am trad partner bak

719

---

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/02/american-tradition-partnership-file/

Novak

• February 21, 2013

American Tradition Partnership — formerly known as Western Tradition Partnership — has an unusual history of political antics. In January, in the latest development in a years-long legal battle, a Montana judge found that the group used “subterfuge” to avoid disclosing its donors by setting up a front group to attack state candidates in 2008. The group also stands accused — with support from a cache of documents found in a Colorado meth house and featured in a Frontline documentary last year — of illegally coordinating with legislative candidates in the 2010 elections.

On the other hand, ATP notched a significant victory when it challenged Montana’s century-old ban on some types of corporate spending in elections, which ended with a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that effectively applied the Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision to all states and localities.

None of this, not surprisingly, is mentioned on the controversial nonprofit’s first tax form 990on record, obtained by OpenSecrets.org. ATP is a 501(c)(4) group under tax law, meaning it is supposed to be devoted to furthering the “social welfare.” But despite the fact that it has been active since 2008, the group does not appear to have filed any 990s prior to this one, which covers the year 2011.

The tax form shows that ATP brought in $122,542 in 2011. That plus the $54,088 it reports having had in the bank at the beginning of the year allowed the group to spend $176,101 and end the year with a tiny balance of $529. That’s not a lot of money, but 2011 was an off-year.

The form also indicates the group had four individuals on its unpaid board of directors: Peter MacKenzie, Jack Wells, Dan Reed and Doug Lair.

Lair signed the group’s 990 form. He was also the lead plaintiff on a lawsuit that led to a temporary suspension of Montana’s contribution limits last year, and has sometimes been referred to as the Montana state director of the group. Jack Wells is a Montana state legislator; MacKenzie is involved in real estate; and Reed has been cited on at least one occasion as a spokesman for ATP.

But the form offers precious little other information. For example, the group apparently made no grants to other organizations, and had no highly-paid contractors. Its biggest expenses, according to the filing, were unspecified “Program Events,” ($60,449) and “Contract Services” ($38,480). 

And the tax form makes no mention of political activity.

Where it’s supposed to state its “primary exempt purpose,” ATP wrote that it “is dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water and natural resources through a voluntary, free-market approach.”  

How does it do this? “We achieve these goals by educating citizens, analyzing public policy, grassroots lobbying and litigation,” the document states. No mention there of politics at all — although “grassroots lobbying” and “educating citizens” are terms sometimes used as euphemisms by shadow money groups that run political ads critical of candidates.

Attempts to reach ATP for comment were unsuccessful.

Despite having just about emptied its bank account by the end of 2011, ATP must have gotten busy fundraising: Last year, the group sent attack mailers against Republicans it considered too liberal, as well as against Democrats. ATP’s sister 501(c)(3), American Tradition Institute, also recently made its annual filing with the IRS. It claims to have taken in $320,000, but it tells the agency that it conducted “no political activity this year.”

It’s unclear what’s in ATP’s future. There are no posts on its blog more recent than Jan. 2 — about the time Donald Ferguson, the group’s director, left, and the Montana judge made his finding. Furthermore, according to state officials, the documents that were found in the meth house were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in December, from which more may be heard in coming months.

And maybe worst of all for groups like ATP: Last week, Montana’s Democratic governor and a Republican state senator teamed up behind a bill, introduced by the senator, that would force groups funding political attacks there to disclose their donors.

Researcher Robert Maguire contributed to this post.

---

Voters haven’t had a clue who is behind American Tradition Partnership — the Colorado-based group pushing to rewrite Montana’s campaign finance laws — and that’s just the way the secretive nonprofit wants it.

A 2010 fundraising pitchto its donors promised that “no politician, no bureaucrat, and no radical environmentalist will ever know you helped,” and “the only thing we plan on reporting is our success to contributors like you.”

“Montana has very strict limits on contributions to candidates,” reads the document, obtained by The Center for Public Integrity. “but there is no limit to how much you give to this program.”

Furniture king a celebrity in Colorado

By Alexandra Duszak

October 22, 2012

As for the state’s ban on corporate money in elections?

“Corporate contributions are completely legal,” the pitch assures potential funders. “This is one of the rare programs you will find where that’s the case.”

Montana state senators raise big bucks with secretive nonprofit

By Michael Beckel

May 3, 2014

“You can get some traction with that pitch,” says Dennis Unsworth, who led the state’s investigation of the group in 2010 that unearthed the document. “If you can offer to influence the elections outside the law, that’s a great calling card.”

For three election cycles, ATP has plastered the state with mailers attacking “radical environmental groups” and moderate Republicans.

While ATP’s funders are still mostly a mystery, the Center for Public Integrity has identified what records indicate is the secretive organization’s founding donor — an anti-union owner of Colorado’s largest furniture chain — and discovered a long list of affiliations with national tea party groups funded by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers.

This election, ATP has vowed to keep Attorney General Steve Bullock out of the governor’s mansion. In October, voters received a brazen multi-page newspaper-style flier placing the Democratic candidate in a photo lineup with three registered sex offenders.

But the group hit the national spotlight thanks to three landmark court battles with Bullock and the state of Montana.

The U.S. Supreme Court in the Citizens Uniteddecision invalidated a federal ban on corporate spending similar to what 24 states had on their books, but Montana held fast to its law. ATP sued to overturn it, losing to Bullock in the state’s high court. But in June, the nonprofit prevailed on appeal to the nation’s highest court.

ATP is pushing past its Citizens Unitedchallenge with two more suits to eliminate Montana’s low contribution limits and disclosure rules, setting up a potential challenge to contribution limits nationwide.

Tea party ties

One of ATP’s founders is former Montana Congressman Ron Marlenee, who served from 1977 until the state dropped from two House seats to one in 1992. Marlenee used his D.C. Rolodex to raise money for the fledgling pro-energy group, which registered in Colorado in 2008.

Marlenee rallied a tea party crowd in Bozeman in 2010, with a half-burned American flag, which he said he wrestled away from a “liberal Marxist” protester.

ATP has joined tea party lobbying efforts, signing at least two letters to Congress in the last year urging an end to an end to tax credits for wind power and natural gas-fueled vehicles. The letters were signed by Koch-funded groups including Americans for Prosperity and tea party boosters FreedomWorks, Club for Growth and Art Pope’s John Locke Foundation.

In its 2008 application for tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization, ATP listed its “primary donor” as Jacob Jabs, Colorado’s largest furniture retailer and a donor to Republican candidates and causes. Jabs pledged a $300,000 contribution to get ATP on its feet, according to IRS records obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.

Jabs, through a spokeswoman, on Monday said he did not make a donation and has “never heard of” ATP or the group’s previous incarnation.

“He did not commit to the funds indicated by Athena Dalton in the filing so clearly he did not give them funds,” wrote Charlie Shaulis, director of communications for American Furniture Warehouse, Jabs’ company, in an email to I-News Network in Colorado.

Dalton wrote a letter to the IRS asking the agency to speed up the process for awarding it nonprofit status. The letter states that the approval was needed quickly, otherwise Jabs would not make a contribution. The agency gave it the thumbs up four days later.

The amount of the gift would be double Jabs’ total federal campaign contributions since 1997, which have gone exclusively to Republican candidates and party organizations, according to FEC records.

Jabs also poured money into a failed “right to work” ballot initiative in Colorado, becoming a television spokesman for the 2008 anti-union effort.

ATP shares resources and a D.C. mailing address with an affiliated 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit called the American Tradition Institute, which works in tandem with a network of Koch-funded think tanks to oppose wind energy and dispute the reality of climate change. It has launched lawsuits against state mandates for renewable energy usage and targeted climate scientists in academia.

The libertarian Koch brothers, Charles and David, have become better known in recent years with the rise of the tea party. They are principal owners of Koch Industries Inc., the second-largest privately owned company in the U.S., with major investments in the energy industry.

ATI has accepted donations from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a free-market think tank underwritten by Exxon Mobil and Koch foundation money, according to a report by the Institute for Southern Studies.

Its director of litigation Chris Horner is also a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank that has taken a half-million dollars from Koch foundations since 1998, according to the report.

‘We won’t be shut up, or shut down’

In 2008, American Tradition Partnership flooded the state with mailers attacking ten state legislators, but reported only $12,000 in spending for the entire election.

An investigation by the state’s Commission on Political Practices concluded that the group had broken state law requiring outside spending groups to register as political action committees and disclose all donors and spending.

Commissioner Unsworth concluded in October 2010 that ATP had registered a “sham organization” called the Coalition for Energy and Environment and vastly under-reported its activity. The PAC’s reported spending, said the state, would have barely covered the cost of postage for the raft of glossy, full-color mailers ATP sent out.

ATP filed forms with the IRS the same year, reporting more than $660,000 in spending.

ATP maintains that its spending on mailers, most targeting moderate Republicans running for state legislative seats, is “educational” and therefore falls outside the state’s definition of “express advocacy” that would require it to disclose its funders and its spending on the mailers.

ATP did not face penalties and did not disband. Instead, it changed its name from Western Tradition Partnership and sued to strike down Montana’s disclosure laws.

The case is set for trial in March 2013.

“We won’t be shut up or shut down,” ATP said in a press release in June.

Ironically, ATP’s years-long court battles have pushed the group into the public spotlight, threatening the secrecy of its donors. The group has vigorously resisted discovery proceedings in court, missing several deadlines to produce evidence requested by the state.

Lawyers in Bullock’s office filed a motion to compel ATP to present evidence, including bank records, or drop their lawsuit. It has not complied. According to a court filing, ATP’s lawyer Jim Brown emailed the state’s lawyers in late August, explaining, “I have a difficult client.”

Nonetheless, the state has won access to bank records for the organization. If a judge makes them public, they could offer voters a glimpse at the group’s funders.

‘I was the screen’

The group rarely communicates with the press and it hires unknowing lawyers to sign campaign finance reports and its 2008 nonprofit incorporation documents in Colorado.

Scott Shires has been sued and fined for his election activities, but the Colorado-based political consultant says his reputation really took a hit after he signed ATP’s forms. When Montana released the results of its 2010 investigation, Shires’ name began showing up in the press, and he says he cut ties to the organization.

“The operatives writing these stupid ads and mailings don’t want to be identified,” said Shires. “I was the screen that allowed them to hide — plausible deniability is something a lot of these groups are interested in.”

Shires listed himself as “President” of ATP when he signed the group’s request for exempt status with the IRS in 2008.

He is widely known for registering hundreds of political committees in Colorado, mostly Republican groups. The work involves some risk. He pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns for a client in 2008, a misdemeanor charge. He was also caught up in a scandal that linked former U.S. Rep. and 2008 Senate candidate Bob Schaffer with the beneficiary of a questionable congressional earmark.

ATP Executive Director Donald Ferguson did not return numerous calls for comment.

‘Not really sure who is in charge’

The left-leaning Montana Conservation Voters claims ATP was unfazed by the 2010 investigation and is “right back to doing the same thing,” according to the group’s board member Ben Graybill, who filed the original complaint.

This year, ATP has registered a PAC in the state. It sent mailers prior to the June primary election, but has reported zero spending to the state.

Its filings are signed by Montana attorney Chris Gallus, who was “surprised” to receive a call from the Center regarding ATP. He claims no leadership role in the organization, and said he’s “not really sure who is in charge.”

Gallus said he has not been contacted by ATP since being hired to sign their PAC reports, and does not anticipate filing any spending reports on their behalf. “Until that changes, my involvement is the same as the date I signed their forms.”

The organization sent out a questionnaire to candidates in early October, asking about their stance on land development and environmental regulations in resource-rich Montana.

“Will you oppose legislation which would categorically limit development of any specific energy resource?” reads one. “Will you oppose legislation that would rescind, reduce or shorten the tax holiday on oil & gas wells?” reads another.

Candidates who don’t respond, or don’t respond with answers favorable to ATP’s interests, are often targeted by a direct mail campaign similar to those launched at Bullock.

Its adversary, the Montana conservation group, endorses candidates for the state legislature who align with its mission to “protect clean water, public health, and our incredible outdoor heritage.” Its mid-October mailers praise Bullock for leading “the fight against corporate control of our elections.”

Unlike ATP, the group reports its direct and independent spending to the state and lists its donors.

“They’re scofflaws,” said Theresa Keaveny, executive director of the Montana conservation group.

Keaveny says ATP is not only in violation of Montana law, but also IRS rules for c(4) groups that dictate ATP must not spend a majority of its funds on political activity.

According to its 2008 application for exempt status, obtained by the Center, ATP promised not to “spend any money attempting to influence” elections. It also promised not to “directly or indirectly participate or intervene on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate for public office.”

It would, however spend “70 percent” of its time and resources to “educate citizens” about “land and resource development issues.”

It also revealed the Jabs contribution.

Governor’s race a toss up

Bullock, a Democrat, is running against Republican Rick Hill. It’s expected to be a close race despite Montana’s majority-Republican voting population.

“We want citizens deciding elections, not corporations,” said Bullock in an October debate during which he touted his record as a campaign finance crusader.

While outside spending groups, including the Republican and Democratic governors associations, have swarmed the state with ads, the two candidates have had to abide by Montana’s low contribution limits — for most of the campaign.

In October, ATP made national news when a federal judge agreed with the organization and its high-profile campaign finance lawyer, James Bopp, and struck down contribution limits on individuals, PACs, and parties — including the $630 cap on individual giving to Bullock and Hill.

“The political establishment can no longer tell citizens to shut up because they’ve reached their speech limit,” said ATP Montana Director Doug Lair in a press release.

Montana joined the ranks of 12 other states with no limits on contributions to candidates, but only temporarily. A week later, a federal appeals court stayed the lower court decision pending a full appeal, putting the state’s contribution limits back in force.

Bullock’s opponent took advantage of the six-day free-for-all between the ruling and the stay, accepting a $500,000 contribution from the state’s Republican Party. The gift dwarfed Montana’s $22,600 limit on party giving to candidates.

‘Who’s saying these crazy things’

A month before the vote, Montana residents woke up to a fake newspaper on their doorstep called “The Montana Statesman.”

The publication calls itself “the largest and most trusted news source” but is actually a series of ATP-funded attacks on Bullock. It leads with a giant headline that reads “Bullock Admits Failure.”

The “news” story below claims that the attorney general has let “1 in 4 sex offenders go unregistered.” It includes four photos: three registered sex offenders and Bullock.

The group can continue to raise money on the promise that “no politician, no bureaucrat, and no radical environmentalist will ever know you helped make this program possible,” as its 2010 briefing to donors reads. “You can just sit back on election night and see what a difference you’ve made.”

Unsworth says his 2010 investigation did not stop ATP, and outside spending that has already flooded the state is sure to intensify, particularly in light of the Citizens Uniteddecision. He calls the advertising a “mess of trash that lays at the feet of the public,” paid for by “funny money with no legal constraints.”

“We don’t know who’s saying these crazy things,” he added, “so the public has to suffer and our political system suffers as a result.”

*Update (Oct . 22, 7:00 p.m.):This story was updated to reflect that Jabs, through a spokeswoman, denied making a contribution to ATP.

*John Dunbar contributed to this report.

---

2 25 CAPT BAK

Plaintiff in Montana case that upheld Citizens United

 ==

see ATI notes (may be bak)

taken over by E&E?!

names is garbage, so what assets? = pending lawsuits? winners? see endgame/ deathmatch

also tag

---

http://opposethefuture.tumblr.com/post/3505922838/atp}:

good info

==

srchwatch:

As of March 2014:[27][24]

Dr. David W. Schnare (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_W._Schnare), General Counsel

Christopher C. Horner (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Christopher_C._Horner), Senior Legal Fellow. Horner is also a Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute).[28]

Tom Tanton, Director, Science & Technology Assessment

Craig Richardson, Executive Director

Amy Oliver Cooke (energy policy expert and blogger for the Independence Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Independence_Institute), Colorado's State Policy Network (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/State_Policy_Network) pressure group (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:State_Policy_Network)), Senior Media Fellow

SteveMilloy (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Steve_Milloy) (founder and publisher of JunkScience.com (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/JunkScience.com)), Senior Policy Fellow

Jenna Ashley Robinson (Director of Outreach at the John W. PopeCenter for Higher Education Policy (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_W._Pope_Center_for_Higher_Education_Policy&action=edit&redlink=1) and former E.A. Morris Fellowship Assistant at the John Locke Foundation (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Locke_Foundation), North Carolina's SPN member (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_member)), Senior Policy Fellow

George Taylor (founder of Palmetto Energy Research (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Palmetto_Energy_Research&action=edit&redlink=1)), Senior Policy Fellow

Greg Walcher (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greg_Walcher&action=edit&redlink=1) (President, Natural Resources Group (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Natural_Resources_Group&action=edit&redlink=1); former head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources; former President, Club 20 (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Club_20&action=edit&redlink=1)), Board Member and Senior Policy Fellow

Former staff include:[26]

Paul Chesser (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Paul_Chesser), Executive Director

Mark Newgent, Associate Research Fellow

---

colo office addy

A BETTER COLORADO (https://www.taxexemptworld.com/organization.asp?tn=1685052)

(c/o JAY COLE)

1601 BLAKE ST STE 310

DENVER, CO 80202-1328

Civic League

(Alliance/Advocacy Organizations)

$0*

$0*

03/2009

==

cf horner:

10/13

Taylor's assertions mimicked those made in a debunked [28] series of reports written for ALEC's RPS attacks [29]. The Ohio anti-RPS report [30] was co-published by the Koch-funded Beacon Hill Institute [31] and the American Tradition Institute (ATI), sister group to the Koch-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute [32]. ATI, now known as the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, was largely funded [33] by Montana petroleum millionaire Doug Lair.

