Connors, John CSA

=<div>=</div><div>Newly revealed documents from the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation show that the foundation gave significant grants to a diverse array of media institutions, including media sites that pursued a highly partisan agenda.The Bradley Foundation provided crucial funding to “Wisconsin Watchdog” as the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Franklin_Center_for_Government_and_Public_Integrity" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity</a>, a right-wing media organization focused on building news bureaus in state capitals across the nation, slowly sank.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MYSTERY FUNDER</h2>The Franklin Center was founded in 2009 with help from the Sam Adams Alliance, a now-defunct new media group founded in 2006 by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsinite Eric O’Keefe</a>. O’Keefe had long-standing ties to billionaire dark money activist David Koch and late Terry Kohler, a secret donor to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12293/kohler-heir-walker-supporter-plunges-dark-money-depths" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">O’Keefe’s various dark money groups</a>. Franklin center staff were hired from both the Sam Adams Alliance and the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity group.Franklin Center flourished with a huge influx of funds from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DonorsTrust" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Donors Trust</a> and Donors Capital, the preferred funding vehicles of the Koch Network of donors that masks the true identity of givers. The Franklin Center reported annual revenue between $7 and $12 million between 2011 and 2015.In 2011, CMD <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/10/10971/franklin-center-right-wing-funds-state-news-source" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> that the Franklin Center claimed to have 43 state news websites with reporters in 40 state capitols. Some outlets, like Wisconsin Watchdog, had received official reporting credentials. In some states, the reporters and news sites were attached to State Policy Network “<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/bradley-files/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">think tanks</a>,” important institutions in the “infrastructure” Bradley was building nationwide.Newly obtained documents from the Bradley Foundation show that in recent years the Franklin Center has foundered. The number of state offices dwindled to five in 2016 and employees fled the sinking ship when a single, mystery funder withdrew support.It is a “text book case of imprudent funding,” wrote Bradley staff. “Unable to resist the offer of $10M annually from one source, the organization grew beyond its capacity to manage itself, and became too dependent on one funder, making it able to shrug off criticism from elsewhere (including Bradley). Last year, when that funder shifted priorities and the fecklessness of the administration became evident, the organization began to collapse” (Grant Proposal Record, August 16, 2016). The Bradley documents do not say who the mystery funder was, but they do indicate that the group was also funded by the right-wing Searle Foundation with smaller “matching grants” of $35,000.The decline of the Franklin Center is a blow to efforts by right-wing funders to develop state capitol media sites to compliment right-wing news sites covering politics in Washington, D.C., such as Breitbart News.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A RELIABLE PARTISAN ATTACK DOG</h2>One of last remaining Franklin state news was Wisconsin Watchdog, a site that Bradley deemed “so effective, and such a valuable partner in the state’s conservative infrastructure, staff believes it is worthwhile to support the local office…” Between 2010 and 2015, Bradley gave $545,500 to the Franklin Center to support this “valuable partner” as Governor Scott Walker launched an extreme right-wing agenda (Grant Proposal Record, August 16, 2016). (An additional $250,000 went through the Franklin Center to fund a fellowship at the National Review.)At the time, the Bradley Foundation was run by Michael Grebe, the former general counsel to the Republican National Committee and the chair of Scott Walker’s campaign for governor 2010, 2012, and 2014 and for president in 2015.Wisconsin Watchdog’s “editor,” “bureau chief,” and reporter was Matt Kittle. Under Kittle, Watchdog was a reliable attack dog of Democratic candidates and campaigns and a reliable booster of right-wing policies and politicians. When Bradley staff were unsure if Franklin CEO Nicolle Niely was “up to the job,” they still funded Wisconsin Watchdog because it was “so effective and such a valuable partner in the state’s conservative infrastructure.”According to the Watchdog website, Kittle wrote over 385 articles on Wisconsin’s “John Doe” investigation into coordination between dark money groups like Eric O’Keefe’s <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/09/13142/gableman-wi-supreme-court" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin Club for Growth and the Walker campaign</a> during 2011-2012 Wisconsin recall races. Kittle portrayed a investigation, launched by a bipartisan group of district attorney’s and run by a Republican Special Prosecutor, as an untethered partisan witch hunt.That spin pleased Bradley.“Wisconsin Watchdog became the state’s leading reporter of the John Doe investigation, bringing to light a story of political persecution that is still ongoing,” say the Bradley documents. Bradley especially appreciated the fact that Watchdog had “close ties” to “insiders in the Doe” (Grant Proposal Record, November 10, 2015, August 19, 2014).But for all the ink spilled by Kittle on the John Doe, those “close ties” were rarely discussed. Kittle neglected to discuss:<ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">that a key source of information on the John Doe, Wisconsin Club for Growth’s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Eric O’Keefe</a>, was a founder and early funder of the Franklin Center</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">that Watchdog’s “Director of Special Operations,” <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/12/12344/why-franklin-center-wisconsin-reporter-attacking-john-doe" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">John Connors,</a> was helping Wisconsin Club for Growth funnel money to sham organizations like Citizens for a Strong America and United Sportsmen, the very subject of the John Doe</li></ul>By financially supporting Wisconsin Watchdog, Scott Walker’s campaign chairman effectively secured a one-sided, 24-7 propaganda arm for the Walker campaign and the dark money groups under investigation. This agitprop was so successful, Kittle’s articles were cited as fact by the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/07/12887/five-things-know-about-scott-walker-john-doe-ruling" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">right-wing majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court</a> when they shut down the investigation in July of 2015 after failing to develop any fact record in the case.This the type of “communications” infrastructure Bradley is interested in exporting to other states as CMD detailed in its report “<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/documents-detail-bradley-foundation-efforts-build-right-wing-infrastructure-nationwide/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Weaponized Philanthropy</a>” on the Bradley Foundation’s infrastructure investments.Although Wisconsin Watchdog reporter James Wigderson tweeted on April 14, 2017 that “The Franklin Center is shutting down,” it appears that Franklin fans are keeping it on life support. In a <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/15282/chris-krug-lead-franklin-center-watchdog-org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">press release</a> on April 17, Franklin announced that Chris Krug, former editor and manager of the Illinois News Network will be the new President. The Illinois News Network is a project of the Bradley-funded Illinois Policy Institute, a State Policy Network “think tank.”Matt Kittle has landed at the Bradley-funded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/MacIver_Institute" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">MacIver Institute</a>, another State Policy Network “think tank” and he is already hard at work writing <a href="http://www.maciverinstitute.com/2017/05/whatever-happened-to-the-probe-into-john-doe-leaks-to-the-guardian/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">more articles</a> about the John Doe.In Bradley world, titles might be interchangeable, but the hard work of spinning disinformation on behalf of Republican politicians and policies must go on.<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/bradley-files/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Click here</a> for our full series on the Bradley Files.</div><div>==</div>

===

<h1 class="print-title">Group Called "Citizens for a Strong America" Operates out of a UPS Mail Drop but Runs Expensive Ads in Supreme Court Race?</h1>

<div class="meta">by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves" title="View user profile.">Lisa Graves</a> [1] — April 2, 2011 - 5:37pm</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-2">Topics: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy">Democracy</a> [2]</li>

</ul>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="vocabulary-9">Projects: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/projects/wisconsin-protests">Wisconsin Protests</a> [3]</li>

</ul>

</div>

<div class="content clearfix">
<img brain="false" src="http://www.prwatch.org/files/images/CitizensforaStrongAmericaAddress.png" alt="Citizens for a Strong America and Its UPS Address" title="Citizens for a Strong America and Its UPS Address" class="caption" align="" height="100" width="220" />Citizens for a Strong America and Its UPS Address




MADISON--A new special interest group has purchased an expensive TV ad campaign in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race but operates out of a UPS store. The self-named "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_a_Strong_America" target="_blank">Citizens for a Strong America</a> [5]" (CSA) advertises its address as "834 Park Avenue #306" in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, but this address is nothing more than a box at a UPS Store. The TV ad campaign attacks Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg for an ad that was not created by her campaign. The ad CSA is complaining about argues that Supreme Court candidate Justice David Prosser failed to prosecute a priest who young boys said had molested them. (CMD does not endorse or oppose either candidate; CMD reports on front groups, PR campaigns, and spin, with a particular focus on corporate-funded spin.)

