funneled nearly all of Gillam’s money to a group called Alaskans for Clean Water, run by an AJS board member. That same year, Dubke handed over AJS’s reins to a young New Hampshire GOP operative named Stephen DeMaura, who said he made the decision to fund ACW “based upon his own research and judgement” — though the decision seemed contrary to the professed pro-business bent of a conservative group like AJSAlaska officials weren’t convinced. AJS settled with them, paying $20,000 for acting as an improper conduit for anonymous money and promising not to do that in Alaska ever again.This activity, year after year, was a part of AJS’ overall operations, which also included sizeable and mounting political spending in elections. While AJS had been active for more than a decade before the Supreme Court handed down its Citizens United decision in 2010, the decision — along with the earlier Wisconsin Right to Life v FEC ruling in 2007 —  allowed AJS to more openly target candidates. From 2008 through 2012, AJS reported spending more than $34 million in congressional and presidential elections. The money all came from secret donors and other similarly <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/receipts?cycle=2010&id=522062978" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">opaque nonprofit organizations</a> that got their money from secret donors; money twice laundered was less likely to give up the name of its true source.While Dubke relinquished control of AJS to DeMaura in 2008, he remained a constant presence in the years that followed through his consulting contracts with the group he founded.And the group continued to trigger regulators’ interest.In 2012, Americans for Job Security was part of an elaborate “<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/10/california-investigation-reveals-so/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">campaign money laundering</a>” scheme in California, that led to historic fines in the state against two groups that served as conduits of AJS money into ballot initiatives in the state.And last year, the FEC settled with AJS and two other dark money groups, 60 Plus and American Future Fund, for a total of $233,000 for not disclosing the source of money it spent on ads aired in congressional races in 2010. The funds for more than $2 million in ads run by AJS came from the Center to Protect Patient Rights, a 501(c)(4) that was then the hub for the distribution of Koch-controlled funds to like-minded groups, and the head of the hub group helped produce the ads and directed where they ran, according to the <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/27133249/Conciliation-Agreement-AJS.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">FEC conciliation agreement</a> AJS signed.Consulting cashAJS — which has never had more than a single employee — has long operated out of an Alexandria office space <a href="http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/11/28/the-incestuous-bleeding-of-the-republican-party/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">buzzing with interconnected Republican political consulting and media firms</a>, at least two of which involve Dubke. They’ve received millions of dollars in fees from AJS.<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2016&vendor=Black+Rock+Group" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Black Rock Group</a>, a political consulting firm that Dubke runs with Carl Forti, has been paid a minimum of $1.7 million in the last three election cycles (CRP’s 2016 data only goes through early fall) by a variety of Republican candidates and groups. Forti was political director of American Crossroads, the group formed by GOP strategist Karl Rove and others that was the Goliath of super PACs for several years. And indeed, American Crossroads was among Black Rock’s biggest clients. In 2012, the group also did work for the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future — which was run by Forti.<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2012&vendor=Crossroads+Media+Llc" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Crossroads Media LLC</a>, also founded by Dubke, was paid hundreds of millions of dollars in the 2012 presidential campaign cycle, FEC and IRS records show — including $9 million by American Crossroads; <a href="http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/272/272753378/272753378_201212_990O.pdf?ga=1.126735437.1174804551.1487343360" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">more than $118 million</a> by that group’s dark money arm, Crossroads GPS; and $15 million by AJS, the nonprofit Dubke started. (Note: Much of the money paid to media consulting firms is used to buy expensive TV time for their clients’ ads; it’s impossible to tell how much the firms keep.)  In the 2014 midterm cycle, the firm appeared to scale way back, taking in just $11.8 million from federal-level political clients (it may have earned more working in state races). But, according to <a href="http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/465/465187544/465187544_201412_990O.pdf?ga=1.127267789.1174804551.1487343360" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">tax documents filed in 2015</a>, $4.7 million of that came from Carolina Rising, the dark money outfit that <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/10/political-nonprofit-spent-nearly-100-percent-of-funds-to-elect-tillis-in-14/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">spent nearly all the money it raised</a> working to get Republican Thom Tillis elected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina. Long after votes were cast, tax filings revealed that Carolina Rising received nearly <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/11/pro-tillis-dark-money-group-funded-entirely-by-crossroads-gps/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">99 percent of its funds</a> from shadowy fellow traveler Crossroads GPS. Dark money being what it is, of course, the original donors are mostly unknown.Critics waste no time</div><div>=</div><h2 style="margin: 20px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Barry Bennett and the Alliance for America's Future</h2>Barry Bennett is described lovingly in<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/barry-bennett-anti-bain-documentary-maker_n_1204944.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> Huffington Post:</a><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; line-height: 29.4px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bennett has a history as a frontman for Republican Party ventures financed by donors intent on maintaining their anonymity. Since the 1990s, he has headed two nonprofits set up for the purpose of influencing elections while maintaining donor secrecy. He has operated within the underbelly of politics where secret money flows through obscure trusts and foundations to finance attack ads and campaigns free of fingerprints.</blockquote>Bennett now runs The Alliance for America's Future; Paul Blumenthal<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/barry-bennett-anti-bain-documentary-maker_n_1204944.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> continues in Huffpo:</a><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Joining him at the new conservative nonprofit were Mary Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Kara Ahern, Cheney's former chief of staff. The nonprofit was formed after the Citizens United ruling that, among many other things, allowed nonprofits to spend money on express advocacy for candidates seeking election. This change effectively sanctioned much of the activity that Bennett and CCF [his former gig] had pursued in the 1990s. The CCF ads had to mask their negative message about a candidate behind criticisms over issues. The Alliance for America's Future, however, could raise unlimited contributions from anonymous donors to fund ads that openly call for the victory or defeat of candidates.The nonprofit is part of a network of independent conservative groups that have either been established or increased their visibility in the wake of the Citizens United decision. They include the Karl Rove-linked American Crossroads and the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Job Security....<h2 style="line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stephen Demaura and Americans for Job Security</h2>And who is president of Americans for Job Security? Why, it is Stephen Demaura, Treasurer and Secretary of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance. According to<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Job_Security" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Sourcewatch,</a><blockquote style="line-height: 29.4px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 1em 1em 0.25em; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; border-radius: 5px;">AJS has long been ahead of the trends for dark money political spending. "You could say Americans for Job Security has been keeping donors anonymous since before it was cool," Talking Points Memo wrote in December 2012....in a FEC Complaint, Public Citizen wrote that AJS is a "sham front group that would be better called Corporations Influencing Elections ... masquerading as a non-profit to conceal its funders and the scope of its electioneering activities."</blockquote>No wonder TPA Prez David Williams refused to tell Paula where his money came from; he's the front man for two of the biggest conservative dark money organizations in the country, funded by the Kochs and no doubt the American Chemistry Council and SFI, who are all working together to gut LEED and make America safe for the makers of formaldehyde, vinyl and clearcut lumber...=</blockquote>