==

bs cases "transparency" BO mann, McC gina

---

http://eelegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Hidden-Cost.pdf

The Hidden Costs of Wind Electricity

Why the full cost of wind generation is

unlikely to match the cost of natural gas,

coal or nuclear generation

George Taylor, Ph.D.

Thomas Tanton

American Tradition Institute:

Center for Energy Studies

Washington, DC

December 2012

==

5/14 update

bs  http://americantradition.org/

1/13 last donny f content

John Boehner cannot remain as Speaker of the House.

The ‘fiscal cliff’ spending package negotiated by Congressman Boehner was the final, unacceptable straw. It explodes spending on Gang Green’s pet projects while dealing special-interest tax breaks to Gang Green’s bankrollers such as  algae growers and millionaire wind corporations.

It raises $41 dollars in taxes for every $1 in spending reductions, with no agreement to halt planned new spending of any theoretical tax revenues. The Congressional Budget Office finds it will add nearly $4 trillion to our job-killing deficit.

All to hand a few special interest giveaways to Gang Green.

This is unacceptable.  American Tradition Partnership’s large and growing grassroots membership urges Congress to remove John Boehner as Speaker.

---

among last:

Feld Entertainment, Inc., the producer ofRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, announced today that the company has reached a legal settlement with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in connection with two federal court cases.

Under the settlement, ASPCA has paid Feld Entertainment $9.3 million to settle all claims related to its part in more than a decade of manufactured litigation that attempted to outlaw elephants in the company’s Ringling Bros.  Circus. This settlement applies only to the ASPCA. Feld Entertainment’s legal proceedings, including its claims for litigation abuse and racketeering, will continue against the remaining defendants, Humane Society of the United States, the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Animal Protection Institute United with Born Free USA, Tom Rider and the attorneys involved.

“These defendants attempted to destroy our family-owned business with a hired plaintiff who made statements that the court did not believe. Animal activists have been attacking our family, our company, and our employees for decades because they oppose animals in circuses. This settlement is a vindication not just for the company but also for the dedicated men and women who spend their lives working and caring for all the animals with Ringling Bros. in the face of such targeted, malicious rhetoric,” said Kenneth Feld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Feld Entertainment.

---

jimbeers7@earthlink.net

Retired US Fish & Wildlife Service

Wildlife Biolgist / Refuge Manager

/ Law Enforcement Agent

Jim Beers retired from the US Fish and Wildlife Service after 30 years. He served as a wildlife biologist, wetlands biologist, special agent, and refuge manager. After working for the Utah Fish & Game and spending four years as a Reserve Officer in the US Navy, he joined the US Fish & Wildlife Service and was stationed in Devils Lake, North Dakota; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Grand Island, Nebraska; New York City; and Washington, DC.

While in Washington Jim was a Congressional Fellow, the Chief of Operations for the National Wildlife Refuge System, the Program Coordinator for the Animal Damage Control Program, and for his final seven years he was the wildlife biologist in the Central Office who served as Project Officer on nearly all national wildlife projects funded with Pittman-Robertson money. Retired in 1999, Jim Beers holds a Bachelors in Wildlife Resources from Utah State University and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Northern Colorado.

==

undated camp finance:

American Tradition Partnership is committed to vigorously defending free speech rights.

So-called “Campaign Finance Reform” efforts are only one of a number of innocuous-sounding efforts (“greening” and “sustainability” being other examples) by the anti-capitalist Left to shut down public discourse of the issues of the day. If private individuals and employers are prevented from speaking about the policies what will affect them — anonymously or otherwise — there will only remain a few dominant sources of information about those efforts: Government itself and the dominant press.

Opponents of free speech rail against some vague “conflict of interest” (as if speaking out in one’s own interest isn’t the bedrock of this Republic), but never mention the conflict of interest that emanates as nearly every word from a politician’s mouth, or the laughable conflict presented by a newspaper promoting “campaign finance reform”, and in a form which invariably elevates its editorial staff as the only qualified source of information. We encourage you to review this dated, but well-researched and illustrative, report titled “Who’s Buying Campaign Finance Reform (http://www.westerntradition.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ACUcampaignfinancereform.pdf)?” Also see this October 29 commentary (http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/28/news/economy/campaign_finance_reform.fortune/) by senior editor of CNN Money Nina Easton: “The Absurdity of Campaign Finance Reform.”

WTP’s fight for your free speech rights continues

American Tradition Partnership has two perfect records it plans to hold on to: 1) The group has never been found in violation of any constitutional law — or to date, any UN-constitutional law for that matter; and 2) It has won every First Amendment case it has brought against heavy-handed governments who dare violate the people’s free speech rights. With yet another legal battle looming, again versus the State of Montana, WTP members are fighting for those who cannot afford to sue the government for redress.

WTP Prevails in State Court over Independent Expenditure Prohibition - Below, see the order out of Montana First Judicial District Court, where Judge Jeffrey Sherlock found merit in nearly every one of WTP’s arguments in our 1st Amendment case against the State of Montana – see first AP press story linked here (http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_0c6f60aa-daf4-11df-bee4-001cc4c002e0.html), and our response linked here (http://http//www.westerntradition.org/?p=1104).

Recently, the Wall Street Journal covered the case just prior to the decision, story linked here (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704127904575543920682786784.html), and covered the decision here (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560763601728580.html?mod=googlenews_wsj) today (10/18). Radical “green” politicians have had free rein to silence and intimidate employers who have blown the whistle on their job-killing agenda. This decision will balance free speech rights by allowing citizens to band together in order to pool resources and fight back against the one entity that the Left wishes no 1st Amendment restrictions upon: Government Bureaucrats and Government Officials.

==

http://americantradition.org/tag/h-r-2454/  cap and trade

Brian Schweitzer

Vladimir Putin, Russian cash join Schweitzer in attacking ATP’s free speech win (http://americantradition.org/vladimir-putin-russian-cash-join-schweitzer-in-attacking-atps-free-speech-win/)

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Donald Ferguson

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Attorney General Steve Bullock have found a powerful ally in their opposition to the Constitution’s “supremacy clause” and the First Amendment’s guarantees of the rights of free speech and free association.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin-funded, Putin-controlled “Russia Today” TV network has come out in opposition to American Tradition Partnership and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Monday ruling in ATP v. Bullock.

“RT” aired a segment Tuesday with defeated former Congressman Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) harshly criticizing the concept Americans can question their government without hiring and attorney and first seeking permission through the formation of a PAC or other body.

The network, dedicated to spreading pro-Russian propaganda in the United States, has firmly sided with Schweitzer and Bullock. While foreign corporations are prohibited from spending money in American elections and all corporate spending must be disclosed, Schweitzer and Bullock refuse to criticize Putin for spending foreign money on their behalf. (https://youtu.be/YahA77LHr6M)

So who do you stand with?  The First Amendment, or Brian Schweitzer and Vladimir Putin?

Schweitzer compares Ferguson to Castro (http://americantradition.org/schweitzer-compares-ferguson-to-castro/)

==

tracks ct wins: eg WTP wins Federal Suit Against Restrictive Campaign Finance Rules – In 2009, WTP also defended citizens’ free speech rightsin a Federal action against several radical environmentalists on the Longmont City Council. WTP demolished their free-speech killing “Incumbency Protection Act”, restoring Longmonters’ ability to criticize government officials without asking permission first. See link to Judge’s Order LongmontInjunction2009 (http://www.westerntradition.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/LongmontInjunction20091.pdf), and Longmont CaseStudy Ctrfold (http://www.westerntradition.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Longmont-CaseStudy-Ctrfold-.pdf). Shortly after the election, the City paid nearly all WTP legal fees in a settlement.  http://americantradition.org/free-speech/

==

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/big-sky-big-money/

"Big Sky, Big Money" a collaboration between

FRONTLINE and Marketplace, and produced in 

association with the Workshop, focuses on campaign spending in Montana, a state that is emblematic of 

the rise of money in politics that has played out around the country since the Supreme Court's 

ruling in the Citizens United case in 2010. The program aired nationwide Oct. 30 2012? on PBS. kai ryssdal 

schwartz husb, mark siebelron marlene (cand/incumb?)

comm of pol practices helena mont

d rehberg6 term pro pol free sp (control of 

senate) vs tester incumbent cd be 20 mil on neg ad

int re 501c4 (no disclose)  not a superpac (erika franklin fowler wesleyan univ  magic words fotnote

in scotus 70's #52 oct 75 eg hit on tester? slam 

on pay raise and suv, mention deficit cits for

stregnth and sec fund 501c4 issues advoc no ID

media purchase officers and addy DC  UPS PO 115

david parker mont state u track

am bridge dem pac mollineau opp res

jim bopp interv 20 min in right to life70's ; camp laws hampered right; 150 laws ~; avg person no care about src of $, truth does not change b/c of 

funder; dodge ability to know q; only left wing nut jobs care; 

late 1800 copper wm clark mansion chuck johnson 

reporter RR, bought US sen seat; env of $ had 

initials on it; 1st superpac; ryssdal sp

pothole drive lil john ward septic serv gop usn, 

vs mike miller bad cand, mail blitz high energy,

child molesters, certified to be true and acc, 

last 4 days primary, lost by 24 votes; went to 

scotus on CU; dennis unsworth pol commiss; 

coalition for energy, wtp, 501c4 4 yrs old "cold 

showers in the dark" "issue advocacy" addy in 

colo, denied , none of your biz

jim brown outside counsel1st amend princ ( c 

lefleur

nonprofit lawn kit? ad

friendly witness lendorf carloyn 2010, cty comm, 

gop; 31 min Helena ; livingston, bozeman, denver, 

longmont sp ; her guys on hit list 537,ooo $; corp 

unlimited and secret, no bureaucrat or rad envir 

will ever know" 33 min

some states reject magic words defense 

denis u attacked us, so challenge law, corrupt 

practices act

steve bullock st atty gen argued  MT scotus? MT 

took power back , not large interests MT ~ CU

justice james nelson skeptical, but upheld, beat

WTP

Trevor potter ex chair "direct role" = coordinated 

FERC 38 min

Bopp: $ is necess for pol /democ, lack of info; 

maj of ppl do not know who sen is; 

scotus 1 para, no hearing

steab julie 5 mos after invest over; mailled anon,

coord? wife letters pam butcher, ed 2008 sent just 

before miller and butcher have same handwriting, 

bse on questionnaire; cand q lewis and cl cty, 

miller v ward , how much time camp, no exper, 

miller no camera interv, ed butcher did work w. c 

lef; wesleyprouse [busted] sp, robo mail campaign; 

cand sigs faxed to wtp asked brown 48 min no 

comment

scotus said no evidence of a problem/cooperation

atp wa dc penn ave ups PO box, in 6 states plus

mt sen race most expensive in state hist

9 b est, most in states

==

The boxes landed in the office of Montana investigators in March 2011.

Found in a meth house in Colorado, they were somewhat of a mystery, holding files on 23 conservative candidates in state races in Montana. They were filled with candidate surveys and mailers that said they were paid for by campaigns, and fliers and bank records from outside spending groups. One folder was labeled “Montana $ Bomb.”

The documents pointed to one outside group pulling the candidates’ strings: a social welfare nonprofit called Western Tradition Partnership, or WTP.

Altogether, the records added up to possible illegal “coordination” between the nonprofit and candidates for office in 2008 and 2010, said a Montana investigator and a former Federal Election Commission chairman who reviewed the material. Outside groups are allowed to spend money on political campaigns, but not to coordinate with candidates.

“My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that WTP was running a lot of these campaigns,” said investigator Julie Steab of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, who initially received the boxes from Colorado.

The boxes were examined by Frontline and ProPublica as part of an investigation into the growing influence on elections of dark money groups (http://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofits-spend-millions-on-elections-and-call-it-public-welfare), tax-exempt organizations that can accept unlimited contributions and do not have to identify their donors. The documents offer a rare glimpse into the world of dark money, showing how Western Tradition Partnership appealed to donors, interacted with candidates and helped shape their election efforts.

Though WTP’s spending has been at the state level, it’s best-known nationally for bringing a lawsuit that successfully challenged Montana’s ban on corporate spending (http://www.scotusreport.com/2012/06/28/high-courts-radicals-hold-fast-on-citizens-united/) in elections, extending the provisions of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?pagewanted=all) to all states.

The tax code allows nonprofits like WTP to engage in some political activity, but they are supposed to have social welfare as their primary purpose. As reported previously by ProPublica and Frontline, when WTP applied for recognition of its tax-exempt status, it told the IRS (http://www.propublica.org/article/did-the-dark-money-group-that-spurred-a-landmark-ruling-mislead-the-irs) under penalty of perjury that it would not directly or indirectly attempt to influence elections — even though it already had.

The group is now locked in an ongoing dispute with Montana authorities, who ruled inOctober 2010 (http://politicalpractices.mt.gov/content/2recentdecisions/GraybillvWTPandCoalitionforEnergyandEnvironmentDecision) that the nonprofit should have registered as a political committee and should have to disclose its donors. WTP sued. A hearing is set for March.

In the meantime, the group has changed its name to American Tradition Partnership, reflecting its larger ambitions. This month, it sent Montana voters a mailer in the form of a newspapercalled the Montana Statesman (http://montanastatesman.com/) that claimed to be the state’s “largest & most trusted news source.”

The front page accused the Democratic gubernatorial candidate of being soft on sex offenders.

Donny Ferguson, American Tradition Partnership’s spokesman and executive director,did not specifically address the documents found in Colorado or allegations of coordination made against WTP.

“American Tradition Partnership always obeys every letter of every applicable law,” he wrote in an emailed response to questions. “ATP does not, and never will, endorse candidates or urge voters to vote for or against candidates. … These false allegations are old hat.”

On its website (http://americantradition.org/), the group says its primary purpose is issue advocacy and combating radical environmentalists, whom it sometimes calls “gang green.” It describes itself as a grassroots group backed by a broad membership of small donors.

When asked about the documents found in Colorado, Jim Brown, a lawyer for the group, said he was unfamiliar with them.

After being shown some of the documents by Frontline, Brown, in a follow up email, said his review indicated that they appeared to belong to a company called Direct Mail. Direct Mail and Communications is a print shop in Livingston, Mont., run by a one-time key player in WTP and his wife.

Brown urged Frontline to turn over the documents. “If the documents are purported to be what you say they are, then you may knowingly be in possession of stolen property,” Brown wrote.

The records are in the hands of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, which considers them public and reviewable upon request.

*

In the anything-goes world of modern campaign finance, outside groups face one major restriction: They are not allowed to coordinate with candidates. That’s because contributions to candidates and parties are still capped to limit donors’ direct influence, while contributions to outside groups are unlimited.

The Federal Election Commission has a three-pronged test (http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/indexp.shtml) for proving coordination: Did an outside group pay for ads, phone calls or mailers? Did these materials tell people to vote for or against a candidate, or praise or criticize a candidate in the weeks before an election? Finally, did the candidate, or a representative, agree to the expenditure?

Many concerns have been raised about coordination in this election (http://www.propublica.org/article/coordination-six-reasons-limits-on-super-pacs-are-barely-limits-at-all) because of close ties between outside groups and campaigns. Super PACs supporting President Barack Obama (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/12/wasserman-schultz-no-idea-about-political-affiliation-priorities-usa/)and Republican nominee Mitt Romney (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/05/news/la-pn-romney-fundraising-20110705) are run by their former staffers. Super PACs and campaigns have used the same consultants (http://www.propublica.org/article/campaign-spending-shows-political-ties-self-dealing#correction), who insist in interviews that they have firewalls.

Proving coordination is extremely difficult, however. Since 2007, the FEC has investigated 64 complaints of coordination, but found against candidates and groups only three times, fining them a total of $107,000, a review of FEC enforcement actions shows.

Montana, which has similar rules, also receives few complaints about such activity, Steab said.

The boxes from Colorado contained a mixture of documents from candidates and outside groups.

Folders labeled with the names of Montana candidates held drafts and final letters of support signed by candidates’ wives and drafts and final copies of mailers marked as being paid for by the campaigns. The folders often appeared to have had an accounting of what had been sent and paid for scrawled on the front.

Several folders included copies of the signatures of candidates and their wives. “Use this one,” someone wrote in red pen next to a cut-out rectangle on a page (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/457813-signaturesupload.html#document/p2/a79383) with five signatures from one candidate.

Steab, the Montana investigator, said she believed these cut-out signatures were then affixed to fliers from the candidates.

Besides material from the campaigns, the boxes also contained mailers on 2008 and 2010 races in Colorado and Montana from Western Tradition Partnership and six other groups. There were bank statements for several groups, including the Coalition for Energy and the Environment (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/441925-wtp-bank-statements.html), the Alliance of Montana Taxpayers (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/441926-wtp-bank-statements-0002.html) and the Conservative Victory Fund (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/441927-wtp-bank-statements-0004.html).

In all the documents, one name repeatedly popped up: Christian LeFer. Even though twoMontana Republican politicians (http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_72350f76-85ac-5d7d-917e-d769dd17d05a.html) founded WTP, investigators determined that LeFer was the man behind the scenes.

LeFer, who is described as WTP’s director of strategic programming in memos (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426608-03-09-wtp-scheduling-memo-by-christian-lefer.html) in 2009 (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426606-01-09-wtp-strategic-forcasting-memo-by-christian.html), said in an email (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/490801-christian-lefers-response-to-propublica) that the documents “appear to be stolen property” and that, as he’d had no access to them, he couldn’t respond to most of ProPublica’s questions, “which seem to be based on an erroneous and fanciful interpretation of what they mean.”

LeFer did not address whether WTP had coordinated with candidates. Although former employees and candidates said LeFer helped his wife run Direct Mail and Communications — the printing company that Brown, the lawyer, suggested was the owner of the boxes of documents found in Colorado — LeFer said he did not “run or direct the activities” there.

Direct Mail listed its principal office address (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426685-65.html) in Montana filings as being the same Colorado address (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426425-wtp-incorp-2008-co.html) WTP initially used.