<h2>Who Are the "Citizens for a Strong America," Besides a Well-Funded Postal Box?</h2>

This mysterious group lists no information about its leaders, employees, or funders on its website, citizensforastrongamerica.net. Its website is basically just a brochure. Its contact information is not the kind typically used by a public interest organization; it is just gmail: citizensforastrongamerica@gmail.com. Its phone number, 608-831-2974, rings to a voicemail box, which is full.

The group has filed for an IRS number (27-1204594) for its non-profit status under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, but no filings are publicly posted on Guidestar; almost all non-profit groups in existence since 2009 have filed with the IRS and those filings are reprinted by Guidestar. If the group was founded more recently it may be months before records of its overall income and expenditures become available.

<h2>Updated! CSA Linked to Office and Staff of David Koch's "Americans for Prosperity," Tea Party Backers</h2>

In a review of internet filings, the Center has learned that even though Citizens for a Strong America lists no staff on its website, its website name was purchased by John W. Connors of Milwaukee, who has been a leader of "Americans for Prosperity," a right-wing group chaired by oil billionaire <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" target="_blank">David Koch</a> [6]. On the domain registration through "Go Daddy!," the holder of the web address listed is for Connors and the business address is listed as 1126 S 70th Street, Suite S420, in Milwaukee, along with a gmail address. (After this story broke, the contact information was changed from johnwconnors@gmail.com, along with the street address and his home number, to a proxy registration service. Despite the effort to destroy this history, the Center and other groups have screenshots of how Go Daddy! and other evidence in this story looked before the changes were made; these links were also noted in a TV news story for the local CNS affiliate before they were removed. The Center exercised editorial discretion to not post Connors' home telephone number associated with the domain registration as part of the initial story.)

This address is the same street address as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" target="_blank">Americans for Prosperity</a> [7] (AFP) in Wisconsin. AFP is listed as holding offices on the second floor of that building. It is not clear how many suites in the building are leased by AFP. Although the address listed is in the same building, the phone number listed on the domain registration is for a home number, not AFP.

As one researcher discovered after this story broke, that street address was also used by a group called "Campaign Now." That group's web address is also registered to John Connors. As noted in the Cognitive Dissidence blog, Campaign Now uses <a href="http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/04/koch-brothers-heavy-hand-behind-anti.html">the same phone number AFP used to register riders on the buses used to get people to the capitol hearing</a> [8] of the "Joint Finance Committee," a committee meeting other citizens did not learn about until the morning of the meeting. And yet another group, Watchdog.org, which is associated with the "Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity" -- another group connected to Koch-is also registered to John W. Connors. It seems he has been very busy.

<a href="http://www.madisonwhoswho.com/member_profile.php?id=73304&s=vip"> In other documents on the web about him</a> [9], Connors' work email address is listed as at afphq.org and he is described as involved in grassroots campaigns and marketing for AFP. He has been with AFP for a couple of years.

During college, Connors interned for Walker and worked on his campaign. As of 2008, Connors was also listed as AFP's "Students for Prosperity Director." He is a recent graduate of Marquette University who was president of the university's College Republicans chapter, and in that role <a href="http://www.wpri.org/WIInterest/Vol17No1/Pigeon/Pigeon17.1.html" target="_blank">suggested that TV ads would not be an effective way to reach voters</a> [10] in the future. He has also been tweeting AFP events in recent months.

<img brain="false" src="http://www.prwatch.org/files/images/JohnConnors.png" alt="John Connors of Americans for Prosperity with " home="home" headquarters="headquarters" title="John Connors of Americans for Prosperity with " class="caption" align="" height="197" width="210" />John Connors of Americans for Prosperity with "Home Headquarters Kit"Connors has been a featured speaker at the national AFP "Defending the Dream" Summit. (The Center has recently <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/03/10375/cmd-special-report-who-are-headliners-koch-funded-afp-conventions" target="blank">published a guide to the elected officials, right-wing ideologues, and business leaders</a> [11] headlining the Wisconsin-area summit for Tea Party activists, funded by AFP which is chaired by David Koch. The Center also recently published an in-depth analysis of the connections between Jockey's CEO and Koch, in a piece called "<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/03/10506/your-underwear-undermining-your-values-what-jockeys-ceo-doing-tea-partiers-conven" target="blank">Is Your Underwear Undermining Your Values?</a> [12]") At the 2010 AFP Summit in Wisconsin, at which candidate Prosser and other candidates for public office were listed as headliners, Connors served as the "On-Site Production Coordinator." At recent AFP events, Connors has helped AFP's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mark_Block" target="blank">Mark Block</a> [13] launch AFP's new "home headquarters kit," an update on the "pyramid-type campaign" that Block and then-candidate <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-360129858346679623#" target="blank">George W. Bush initially used in Wisconsin to identify voters and get them out to vote for his run for president</a> [14].

All this raises questions of whether a recent college graduate is somehow bankrolling the CSA's ads, or whether others who fund Connors' work at AFP are involved in any way. (AFP Wisconsin was led until recently by Mark Block, who paid a fine in a settlement of a case a few years back after the state alleged that Block had coordinated a campaign worth $200,000 with an outside group when he was serving as Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox's campaign manager.)

AFP's funders are not well known, aside from David Koch. Additionally, as the Center has previously reported, Koch wrote a million dollar check to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Governors_Association" target="blank">Republican Governors Association</a> [15] last summer, along with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rupert_Murdoch" target="blank">Rupert Murdoch</a> [16] and other billionaires, and <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/02/9964/cmd-special-report-scott-walker-runs-koch-money" target="_blank">RGA spent millions "investing" in getting controversial governor Scott Walker elected</a> [17] along with other new extremist governors attempting to destroy the rights of public employees and slash spending for public education. AFP spent millions of dollars across the country during the 2010 election season, including an untold sum in Wisconsin running ads about government spending (without disclosing the sources of its own spending). AFP also featured Walker at its summits in the state when he was a candidate.

However, there is literally zero information about who is actually giving Connors or others associated with CSA the money to create or make the expensive ad buys in this election. What is clear is that CSA is most definitely linked to people backing and leading the extreme agenda of the Tea Party.