Two outside groups with documents in the boxes — the Montana Committee to Protect the Unborn (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/457811-ctpu-bank-statements.html) and Montana Citizens for Right to Work (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/444589-wtp-bank-statements-0036.html) — listed their addresses on bank statements as the same post-office box (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/490744-direct-mail-usps-form.html) in Livingston used by LeFer and Direct Mail. LeFer was also the executive director of Montana Citizens for Right to Work (http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_cd4a059c-6eba-11df-aafa-001cc4c002e0.html), an anti-union group.

Former state Rep. Ed Butcher said LeFer and Western Tradition Partnership aided candidates with no experience.

“They’ll come in, if candidates want some help, they’ll come in and help them,” said Butcher, who described LeFer as “a Karl Rove type political strategist” who “stays in the background.”

Butcher’s file in the Colorado boxes was labeled “Butcher Primary ’08 mail samples.” (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/444646-butcher-primary.html) It included an email from LeFer to Butcher with a survey about unions. There was a campaign donation form, and drafts of fliers and a letter from Butcher’s campaign.

A “wife questionnaire” for Butcher’s wife Pam said she met her husband “on a blind date arranged by his buddy that neither of us wanted.” The questionnaire listed her children’s names and that she had been taking care of her disabled mother for five years.

A letter on pink paper from Pam Butcher (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/449198-butcher-wife-letter-0001.html) was in a file marked “wife letters.” The letter, which contained much of the information in the questionnaire, was marked as being paid for by Butcher’s campaign.

Butcher said his wife might have run her letter past LeFer. “He may have asked, ‘Do you need any help?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, I need to get this family letter out,’” said Butcher, who won the Republican primary in 2008 by 20 votes (http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/article_cfe1700b-b51b-5a0a-8715-9efab06c20be.html).

A folder for another successful candidate, Mike Miller (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/444641-miller-ward-survey.html), included a fax cover sheet from Miller to LeFer, forwarding Miller’s filled-out Montana candidate surveys for two outside groups, the National Gun Owners Alliance and the National League of Taxpayers. It also held a candidate survey asking Miller if he had any research about his opponent, including “any recent scandals.”

Miller confirmed to Frontline that LeFer was an unpaid adviser on his campaign, but would not elaborate further.

Trevor Potter, a former federal election commissioner who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group that advocates for more restrictions on money in politics, reviewed the documents found in the boxes.

“This is the sort of information that is, in fact, campaign strategy, campaign plans that candidates cannot share with an outside group without making it coordinated,” Potter said.

“You need to know more, but certainly if I were back in my FEC days as a commissioner, I would say we had grounds to proceed with an investigation and put people under oath and show them these documents, and ask where they came from and where they were.”

*

After the 2008 election, Montana started investigating whether WTP should have disclosed its donors.

The inquiry progressed slowly until 2010, when a former WTP contractor handed over internal fundraising records, saying she was worried about what the group was doing.

The documents showed that the group raised money specifically by telling people and corporations that they could give unlimited amounts in secret.

“The only thing we plan on reporting is our success to contributors like you who can see the benefits of a program like this,” said one document, a 2010 election briefing (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/485355-wtp-powerpoint-w-script.html) to read to potential donors. “You can just sit back on election night and see what a difference you’ve made.”

A target list (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426626-perspective-wtp-donor-list.html) of potential donors included an executive at a talc mine, the Montana representative of an internationalmining group and a Colorado executive for a global gold-mining company.

One note about a potential donor advised: “Married rich, hard to get a hold of. Have a beer with him.” Another said: “Owns big ranch, signed a hit piece I wrote on cty cmms’r last year (don’t mention), should give $$ $10,000 ask.”

Other notes suggested that solicitors “See Christian” or “Talk to Christian,” apparently references to LeFer.

The documents cited the group’s success in 2008, saying in a confidential grassroots membership development proposal (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426610-2009-wtp-confidential-overview.html#document/p4/a79132) that 28 Montana state legislators “rode into office in 100% support of WTP’s responsible development agenda.”

By 2010, the partnership was active in state races in Montana and Colorado.

That October, Montana authorities said Western Tradition Partnership had violated campaign-finance law and should be fined. They said the group’s purpose in 2008 was “not to discuss issues, but to directly influence candidate elections through surreptitious means.”

The Montana investigation (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426675-wtp-factsfindings-cpp-10-21-10.html) also said the evidence was overwhelming that WTP had established theCoalition for Energy and the Environment, known as CEE, as a “sham organization” to act as a front for expenditures actually made by WTP.

But the investigation also found that “sufficient evidence has not been disclosed to establish coordination between WTP/CEE and any candidate. Concern and healthy skepticism is warranted, however.”

That was before the boxes from Colorado turned up.

A convicted felon named Mark Seibel said he stumbled on them inside a known meth house near Denver at some point in late 2010.

It’s not clear how they got there. Seibel said a friend found them in a stolen car. After reading through some of the documents, he reached out to people he thought might be interested in them — primarily Colorado candidates attacked by Western Tradition Partnership. A lawyer married to one of the candidates shipped the boxes off to Montana investigators.

By that time, however, the Montana probe into the group’s activities in the 2008 election was over. Steab also said that there was no way to determine for certain where the documents were from and who owned them. There was no whistleblower, and no information about how the records ended up in Colorado.

Despite this, Steab said, she found the documents very telling.

“It looks to me that there was a lot of coordination—but I don’t know that it’s coordination that everyone is aware of in all cases,” she said. She said she spoke to one candidate who told her he was upset about all the negative mailers against his opponent.

This year, American Tradition Partnership is as active as ever. It’s suing to try to overturn contribution limits in Montana, so far unsuccessfully (http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Montana-Election-Dispute-175484281.html). The group sent out mailers attacking candidates before the June primary in Montana, reporting none of them to the state as political expenditures. It later put out a press release (http://americantradition.org/?p=2540) saying that 12 of the 14 candidates it backed had won.

For the general election, the group appears to be targeting Montana’s attorney general, Steve Bullock, the Democratic candidate for governor. As attorney general, Bullock fought the partnership’s lawsuits against the state, including the one that ended up in the Supreme Court.

The first issue of the partnership’s Montana Statesman newspaper, dated Oct. 7, which a group press release (http://americantradition.org/?p=2784) said was sent to 180,000 voters, featured four photographs on the front page (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/490262-front-page-of-montana-statesman.html):Three of registered sex offenders, and one of Bullock, accusing him of allowing one in four sex offenders to go unregistered. “Bullock admits failure,” the headline announced. A full-page ad accused Bullock of taking illegal corporate contributions and of “criminal hypocrisy.”

The Statesman’s editor and publisher is none other than Ferguson (http://montanastatesman.com/about-2/), the partnership’s executive director, described as an “award-winning newspaper veteran” who has been “commended by other newspapers for his ‘honest, intelligent and issue-oriented’ approach.”

Ferguson didn’t respond to a question about his journalism credentials.

“Conservative group American Tradition Partnership now one of nation’s biggest media outlets,” said a press release on the group’s website (http://montanastatesman.com/), adding that the newspaper would publish “several” editions through Election Day and into 2013.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/mysterious-docs-found-in-meth-house-reveal-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group/

==

A group of protesters rallied (http://www.kaj18.com/news/helena-protest-targets-american-tradition-partnership/#!prettyPhoto/0/) against American Tradition Partnership in Helena, Montana, on Wednesday, a day after the airing of Big Sky, Big Money (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/big-sky-big-money),an investigation by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Marketplace that uncovered potentially illegal collusion between the nonprofit group and political candidates.

ATP, in a statement (http://americantradition.org/?p=2830) on its website, said such claims were “false,” calling the film and related articles an “unsubstantiated, well-coordinated attack” on the group and its work.

Waving signs and chanting “ATP, go back to D.C.,” Wednesday’s protesters marched to the office of Jim Brown, ATP’s attorney, in the city of Helena, who greeted them with a tin of Halloween candy (https://twitter.com/BoyceDan/status/263716103564451840/photo/1).

Later that evening, someone broke into the Montana Commissioner on Political Practices (COPP) office, according to a report (http://helenair.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/political-practices-reports-apparent-break-in/article_9d91e38c-2444-11e2-88cf-001a4bcf887a.html) in the local Independent Record. Nothing appeared to have been stolen.

The commissioner has been holding documents from Colorado (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/mysterious-docs-found-in-meth-house-reveal-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group/) that raised questions about whether ATP had been involved in inappropriate coordination with a number of political candidates. Those documents were “in a secure location and are not missing” after the burglary, the paper said.

Christian LeFer, the director of strategy for Western Tradition Partnership, which later changed its name to ATP, told ProPublica (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/more-evidence-key-dark-money-group-may-have-misled-irs) that the documents belonged to him and his wife, Allison LeFer, and that the papers had been stolen from her car in Denver. LeFer said in astatement (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/492767-christian-lefers-response-re-found-documents) that he and his wife have “scrupulously endeavored to avoid any possibility of illegal coordination.” Lefer and his wife have filed suit (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/496706-lefer-lawsuit-against-copp.html) against COPP, asking the documents be returned.

http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/big-sky-big-money/story/documents-found-meth-house-bare-inner-workings-dar/

---

lefleur lawyer ltr https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/492818-murry-demand-letter-102912.html

to james w murry (sp) from quentin m rhoades  cc mit datsopoulus sp 1821 missoula mt a corp; explains movement of docs? confusing?

==

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/more-evidence-key-dark-money-group-may-have-misled-irs/

More Evidence Key Dark Money Group May Have Misled IRS

October 30, 2012, 7:57 pm ET by Kim Barker (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/author/kim-barker/) ProPublica and Rick Young and Emma Schwartz, FRONTLINE

New signs emerged Monday that a controversial nonprofit may have misled the Internal Revenue Service not only about its political activities but also about support from a purported donor.

Western Tradition Partnership, or WTP, sent the IRS a letter in 2008 (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/472258-western-tradition-partnership-2008.html#document/p42/a78453) asking the agency to expedite the group’s request for recognition of its tax-exempt status. The letter said that without it, the group’s principle donor, Jacob Jabs, would pull a planned grant of $300,000.

But Jabs, who runs Colorado’s largest furniture retailer, said on Monday he had never pledged money to the group, and never even been in contact with them until press stories appeared naming him.

“I think they just grabbed my name out of a hat to forward their agenda,” Jabs told us. “I know nothing about the group, never heard of them, never have heard of them until the last few days, and I did not, absolutely did not, commit $300,000 to start this company.” (Jabs also spoke with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, again denying any connection (http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/elections/2012/article_1a5c011c-2239-11e2-ab98-001a4bcf887a.html) to the group.)

Although operating at the state level, WTP has won national attention for its attempts to fight campaign-finance restrictions. It successfully sued to overturn Montana’s ban (http://www.scotusreport.com/2012/06/28/high-courts-radicals-hold-fast-on-citizens-united/) on corporate spending in elections, extending the provisions of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to all states. It has also sued Montana investigators over the state’s ruling two years ago (http://politicalpractices.mt.gov/content/2recentdecisions/GraybillvWTPandCoalitionforEnergyandEnvironmentDecision) that the group is a political committee and should have to report its donors.

Documents obtained by FRONTLINE (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/mysterious-docs-found-in-meth-house-reveal-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group/) on WTP offer a rare look into the inner workings of dark money groups, tax-exempt organizations that can accept unlimited contributions and do not have to disclose their donors for political ads. 

On Monday, we detailed how some of those documents (http://www.propublica.org/article/documents-found-in-meth-house-bare-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group) pointed to WTP actively shaping the campaigns of candidates for state office in Montana. The documents, found in a meth house near Denver by a convicted felon in late 2010, indicated possible coordination between candidates and outside groups. Outside groups and candidates are not allowed to coordinate.

Social welfare nonprofits like WTP are allowed to engage in some political activity, but IRS regulations say they must have social welfare as their primary purpose. ProPublica has extensively reported (http://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofits-spend-millions-on-elections-and-call-it-public-welfare) on how some of these nonprofits, known as 501(c)(4)’s after their section of the tax code, appear to exploit gaps in enforcement between the Internal Revenue Service and election authorities so they don’t have to disclose where they get their money.

As ProPublica and FRONTLINE have previously reported, when WTP applied (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/dark-money-group-central-to-citizens-united-may-have-misled-irs/) for recognition of its tax-exempt status, the group also told the IRS under penalty of perjury that it would not directly or indirectly attempt to influence elections. Yet even before its application, the group sponsored mailers that criticized politicians in the 2008 Republican primary.

The IRS approved WTP’s tax-exempt status three days after it received the group’s request for expedited review.

Jabs said he only first spoke with WTP earlier this month, after seeing reports that he was the primary donor. Jabs said he reached a WTP official, Athena Dalton, who signed the IRS letter citing him. According to Jabs, Dalton told him she was WTP’s secretary and had been instructed to send the letter by two other WTP officials, Christian LeFer and Dan Reed.

“I did talk to Christian LeFer,” Jabs said. “They basically admitted they used me to get their 501(c)(4) status.” Jabs said he also contacted Reed, who did not call him back.

In an email responding to a ProPublica question about Jabs, LeFer wrote: “Your facts are wrong, I ‘admitted’ no such thing; that doesn’t even sound plausible. Further, what significance this issue might hold escapes me. I don’t discuss donors, and I can see that your story line does not need my help.”

Reed did not respond to a phone call.

On Monday, LeFer also confirmed the documents found in a meth house were stolen from his wife’s car and belonged to him and his wife, Allison. The documents included material from outside groups (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/457811-ctpu-bank-statements.html) and candidates (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/444646-butcher-primary.html), and communications between LeFer and candidates. There were surveys of candidates (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/444641-miller-ward-survey.html) by outside groups and drafts and final copies of mailers marked as being paid for by the campaigns.

LeFer, described as WTP’s director of strategic programming in memos (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426608-03-09-wtp-scheduling-memo-by-christian-lefer.html) in 2009 (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/426606-01-09-wtp-strategic-forcasting-memo-by-christian.html), said in an email that the boxes of documents were stolen in Colorado in June 2010.

“These stolen documents appear to be a mix of those from my consulting and volunteer work and from my wife’s independently owned and operated mail and printing shop,” wrote LeFer, whose wife runs a company called Direct Mail and Communications in Livingston, Mont. “Both my wife and I have scrupulously endeavored to avoid any possibility of illegal coordination.

“The stolen documents, which were in the process of being transferred to storage when the theft occurred, have been mingled to infer that the work of two separate people is in fact the work of one person and therefore improper. This is false.” (Here is LeFer’s full response (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/492767-christian-lefers-response-re-found-documents).)

Candidates have confirmed (http://www.propublica.org/article/documents-found-in-meth-house-bare-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group) that LeFer worked with Direct Mail. They have also said LeFer was an adviser on their campaigns.

There is also other evidence LeFer worked with the firm.

On Tuesday, a woman named Elizabeth Sheron said that when she briefly worked for Direct Mail in 2010, LeFer welcomed her to the company. She provided us a check from Direct Mail and an email from LeFer in which he asked her to elaborate on her abilities and experience. LeFer also wrote that he hoped to increase the membership of one of his social welfare nonprofits to 250,000 people in two years.

Sheron said she did work for Direct Mail, WTP and other related groups. “They kind of had you involved with every project … no matter who was paying you,” she said. “I was paid by Direct Mail but I was doing stuff for other groups.” Sheron worked there only briefly before quitting.

In an email, LeFer said he didn’t think it was useful to try to recall “snippets of information from years back.” He said if reporters sent “the entire file of materials you have and you want to discuss at a later time, please do so.”

The documents from the meth house eventually landed in the office of Montana investigators, who couldn’t do much with them because they couldn’t definitively prove they were real, or how they ended up in a meth house.

On Monday, a lawyer for LeFer confirmed them by sending a letter (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/492818-murry-demand-letter-102912.html) to Montana authorities explaining that the car was stolen from a homeschooling conference in Denver. The lawyer said the documents were stolen property and “evidence regarding the criminal investigation of the car theft in Colorado.” The lawyer also said the documents contained sensitive information, and demanded that the documents be turned over to LeFer.

Montana investigators have sealed access to the documents, saying that now that someone has asserted ownership, they are unable to further discuss or release them until a court rules on the matter.

Western Tradition Partnership is now known as American Tradition Partnership. So far this election season, the group has advocated for candidates in Montana’s Republican primary, putting out a press release announcing that 12 of those candidates won. It also has launched a newspaper called the Montana Statesman, which claims to be the state’s “largest & most trusted news source,” to be the state’s “only non-partisan newspaper” and to have been founded in 1889.

A second edition (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/491668-latest-mt-statesman.html) of the purported newspaper was mailed to voters in Montana last week. Like the first edition, the 12-page paper contains many articles attacking Steve Bullock, the Democratic candidate for governor who as attorney general fought the partnership’s lawsuits against the state. One on the front page accused him of being soft on child molesters.

Other stories attacked the state auditor, a Supreme Court candidate and the secretary of state.

On its website, the group describes itself as a “no-compromise grassroots organization dedicated to fighting the radical environmentalist agenda.”

In a statement responding to the story Monday by ProPublica and FRONTLINE, American Tradition Partnership, or ATP, said it had not coordinated with candidates. “I have never met or spoken to virtually all the candidates on the ballot,” wrote Donny Ferguson, the executive director of the partnership and the editor of the Montana Statesman, on the Statesmanwebsite (http://montanastatesman.com/atp-issues-statement-on-pbs-claims/).

Ferguson also said the law was always on the group’s side, and that the nonprofit had always obeyed every applicable law. He denied that the group told people how to vote. “ATP does not, and never will, tell voters which candidates to vote for,” he wrote. “ATP speaks on the issues, informing voters where candidates stand and of their public records.”