<h2>CSA's Funding Is Quite a Mystery!</h2>

Accordingly, a virtually anonymous group is running ads on the eve of a major election with no public disclosure of who runs the group or who funds the group. Voters have no idea who paid for the video editing for the ad or who underwrote the purchase of the ads. There is no indication whether the group's funders are one person or a handful of people, or a company or business group or CEO. There is no indication, besides its postal box and its link to Connors, that it is funded by anybody in Wisconsin, or where its donors actually live in the United States or elsewhere.

And, there is no accountability for the group, which has already been determined to have run at least one misleading ad in this election cycle.

<h2>Citizens for "Ridiculously False" Advertising?</h2>

Just last month, a CSA ad asserting that judicial candidate Kloppenburg "jailed an 80-year-old farmer for refusing to plant native vegetation on his farm" was determined to be "ridiculously false." The landowner had a slope with a "severe erosion problem" that was believed to be discharging pollutants into Marsh Lake, part of the Rock Lake watershed. The owner ripped up seeding from the Department of Natural Resources that was planted to help protect the lake, and the court found him in contempt. After the third judicial finding of contempt, the court ordered the landowner to a short jail term. Tom Kercher of the Journal Sentinel investigated the CSA ad, and found that the presiding judge, Judge Ullsvik, said that Kloppenburg had not wanted the owner to go to jail and instead had asked that he comply with the court's order to address the pollution problem. Faced with the owner's recalcitrance, the court ordered the landowner to go to jail -- not Kloppenburg.

<h2>CSA's Ad about the Awful Case of the Molesting Priest--What Are the Facts and What's Opinion?</h2>

The determination that CSA's ad was ridiculously false did not stop the entity from creating another ad, or deter TV stations from accepting money from CSA for ad buys. In its newest ad, CSA features Troy Merrifield, one of dozens of sexual abuse victims of a predator priest, Father Feeney. His complaint that a priest abused him was not prosecuted by Prosser back in 1979. In the misleading CSA ad, Merrifield states that Prosser helped bring his abuser to justice, even though Prosser declined to pursue charges against the priest, which kept the case out of court and out of the public's eye for over a decade. After the Merrifield boys were abused by the priest and Prosser chose not to prosecute, the priest went on to abuse other boys at other parishes. The priest was ultimately convicted in 2004, but that was long after Prosser had left the prosecutor's office to become Republican leader of the state Senate and was appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

<a href="http://andersonadvocates.com/Posts/News-or-Event/354/Justice-Prossers-link-to-priest-case-as.aspx" target="_blank">Back in 2008</a> [18], Troy Merrifield said Prosser should recuse himself in cases involving sexual abuse because "He knows damn well what happened and what was said.... He dropped the ball and he should recuse himself." According to press accounts from before this election, Merrifield said "I was ready to take the stand ... He (Prosser) said it would be too embarrassing for a kid my age and said what jury would believe a kid testifying against a priest? Then he said, what really makes it bad is that Feeney's brother, Joe, sang on the Lawrence Welk show and everybody watched that back then."

It is not clear how to fully square these statements with the election eve utterances by Merrifield in saying Prosser helped bring his abuser to justice. It appears that Merrifield has been told that the special prosecutor in the 2004 case spoke with Prosser about the case, and he was helpful. The ad created by CSA implies that Prosser was always helpful in bringing the priest to justice, even though he failed to do so when he had the power to do so as the local prosecutor handling the boys' claims of molestation. The ad also does not account for the feelings of all the boys sexually abused in the 15 years between the time Prosser failed to prosecute and the actions of the special prosecutor in 2004 to bring the priest to trial.

Merrifield has been critical of the ad being run about Prosser, and he has asked Kloppenburg to take it down, even though it is not her ad and it is run by an independent group, the Greater Wisconsin Committee. (Kercher criticized that ad for implying, in his view, that Prosser knew the priest had been abusing kids for thirty years, even though the ad does not say that he knew that; thirty years is the period between the priest's first assault and his last.  Almost 15 years elapsed between Prosser's decision not to prosecute and the priest's arrest in 2004.) Merrifield noted previously that "It wasn't as if sexual abuse of a child wasn't a felony back then.... The laws were on the books, and he should have prosecuted." Prosser has expressed regret about the case and has complained about the ads referencing the case.

<h2>An All Points Bulletin for the CSA's Veronica Johnson?</h2>

So, the voters of Wisconsin are now being bombarded by a virtually anonymous group being bankrolled to the tune of perhaps a million dollars or more to run ads which are demonstrably misleading. There is no physical office a voter can go to in order to complain or demand the group's tax filings. And even if those filings were available, they would not disclose who CSA's major financial backers are. CSA is exploiting the fact that Justice Prosser and a narrow majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court enjoined the state from enforcing rules to require key disclosures by groups like CSA running so-called "issue" ads to influence elections. (The Center for Media and Democracy has filed a brief in that case in support of disclosure rules.)

The only known name of a person associated with "Citizens for a Strong America," aside from AFP's John Connors, is "Veronica Johnson," whose name was on the TV ad buy. The Center -- whose mission is to fight PR spin and front groups -- challenges readers to help identify Johnson. The Center is putting out the watchdog group equivalent of an "all points bulletin" for Veronica Johnson, with bonus points for her photo and information on who actually underwrote the ad buys by donating to CSA. Does she even live in Wisconsin or some other state? Does she even work "at" CSA or is she just hired by CSA to purchase ads? What other ads has she purchased and for whom? Let's give "credit" where credit is due. If CSA wants to influence elections it ought to have the guts to come clean about who is bankrolling its bills, so that voters can understand more about its agenda than its deliberately vague feel-good name. Any group spending six or seven figures on TV ads at election time ought to disclose more than its name, just as voters can easily find information about the other groups running issue ads this election, like the Greater Wisconsin Committee. The Center believes voters have a right to know more about an influential group than just its P.O. Box.

Lisa Graves is Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy, the publisher of PRWatch.org, SourceWatch.org, and BanksterUSA.org. She formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, as Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the U.S. Courts. Her latest expose is "<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/03/10506/your-underwear-undermining-your-values-what-jockeys-ceo-doing-tea-partiers-conven" target="_blank">Is Your Underwear Undermining Your Values</a> [12]" about Jockey's CEO and her Koch connections.

</div>

<div class="print-footer">Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703

Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714</div>

<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves

[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy

[3] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/wisconsin-protests

[4] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2011%2F04%2F10534%2Fgroup-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad&linkname=Group%20Called%20%22Citizens%20for%20a%20Strong%20America%22%20Operates%20out%20of%20a%20UPS%20Mail%20Drop%20but%20Runs%20Expensive%20Ads%20in%20Supreme%20Court%20Race%3F

[5] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_a_Strong_America

[6] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch

[7] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity

[8] http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/04/koch-brothers-heavy-hand-behind-anti.html

[9] http://www.madisonwhoswho.com/member_profile.php?id=73304&s=vip

[10] http://www.wpri.org/WIInterest/Vol17No1/Pigeon/Pigeon17.1.html

[11] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/03/10375/cmd-special-report-who-are-headliners-koch-funded-afp-conventions

[12] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/03/10506/your-underwear-undermining-your-values-what-jockeys-ceo-doing-tea-partiers-conven

[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mark_Block

[14] http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-360129858346679623#

[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Governors_Association

[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rupert_Murdoch

[17] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/02/9964/cmd-special-report-scott-walker-runs-koch-money

[18] http://andersonadvocates.com/Posts/News-or-Event/354/Justice-Prossers-link-to-priest-case-as.aspx

</a>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America</a>

Citizens for a Strong America is a non-profit group that says it is "a diverse coalition of concerned citizens, businesses, non-profit organizations and other stakeholders."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-0">[1]</a> The Center for Media and Democracy, which publishes SourceWatch, discovered that this group was created in August 2010 and operates out of a UPS mail drop box but is running expensive ads in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-1">[2]</a> As PRWatch.org documented, CSA's website lists no employees, board members, or funders and an examination of its domain registration disclosed that it was registered to the same street address and building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the controversial <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" title="David Koch" class="mw-redirect">David Koch</a>-led group "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>" (AFP) by John W. Connors who is elsewhere listed as a leader of AFP.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-2">[3]</a> AFP has held conventions described as events for "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_Day_Tea_Party" title="Tax Day Tea Party">Tea Party</a>" activists, as documented by the Center for Media and Democracy. Koch has provided the funding for ad campaigns that helped controversial governor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Scott_Walker" title="Scott Walker">Scott Walker</a> and others win office in the 2010 elections, and AFP also funded a multi-million dollar "issue" ad campaign on those elections.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-3">[4]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>] </div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#Controversy_Surrounding_CSA">1 Controversy Surrounding CSA</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#Funders">2 Funders</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#Sourcewatch_resources">3 Sourcewatch resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#External_resources">4 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#Contact">5 Contact</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#References">6 References</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Controversy Surrounding CSA</h2>

The group's website has a street address, but the Center for Media and Democracy discovered that the organization's listed address is a UPS box in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. PRWatch also contacted the phone number on the website and the voicemail was full, and contacted the phone number on the domain registration and reached Connors' home. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-4">[5]</a> A local television news station, WFRV, found that the phone number on the website goes to a phone number located a couple of hours from Beaver Dam, but near the Wisconsin capitol in Middleton, Wisconsin.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-5">[6]</a>

The group is running ads in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election and the issue ads in essence attack the opponent of controversial Supreme Court Justice <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_T.Prosser,Jr." title="David T. Prosser, Jr.">David T. Prosser, Jr.</a>: Department of Justice Attorney JoAnne Kloppenburg.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-6">[7]</a>

<h2>Funders</h2>

Citizens for a Strong America does not reveal its funders on its website.

<h2>Sourcewatch resources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Front_groups" title="Front groups">Front groups</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" title="David Koch" class="mw-redirect">David Koch</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tax_Day_Tea_Party" title="Tax Day Tea Party">Tea Party Movement</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_T.Prosser,Jr." title="David T. Prosser, Jr.">David T. Prosser, Jr.</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>External resources</h2>

<h2>Contact</h2>

Citizens for a Strong America

834 Park Avenue #306

Beaver Dam, WI 53916-2206

Phone: (608) 831-2974

Email: citizensforastrongamerica@gmail.com<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_note-7">[8]</a>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-0">↑</a> Citizens for a Strong America <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://citizensforamerica.net/?page_id=4">About</a>, organizational web page, accessed April 3, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-1">↑</a> Lisa Graves, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad">Group Called "Citizens for a Strong America" Operates out of a UPS Mail Drop but Runs Expensive Ads in Supreme Court Race?</a>. PRWatch.org, April 2, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-2">↑</a> Madison Who's Who <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.madisonwhoswho.com/member_profile.php?id=73304&s=vip">VIP Member Biography, John W. Connors</a>, business listing, accessed April 4, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-3">↑</a> Lisa Graves, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/02/9964/cmd-special-report-scott-walker-runs-koch-money">A CMD Special Report: Scott Walker Runs on Koch Money</a>, PRWatch.org, February 19, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-4">↑</a> Lisa Graves, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad">Group Called "Citizens for a Strong America" Operates out of a UPS Mail Drop but Runs Expensive Ads in Supreme Court Race?</a> PRWatch.org, April 2, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-5">↑</a> WFRV News (Channel 5) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wfrv.com/news/local/Ad-Wars-in-state-Supreme-Court-Race-119114464.html">Ad Wars in state Supreme Court Race</a>, WFRV television news, April 2, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-6">↑</a> Bill Leuders <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=32974">David Prosser waffles on vow to denounce dishonest ads in Wisconsin Supreme Court race</a>, The Isthmus, April 1, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America#cite_ref-7">↑</a> Citizens for a Strong America <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://citizensforamerica.net/?page_id=4">Contact</a>, organizational web page, accessed April 3, 2011</li>

</ol>

</div>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Stubs" title="Category:Stubs">Stubs</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Front_groups_portal" title="Category:Front groups portal">Front groups portal</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Front_groups" title="Category:Front groups">Front groups</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Politics_%28U.S.%29" title="Category:Politics (U.S.)">Politics (U.S.)</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

----

brad blog

'National Director' of Koch's 'Americans for Prosperity' Created Mysterious WI 'Gun Group,' Coordinated on Misleading Absentee Ballot Mailings

Creator of 'United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, Inc.,' John Connors, is a long-time AFP affiliate, has history of deceptive campaigns...

Posted By Brad Friedman On 8th August 2011 @ 17:17 In Election Irregularities, Election Reform, Election Fraud, Wisconsin, Dirty Tricks, Republicans, Election 2011, WI Recall Elections, Koch Industries | Comments Disabled<div id="BlogContent">

On Saturday <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8651" target="_blank">we posted an article</a> [1] detailing the similarities, and apparent coordination, in misleading "Absentee Ballot Application" mailers sent out to Democratic voters by both the David Koch-founded Americans for Prosperity - Wisconsin and a mysterious group calling themselves United Sportsmen of Wisconsin.

The Americans for Prosperity mailer, sent out in Wisconsin last week in advance of tomorrow's state Senate recall election of six Republican state Senators, included instructions that absentee ballots must be submitted by August 11th --- even though the election in question is actually tomorrow, August 9th.

The PO Box described as the "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center" on those mailers belonged to a Rightwing family group tied to the anti-abortion movement. A spokesperson for the group, as we reported, said that while they were part of a "coalition" with AFP, they claimed to have had no idea AFP was using their PO Box on the mailers until they started receiving them, and that they hadn't seen the mailer before it went out. For their part, AFP claimed the incorrect date was simply a "typo" in two districts where they had sent the mailings, and that "liberals" were making a "mountain out of a molehill" about it all. Late last week, however, in a followup mailing, the group admitted that it had gone out to "everyone" in all of the state Senate districts, rather than just the two where Democrats will face recall elections next week (as opposed to tomorrow's GOP recalls) and blamed the incorrect date on their printer.

The United Sportsmen of Wisconsin (USW) mailers, almost identical in form, font, content, and type-setting, as <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8651" target="_blank">we showed</a> [2], had no information about who had paid for the mailings on them, and instructed voters that they needed to return their absentee ballots to the elections clerk by August 4th --- even though ballots may be delivered to the Wisconsin election clerks as late as the close of polls on August 9th.

Since we ran our article over the weekend, which suggested, among other things, previously-undocumented coordination between AFP and USW, and since there was little information to be found about USW on the web, a number of readers have been digging in to try and figure out exactly who the so-called United Sporstmen of Wisconsin actually are, as have we.