The IRS defines political advertising much more broadly than election authorities, asking whether social welfare nonprofits directly – or indirectly — engaged in campaign activities.

==

lost bit?

---

Other ATP financial backers include:

TEA Party billionaire Ray Thompson, of Kalispell ($10,000)

John Sinrud, of Bozeman

Intermountain Rural Electric Association ($25,000)

Former TEA Party Legislator Tom Burnett (R-Bozeman)

Montana and Wyoming Oil Company

Flathead Timber, of Whitefish

Dan O’Neil Construction, of Billings

Soby Construction, of Bozeman

Raemaeker Insurance, of Choteau

Livingston developerPeter Mackenzie (various checks, thousands)

T. BairdConstruction,Big Timber

developer Gateway Village LLC, Bozeman

Jason Theilman, Steve Daines campaign manager

GOP Senator Bruce Tutvedt (R-Kalispell)

Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill (Apple Gilroy Inc.)

Big Timber TEA Partier Bob Faw

AAON Inc.($20 k)

K12 Management Inc. Catholic religious private school corporation, Washington D.C. ($20k)

Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce PAC

Taxpayers for Liberty, Andrew J. O’Neill ($4k)

TEA Party Rep. Dan Kennedy (R-Laurel), Campaign account

Colorado Mine Association ($25k)

–and many others.

I haven’t had time to go through all the documents, but Cowgirl readers can do so here. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/check-em-out-donations-to-dark-money-group-revealed/)  It should be most interesting to see what people find. This information is from the 2010 cycle only, not 2012.

---

cowgirl

---

47. Following an interview with Christian LeFer (see Facts 21 and 23), Karolin Loendorf

was offered a job with WTP and began working there on January 7, 2009. Loendorf

stated she understood her responsibilities would include getting individuals elected to

public office.Loendorf resigned from WTP on February 15, 2009, based on what she

described as “underhanded things” going on at WTP.

48. According to Loendorf, some presently serving Montana legislators are affiliated with

WTP. Loendorf contends that if the legislators fail to support WTP‟s favored

legislation, WTP will attempt to replace them in the next election.

49. Loendorf contends that WTP has formed several 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) affiliated

organizations, as well as a political action committee (PAC). According to Loendorf, if

donors were uncomfortable contributing money to a PAC, they could donate to the

affiliated nonprofit organizations while keeping their contributions confidential.

50. Loendorf provided a copy of the “WTP 2010 Election Year Program Executive

Briefing,” designed as a PowerPoint presentation, which appears to be targeted to

Montana donors (hereinafter “Montana presentation”). Loendorf also provided a copy

of a second PowerPoint presentation entitled “WTP 2010 Election Year Program U.S.

House and Senate” (hereinafter “Federal presentation”). According to Loendorf, both

PowerPoint presentations were intended to be presented by WTP in “private executive

briefings” made to potential donors.

51. The Montana presentation lists 2008 “target states,” Montana and Colorado, and lists

“targeted primary races” in Montana. One page of the Montana presentation is entitled

“2008 Election Results” and lists the following claims for 2008 Montana elections:

...

68.Conservative Victory Fundis one of six committees in 2008 that submitted financial

disclosure forms that contained altered certification language – certification omitting

the words “and correct” from the oath or affirmation statement required by § 13-37-

231, MCA. (See, also, Fact 39.) The reports, for Sportsmen‟s Rights PAC, Mothers Against 

Child Predators, Alliance of Montana Taxpayers, Conservative Victory Fund, Right to 

Work PAC, and Committee to Protect the Unborn were each prepared for Christian 

....Because WTP is a corporation (Fact 10), it is necessary to discuss Montana‟s laws

regulating corporate campaign spending, as well as federal case law ruling on constitutional

issues pertaining to corporate expenditures.

Montana‟s administrative rules do not define the phrase “expressly advocating,” thus, it

is appropriate to look to federal case law to ensure that enforcement of Montana‟s law is

consistent with constitutional principles. The following discussion is also necessary based on

the nature of corporate expenditures as interpreted by the courts.

Courts have held that corporate expenditures not coordinated with a candidate

(independent expenditures) can be prohibited if the political message expressly advocates the

election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. (FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, 479 U.S. 238,

249 (1986))

§ 13-35-227, MCA

WTP is a corporation. Prior to discussing the express advocacy standard, it is necessary 

to briefly address Montana‟s longstanding restrictions on corporate political spending. For 

purposes of this discussion, § 13-35-227(1), MCA, provides that a corporation may not make a 

contribution or expenditure in connection with a candidate, a political committee that 

supports or opposes a candidate, or a political party.Earlier this year WTP and two other

incorporated entities filed a lawsuit in state court against the Attorney General and the

Commissioner of Political Practices, contending that the statute‟s prohibition of independent

corporate expenditures is unconstitutional. In a decision issued on October 18, 2010, Judge 

Jeffrey Sherlock, relying on the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Citizens 

United v. FEC, 130 S. Ct. 876 (2010), declared that the statute as it pertains to independent 

corporate expenditures is unconstitutional and unenforceable based on the First 

Amendment to the United States Constitution. Judge Sherlock‟s Order permanently enjoins 

the defendants from enforcing the independent expenditure prohibition in § 13-35-227(1), 

....

CONCLUSION

Based on the preceding Summary of Facts and Statement of Findings there is 

substantial evidence to conclude that Western Tradition Partnership and the Coalition for

Energy and the Environment violated Montana campaign financial reporting and disclosure

laws, and that a civil penalty action under § 13-37-128, MCA is warranted. 

DATED this 21st day of October 2010.

---

Dennis Unsworth

Commissioner of Political Practices

---

Marlenee, Sinrud form group to stop ‘radical environmentalists

EMAN — American Tradition Partnership Executive Director Donald Ferguson released the following statement Monday morning regarding bizarre and false claims made by PBS:

With days to go until Montanans vote, the activist group ProPublica has decided to release a misleading, sensationalist story built around personal property stolen from a car and delivered by a meth user to ATP’s political opponents.  The story falsely links ATP to individual activities the organization has no connection to.

ATP always has, and always will, obey every applicable law.  As has been the case with every legal issue we have brought forward, this will be decided in ATP’s favor for one simple reason – the law is always on our side.  In fact, ATP just won another court case this morning against the Commission on Political Practices for that exact reason.

ATP does not, and never will, tell voters which candidate to vote for.  ATP speaks on the issues, informing voters where candidates stand and of their public records.

Additionally, no candidate has any say or control over what ATP publishes.  I have never met or spoken to virtually all the candidates on the ballot.  Other than sending them a candidate questionnaire I have never communicated most of them.  The story itself admits there is no proof of coordination, and there is no coordination.

Additionally, I seriously doubt stolen property acquired by a meth user and spread around by political activists are true, accurate, unaltered and complete documents.  Earlier this year another liberal group stole documents from another free market environmental organization, the Heartland Institute, and proceeded to engage i forgery and fraud for the purposes of smearing conservatives for political gain (http://spectator.org/blog/2012/02/17/theft-and-apparent-forgery-of).

In the past Frontline has broken into computer databases for a story on tuna fishing and relied on the word of a convicted felon fired from an Atlanta dentistry clinic to smear private dentistry, without informing viewers.  ATP, on the other hand, has always obeyed every letter of every applicable law and eventually won every court case it has ever brought.

I would suggest the media tread carefully before publishing politically-timed stories built on stolen and possibly forged documents that are unrelated to ATP and distributed by a meth user, politicians and a program with a history of unethical and illegal practices.

==

American Tradition Partnership Responds to Frontline Story’s False Claims of Campaign Finance Violations

Coordinated smear campaign by political opponents revealed

October 30, 2012 –American Tradition Partnership (ATP) responded late Tuesday evening to the false claims of improper political activity alleged in this evening’s broadcast of “Big Sky, Big Money” on PBS’s Frontline.

“This is simply the latest unsubstantiated, well-coordinated attack on American Tradition Partnership, brought on by opponents of the work we do to educate grassroots citizens about important issues related to the environment, energy, and economic growth,” said Donald Ferguson, Executive Director of ATP. “Aside from wild conspiracy theories and willful misreadings of applicable campaign finance and nonprofit laws, tonight’s Frontline story simply revealed what most Montanans and Americans already knew: that radical anti-growth environmentalists aren’t the only ones who are free to organize, raise money, and communicate with the public on important policy topics.”

The Frontline story, as well as coordinated articles appearing online at the web sites of leftist groups ProPublica and the Center for Public Integrity, relies heavily on stolen documents of dubious validity. The documents purported to come from ATP apparently made their way from a stolen car to a ‘meth house’ in Denver, into the hands of Colorado Democratic Party operatives, and from there to the Montana Commission on Political Practices (COPP). ATP has not been allowed to see the documents to assess their authenticity, but has been able to confirm that some of the documents are not ATP-related but instead are connected with other clients of an ATP consultant [lefleur] or an independent  mailshop owned by the same consultant’s wife.

“It would be very interesting to know just how several media outlets were able to view stolen documents in the custody of the Montana Commission on Political Practices but no attempt was made to return them to their owners,” said Ferguson. “This looks to be just another example of corruption at the Commission and by the political establishment, who are enraged that the public are being told the truth.”

The head of Montana’s COPP is a direct appointee of the governor, unique among all states. The past three Commissioners have all been political allies of the current governor, including his campaign attorney and treasurer. One of the three was forced to resign this summer after engaging in illegal activities as Commissioner. [verify?] Current Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Steve Bullock has been repeatedly embarrassed in recent months by numerous losses to ATP and other citizens and groups as Montana’s unconstitutional campaign finance laws have been successfully challenged.

“Our success in challenging radical environmentalists and the grossly unconstitutional campaign finance system they and their allies rely on to stifle debate [omfg] has won us some very powerful enemies,” Ferguson said. “While we’d prefer to see recognition for our hard work come in some form other than baseless smears and hysterical innuendo on national television, we’re proud of our efforts to educate grassroots citizens.”

Earlier today a judge blocked further release of the stolen documents. ATP has also notified state and federal law enforcement authorities about the illegal transfer and possession of stolen goods that was apparently undertaken by Democratic Party officials as well as the staff of Frontline, ProPublica, and the Center for Public Integrity.

http://americantradition.org/atp-responds-to-frontlines-false-claims/

==

href="http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/big-sky-big-money/story/montana-court-rules-dark-money-group-violated-stat/" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 90, 132); text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Montana court rules 'dark money' group violated state law<"http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/big-sky-big-money/story/citizens-united-decision-boosts-union-canvassers/" s

Documents found in meth house bare inner workings of 'dark money' (http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/big-sky-big-money/story/documents-found-meth-house-bare-inner-workings-dar/)

BY RICK YOUNG (http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/people/contributors/rick-young/), EMMA SCHWARTZ (http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/people/contributors/emma-schwartz/), KIM BARKER (http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/people/contributors/kim-barker/)

Monday, October 29th, 2012 ShareThis

This story was produced by Pro Publica and FRONTLINE and is another in a series of stories about campaign finance and this year's election.

The documentary, "Big Sky, Big Money," a special collaboration between FRONTLINE and Marketplace, produced in association with the Investigative Reporting Workshop, airs Oct. 30 on PBS. Check local listings (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/local-schedule/).

The boxes landed in the office of Montana investigators in March 2011.

Found in a meth house in Colorado, they were somewhat of a mystery, holding files on 23 conservative candidates in state races in Montana. They were filled with candidate surveys and mailers that said they were paid for by campaigns, and fliers and bank records from outside spending groups. One folder was labeled “Montana $ Bomb.”

The documents pointed to one outside group pulling the candidates’ strings: a social welfare nonprofit called Western Tradition Partnership, or WTP.

Altogether, the records added up to possible illegal “coordination” between the nonprofit and candidates for office in 2008 and 2010, said a Montana investigator and a former Federal Election Commission chairman who reviewed the material. Outside groups are allowed to spend money on political campaigns, but not to coordinate with candidates.

“My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that WTP was running a lot of these campaigns,” said investigator Julie Steab of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, who initially received the boxes from Colorado.

The boxes were examined by Frontline and ProPublica as part of an investigation into the growing influence on elections ofdark money groups (http://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofits-spend-millions-on-elections-and-call-it-public-welfare), tax-exempt organizations that can accept unlimited contributions and do not have to identify their donors. The documents offer a rare glimpse into the world of dark money, showing how Western Tradition Partnership appealed to donors, interacted with candidates and helped shape their election efforts.

Though WTP’s spending has been at the state level, it’s best-known nationally for bringing a lawsuit that successfully challengedMontana’s ban on corporate spending (http://www.scotusreport.com/2012/06/28/high-courts-radicals-hold-fast-on-citizens-united/) in elections, extending the provisions of the U.S. Supreme Court’slandmark Citizens United decision (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html?pagewanted=all) to all states.

The tax code allows nonprofits like WTP to engage in some political activity, but they are supposed to have social welfare as their primary purpose. As reported previously by ProPublica and Frontline, when WTP applied for recognition of its tax-exempt status, it told the IRS (http://www.propublica.org/article/did-the-dark-money-group-that-spurred-a-landmark-ruling-mislead-the-irs) under penalty of perjury that it would not directly or indirectly attempt to influence elections — even though it already had.

The group is now locked in an ongoing dispute with Montana authorities, who ruled in October 2010 (http://politicalpractices.mt.gov/content/2recentdecisions/GraybillvWTPandCoalitionforEnergyandEnvironmentDecision) that the nonprofit should have registered as a political committee and should have to disclose its donors. WTP sued. A hearing is set for March.

In the meantime, the group has changed its name to American Tradition Partnership, reflecting its larger ambitions. This month, it sent Montana voters a mailer in the form of a newspaper called the Montana Statesman (http://montanastatesman.com/) that claimed to be the state’s “largest & most trusted news source.”

The front page accused the Democratic gubernatorial candidate of being soft on sex offenders.

Donny Ferguson, American Tradition Partnership’s spokesman and executive director, did not specifically address the documents found in Colorado or allegations of coordination made against WTP.

“American Tradition Partnership always obeys every letter of every applicable law,” he wrote in an emailed response to questions. “ATP does not, and never will, endorse candidates or urge voters to vote for or against candidates. … These false allegations are old hat.”

On its website (http://americantradition.org/), the group says its primary purpose is issue advocacy and combating radical environmentalists, whom it sometimes calls “gang green.” It describes itself as a grassroots group backed by a broad membership of small donors.

When asked about the documents found in Colorado, Jim Brown, a lawyer for the group, said he was unfamiliar with them.

After being shown some of the documents by Frontline, Brown, in a follow up email, said his review indicated that they appeared to belong to a company called Direct Mail. Direct Mail and Communications is a print shop in Livingston, Mont., run by a one-time key player in WTP and his wife.

Brown urged Frontline to turn over the documents. “If the documents are purported to be what you say they are, then you may knowingly be in possession of stolen property,” Brown wrote.

The records are in the hands of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, which considers them public and reviewable upon request.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS: NO COORDINATION

In the anything-goes world of modern campaign finance, outside groups face one major restriction: They are not allowed to coordinate with candidates. That’s because contributions to candidates and parties are still capped to limit donors’ direct influence, while contributions to outside groups are unlimited.

The Federal Election Commission has athree-pronged test (http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/indexp.shtml) for proving coordination: Did an outside group pay for ads, phone calls or mailers? Did these materials tell people to vote for or against a candidate, or praise or criticize a candidate in the weeks before an election? Finally, did the candidate, or a representative, agree to the expenditure?

Many concerns have been raised about coordination in this election (http://www.propublica.org/article/coordination-six-reasons-limits-on-super-pacs-are-barely-limits-at-all) because of close ties between outside groups and campaigns. Super PACs supporting President Barack Obama (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/12/wasserman-schultz-no-idea-about-political-affiliation-priorities-usa/) and Republican nominee Mitt Romney (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/05/news/la-pn-romney-fundraising-20110705) are run by their former staffers. Super PACs and campaigns have used the same consultants (http://www.propublica.org/article/campaign-spending-shows-political-ties-self-dealing#correction), who insist in interviews that they have firewalls.

Proving coordination is extremely difficult, however. Since 2007, the FEC has investigated 64 complaints of coordination, but found against candidates and groups only three times, fining them a total of $107,000, a review of FEC enforcement actions shows.

Montana, which has similar rules, also receives few complaints about such activity, Steab said.

The boxes from Colorado contained a mixture of documents from candidates and outside groups.

Folders labeled with the names of Montana candidates held drafts and final letters of support signed by candidates’ wives and drafts and final copies of mailers marked as being paid for by the campaigns. The folders often appeared to have had an accounting of what had been sent and paid for scrawled on the front.

Several folders included copies of the signatures of candidates and their wives. “Use this one,” someone wrote in red pen next to a cut-out rectangle on a page with five signatures from one candidate.

Steab, the Montana investigator, said she believed these cut-out signatures were then affixed to fliers from the candidates.

Besides material from the campaigns, the boxes also contained mailers on 2008 and 2010 races in Colorado and Montana from Western Tradition Partnership and six other groups. There were bank statements for several groups, including the Coalition for Energy and the Environment, the Alliance of Montana Taxpayers and the Conservative Victory Fund.

In all the documents, one name repeatedly popped up: Christian LeFer. Even though two Montana Republican politicians (http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_72350f76-85ac-5d7d-917e-d769dd17d05a.html)founded WTP, investigators determined that LeFer was the man behind the scenes.

LeFer, who is described as WTP’s director of strategic programming in memos in 2009, said in an email (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/490801-christian-lefers-response-to-propublica) that the documents "appear to be stolen property" and that, as he’d had no access to them, he couldn't respond to most of ProPublica’s questions, "which seem to be based on an erroneous and fanciful interpretation of what they mean."

LeFer did not address whether WTP had coordinated with candidates. Although former employees and candidates said LeFer helped his wife run Direct Mail and Communications — the printing company that Brown, the lawyer, suggested was the owner of the boxes of documents found in Colorado — LeFer said he did not "run or direct the activities" there.