And, whaddaya know, a bit of digging reveals that the group was very recently founded by one John W. Connors, a long-time staffer and director of Americans for Prosperity, a College Republican leader, and a rather prolific founder of a number of hard-right political front groups with a record of deception in recent Wisconsin elections...

As we noted over the weekend, the web presence for United Sportsmen of Wisconsin is sparse at best, including a hastily <a href="http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=untied%20sportsmen%20of%20wisconsin&init=quick&tas=0.9102895685614159&ref=ts#%21/pages/United-Sportsmen-of-Wisconsin/117711918323042" target="blank">slapped together Facebook page</a> [3] (which now appears to be either removed or set to private, following most of the comments on the page coming from critics of their recent misleading absentee ballot request mailing); a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/219842811388166/" target="blank">members-only Facebook page</a> [4] just created last month, days prior to their absentee mailing having gone out, and a one-page <a href="http://www.unitedsportsmenwi.com/" target="_blank">UnitedSportsmenWI.com</a> [5] page featuring little more than an application to join their group, along with the promise that, in doing so, "you will join a network of thousands of sportsmen across Wisconsin who will stay informed about important issues and band together to protect their rights."

Examination of the HTML for the application web page reveals that the form is an iFrame embed from a webpage at: http://jconnorsandco.us2.list-manage2.com

A reader who filled out the form found and then confirmed her web application via email, was invited to "continue to our website." Clicking on that link then took her to the website of J Connors Company, LLC at <a href="http://JConnorsAndCo.com" target="_blank">JConnorsAndCo.com</a> [6].

Neither the UnitedSportsmenOfWi.com or JConnorsAndCo.com websites seem to actually offer any information whatsoever about gun ownership or hunting legislation or issues.

So who is John W. Connors?

Connors is listed as the president and owner of J Connors and Company LLC, whose address is listed at 1126 South 70th St S240, Milwaukee WI 53214.

The same building on 70th St. in Milwaukee houses the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity in a suite just down the hall, S219A. The shared building could be considered a coincidence, but for the fact that Connors turns out to have been a longtime staffer and director for AFP. The dots suggesting coordination between the two groups, as we detailed over the weekend, are quickly becoming very well connected.

Connors is described at the website of Americans for Prosperity --- a non-profit activist group founded by oil and chemical conglomerate billionaire brother CEO David Koch --- variously in 2007 and 2008 as <a href="http://www.afphq.org/students-prosperity-leader-speaks-uw-madison" target="blank">"National Coordinator for Americans for Prosperity"</a> [7], <a href="http://www.afphq.org/defender-american-dream-award-previewed" target="blank">"AFP-WI staff member"</a> [8] and <a href="http://www.afphq.org/defending-american-dream-summit-wisconsin-update-2" target="blank">"National Director, Students for Prosperity"</a> [9]. Connors is not currently listed on <a href="http://www.afphq.org/about/staff" target="blank">their Staff page</a> [10].

In an <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad" target="_blank">in-depth article published earlier this year by the Center for Media and Democracy</a> [11] (CMD), Lisa Graves, a former Deputy Asst. Attorney General in the U.S. Dept of Justice's Office of Legal Policy, revealed that Connors is deeply involved with other front groups in Wisconsin which sound very similar to United Sportsmen of Wisconsin. Those groups have also been responsible for similarly misleading campaign material.

Graves details several misleading television spots by a group calling themselves "Citizens for a Strong America" (CSA), which aired earlier this year attacking WI Asst. Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg and supporting state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser prior to their <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8448" target="blank">exceedingly contentious</a> [12] and <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8548" target="blank">disputed election</a> [13] contest last April (as covered in <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8545" target="_blank">great detail by The BRAD BLOG</a> [14].)

Graves investigative reporting at CMD reveals that CSA was a very well-funded front group with little more than a claim to having a 501(c4) non-profit status and a mailbox address at a UPS Store.

"This mysterious group lists no information about its leaders, employees, or funders on its website, citizensforastrongamerica.net," reported Graves before updating her story with the discovery that the Internet domain for the group had been purchased by John W. Connors of Milwaukee, who quickly had its Internet domain registration set to private after the CMD report was published.

The United Sportsmen of Wisconsin registration is similarly private, though the links embedded within it's single web page clearly lead to J Connors and Company, LLC., which describes itself as "an all-inclusive grassroots strategies company located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," that "serves the political, non-profit and corporate sectors, making us an extremely experienced and well-connected company."

Who they are "well-connected" to is not stated.

"We are not hired by our clients," their slogan reads, "we support our clients."

On its <a href="http://jconnorsandco.com/what-we-do/grassroots-strategy-2/" target="_blank">"What We Do | Grassroots Strategy" page</a> [15], the company claims:

The J Connors & Company team provides the help that most companies need concerning grassroots and community organizing. From coalition building to volunteer efforts, J Connors & Company will give you the tools to make any campaign a success. We are dedicated to helping our clients to complete their projects and makes [sic] big changes that impact their communities.

</div>

Indeed, "tools" provided by Connors for the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin effort appears to include telephone scripts and instructions on how to make automated GOTV phone calls from your home phone, in support of Republicans in the recall races. As brought to our attention by a reader following our weekend report, <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/unitedsportsmenwi/home" target="_blank">this Google site page for USW</a> [16], is a bare bones page claiming "USW is a very unique group in contrast to other hunting or gun organizations because it will be the voice for sportsmen in Madison and stand up against legislation that threatens hunting, fishing and gun rights." The page then goes on to explains the phone system used to make these calls: "The impact dialer allows you to make phone calls efficiently without having to manual dial on your phone. The dialer is a predictive dialer so it will mostly deliver 'live' people to your phone." Quite a sophisticated operation for a newly formed "gun group," eh?

There is no information on that page, or any other, about who is funding either it or the USW group itself.

Connors' History of Deceptive, Mysteriously-Funded Political Organizations

The same address for Connors' company in Milwaukee is also used, as Graves discovered, by a group calling itself "Campaign Now," another domain name registered to Connors. Campaign Now, according to Graves, "uses <a href="http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/04/koch-brothers-heavy-hand-behind-anti.html" target="_blank">the same phone number AFP used to register riders on the buses used to get people to the capitol hearing</a> [17] of the 'Joint Finance Committee,' a committee meeting other citizens did not learn about until the morning of the meeting," during the state's extraordinary battle over Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union legislation.

"It seems he has been very busy," adds Graves, who reports that during college, "Connors interned for Walker and worked on his campaign" and had been the President of Marquette University's chapter of the College Republicans (Karl Rove's old group of dirty tricksters.)

As Graves explains at the Center for Media and Democracy, there are a number of questions surrounding the background and funding of Connor's CSA, questions which are remarkably similar to those now surrounding the so-called United Sportsmen of Wisconsin whose deceptive absentee ballot mailers were almost identical to the ones sent out by his former(?) employers at AFP:

<div class="media">At recent AFP events, Connors has helped AFP's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mark_Block" target="blank">Mark Block</a> [18] launch AFP's new "home headquarters kit," an update on the "pyramid-type campaign" that Block and then-candidate<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-360129858346679623#" target="blank"> George W. Bush initially used in Wisconsin to identify voters and get them out to vote for his run for president</a> [19].

...

[T]here is literally zero information about who is actually giving Connors or others associated with CSA the money to create or make the expensive ad buys in this election. What is clear is that CSA is most definitely linked to people backing and leading the extreme agenda of the Tea Party.

...

Accordingly, a virtually anonymous group is running ads on the eve of a major election with no public disclosure of who runs the group or who funds the group. Voters have no idea who paid for the video editing for the ad or who underwrote the purchase of the ads. There is no indication whether the group's funders are one person or a handful of people, or a company or business group or CEO. There is no indication, besides its postal box and its link to Connors, that it is funded by anybody in Wisconsin, or where its donors actually live in the United States or elsewhere.

</div>

Graves goes on to point out just one more, somewhat ironic (or perhaps not) reason why it was difficult to figure out exactly who was funding CSA earlier this year, and why the same is still true concerning Connors' so-called United Sportsmen of Wisconsin:

Justice Prosser and a narrow majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court enjoined the state from enforcing rules to require key disclosures by groups like CSA running so-called "issue" ads to influence elections.

</div>

Messages left by <a href="http://www.BradBlog.com" target="_blank">The BRAD BLOG</a> [20] at both Connors business phone number, as well as at the offices of J Connors & Company, LCC, where an associate said Connors was currently on the phone, have so far gone unanswered.

Nonetheless, evidence seems to suggest that, in addition to the money that AFP spent on their own misleading absentee ballot mailer, they are likely to have funded --- or at the very least, coordinated --- with Connors' United Sportsmen of Wisconsin front group on their misleading absentee ballot mailers.

So, who, other than the Koch brothers, funds Americans for Prosperity (and thus "United Sportsmen of Wisconsin" most likely)? AFP is notoriously secretive about their own funding sources, despite their widespread political activities across virtually every state in the nation, including their funding of the so-called "grassroots" Tea Party movement, as well as the Global Warming Denialist movement.

The vaunted secrecy behind some of the Koch brothers' anonymous sources of funding for their political operations, however, may soon experience a few cracks. But more on that in the coming days...

Related previously at The BRAD BLOG...

• <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8651" target="_blank">Dirty Tricks in WI: Deceptive Absentee Ballot Mailers Appear to be Coordinated Hoaxes</a> [21]

<center>Please support <a href="http://www.BradBlog.com" target="blank">The BRAD BLOG's</a> [22] fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system, as available from no other media outlet in the nation, with <a href="http://www.bradblog.comhttps://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=Brad@BradBlog.com%26item_name=Support+for+The+BRAD+BLOG%26item_number=2011" target="blank">a donation</a> [23] to help us keep going (<a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8512" target="blank">Snail mail, more options here</a> [24]). If you like, we'll send you some great, award-winning election integrity documentary films in return! <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6662" target="blank">Details right here...</a> [25]</center>

</div>

Article printed from The BRAD BLOG: http://www.bradblog.com

URL to article: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8658

URLs in this post:

[1] we posted an article: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8651

[2] we showed: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8651

[3] slapped together Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=untied%20sportsmen%20of%20wisconsin&in

it=quick&tas=0.9102895685614159&ref=ts#!/pages/United-Sportsmen-of-Wisconsin/117711918323042

[4] members-only Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/219842811388166/

[5] UnitedSportsmenWI.com: http://www.unitedsportsmenwi.com/

[6] JConnorsAndCo.com: http://JConnorsAndCo.com

[7] "National Coordinator for Americans for Prosperity": http://www.afphq.org/students-prosperity-leader-speaks-uw-madison

[8] "AFP-WI staff member": http://www.afphq.org/defender-american-dream-award-previewed

[9] "National Director, Students for Prosperity": http://www.afphq.org/defending-american-dream-summit-wisconsin-update-2

[10] their Staff page: http://www.afphq.org/about/staff

[11] in-depth article published earlier this year by the Center for Media and Democracy: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-o

perates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad

[12] exceedingly contentious: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8448

[13] disputed election: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8548

[14] great detail by The BRAD BLOG: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8545

[15] "What We Do | Grassroots Strategy" page: http://jconnorsandco.com/what-we-do/grassroots-strategy-2/

[16] this Google site page for USW: http://sites.google.com/site/unitedsportsmenwi/home

[17] the same phone number AFP used to register riders on the buses used to get people to the capitol hearing: http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/04/koch-brothers-heavy-hand-behind-anti

.html

[18] Mark Block: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mark_Block

[19] George W. Bush initially used in Wisconsin to identify voters and get them out to vote for his run for president: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-360129858346679623#

[20] The BRAD BLOG: http://www.BradBlog.com

[21] Dirty Tricks in WI: Deceptive Absentee Ballot Mailers Appear to be Coordinated Hoaxes: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8651

[22] The BRAD BLOG's: http://www.BradBlog.com

[23] a donation: http://www.bradblog.comhttps://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=Brad@BradBlog.com&

#038;item_name=Support+for+The+BRAD+BLOG&item_number=2011

[24] Snail mail, more options here: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8512