Direct Mail listed its principal office address in Montana filings as being the same Colorado address WTP initially used.

Two outside groups with documents in the boxes — the Montana Committee to Protect the Unborn and Montana Citizens for Right to Work — listed their addresses on bank statements as the same post-office box in Livingston used by LeFer and Direct Mail. LeFer was also the executive director of Montana Citizens for Right to Work, an anti-union group.

Former state Rep. Ed Butcher said LeFer and Western Tradition Partnership aided candidates with no experience.

“They’ll come in, if candidates want some help, they’ll come in and help them,” said Butcher, who described LeFer as “a Karl Rove type political strategist” who “stays in the background.”

Butcher’s file in the Colorado boxes was labeled “Butcher Primary ’08 mail samples.” It included an email from LeFer to Butcher with a survey about unions. There was a campaign donation form, and drafts of fliers and a letter from Butcher’s campaign.

A “wife questionnaire” for Butcher’s wife, Pam, said she met her husband “on a blind date arranged by his buddy that neither of us wanted.” The questionnaire listed her children’s names and that she had been taking care of her disabled mother for five years.

A letter on pink paper from Pam Butcher was in a file marked “wife letters.” The letter, which contained much of the information in the questionnaire, was marked as being paid for by Butcher’s campaign.

Butcher said his wife might have run her letter past LeFer. “He may have asked, ‘Do you need any help?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, I need to get this family letter out,’ ” said Butcher, who won the Republican primary in 2008 by 20 votes.

A folder for another successful candidate, Mike Miller, included a fax cover sheet from Miller to LeFer, forwarding Miller’s filled-out Montana candidate surveys for two outside groups, the National Gun Owners Alliance and the National League of Taxpayers. It also held a candidate survey asking Miller if he had any research about his opponent, including “any recent scandals.”

Miller confirmed to Frontline that LeFer was an unpaid adviser on his campaign, but would not elaborate further. Trevor Potter, a former federal election commissioner who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group that advocates for more restrictions on money in politics, reviewed the documents found in the boxes. “This is the sort of information that is, in fact, campaign strategy, campaign plans that candidates cannot share with an outside group without making it coordinated,” Potter said.

“You need to know more, but certainly if I were back in my FEC days as a commissioner, I would say we had grounds to proceed with an investigation and put people under oath and show them these documents, and ask where they came from and where they were.”

DONORS DID NOT HAVE TO BE IDENTIFIED

After the 2008 election, Montana started investigating whether WTP should have disclosed its donors.

The inquiry progressed slowly until 2010, when a former WTP contractor handed over internal fundraising records, saying she was worried about what the group was doing.

The documents showed that the group raised money specifically by telling people and corporations that they could give unlimited amounts in secret.

“The only thing we plan on reporting is our success to contributors like you who can see the benefits of a program like this,” said one document, a 2010 election briefing to read to potential donors. “You can just sit back on election night and see what a difference you’ve made.”

A target list of potential donors included an executive at a talc mine, the Montana representative of an international mining group and a Colorado executive for a global gold-mining company.

One note about a potential donor advised: “Married rich, hard to get a hold of. Have a beer with him.” Another said: “Owns big ranch, signed a hit piece I wrote on cty cmms’r last year (don’t mention), should give $$ $10,000 ask.”

Other notes suggested that solicitors “See Christian” or “Talk to Christian,” apparently references to LeFer.

The documents cited the group’s success in 2008, saying in a confidential grassroots membership development proposal that 28 Montana state legislators “rode into office in 100% support of WTP’s responsible development agenda.”

By 2010, the partnership was active in state races in Montana and Colorado.

That October, Montana authorities said Western Tradition Partnership had violated campaign-finance law and should be fined. They said the group’s purpose in 2008 was “not to discuss issues, but to directly influence candidate elections through surreptitious means.”

The Montana investigation also said the evidence was overwhelming that WTP had established the Coalition for Energy and the Environment, known as CEE, as a “sham organization” to act as a front for expenditures actually made by WTP.

But the investigation also found that “sufficient evidence has not been disclosed to establish coordination between WTP/CEE and any candidate. Concern and healthy skepticism is warranted, however.”

That was before the boxes from Colorado turned up.

A convicted felon named Mark Seibel said he stumbled on them inside a known meth house near Denver at some point in late 2010.

It’s not clear how they got there. Seibel said a friend found them in a stolen car. After reading through some of the documents, he reached out to people he thought might be interested in them — primarily Colorado candidates attacked by Western Tradition Partnership. A lawyer married to one of the candidates shipped the boxes off to Montana investigators.

By that time, however, the Montana probe into the group’s activities in the 2008 election was over. Steab also said that there was no way to determine for certain where the documents were from and who owned them. There was no whistleblower, and no information about how the records ended up in Colorado.

Despite this, Steab said, she found the documents very telling.

“It looks to me that there was a lot of coordination — but I don’t know that it’s coordination that everyone is aware of in all cases,” she said. She said she spoke to one candidate who told her he was upset about all the negative mailers against his opponent.

This year, American Tradition Partnership is as active as ever. It’s suing to try to overturn contribution limits in Montana, so far unsuccessfully (http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Montana-Election-Dispute-175484281.html). The group sent out mailers attacking candidates before the June primary in Montana, reporting none of them to the state as political expenditures. It later put out a press release (http://americantradition.org/?p=2540) saying that 12 of the 14 candidates it backed had won.

For the general election, the group appears to be targeting Montana’s attorney general, Steve Bullock, the Democratic candidate for governor. As attorney general, Bullock fought the partnership’s lawsuits against the state, including the one that ended up in the Supreme Court.

The first issue of the partnership’s Montana Statesman newspaper, dated Oct. 7, which a group press release said was sent to 180,000 voters, featured four photographs on the front page (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/490262-front-page-of-montana-statesman.html): Three of registered sex offenders, and one of Bullock, accusing him of allowing one in four sex offenders to go unregistered. “Bullock admits failure,” the headline announced. A full-page ad accused Bullock of taking illegal corporate contributions and of “criminal hypocrisy.”

The Statesman’s editor and publisher is none other than Ferguson (http://montanastatesman.com/about-2/), the partnership’s executive director, described as an “award-winning newspaper veteran” who has been “commended by other newspapers for his ‘honest, intelligent and issue-oriented’ approach.”

Ferguson didn’t respond to a question about his journalism credentials.

“Conservative group American Tradition Partnership now one of nation’s biggest media outlets,” said a press release on the group’s website (http://montanastatesman.com/), adding that the newspaper would publish “several” editions through Election Day and into 2013.

==

About the author

Kim Barker (http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/people/contributors/kim-barker/)

Emma Schwartz (http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/people/contributors/emma-schwartz/)

Emma Schwartz is an associate producer with PBS Frontline. Most recently she worked for the Center for Public Integrity where she produced short online documentaries for projects such as "Poisoned Places" and "Military Children Left Behind".

Schwartz has been a reporter in the investigative unit of ABC news and wrote about legal affairs for U.S. News & World Report. Before that she was at Legal Times, covering topics from the U.S. attorney scandal to the trial of Scooter Libby. Her writing and photography has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and National Geographic Traveler, among other publications. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

Rick Young (http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/people/contributors/rick-young/)

==

David Schnare heads the Environmental Law Center at the ATI, which since its inception in 2009 has sued the employers and former employers of a number of climate scientists, including Mann and James Hansen, the outspoken head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The ATI wants the researchers’ correspondence and research records. “We are not a venal organization,” Schnare says. “Our law center seeks to defend good science and proper governmental behavior and to expose the converse. Citizens have the right to know how government money is spent. Scientists who feel they shouldn’t have to respond to these requests shouldn’t be working in a government institution, because this is the price of entering.”

==

Climate Scientist Wins A Round for America

Posted: 11/01/11

A hearing today has implications for academic freedom across the country. A Virginia judge granted climate scientist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_E._Mann#Awards) Michael Mann the right to intervene on his own behalf in a lawsuit filed by a climate change denial group seeking to get his private papers and emails from the University of Virginia. While this is an important victory for American-style freedom and privacy, its background is a story of just the opposite - attempts at authoritarian repression of science for political purposes.

In 2010 newly-elected Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a climate change denier, sued the University of Virginia (http://www.readthehook.com/67811/oh-mann-cuccinelli-targets-uva-papers-climategate-salvo) to get Mann's private papers. Cuccinelli wanted to sift through them in the wake of "climategate" to see if he could find anything he could spin into a case under the state's Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, arguing that while an employee of UVA, Mann's work on climate change may have used public money to perpetrate a fraud.

Mann has become a political target because he helped create the "hockey stick" graph, which shows global temperatures stable for a thousands of years and spiking since about 1950. It has the iconic power of e=mc2, and discrediting him has become the holy grail of climate change deniers.

This is why Mann was at the center of the climategate attacks in late in 2009. Climate deniers illegally hacked into scientists' emails and claimed they showed scientists, including Mann, manipulating data. Their charges were investigated by four separate bodies (http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/global_warming_contrarians/debunking-misinformation-stolen-emails-climategate.html), each one reaffirming the soundness of the science, and exonerating the scientists. In other words, climategate was over -- nothing, it turned out. Instead of data, it was the press that had been manipulated.

Rightly, the University of Virginia, which was founded by scientist Thomas Jefferson, rejected Cuccinelli's McCarthyite attack. Cuccinelli sued and lost. The case in under appeal.

But it didn't end there. Next, a little-known group named Western Tradition Partnership (WTP) got into the act. WTP is a political advocacy group backed (http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/who-benefited-from-outside-influence/) primarily by the energy industry. It was first registered as a Colorado nonprofit in 2008 by Scott Shires, a Republican operative who pleaded guilty that same year to fraudulently obtaining (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/jury_returns_conviction_in_cas_1.php) federal grants to develop alternative fuels.

In 2010 WTP changed its name (http://www.americantradition.org/?page_id=1340) to American Tradition Partnership (ATP), and announced that it had launched the American Tradition Institute, a think tank that would be "battling radical environmentalist junk science head on." The "junk science" ATP seems most concerned with is what the US National Academy of Sciences says should now be regarded as "settled facts (http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12782&page=22)" - that the Earth is warming and humans are the likely cause.

Last year WTP/ATP fought for a Colorado referendum allowing voters to opt out of the state's renewable energy standard (http://www.dora.state.co.us/puc/rulemaking/RenewableEnergyStandard.htm). The standard requires 30 percent of electricity produced by investor-owned utilities to come from renewables by 2030. The referendum's backers missed the filing deadline (http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Colorado_Renewable_Energy_Exemption_Initiative_%282010%29), but ATI sued (http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-environmental-law-center-sues-state-of-colorado-over-unconstitutionality-of-rps-mandate/) Colorado over the standard, and is now targeting similar standards in Delaware (http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-study-delawares-renewable-energy-mandate-will-damage-state-economy/), Minnesota (http://www.atinstitute.org/study-minnesota%e2%80%99s-renewable-energy-mandate-will-damage-state-economy-with-little-to-no-benefit-to-environment/), Montana (http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-study-montana-renewables-mandate-is-all-cost-no-benefit/), New Mexico (http://www.atinstitute.org/ati-study-new-mexico%e2%80%99s-renewable-energy-mandates-costly-with-questionable-benefits/) and Ohio (http://www.atinstitute.org/study-ohio%e2%80%99s-alternative-energy-mandates-will-keep-its-economy-in-a-slump/).

WTP/ATP also fights laws that restrict corporate money in elections or require disclosure of contributions. In 2009, the group sued Longmont, CO over their Fair Campaign Practices Act. The city settled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Tradition_Partnership#Longmont) and agreed to drop disclosure requirements. In 2010, after the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission), WTP/ATP successfully challenged (http://coloradoindependent.com/64510/colorado-pro-business-group-gets-montana-corporate-campaign-spending-ban-struck-down-in-court) the constitutionality of the Montana Corrupt Practices Act of 1912, which prohibited independent political expenditures by corporations.

During the 2010 elections, the Montana Commission of Political Practices found (http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_9b902fd2-dd81-11df-9486-001cc4c002e0.html) that the organization broke state campaign laws by failing to register as a political committee or report its donors and spending. The state suggested WTP/ATP was involved in corruption and money laundering (http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_493daff8-dd76-11df-99b2-001cc4c03286.html). They found that it solicited unlimited contributions to support candidates and then passed them through a "sham organization," the Bozeman-based political action committee The Coalition for Energy and the Environment that ran attack ads against Democrats. WTP told corporations that it aimed to combat "radical environmentalists" and "beat them at their own game (http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_493daff8-dd76-11df-99b2-001cc4c03286.html)" and that their contributions would remain secret.

These actions reflect an all-too-common authoritarian goal, a goal that vested interests have pursued since the days of Galileo: forcibly silencing freedom of speech, thought, inquiry and expression that runs counter to the vested interests. In Galileo's 1633 indictment (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1630galileo.asp), it was the Catholic Church, then the seat of world political power. Today the vested interests that are being threatened by the measured facts of science are the current the seat of world political power, the US energy industry. But quashing science is anti-freedom and unAmerican, so the try to do it anonymously, through groups like ATI.

ATI's executive director is Paul Chesser (http://www.johnlocke.org/about/display_bio.html?id=16), who WTP/ATP describes as a "noted climate scholar." But Chesser is not a scientist. According to his bio (http://www.home.roadrunner.com/%7Epaulchesser/aboutme.htm), Chesser edited two weekly conservative North Carolina Christian newspapers, Raleigh World and Triad World. His writing has appeared in many fundamentalist and anti-science websites including The Good Steward.com, Evangelical Press, the Christian Examiner, The Home School Legal Defense Association, and antiscience evolution denier Answers in Genesis.

Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies (ISS) (http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html) reported that Chesser then moved to edit the Carolina Journal, the monthly newsletter of the John Locke Foundation (JLF), a "free market" think tank in Raleigh, NC that has been a leading voice of climate denial in that state. This is ironic, since Locke is considered the father of empiricism, and defined how scientific knowledge is different from and superior to "but faith, or opinion," something the JLF seems to have missed. The JLF ignores empiricism in favor of publishing rhetorical arguments for a predetermined conclusion - the opposite of empiricism. An example is their Citizens Guide to Global Warming (http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/policyReports/globalwarmingguide.pdf) (pdf), which is an antiscience publication that attacks what the group calls (http://www.johnlocke.org/search/results.html?cx=000850932633721540975%3Ay7uhjqbesls&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=%22global+warming+alarmism%22&sa=Search#1019) "global warming alarmism" and promotes the views of climate deniers.

The Locke Foundation was founded - and is still funded (http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/blessed-to-have-a-pope.html) in part - by Art Pope. Pope is a national director (http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/directors) of the Koch brothers-founded Tea Party astroturfer Americans for Prosperity (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_For_Prosperity). The Kochs fund several climate denial groups (http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/). Their foundations contributed at least $70,000 (http://www.southernstudies.org/2007/11/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-attack-on-state-climate-policy.html) to the Locke Foundation, according to the Institute of Southern Studies (ISS) (http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html).

Sturgis says that Chesser also worked with Climate Strategies Watch, a joint project of the JLF and the Heartland Institute, that sought to discredit (http://www.southernstudies.org/2007/11/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-attack-on-state-climate-policy.html) the Center for Climate Strategies, a nonprofit group that helps states figure out ways to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

Sturgis's research shows that Chesser also served as a special correspondent to the Heartland Institute, which has received at least $676,000 (http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=41) from ExxonMobil since 1998. Between 1997 and 2008, it also received $30,000 (http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg) from foundations connected to the Kochs and another $50,000 (http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg) from Pope's family foundation. Walter Buchholtz, an ExxonMobil executive, served as Heartland's Government Relations Advisor, according to Heartland's 2005 IRS Form 990, pg. 15 (http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/363/309/2005-363309812-0295fbb2-9.pdf).

Chesser then became an associate fellow for the National Legal and Policy Center (http://nlpc.org/), a conservative think tank and propaganda dispenser funded (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Funding) by the Scaife Foundations, which are controlled by the family that owns Gulf Oil. He blogged at the climate denialist Cooler Heads Coalition (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cooler_Heads_Coalition), an industry astroturfer closely tied to the think tank and astroturfer Competitive Enterprise Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Competitive_Enterprise_Institute) (CEI). CEI opposes greenhouse gas regulations and has taken over $2 million (http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=2) from ExxonMobil. It also has funding from the American Petroleum Institute, Texaco, and the Amoco, Koch, Scaife and Pope foundations. ATI's director of litigation (http://www.atinstitute.org/about/staff-board-of-directors/), Christopher Horner, is a CEI fellow.

At ATI, Sturgis says that Chesser's antiscience propaganda efforts are largely bankrolled by fossil fuel interests. According to its most recent filing with the IRS (http://www.southernstudies.org/sites/default/files/ATI_990_2010_final.pdf), ATI last year received $40,000 from its sister group ATP, which in turn is supported by oil, gas and coal interests (http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/who-benefited-from-outside-influence/). It received another $5,000 from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a Virginia-based think tank that since 1998 has received over $1 million (http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=17) in funding from Exxon Mobil; between 1997 and 2008, Atlas also received $122,300 (http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html) from the Koch foundations and $735,000 from the Pope foundation (http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html).

ATI's biggest funder is Montana businessman Doug Lair and the Lair Family Foundation; together they contributed over 75 percent of its total income. Lair's fortune comes from Lair Petroleum (http://sweetgrassroots.org/about/), a family business that was sold in 1989 to William Koch, brother of Charles and David Koch. Lair still works for Lair Petroleum according to 2010 state campaign finance reports (http://www.followthemoney.org/).

Today's hearing considered Mann's motion to intervene in ATI's case against UVA in order to protect his own papers under the ideals of privacy and freedom that Americans have always held dear. Without this right, Mann would have had no say in what papers the UVA might ultimately release to ATI.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) said (http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2011/0629board_statement.shtml) lawsuits like ATI's "have created a hostile environment that inhibits the free exchange of scientific findings and ideas." Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said (http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/university-of-virginia-scientists-records-0530.html) "Scientists should be able to challenge other scientists' ideas and discuss their preliminary thinking before their analyses are complete and published." Grifo said that "scientists shouldn't have to worry if political opponents of science will be sifting through emails" for bits and phrases to spin. "It has a chilling effect" on research, she said, and that's not going to take America where we need to go. The American Association of University Professors sent a letter (http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/scientific_integrity/Letter-to-UVA-President-Teresa-Sullivan-regarding-academic-freedom.pdf) to the UVA president arguing that the Virginia public documents statute exempts scholarly data of a proprietary nature that has not yet been publicly released, published, copyrighted or patented - in other words, Mann's emails. And US copyright law suggests that the documents may be covered under common copyright.

What is at stake in Mann's case is something much larger and more precious than papers and emails, or partisan politics -- what is at stake is Americans' freedom to investigate, debate and express ideas that run counter to those of corporations. Attacks on this basic freedom are a step away from democracy and toward tyranny.

Get Shawn Lawrence Otto's important new book:Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America (http://bit.ly/fool2), "a gripping analysis of America's anti-science crisis." --Starred Kirkus Review. An "incredible book" -- Starred Publishers Weekly review. Like him on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shawn-Lawrence-Otto/232314056783757). Listen to him of Science Friday (http://shawnotto.com/foolmetwice/media/media20111014.html). Join ScienceDebate.org (http://www.sciencedebate.org/) to get the presidential candidates to debate science.

American Tradition Partnership Files First 990, Reveals Little

By Viveca Novak (http://www.opensecrets.org) on February 21, 2013

(http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/02/american-tradition-partnership-file.html) (http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/02/american-tradition-partnership-file.html?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=68e9393b0f-Newsletter_2_14_2013&utm_medium=email#) | More (http://addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=crpadmin)

American Tradition Partnership -- formerly known as Western Tradition Partnership -- has an unusual history of political antics. In January, in the latest development in a years-long legal battle, a Montana judge found that the group (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/553681-wtp-factual-finding-order-01-04-13.html) used "subterfuge" to avoid disclosing its donors by setting up a front group to attack state candidates in 2008. The group also stands accused -- with support from a cache of documents found in a Colorado meth house and featured in a Frontline documentary (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/mysterious-docs-found-in-meth-house-reveal-inner-workings-of-dark-money-group/) last year -- of illegally coordinating with legislative candidates in the 2010 elections.

On the other hand, ATP notched a significant victory when it challenged Montana's century-old ban on some types of corporate spending in elections, which ended with a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that effectively applied the Court's 2010 Citizens United decision to all states and localities.

None of this, not surprisingly, is mentioned on the controversial nonprofit's first tax form 990 (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/605405-american-tradition-partnership-2011.html)on record, obtained by OpenSecrets.org (http://www.opensecrets.org/). ATP is a 501(c)(4) group under tax law, meaning it is supposed to be devoted to furthering the "social welfare." But despite the fact that it has been active since 2008, the group does not appear to have filed any 990s prior to this one, which covers the year 2011.

The tax form shows that ATP brought in $122,542 in 2011. That plus the $54,088 it reports having had in the bank at the beginning of the year allowed the group to spend $176,101 and end the year with a tiny balance of $529. That's not a lot of money, but 2011 was an off-year.

The form also indicates the group had four individuals on its unpaid board of directors: Peter MacKenzie, Jack Wells, Dan Reed and Doug Lair.

Lair signed the group's 990 form. He was also the lead plaintiff on a lawsuit that led to a temporary suspension of Montana's contribution limits last year, and has sometimes been referred to as the Montana state director of the group. Jack Wells is a Montana state legislator; MacKenzie is involved in real estate; and Reed has been cited on at least one occasion as a spokesman for ATP.

But the form offers precious little other information. For example, the group apparently made no grants to other organizations, and had no highly-paid contractors. Its biggest expenses, according to the filing, were unspecified "Program Events," ($60,449) and "Contract Services" ($38,480). 

And the tax form makes no mention of political activity.

Where it's supposed to state its "primary exempt purpose," ATP wrote that it "is dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting responsible development and management of land, water and natural resources through a voluntary, free-market approach."

How does it do this? "We achieve these goals by educating citizens, analyzing public policy, grassroots lobbying and litigation," the document states. No mention there of politics at all -- although "grassroots lobbying" and "educating citizens" are terms sometimes used as euphemisms by shadow money groups that run political ads critical of candidates.

Attempts to reach ATP for comment were unsuccessful.

Despite having just about emptied its bank account by the end of 2011, ATP must have gotten busy fundraising: Last year, the group sent attack mailers against Republicans it considered too liberal, as well as against Democrats. ATP's sister 501(c)(3), American Tradition Institute, also recently made its annual filing (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/605404-american-tradition-institute-2011.html) with the IRS. It claims to have taken in $320,000, but it tells the agency that it conducted "no political activity this year."

It's unclear what's in ATP's future. There are no posts on its blog (http://americantradition.org/) more recent than Jan. 2 -- about the time Donald Ferguson, the group's director, left, and the Montana judge made his finding. Furthermore, according to state officials, the documents that were found in the meth house were subpoenaed (http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/feds-take-conservative-group-s-disputed-documents/article_68a17bfc-cb00-50c4-bdcf-3599ce77b1f9.html) by a federal grand jury in December, from which more may be heard in coming months.

And maybe worst of all for groups like ATP: Last week, Montana's Democratic governor and a Republican state senator teamed up behind a bill, introduced by the senator, that would force groups funding political attacks there to disclose their donors (http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/bullock-gop-senator-roll-out-bill-to-stamp-out-campaign/article_6958fe15-bf0a-5a2c-982d-b85792813a37.html).

*Researcher Robert Maguire contributed to this post.

Categories:

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Chris Horner And The American Tradition Institute

Perhaps the most visible member of CEI's environmental team is Chris Horner (http://www.desmogblog.com/chris-horner), a lawyer who often appears on Fox News to cast (http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/04/23/fox-cherry-picks-glaciers-to-hide-global-melt/186300) doubt (http://mediamatters.org/video/2011/06/17/asman-as-the-nanny-state-readies-for-banning-al/180691) on climate science and claim (http://mediamatters.org/research/2009/12/04/fox-news-repeatedly-advanced-cei-fellows-accusa/157756) that scientists are manipulating temperature data to manufacture a warming trend. At both CEI and The American Tradition Institute (ATI), Horner has filed Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/07/american-tradition-institute-freedom-information-law-climate-scientists) in an attempt to access anything to embarrass climate scientists.

The American Tradition Institute (http://www.desmogblog.com/american-tradition-institute) (ATI) is a free-market think tank focused (http://americantradition.org/?page_id=1340) on blocking environmental regulations and "battling radical environmentalist junk science head on." ATI was launched in 2010 by the American Tradition Partnership (ATP), an industry-backed advocacy group (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shawn-lawrence-otto/climate-scientist-wins-a-_b_1070426.html) that has fought campaign finance disclosure laws and was accused (http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_493daff8-dd76-11df-99b2-001cc4c03286.html) in the 2010 election cycle of corruption and money laundering. ATI is funded (http://www.desmogblog.com/american-tradition-institute) primarily by ATP and a handful of individuals and foundations with ties to the oil industry.

ATI Executive Director Tom Tanton is an energy industry consultant (http://www.atinstitute.org/about/staff-board-of-directors/) who has conducted (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton) research for the American Petroleum Institute and formerly served as the vice president of the oil industry-funded (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_for_Energy_Research) Institute for Energy Research. Weather forecaster Joe Bastardi and climate skeptic blogger Steve Milloy serve as advisors (http://www.atinstitute.org/about/fellows-and-advisors/) to the think tank.

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funding?

what is tie to Norquist? worked together on campaign

lists horner foia: (http://grist.org/wind-power/anti-wind-activists-want-to-create-fake-grassroots-campaign-against-industry/)http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/06/28/253240/fox-news-james-hanse

http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/07/climate-science-attack-group-turns-sights-on-texas-professors.html

Climate science attack group turns sights on Texas professors

The American Tradition Institute, a conservative think tank with financial ties to fossil fuel interests (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute#Funding-asserted_v._actual), made headlines last year for a controversial freedom of information lawsuit (http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html) against the University of Virginia targeting former UVA professor and leading climate researcher Michael Mann, who's now at Penn State.

Now ATI's campaign to discredit mainstream climate science is targeting professors at two Texas universities -- and it's particularly interested in their communications with journalists.

ATI recently sent requests under the Texas Public Information Act to Texas A&M University seeking all emails to or from a university account used by Andrew Dessler (photo at left), a professor in the school's Department of Atmospheric Sciences whose research focuses on climate systems and climate change policy.  As the Climate Science FOI report blog observed (http://climscifoi.blogspot.com/2012/07/atihorner-targetting-texas-scientists.html),ATI's requests were unrelated to scientific data.

The group's initial request (http://www.scribd.com/doc/99680945/Ati-Dessler-Txam-Foi-Request-i) for Dessler's emails was made on May 1, the day after the New York Times ran a critical story (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/science/earth/clouds-effect-on-climate-change-is-last-bastion-for-dissenters.html) quoting Dessler about MIT meteorology professor Richard Lindzen, who is part of a small minority of climate researchers who argue that mainstream science exaggerates global warming trends. (Lindzen is also a skeptic (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Lindzen#On_Tobacco) about the well-documented link (http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/cancer/) between smoking tobacco and lung cancer.) That request sought emails that mentioned Lindzen and Mann, among other things.

Then earlier this month, ATI sent asecond information request (http://www.scribd.com/doc/99680950/Ati-Dessler-Txam-Foi-Request-II)to Texas A&M expanding the emails it sought from Dessler's account to include any exchanges with New York Times reporter Justin Gillis, who wrote the Lindzen story, as well as any communications with the PBS investigative journalism show Frontline, Frontline producer Catherine Upin, Associated Press science reporter Seth Borenstein, and Suzanne Goldenberg, U.S. environment correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian. Also covered in that request were any communications Dessler had with the watchdog groupUnion of Concerned Scientists andRichard Ades (http://www.prismpublicaffairs.com/professionals/richard.php), a public affairs professional who directed the Project on Climate Science, which worked to disseminate high-quality scientific climate research to media and lawmakers.

Late last year ATI sent out a similar information request to Texas Tech seeking information on professor Katharine Hayhoe(photo on right), an atmospheric scientist who directs that school's Climate Science Center. Hayhoe wrote a chapter on climate for a book about the environment by former Georgia congressman and GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich only to have him cut it (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/06/climate-scientist-newt-gingrich-book-chapter) after criticism from conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who refers (http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2011/12/19/quick_hits_page) to Hayhoe as a "climate babe."Other scientists targeted by ATI include NASA climatologists James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt, co-founder of theRealClimate blog (http://www.realclimate.org/)along with Mann.

ATI's initial lawsuit targeting Mann came on the heels of a similar effort by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), a global warming skeptic who sought to investigate whether Mann defrauded taxpayers by using manipulated data to win government funding. That case went all the way to Virginia's Supreme Court, which ruled against Cuccinelli (http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/mar/02/11/va-supreme-court-rules-against-cuccinelli-uva-clim-ar-1735035/) earlier this year.

In a recent opinion piece (http://washingtonexaminer.com/sunday-reflection-the-collusion-of-the-climate-crowd/article/2501500) in the conservative Washington Examiner, Christopher C. Horner, ATI's director of litigation and a senior fellow at the fossil fuel-funded (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Competitive_Enterprise_Institute_And_Global_Warming#Exxon.27s_Cash_Pipeline_to_CEI) Competitive Enterprise Institute, described ATI's efforts as part of a "transparency campaign using federal and state freedom of information laws to learn more about how taxpayer-funded academics use their positions to advance a particular agenda."

But others take a different view. Jeff Ruch, an attorney with the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, which has helped Mann and others with legal fees, told (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/10/american-tradition-institute-climate-science) the Guardian that the requests represent a "new chapter" in ATI's ongoing campaign against mainstream climate scientists:

"Before they were going after interactions between individual scientists. This is basically a spying operation to see who are you talking to, but presumably the idea is the same: to find material that is potential[ly] of use in discrediting a scientist."

Originally known as the Western Tradition Institute, ATI is the 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit arm of the American Tradition Partnership, a 501(c)(4) "social welfare" nonprofit that was founded in Colorado in 2008 with backing from fossil fuel interests (http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/who-benefited-from-outside-influence/). ATP, which changed its named from Western Tradition Partnership, was registered by Scott Shires, a Republican operative who was fined (http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/who-benefited-from-outside-influence/) over $7,000 for campaign finance violations in that state, pleaded guilty in ascheme (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/jury_returns_conviction_in_cas_1.php)to fraudulently obtain federal grants for developing alternative fuels, and wastied (http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_11882167)to an illegal gambling ring.

ATP was the plaintiff in a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned state bans (http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/06/25/9189/supreme-court-rejects-montanas-election-spending-law) on corporate and union spending in elections under the court's 2010 Citizens United decision. That case originated in the group's challenge to a Montana law that aimed to limit the influence of the state's powerful mining industry.

By Sue Sturgis on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 11:38b

ppl:

ati

Nick Spyros of Lansdowne, Virginia

Dennis Champion of Palmdale, California

John Reed of Denver, Colorado, Chairman

    Media Center

    Law Center

    Contact

Fellows & Advisors

ATI Fellows and Advisors also make up our Speakers’ Bureau. Please contact Executive Director Tom Tanton at 916-645-2854 or email us at contact@atinstitute.org to request a speaker for your organization or event.

 Fellows

WalcherGreg Walcher, Senior Fellow

Greg Walcher is one of the most recognized and respected national leaders in natural resources policy. He is President of the Natural Resources Group, and a member of several other firms. He brings to his clients a lifetime of experience, institutional knowledge, contacts, and advocacy on natural resources and environmental policy and issues. He specializes in issues related to energy, water, endangered species and wildlife, forest management, public lands and private property rights.

Walcher served in the Colorado Governor’sCabinet, leading the Colorado Department of Natural Resources — a department of 2,500 employees, 8 divisions, 14 boards and commissions, and a $180 million budget. Its jurisdiction includes wildlife, parks, water, forestry, public lands, oil, gas, minerals and geology. His national colleagues elected him President of the National Organization of Natural Resources and Environment Cabinet Secretaries, and he has been a national leader in conservation policy debates.

Leveraging a decade of Capitol Hill experience with U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong, Walcher spent ten years as President and CEO of Club 20, a non-partisan and non-profit association of 75 cities, 20 countries and hundreds of businesses with individuals serving the interests of Western Colorado – a region larger than most states. The group’s budget and membership tripled during Walcher’s tenure through activism on important regional issues: energy, water, forest health, tourism, transportation, telecommunications and public lands. He also served on the national policy committee for the American Society of Association Executives.

In 2004, Walcher was the Republican nominee for Congress in Colorado’s 3rd District, a race that attracted national media attention as the top targeted House race in America (over $8 million), where he came within two points of victory. He remains a frequent and popular speaker in the state and around the country. He is the author of Backlash: the Theft of the Conservation Movement (and its Pending Recovery), slated for publication in 2011. Natural resource issues are also personal to Walcher, who owns a Colorado peach orchard, direct marketing and fresh fruit shipping business with customers in over 40 states. The company was featured in Gourmet magazine as a cutting-edge example of quality niche marketing and high-altitude fruit production.

George Taylor, Senior Fellow George Taylor is the founder of Palmetto Energy Research, a non-profit devoted to educating the public about the future of energy, where his focus has been on the costs and environmental impacts of all leading choices for the generation of electricity. His reports have highlighted the indirect and infrastructure costs of each technology in addition to the more typical capital and operations costs. From his outsider’s perspective, he has given readers the tools and information they need in order to answer the most important policy questions for themselves. His most recent articles have been on the cost of fossil, fossil/wind and nuclear electricity; the cost of electricity transmission and storage; the maximum amount of intermittent electricity that the system could accommodate; the dependency of intermittent technologies on primary fossil technologies; the consequences of state-level renewable electricity mandates; and the cost of new nuclear construction in the United States. Prior to working on energy policy, he was a Silicon Valley engineer, executive and co-founder of two microprocessor design companies. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in computer architecture.

John Droz, Jr., Senior Fellow

John received undergraduate degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Boston College, and a graduate degree in Physics from Syracuse University. He subsequently worked forGE: Aerospace Electronics (Utica, NY), Mohawk Data Sciences (Herkimer, NY), and Monolithic Memories (Cupertino, CA).

After retiring at age 34 (due to successful real estate investing) he phased into pursing a variety of community interests. This lead to a 30± year commitment as an environmental activist. During that time he was a leading individual on three NY state-wide issues (electrical energy, water extraction, and water quality).

He had a lakefront home in the Adirondacks, and has been a participating member of several environmental organizations (e.g. the Adirondack Council, Association for Protection of the Adirondacks, Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks, Sierra Club, NYS Federation of Lakes).

Two areas of interest and expertise (science and the environment) have merged with his focus on energy matters, especially wind power. John’s basic position is that we should be taking science-based measures to solve our energy and environmental issues.

In 2011 John was selected to be on the Board of Directors of the advocacy group, NC-20. He is also that organization’s scientific advisor.