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=<h1 class="page__title title" id="page-title" style="line-height: 1.4em; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 0px;">Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?</h1><article class="node-12344 node node-news-article node-promoted view-mode-full clearfix" style="padding: 0px 17.5938px 17.5938px;"><header>Submitted by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35275/brendan-fischer" title="View user profile." class="username" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Brendan Fischer</a> on <time pubdate="" datetime="2013-12-19T09:26:19-06:00">December 19, 2013 - 9:26am</time></header><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity (through its Wisconsin Reporter and Watchdog.org websites) has aggressively attacked the "John Doe" probe into possible campaign finance violations during Wisconsin's 2011 and 2012 recall elections. Its outlets have also published new information about the apparent targets of the investigation, but they have omitted an important detail: Franklin Center has close ties to individuals and groups that may be caught up in the John Doe.<img alt="Franklin Center in Your State" src="http://www.prwatch.org/files/images/franklin_center_in_your_state.jpg" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 147px; width: 250px; float: right; margin: 5px;" />The only name associated with the investigation, Eric O'Keefe, helped launch the Franklin Center's operations in 2009, and his Sam Adams Alliance group <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/127152603.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">provided the majority</a> of its startup budget; O'Keefe has <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">spoken publicly</a> about being subpoenaed in his capacity as director of Wisconsin Club for Growth. Franklin Center's <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/about/staff/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Director of Special Projects</a> John Connors, and the <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/about/staff/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Executive Assistant to the President</a> Claire Milbrandt, also have close ties to a group reportedly involved in the John Doe probe. Its former Director of Operations and General Counsel, James Skyles, worked with another group active in the Wisconsin recalls.Franklin Center's Wisconsin Reporter has written 16 stories so far that are highly critical of the John Doe probe and prosecutors (calling its series <a href="http://watchdog.org/series/wisconsins-secret-war/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">"Wisconsin's Secret War"</a>), but these latest revelations raise questions about whether the outfit has a conflict of interest in its coverage."It does sound like a conflict-of-interest situation that minimally ought to be disclosed, whenever stories are written," said Robert Drechsel, Director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communications. "Particularly if the reporting in question is being done by an entity that holds itself out as nonpartisan and as doing the same kind of journalistic work being done by any traditional journalism institution."<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Franklin Center Attacks John Doe, Citing Unnamed Sources</h2>After Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dan Bice <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/secret-probe-spreads-to-five-wisconsin-counties-b99124190z1-228569231.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">first reported on</a> the new "John Doe" investigation -- a secret inquiry unique to Wisconsin that is "<a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/what-even-is-a-wisconsin-john-doe-investigation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">just like a grand jury except no jury</a>," led by special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, a former federal counterterrorism prosecutor with <a href="http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=54611" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Republican credentials</a> -- interest was high, but thanks to the John Doe's strict secrecy rules, details were hard to come by.The Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter quickly filled the void.Wisconsin Reporter launched its "Wisconsin's Secret War" series in October, citing unnamed sources to <a href="http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jack_craver/wisconsin-reporter-says-new-john-doe-investigation-focused-on-conservative/article_b3c94a06-40b2-11e3-bda1-001a4bcf887a.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reveal</a> that Wisconsin Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and Republican Governors Association <a href="http://watchdog.org/113017/conservatives-wisconsin/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">had received subpoenas</a>, and describing details about "after-hours visits to homes and offices" and prosecutors' "demands for phone, email and other records." Thanks to those unnamed sources, Wisconsin Reporter had a new platform, and used it to recast the John Doe investigation as "an abuse of prosecutorial powers" with "the apparent goal of bringing down Gov. Scott Walker." The Walker campaign and 28 other groups also reportedly received subpoenas."This is a taxpayer-funded, opposition-research campaign," an anonymous source told the Wisconsin Reporter.Wisconsin Club for Growth soon became the most prominent name associated with the John Doe after its director, Eric O'Keefe, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">told the Wall Street Journal editorial board</a> that he had been subpoenaed, with the investigation allegedly looking into what the Wall Street Journal called "illegal campaign coordination" between campaigns and independent groups. The group is also led by RJ Johnson, a top Walker advisor.CMD <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">uncovered</a> how in 2011, O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib.php?cmte=C90009945&cycle=2012" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">took in $12 million</a>, some of it from dark money conduits like the Koch-connected <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a> (CPPR) and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wellspring_Committee" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wellspring Committee</a>, and in turn <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">shuffled millions</a> to other organizations that spent money on ads during Wisconsin's Supreme Court race and recall elections. (CPPR, which is connected to the billionaire Koch brothers, was <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/politics/a-money-shuffle-to-avoid-donor-disclosure/552/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">recently fined $1 million</a> by California's elections board for its role in what the Washington Post called "<a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/politics/a-money-shuffle-to-avoid-donor-disclosure/552/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a series of money swaps and transfers through a network of politically active nonprofit groups</a>" to avoid donor disclosure. California prosecutors called it "campaign money laundering").All of the groups involved in Wisconsin Club for Growth's monetary transfers are "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_money" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">dark money</a>" groups, a phrase which refers to election spending by nonprofits that exploit loopholes in campaign finance disclosure laws, and keep their donors secret by running "issue ads" designed to influence elections.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Franklin Center's John Connors Directly Connected to Dark Money Web</h2>A central character in the Wisconsin Club for Growth dark money web is John Connors, the Franklin Center's "Director of Special Projects," who has close ties to many of the groups receiving funding from O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth. Some of those groups have reportedly been subpoenaed.In the wake of the Center for Media and Democracy's <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reporting</a> on money changing hands between O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth and groups tied to Connors, Franklin Center's <a href="http://watchdog.org/about/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin Reporter</a> quickly went on the offensive in a <a href="http://watchdog.org/117604/liberal-money-conservative/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">series</a> of <a href="http://watchdog.org/118311/shouting-echo-chamber/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">articles</a>, making up <a href="http://watchdog.org/118639/dark-money-wisconsin/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">its own definition of "dark money"</a> for an unfounded attack on CMD's credibility, and falsely claiming that CMD's reporting constituted the launch of a "national campaign" to "unseat the governor."None of the articles note Connors' ties to the Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter, <a href="http://watchdog.org/117604/liberal-money-conservative/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">even when attacking</a> CMD's stories that address him by name.Here are some examples of those ties:<ul style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px;"><li>Connors is president of Citizens for a Strong America, whose entire <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$4.62 million budget</a> in 2011 <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">came from Wisconsin Club for Growth</a>, and which spent <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/judicial-public-financing-wisconsin-%E2%80%94-2011" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$836,000</a> on ads (some of which included <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/apr/01/citizens-strong-america/ad-says-joanne-kloppenburg-jailed-80-year-old-farm/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">misleading</a> claims) in support of Justice David Prosser during his 2011 Supreme Court race, and <a href="http://m.startribune.com/news/?id=127118328" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">additional undisclosed amounts</a> on Senate recall races that year. The Treasurer of Citizens for a Strong America is Valerie Johnson, wife of R.J. Johnson, who is a top advisor to both Wisconsin Club for Growth and Governor Walker.</li></ul><ul style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px;"><li><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">90 percent</a> of the <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_08_EO/83-0448717_990O_201112.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">grants received by</a> Wisconsin Family Action in 2011 <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">came from Connors' Citizens for a Strong America</a>, which was entirely funded by Wisconsin Club for Growth. Wisconsin Family Action spent <a href="http://www.wisdc.org/pr072512.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">an estimated $850,000</a> on the Senate recall campaigns in 2011. Connors <a href="http://media.jsonline.com/documents/Martens+Letter_120511.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">acted as a consultant</a> to Wisconsin Family Action during the election year and helped plan a scheme that resulted in a different <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/groups-accused-of-voter-bribery-cleared-by-das-investigation-953bdus-135147838.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">John Doe investigation</a> into possible election bribery, which resulted in no charges. The <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wall Street Journal</a> reports that Wisconsin Family Action has received a subpoena in the latest John Doe probe.</li></ul><ul style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px;"><li>Connors <a href="http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/04/koch-brothers-heavy-hand-behind-anti.