Paul Bachman, Research Fellow

Paul Bachman is the Director of Research at The Beacon Hill Institute. He holds a Master of Science in International Economics degree from Suffolk University and a Bachelor of Arts (Politics) degree from the St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

ToddMyersTodd Myers, Research Fellow

Todd Myers is the Environmental Director at the Washington Policy Center, a market-oriented think tank in Seattle. His work has been featured in many Washington newspapers, the BBC, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. Policies based on Myers’ ideas have been proposed in Washington state, Michigan and adopted by legislators from across the nation in the American Legislative Exchange Council

A former computer programmer, Myers has a Bachelors Degree in Politics from Whitman College and a Maters Degree in Russian/International Studies from the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington.

In 2000, Myers ran Doug Sutherland’s successful statewide campaign for Commissioner of Public Lands and served as his Communications Director until 2004, taking leave to run his successful re-election campaign. His experience combines planning and implementing public strategies for sport franchises, producing award-winning public events, managing successful statewide political campaigns, building strong grassroots coalitions, and creating innovative Internet marketing solutions. He also runs a public relations firm whose clients include the Seattle Mariners, Treehouse (a nonprofit organization improving the lives of foster children), and the Prescription Drug Assistance Foundation.

NewgentMark Newgent, Research Fellow

Mark Newgent is a Maryland-based writer and researcher. His work has appeared in National Review Online, the Baltimore Sun, Washington Examiner, and newspapers across the country. Mark was a featured blogger for the Washington Examiner’s Local Opinion Zone Blog, blogs regularly for Red Maryland, and is a regular guest on WBAL Radio in Baltimore.

RobinsonJenna Ashley Robinson, Research Fellow

Jenna Ashley Robinson is Outreach Coordinator at theJohn W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, where she has worked since 2007. She graduated from North Carolina State University with degrees in Political Science and French, and went on to receive her Masters degree in Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill, and is a Ph.D candidate in Political Science. Robinson is also a graduate of the Koch Associates Program sponsored by the Charles G. Koch Foundation.

She was previously the E.A. Morris Fellowship Assistant at the John Locke Foundation, where she worked since 2001. Robinson’s work has appeared in American Thinker, Human Events, Carolina Journal, the Lincoln Tribune, the Hickory Daily Record, the Gaston Gazette, the Mountain Express, and the News and Observer.

WalkerBruce Edward Walker, Research Fellow

Bruce Edward Walker is managing editor of InfoTech & Telecom News. In this capacity, he has published essays in National Review Online, the Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, the Boston Herald, and the Detroit News’ Michigan View.

Prior to joining Heartland in 2010, Bruce worked at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy as Science Editor of the quarterly magazine MichiganScience, and as the Communications Manager for the center’s Property Rights Network. In the latter position, Walker won a Communicators Award of Distinction from the International Academy of the Visual Arts for a video he wrote, narrated, and produced called “Boardman River Dams, Episode 1: Drawdown and Devastation in Grand Traverse County”.

Walker has written speeches and produced videos for General Motors executives and has edited publications for Buick Motor Division, for which he won a Silver Quill Award from the International Association of Business Communicators; the Detroit Athletic Club; and Gale Research. He continues to write articles, essays, and cultural reviews for the Mackinac Center, Acton Institute, Russell Kirk Center’s University Bookman, Michigan View, and The American Culture. He has written more than 100 essays for the reference book series Contemporary Musicians, as well as many essays on novelists, poets, philosophers, and filmmakers for the Gale Research Literary Criticism series. Walker has interviewed filmmakers, authors, playwrights, performance artists, and musicians as entertainment editor-at-large for The Royal Oak, including books covering Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Adventures in Wonderland; and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth. He also co-authored What to Do With a Major in Education for CliffsNotes.

Todd Wynn Todd Wynn, M.A., Research Fellow

Todd Wynn is Vice President and policy analyst with Cascade Policy Institute where he conducts climate change, energy policy research and general environmental and economic policy issues.

In that position, he has been published in newspapers across Oregon, and is regularly featured as an environmental policy expert on TV and radio stations across the state and U.S.

Mr. Wynn received his Master’s degree in International and Developmental Economics at the University of San Francisco. While studying at the University of San Francisco, Todd worked abroad in India on climate change impact research. Prior to studying at the University of San Francisco, Todd attended Virginia Military Institute and California State University, Long Beach where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics.

William Yeatman, MA, Research Fellow

William Yeatman is an energy policy analyst best known for his work with Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D. C. He focuses on state and federal regulatory regimes for energy supply and demand. His writing on energy policy has been published in newspapers across the country, and he is a frequent guest on radio and television.

Yeatman holds a Masters degree in International Administration from the Denver Graduate School of International Studies, and a Bachelors degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia.

Yeatman was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kyrgyz Republic, where he taught entrepreneurship and small business management to rural women. Before that, he ran a homeless shelter in Denver, Colorado.

Media & Investigative Fellows

Kathy Hoekstra, Media & Investigative Fellow

Kathy Hoekstra is a Communications Specialist with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. She assists in the Center’s media outreach and does reporting for the Center’s Michigan Transparency Project. Prior to joining the Mackinac Center staff, Hoekstra spent nearly fifteen years in broadcast journalism.

She was an award-winning news anchor and reporter for radio stations in Port Huron and Saginaw, working for more than a decade in local television news in the state. In addition to her reporting and anchoring duties, Hoekstra also produced and hosted a weekly public affairs program that involved in-depth coverage of local and statewide issues.

Hoekstra graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelors degree in both Communications and English. She is also a graduate and Hall of Fame member of the Specs Howard School of Broadcasting, and she has done graduate work at Saginaw Valley State University.

David Knight, Media Fellow

David Knight is the founder of CineFilm Media, a full service video production company located in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. He has produced award-winning content for non-profits and policy groups including Galen Institute, FreedomWorks, ParentalRights.org, AMD Alliance International and corporations such as Cisco, VMware and the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

Prior to CineFilm Media, Knight received a BSEE, cum laude from the University of South Florida and worked as an Electronics Engineer before entering the marketplace to create point-of-sale retail software for the video rental market and a chain of video stores that he owned and operated for 14 years. It was here that he got a chance to edit some of the finest films of the 20th century into movie trailers, learning not only the art of filmmaking but also how to condense content into a compelling narrative.

A dedicated advocate of free markets and liberty, Knight was a one-time candidate for Congress, and campaign manager for Scot McLaughlin who received the highest percentage of votes in the last century for a North Carolina third party candidate.

CookeAmy Oliver Cooke, Media & Investigative Fellow

Amy Oliver Cooke is an energy policy expert and blogger for the Independence Institute, Colorado’s free market State Policy Network think tank since 2004, also covering spending and transparency.

Lawmakers frequently request Cooke’s testimony on energy and transparency in legislative committee hearings. She collaborated with William Yeatman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute to expose the high cost of Colorado’s “new energy economy,” a supposed model for renewable energy for the rest of the country, questionable behavior at the Public Utilities Commission, and collusion between lawmakers, bureaucrats and special interest groups. Their work resulted in five pieces of legislation introduced during the 2011 legislative session.

She is also the host of the award winning Amy Oliver Show heard on News Talk 1310 KFKA in Greeley, Colo. In 2008, the Colorado Broadcasters Association recognized her with the Award of Excellence for Best News Talk Personality in a major market.

Cooke was recognized again in 2011 with an Award of Merit for Best News Talk Personality in a major market.  Cooke has been published in the Denver Post, Pueblo Chieftain, Greeley Tribune, Denver Business Journal, Denver Daily News, Liberty Ink Journal, The Daily Caller and on Save Our States. She has written numerous opinion editorials, issue papers and issue backgrounders.

Advisors

Bastardi Joe Bastardi, Senior Advisor & Fellow

Joe Bastardi, formerly chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, frequently appears on cable news channels, such as CNN and Fox News during storms. He has been a fixture in the private weather industry for over 35 years, starting with his degree in Meteorology at Penn State. He is the only meteorologist to have ever lettered Division 1 in NCAA in wrestling.

Currently, Bastardi is a key player in launching a new cutting edge weather forecasting company, WeatherBELL Analytics. The company plans to build from the ground up, the nation’s go-to private long range and extreme weather forecasting service. His forecast methodology mimics his beliefs, that the foundation of the past must be used to forge the future.

Bastardi emphasizes that while the tools we have today are better than many years ago, there is no getting away from the basics. The use of those tools are established in our constitution to help all men have a chance to better their lives. Bastardi is also an avid bodybuilder, winning his height class in a recent “Over 50 Mr. America”. He is also a volunteer strength and nutrition advisor for the Nittany Lion Wrestling Clubs wrestlers, whose members will compete in June for a spot on the USA’ s world team.

Charles Clough, MS, ThM – Advisor

Professor Charles Clough received a Bachelors degree in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Masters degree in Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech University, and a Theology Masters degree in Old Testament and Semitics from Dallas Theological Seminary.

He has worked as a USAF Weather Officer (Active Duty and Reserve) and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Clough retired as Chief of the US Army Aberdeen Test Center’s Atmospheric Effects Team, specializing in atmospheric measurements and modeling.

He currently is President of Biblical Framework Ministries and an Adjunct Professor of Chafer Theological Seminary (his teachings include ethics of man’s relation to the environment).

One Response to “Fellows & Advisors”

    Colorado’s wind energy: neither free nor clean | Energy Policy Center:

    August 5, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    [...] American Tradition Institute, where our own Amy Oliver Cooke is a media and investigative fellow, is suing the state of Colorado for its renewable energy mandate. (Check out Executive Director [...]

American Tradition Institute is qualified as a 501c3 organization under IRS rules, and is therefore prohibited from grassroots lobbying. To exercise your right to take action at the state and federal levels on important legislation, please visit American Tradition Partnership here.

ATI In The News

Renewable Fuel Standard Hits Political Divide at Energy Hearing

The Hill

By Zack Colman;  July 10, 2012

Tom Tanton, executive director of the right-leaning think tank the American Tradition Institute, added, “We need to focus our policies on principles and process, not picking technology.” Democrats held that policies like the RFS might take adjustment …

RPS Profile Map

About American Tradition Institute

History and Founding Principles American Tradition Institute (ATI) is a public policy research and educational foundation - a "think tank" - founded in 2009 to help lead the national discussion about environmental issues, including air and water quality and regulation, responsible land use, natural resource management, energy development, property rights, and free-market principles of stewardship. American Tradition Institute utilizes a three-pronged strategy to advance responsible, economically sustainable environmental policy: Research, investigative journalism, and litigation, via our Environmental Law Center. Our combination of expert policy analysis, exposing truth, and redressing wrongs in court advances the cause of liberty, and will...

guardian UK:

A network of ultra-conservative groups is ramping up an offensive on multiple fronts to turn the American public against wind farms and Barack Obama (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/barack-obama)'s energy agenda.

A number of rightwing organisations, including Americans for Prosperity, which is funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, are attacking Obama for his support for solar and wind power (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/windpower). The American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), which also has financial links to the Kochs, has drafted bills to overturn state laws promoting wind energy.

Now a confidential strategy memo seen by the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2012/may/09/wind-power-memo) advises using "subversion" to build a national movement of wind farm protesters.

The strategy proposal was prepared by a fellow of the American Tradition Institute (ATI) – although the thinktank has formally disavowed the project.

The proposal was discussed at a meeting of self-styled 'wind warriors' from across the country in Washington DC last February.

"These documents show for the first time that local Nimby anti-wind groups are co-ordinating and working with national fossil-fuel funded advocacy groups to wreck the wind industry," said Gabe Elsner, a co-director of the Checks and Balances (http://checksandbalancesproject.org/), the accountability group which unearthed the proposal and other documents.

Among its main recommendations, the proposal calls for a national PR campaign aimed at causing "subversion in message of industry so that it effectively because so bad that no one wants to admit in public they are for it."

It suggests setting up "dummy businesses" to buy anti-wind billboards, and creating a "counter-intelligence branch" to track the wind energy industry. It also calls for spending $750,000 to create an organisation with paid staff and tax-exempt status dedicated to building public opposition to state and federal government policies encouraging the wind energy industry.

The proposal was reviewed by John Droz Jr, a senior fellow at ATI, for discussion at the Washington meeting, which he also organised. ATI's executive director, Tom Tanton, said Droz had acted alone on the memo, although he confirmed he remains a fellow at the thinktank (http://www.atinstitute.org/about/fellows-and-advisors/).

Droz is a longtime opponent of wind farms, arguing that the technology has not yet been proven and that wind technology should not receive government support. He claims 10,000 subscribers to his anti-wind-power email newsletter.

In a telephone interview, Droz said the Washington strategy session was his own initiative, and that neither he nor any of the participants had been paid for attending the session.

Their main priority was co-ordinating PR strategy. "Our No 1 reason for getting together was to talk about whether there should be agreement to talk about a common message."

The strategy session is the latest evidence of a concerted attack on the clean energy industry by thinktanks and lobby groups connected to oil and coal interests and free-market ideologues.

ATI is part of a loose coalition of ultra-conservative thinktanks and networks united by their efforts to discredit climate science and their close connections to the oil and gas industry, including the Koch family. Those groups include the Heartland Institute, the John Locke Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity, the organising arm of the Tea Party movement (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/tea-party-movement).

ATI is a relatively new entrant, coming to national attention only last year when it filed lawsuits against climate scientists including Michael Mann and James Hansen.

Campaign groups and spokespersons for the wind industry say there has been a sharp rise in organised opposition since early 2009 when Obama put investment in renewable energy at the heart of his economic recovery plan.

"We do see evidence of co-ordination," said Peter Kelley a spokesman for the American Wind Energy Assocation. "The same rhetoric pops up all over the place. Things that are disproven, that are demonstrably untrue, continually get repeated."

Recent developments in the campaign against wind power include:

• A new$6m election ad buy by the ultra-conservative group Americans for Prosperity attacking Barack Obama's support for wind and solar power.

• An email and telephone campaign by the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans for Tax Reform to repeal or alter clean energy mandates requiring electricity companies to get a share of their power from renewables.

• Putting forward Alec-drafted bills overturning those measures in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Colorado, Montana and Washington state.

Droz, in the telephone interview, confirmed that he had enlisted support for telephone campaigns from Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks – both of which have received funds from the Koch family. He also appeared at an anti-wind forum sponsored by theJohn Locke Foundation in North Carolina last December.

But he dismissed any idea of a co-ordinated effort. "We happen to have common interests on some things," he said. "But it's not collusion."

But conservative activists describe the ramp-up as critical to the effort to defeat Obama in the elections. "It's absolutely a campaign issue and it's a big one," said Dave Schwartz, who heads the Maryland chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a tea party group with Koch funds. "It absolutely is a contentious issue," he said.

Kert Davies, Greenpeace research director, agrees. "They are going back to the states to create the space for an anti-Obama, anti-green energy thing. It is really a political attack," he said. " What the right wing wants to perpetuate is that this is a type of energy that never works and requires massive government handouts."

More than 30 local wind farm opponents, all selected by Droz, came to Washington at his invitation. Participants included members of conservative groups such as Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow and Tea Party Patriots.

A number said they had come to DC for strategy tips and PR advice. Three used the same phraseology as Droz who said the decision to meet and pool strategies was to avoid having to continually "reinvent the wheel".

"Everybody is amateur and everybody is learning from the ground up and re-inventing the wheel and the discussion among some of us was as to whether or not we could be a little more efficient and share resources and information," said Carolyn Gerwin an attorney and Tea Party activist from Pontiac Illinois who was among the participants.

Gerwin has been active in both Illinois Wind Watch and the Tea Party Patriots, and lobbied against wind energy at the state and federal level, her sign-in questionnaire for the February meeting said. "I'd like to see us develop a nationwide network of wind warriors that can be mobilised on very short notice," she wrote in a questionnaire distributed to participants.

There is evidence that network is already coming into being. Since the meeting, participants have pooled efforts to make phone calls and send email to members of Congress.

Opposing Obama's energy policies was a natural fit for conservatives, said Marita Noon, a conservative activist from New Mexico who was at the meeting. "The American way, what made CostCo and Walmart a success, is to use more and pay less. That's the American way," The president's green policies however were the reverse, she said.

"President Obama wants us to pay more and use less."

That set the stage for a confrontation over wind farms and other clean energy issues in the elections, Noon argued. "I would say it's almost the issue," she said. "It's going to be huge."

Thomas (Tom) Tanton

 Credentials

B.S. Chemistry, California State University, San Diego (1972). [1 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s1)

  Background

Tom Tanton is president of T2 & Associates, a consulting firm for the energy and technology industry. As president of T2 & Associates, Tanton has conducted research regarding alternate fuels for the American Petroleum Institute (API) (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Petroleum_Institute).

In an interview (http://www.energytomorrow.org/mediaroom/DisplayShowNotes.aspx?id=167&type=a)about his research for API, Tanton said a "voluntary and self-interested approach" is the most effective with regards to restricting industry carbon emissions. [2 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s2)

Tanton was also General Manager for EPRI, theElectric Power Research Institute, (http://www.epri.com) from 2000 to 2003. Prior to 2000, he was the principal policy advisor with the California Energy Commission (CEC) (http://www.energy.ca.gov/).

Tanton is also the former vice president and senior fellow of theInstitute for Energy Research (IER) (http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_for_Energy_Research) from 2003 to 2007. The IER is a Houston, Texas-based think tank that has received over $200,000 (http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=115) in funding from oil-giant ExxonMobil.

Stance on Climate Change

"Cuts in greenhouse gases may be necessary, but it is innovation, more likely, not regulation, which will bring the breakthroughs of our energy future." [3 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s3)

Key Quotes

"Nuclear power and offshore drilling would go a long way toward easing our energy shortfalls and financial instability." [3 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s3)

"The erratic and highly variable nature of wind power has been found to increase rather than decrease emissions of pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act."[1 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s1)

"Wind energy is environmentally harmfuland costly to taxpayers. Furthermore, its expansion could adversely affect the nation's electricity transmission system." [4 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s4)

Key Deeds

March, 2009

Speaker (http://climateconference.heartland.org/past-conferences/iccc-2/) at theHeartland Institute's second International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC2). [5 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s5)

DeSmogBlog researched the funding (http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institutes-2009-climate-conference-new-york-funding-history-sponsors), and found sponsor organizations had received over $47 million from energy companies and right-wing foundations, with 78% of that total coming from the Scaife Family of foundations.