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">registered</a> the web domain for United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, a group that <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12224/wisconsin-prepares-hand-half-million-taxpayer-funds-koch-tied-gop-lobby-shop" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">worked with</a> Wisconsin Family Action and Americans for Prosperity on an operation during the 2011 recall races in which absentee ballot applications were sent with the incorrect date for elections. Connors' Citizens for a Strong America <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">transferred $236,000</a> to United Sportsmen in 2011. The United Sportsmen group was <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/221667081.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">embroiled in scandal</a> earlier this year after outgoing Assembly Majority leader Scott Suder <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12224/wisconsin-prepares-hand-half-million-taxpayer-funds-koch-tied-gop-lobby-shop" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">cut a $500,000</a> taxpayer-funded "sweetheart deal" for the group, which Governor Walker <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/fishing-trip-underscores-close-ties-between-suder-united-sportsmen-b99108668z1-225745101.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">rescinded</a> after public outcry.</li></ul>A review of Franklin Center's tax filings shows that it has paid $235,157 to Connors' Milwaukee-based consulting firm, J Connors & Co, over the past two years ($114,930 <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/990-2012-Franklin-Center.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">in 2012</a> and $119,227 <a href="https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/26-4066298_990_201112.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">in 2011</a>). A close Connors associate, Claire Milbrant, who has worked at J Connors & Co since its founding in 2009, was also hired by the Franklin Center last month as its Executive Assistant to the President.In addition to being the Franklin Center's "Director of Special Projects" -- part of its "leadership team," <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/about/staff/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">according to the organization's website</a> -- Connors <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">registered</a> Wisconsin Reporter's "Watchdog.org" web domain.Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has <a href="http://watchdog.org/117604/liberal-money-conservative/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">attacked CMD's reporting</a> about Connors' groups but has failed to mention that one of its directors is directly tied to those organizations.CMD's calls to John Connors for comment have not been returned.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Group Led by Wisconsin Club for Growth's Eric O'Keefe Helped Launch and Fund Franklin Center</h2><div class="clearfix" />Mike McCabe, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, cautioned that the public still doesn't actually know what the John Doe investigation is about: we only know what Franklin Center has reported, and what Eric O'Keefe, the Wisconsin Club for Growth chair, told the Wall Street Journal editorial board."It's no accident that he went to Murdoch's newspaper, and no accident that it ran as an editorial [in the Wall Street Journal] rather than a news story," said McCabe, whose nonpartisan, nonprofit group tracks election spending in Wisconsin.On Wisconsin Club for Growth's last published IRS Form 990, O'Keefe was listed as one of just three board members who spend hundreds of hours a year leading and guiding that group, whose budget increased twelve-fold in 2011 while Scott Walker was facing a potential recall election and also grew in the 2012 election year.O'Keefe's ties to the Franklin Center run deep. He was the CEO and chairman of the Sam Adams Alliance, which in 2009 launched and funded the Franklin Center. According to an O'Keefe <a href="http://www.libertyguide.com/resources/9-how-understanding-politics-helps-in-policy/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">bio from last year:</a> "Under his leadership, the Sam Adams Alliance (SAM) has established some of the most active and respected organizations in the freedom movement, including American Majority and the Franklin Center." Whether he continues to fund or direct funds to Franklin Center is unknown.O'Keefe's Sam Adams Alliance, whose president was the former executive director of the Illinois State Republican party, <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/the-group-em-behind-em-the-group-behind-that-sketchy-wisconsin-poll?ref=fpa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">acted as</a> the Franklin Center's "sponsoring organization" until the group obtained its 501(c)(3) status, <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/the-group-em-behind-em-the-group-behind-that-sketchy-wisconsin-poll?ref=fpa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">according to its communications director</a>. According to the <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/127152603.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a>, much of the $2.9 million Franklin Center raised in its first year came from the Sam Adams Alliance. (The other group that O'Keefe boasts of creating in his bio, American Majority, was established to recruit and train Tea Party political candidates, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/192810837409217/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">held a rally</a> in support of Governor Walker during the height of the 2011 protests featuring Andrew Breitbart and others.)Franklin's President, Jason Stverak, previously worked as Regional Field Director for O'Keefe's Sam Adams Alliance, after leading the South Dakota Republican Party for six years. Their allies speak of O'Keefe and Stverak in the same breath. For example, in the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=XpB5w-rpUq4C&pg=PT251&lpg=PT251&dq=Jason+Stverak+and+Eric+o%27keefe&source=bl&ots=amTAoCkq9l&sig=tYkGFrMHYYP_k8REbk82x7tCV9k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3QGpUtvFJ8XuyQGc9IGQBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Jason%20Stverak%20and%20Eric%20o'keefe&f=false" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">acknowledgement section</a> of James O'Keefe's book, the undercover videographer whose heavily-edited videos helped bring down ACORN (and who is not related to Eric O'Keefe) thanks "Eric O'Keefe and Jason Stverak for their role in the citizen journalism movement."In only <a href="http://watchdog.org/116566/conservative-john-doe-democrats/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">one</a> of the sixteen articles Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has written on the John Doe have they touched on O'Keefe's ties to Franklin Center."The public has to be very wary of taking for granted what is being reported by the Wall Street Journal and Wisconsin Reporter," McCabe said. "O'Keefe and others have decided that is who they want reporting on John Doe, they've decided what to leak, and how they want it framed, and what they want the public to believe what the investigation is about," he said, while prosecutors and judges are gagged by the John Doe's secrecy order.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Ties to the "Coalition for American Values"</h2>Franklin Center also has connections to another mysterious organization active during the Wisconsin recalls called "Coalition for American Values." That group dropped <a href="http://www.wisdc.org/pr072512.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$400,080</a> on a flood of ads in the final weeks before Governor Walker's recall election, and attracted significant attention by making a unique appeal: instead of promoting Walker or attacking his opponent, the ads attacked the premise of the recall itself. The ads depicted individuals who claimed they would vote for Walker not necessarily because they support his policies, but because they opposed the use of recall under these circumstances.These ads, coupled with similar messaging from Governor Walker, proved effective. Exit polls on June 5, 2012 showed that sixty percent of voters thought recalls were only appropriate for cases of official misconduct -- a complete reversal from polls conducted in November 2011, just as the recall was launched.The address Coalition for American Values lists on its <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/cfav_gab_registration.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">filings with Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board</a>, and on its associated PAC's filings with the <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/581/13964021581/13964021581.pdf#navpanes=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Federal Election Commission</a>, is 119 S Emerson St #231 in Mt Prospect, Illinois. This is also the address given for Coalition for American Values' lawyer, James Skyles, who was <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/skyles_linkedin.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">General Counsel and the Director of Operations for the Franklin Center</a> until March 2011.The "treasurer" listed on Coalition for American Values' FEC filings and the contact on its filings with Wisconsin's election board is Brent Downs. In 2008, when Connors chaired the Marquette College Republicans, <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/connorsdowns.doc" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Downs was his treasurer</a>. Both were both students at Marquette University at the same time, and Downs, like Connors, also <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/downs_website.png" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">chaired the Students for Prosperity</a> chapter of David Koch's Americans for Prosperity at Marquette University.In its FEC filings, the Coalition for American Values <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/581/13964021581/13964021581.pdf#navpanes=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reports</a> <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/452/12954430452/12954430452.pdf#navpanes=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tens of thousands</a> of <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/138/12961466138/12961466138.pdf#navpanes=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">dollars</a> of <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/824/12951655824/12951655824.pdf#navpanes=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">payments</a> <a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/614/13940509614/13940509614.pdf#navpanes=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">to</a> Connors' Campaign Now! consulting and direct mail firm (which he has run out of the same office as J Connors & Co, along with Claire Milbrant).The Coalition for American Values explicitly called for the reelection of Governor Walker, so the group reported its spending, but it did not report the true origin of its funds. Wisconsin law requires that nonprofits or corporations disclose the source of all contributions "made for" the purpose of funding their ads -- but Coalition for American Values sidestepped those rules by claiming that the $400,080 was not specifically provided to the group for the ads, despite there being few other reasons that a donor would have given the group hundreds of thousands of dollars.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Franklin Center Takes Bull by Horns</h2>The Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has led the charge against the John Doe investigation, the prosecutors involved, and even reporters covering the topic.Professor <a href="https://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-glasser/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Theodore L. Glasser</a>, a Professor of Communications at Stanford University, told CMD that at a minimum, a news outfit should disclose their connections to the subjects they are reporting on. "For the reader, without that transparency, it is hard to make a judgment about the independence of that reporting," he said."Not to say that the conflict [of interest] would go away with transparency, but it would at least allow readers to judge for themselves."Mary Bottari contributed to this </div></div></div></article>=copied from other node