See video of his presentation below:

November, 2009

Published "Top Ten Energy Myths" (PDF (http://www.pacificresearch.org/docLib/20091102_Top_Ten_Energy_Myths.pdf)) with the Pacific Research Institute.

Among the "Myths" listed by Tanton: [6 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s6)

"Offshore oil production poses environmental risks, including oil spills and pollution."

"Reducing our petroleum use through alternative energies lke solar and wind will increase U.S. energy security."

"Energy companies will not invest in clean reliable energy so we need government programs to do so."

"The U.S. consumes large amounts of energy and thus emits a disproportionate amount of the world’s greenhouse gasses."

"Federal mandates for higher-mileage cars means less energy consumption."

"Forcing drivers to use alternative fuels will help solve global warming."

One of the reviewers listed for the paper is Kenneth Green (http://www.desmogblog.com/kenneth-green) of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Enterprise_Institute), a well-known climate change skeptic.

 Affiliations

T2 & Associates — President. [7 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s7)

Institute for Energy Research (IER) (http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_for_Energy_Research) — Past Senior Fellow and Vice President, 2003 - 2007. [1 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s1)

The Heartland Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute)— "Expert (http://heartland.org/thomas-tanton)." [8 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s8)

American Tradition Institute (ATI) (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute)— Executive Director (http://www.atinstitute.org/about/staff-board-of-directors/) & Director, "Science & Technology Assessment." [10 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s10)

Pacific Research Institute (PRI) (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pacific_Research_Institute)— "Fellow in Environmental Studies" (until 2010) and author.[3 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s3)

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council) — Co-published ALEC report with Tom Tanton (see below).

 Publications

Thomas Tanton has not published any articles in peer-reviewed journals.

A search of Google Scholar does reveal an article titled "Motor Fuel and Natural Disasters: Don’t Regulate."

Further investigation reveals that the report, which Tanton co-published with climate change skeptic Robert Bradley, (http://www.desmogblog.com/robert-l-bradley-jr) is part of a document published by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council) titled ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ECONOMICS: A Guide for State Legislators, The Fifth Edition (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Report_on_Energy,the_Environment,and_Economics) (see PDF (http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/7/7c/Energy5th.pdf)).

Here is ALEC's description of the report: [9 (http://www.desmogblog.com/tom-tanton#s9)

"Much of the climate change debate is really about energy, not climate. The section of this guide titled Our Energy Future explains that despite current high energy prices, we will have plentiful amounts of energy in the future, as long as we do not artificially restrict our energy choices. State legislators are frequently seeing threats to energy markets in the form of calls to enact price gouging legislation. In Motor Fuel and Natural Disasters: Don’t Regulate, Robert Bradley and Thomas Tanton demonstrate how price gouging laws actually hurt consumers by failing to provide incentives for plentiful energy."

Other Publications

Tom Tanton. "Top Ten Energy Myths" (PDF (http://www.pacificresearch.org/docLib/20091102_Top_Ten_Energy_Myths.pdf)), Pacific Research Institute, November, 2009.

 Resources

1. "AMERICAN TRADITION INSTITUTE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. THE STATE OF COLORADO, et al., Defendants" (PDF (http://www.americantradition.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ATI-RPS-Lawsuit-Tanton-Declaration.pdf)). UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO, Statement of Thomas Tanton. Republished by the American Tradition Institute.
2. Jane Van Ryan. "Energy Tomorrow Radio: Episode 86 - Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction (http://energytomorrow.org/blog/energy-tomorrow-radio-episode-86-greenhouse-gas-emission-reduction/P20#/type/all)," EnergyTomorrow Blog, July 14, 2009. Archived February 19, 2012 (http://www.webcitation.org/65ZwTaLS3), with WebCite.
3. Thomas Tanton. "Lights On: An Energy Policy Survey for California" (PDF (http://www.pacificresearch.org/docLib/20071106_Lights_On.pdf)), Pacific Research Institute, November, 2007.
4. Thomas Tanton. "Whirlwind of Trouble (http://www.windaction.org/opinions/651)," Rocky Mountain News, January 15, 2005. Republished by Industrial Wind Action Group.Archived February 19, 2012 (http://www.webcitation.org/65a1vGK9u), with WebCite.
5. "Global Warming: was it Ever Really a Crisis? (http://climateconference.heartland.org/past-conferences/iccc-2/)" International Conference on Climate Change (climateconference.heartland.org). Accessed February, 2012.
6. Tom Tanton. "Top Ten Energy Myths" (PDF (http://www.pacificresearch.org/docLib/20091102_Top_Ten_Energy_Myths.pdf)), Pacific Research Institute, November, 2009.
7. Tom Tanton. "An Estimate of the Economic Impact of A Cap-and-Trade Auction Tax On California" (PDF (http://ab32ig.com/documents/Tanton%20Study%20FINAL.pdf)), T2 & Associates, March 2010 (prepared for AB 32 Implementation Group).
8. "Heartland Experts: Thomas Tanton (http://heartland.org/thomas-tanton)," The Heartland Institute. Accessed February, 2012.
9. ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, AND ECONOMICS: A Guide for State Legislators, The Fifth Edition (PDF (http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/7/7c/Energy5th.pdf)). American Legislative Exchange Council, June 2007. Retrieved from SourceWatch, February, 2012.
10. "Staff & Board of Directors (http://www.atinstitute.org/about/staff-board-of-directors/)," American Tradition Institute. Accessed February, 2012. Archived with WebCite (http://www.webcitation.org/65ZomWsE9), Feb
11. ruary 19, 2012.
12. desmog

=== 

http://grist.org/wind-power/anti-wind-activists-want-to-create-fake-grassroots-campaign-against-industry/

Anti-wind activists want to create fake grassroots campaign against industry

By Stephen Lacey

A version of this post originally appeared on Climate Progress.

Last February, a group of anti-wind activists gathered in Washington, D.C. Their goal: establish a coordinated, nationwide program of “wind warriors” who could be dispatched to fight the industry anywhere, anytime.

The organization would combine efforts and create “what should appear as a ‘groundswell’ among grass roots” to counter legislation supporting wind energy on the federal, state, and local levels.

The leader of the group was John Droz, Jr., a longtime wind opponent and a senior fellow at the ultra-conservative American Tradition Institute (ATI). ATI calls itself an “environmental” think tank. The organization, known best for suing climate scientist Michael Mann, is devoted to spreading doubt about climate change, opposing state-level renewable energy targets, and stripping away environmental regulations.

ATI is so extreme that it was denounced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for contributing to an “environment that inhibits the free exchange of scientific findings and ideas.”

According to a memo just obtained by the Checks and Balances Project and reviewed by Climate Progress, Droz has also been focused on crafting a fake grassroots campaign to fight renewable energy projects — specifically wind — in legislatures, zoning boards, and town halls across the country.

In a poorly timed suggestion, Droz contemplated joining with the Heartland Institute (because there is “substantial commonality”) and launching a fake billboard campaign to derail wind developers. What could go wrong with that?

The memo shows that Droz brought together these wind opponents from all over the country last year to “cause subversion in message of [the wind] industry so that it effectively becomes so bad no one wants to admit they are for it.”

   The minimum national PR campaign goal is to constructively influence national and state wind energy policies. A broader possible goal is to constructively influence national and state energy and environmental policies.

   The goal will be realized by coordination of a focused message along many channels and with multiple voices. The intent is to target three audiences with consistent messaging to create the change. Public opinion must begin to change in what should appear as a “groundswell” among grass roots.

By “constructively influence,” the authors really mean “disrupt” any piece of legislation supporting wind energy — and likely other forms of renewable energy as collateral damage.

The document, authored byIllinois anti-wind attorney Rich Porter and edited by Droz, outlines in great detail how a national PR campaign would function. The group’s campaign efforts would include outreach to a who’s who of conservative media outlets and think tanks already working to discredit renewable energy:Fox News, The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Heartland Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and Americans for Prosperity.

The memo outlines more than 20 ideas for undertaking a national campaign, including teaching anti-wind curriculum in schools and creating “dummy” companies to trip up wind developers attempting to build projects. Below is a list of some of the ideas:

   Youth Outreach will create program for public school coordination as well as college coordination. This will include community activity and participation with sponsorships for science fairs, school activity, etc., with preset parameters that cause students to steer away from wind because they discover it doesn’t meet the criteria we set up (poster contest, essays, etc).

   Set up a dummy business that will go into communities considering wind development, proposing to build 400-foot billboards.

   Create a “think-tank” subgroup to produce and disseminate white paper reports and scientific quotes and papers that back up the message.

   Employ a well-known spokesman with star credibility. (Find one to volunteer?)

   Createcounterintelligence branch(responsible for communicating current industry tactics and strategies as feedback to this organization).

   Write exposé book on the industry, showing government waste, harm to communities, and other negative impacts on people and the environment.

   A team investigates links to any organization supporting wind in order to expose that support.

The release of this memo follows public statements from highly influential conservative groups like ALEC and Americans for Tax Reform about their plans to eliminate targets for renewable energy in states around the country. The Droz anti-wind plan is more proof that these organizations are stepping up their political campaigns against the industry.

Stephen Lacey is a reporter with Climate Progress covering clean energy issues. He formerly worked as a producer/editor at RenewableEnergyWorld.com.

John Droz Jr. identifies himself as "a physicist who has also been an environmental activist for some 25 years." He runs a website called Wind Power Facts (http://windpowerfacts.info/) that argues "we do have serious energy (and environmental) problems, and we should insist on Sound Scientific Solutions (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sound_science) for such matters." The website does not mention that he is also a fellow of the American Tradition Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute).

Droz is a longtime opponent of wind farms, arguing that the technology has not yet been proven and that wind technology should not receive government support. He claims 10,000 subscribers to his anti-wind-power email newsletter.[1]

Facing South notes that Droz "spent most of his career in real estate as an investor and a broker, according to his resume (http://www.northnet.org/brvmug/AREResume.html). He owns two properties in coastal Carteret County, N.C. together valued at over $900,000, according to county tax records; the state approved a wind farm for Carteret County in 2008." He serves as a member of the board of directors and a scientific advisor to NC-20 (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=NC-20&action=edit&redlink=1), a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that brings together local governments, businesses and individuals to fight restrictions on development in coastal North Carolina.[2]

1 Subverting wind power memo (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#Subverting_wind_power_memo)

2 Wind power presentations (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#Wind_power_presentations)

3 Articles and resources (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#Articles_and_resources)

3.1 References (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#References)

3.2 Related SourceWatch articles (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#Related_SourceWatch_articles)

3.3 External resources (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#External_resources)

3.4 External articles (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#External_articles)

Subverting wind power memo

On May 8, 2012, the Guardian posted a confidential memo (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2012/may/09/wind-power-memo) prepared by senior fellow John Droz of the American Tradition Institute (ATI) that advises how to build a national movement of wind farm protesters. Among its main recommendations, the proposal calls for a national PR campaign aimed at causing "subversion in message of [wind] industry so that it effectively becomes so bad that no one wants to admit in public they are for it." It suggests setting up "dummy businesses" to buy anti-wind billboards, and creating a "counter-intelligence branch" to track the wind energy industry. It also calls for spending $750,000 to create an organisation with paid staff and tax-exempt status dedicated to building public opposition to state and federal government policies encouraging the wind energy industry.

The proposal was discussed at a meeting of self-styled 'wind warriors' from across the country in Washington DC in February 2012. Participants included members of conservative groups such as Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Committee_for_a_Constructive_Tomorrow) and Tea Party Patriots (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party_Patriots).

The proposal was reviewed by Droz for discussion at the Washington meeting, which he also organized. ATI's executive director, Tom Tanton (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_Tanton&action=edit&redlink=1), told the Guardian that Droz had acted alone on the memo, although he remains a fellow at ATI. Droz said the Washington strategy session was his own initiative, and that neither he nor any of the participants had been paid for attending the session.[3]

In a phone interview with The Guardian, Droz confirmed that he enlisted support for his anti-wind power effort from FreedomWorks (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FreedomWorks) and Americans for Prosperity (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity) (AFP).[2]

Wind power presentations

In December 2011, Facing South reported that representatives of the American Legislative Exchange Council (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council), American Tradition Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute) and the John Locke Foundation (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation) were holding forums in the North Carolina coastal communities of Wilmington and Morehead City titled, "The Truth About Wind Power on the Coasts of North Carolina" (http://www.johnlocke.org/events/event.html?id=951). One of the presenters was John Droz. N. C. Senate Bill 3, a law that passed in 2007, made the state the first in the Southeast to adopt a minimum requirement for the use of renewable energy sources by investor-owned electric utilities: 12.5 percent by 2025. The groups dismissed the law as an energy tax on the poor. The John Locke Foundation is calling for repealing it entirely, as well as abandoning all state efforts to address global warming.[4]

Articles and resources

References

1. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#cite_ref-0) Suzanne Goldberg, "Conservative thinktanks step up attacks against Obama's clean energy strategy: Confidential memo seen by Guardian calls for climate change sceptics to turn American public against solar and wind power," (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/08/conservative-thinktanks-obama-energy-plans) The Guardian, May 8, 2012.
2. ↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Sue Sturgis, "NC anti-wind power crusader behind plot to subvert renewable energy industry" (http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/05/nc-anti-wind-power-crusader-behind-plot-to-subvert-renewable-energy-industry.html) Facing South, May 11, 2012.
3. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#cite_ref-2) Suzanne Goldberg, "Conservative thinktanks step up attacks against Obama's clean energy strategy: Confidential memo seen by Guardian calls for climate change sceptics to turn American public against solar and wind power," (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/08/conservative-thinktanks-obama-energy-plans) The Guardian, May 8, 2012.
4. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Droz#cite_ref-3) Sue Sturgis, "Climate-science deniers join forces against NC renewable-energy program" (http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/12/climate-science-deniers-join-forces-against-nc-renewable-energy-program.html) Facing South, December 9, 2011.

Related SourceWatch articles

American Tradition Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute)

Western Tradition Partnership (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Tradition_Partnership)

External resources

American Tradition Institute website (http://www.atinstitute.org) (http://www.atinstitute.org/ - not to be confused with the American Tradition Partnership (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership) website at http://www.americantradition.org/ )

External articles

Sue Sturgis, "SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Who's behind the 'information attacks' on climate scientists?" (http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html) Facing South, Oct. 31, 2011

Categories (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories): Renewable energy (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Renewable_energy) | Think tanks (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Think_tanks) | Front groups (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Front_groups)

same as?

To do: disentangle content of WTI/ATI (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute) from WTP/ATP; either that, or merge the two pages.

Western Tradition Partnership (WTP) -- which changed its name in 2010 to American Tradition Partnership (ATP), and spun off the 501(c)(3) Western Tradition Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Tradition_Institute) (WTI) -- is a radical anti-environmental organization linked to the law firm of Colorado's now-Secretary of State, Scott Gessler (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scott_Gessler&action=edit&redlink=1)[1],[2].

Contents[hide]

1 Mission (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Mission)

2 2010: Name change to ATP (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#2010:_Name_change_to_ATP)

3 Personnel (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Personnel)

4 Location (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Location)

5 IRS status; 2010 Form 990? (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#IRS_status.3B_2010_Form_990.3F)

6 Funding (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Funding)

7 Controversies (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Controversies)

7.1 2010: Breaking state campaign law (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#2010:_Breaking_state_campaign_law)

8 Contact (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Contact)

9 Articles and resources (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Articles_and_resources)

9.1 References (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#References)

9.2 Related SourceWatch articles (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#Related_SourceWatch_articles)

9.3 External resources (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#External_resources)

9.4 External article (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#External_articles)

Mission

WTP/ATP bills itself as "a no-compromise grassroots organization dedicated to fighting the radical environmentalist agenda." The group promotes development of land, water and natural resources in the Rocky Mountain West and throughout the United States. It promotes free-market economics.[3 (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_note-2) It says on its Web site that

Dozens of radical eco-organizations whose stated purpose is to dismantle the free enterprise system – and our Constitutionally protected rights – through so-called environmental protection have set their sights on robbing Americans of the right to exist, achieve and produce.[4]

2010: Name change to ATP

The group changed its name to the "American Tradition Partnership," announcing it on Facebook in December, 2010. A search for Western Tradition Partnership redirects tohttp://www.americantradition.org/, where visitors get a form seeking their contact information and urging visitors to "Crush gang green and their business allies!"[5][6]

Personnel

? It is unclear whether this group has identical personnel to the ATI, or whether, in contrast to ATI, ATP pays its staff.

Location

The group is organized in Denver, Colorado and registered in Montana.

IRS status; 2010 Form 990?

According to an IRS document provided by WTP executive director Donald Ferguson, WTP is a 501(c)(4), with EIN 26-2289809, original address c/o Scott Shires. (Ferguson reports. "Mr. Shires is no longer associated with WTP/ATP")[7 (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_note-6) But searching for that EIN has so far been unsuccessful, and it remains unclear whether the group has filed any IRS Form 990s.[8]

Funding

The group says it is supported entirely by members.[9 (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_note-2010-05-wolfpr-8)

Controversies

2010: Breaking state campaign law

An article in the October 22, 2010 Montana Missoulian reported that the Western Tradition Partnership broke state campaign laws when it mailed fliers attacking legislative candidates in the run-up to an election without registering as a political committee and publicly disclosing the source and disposition of its funds. Aa two-year investigation of the group uncovered a PowerPoint presentation created in 2010 that said the group planned to spend $537,000 on Montana elections that year. The state Commission of political practices said the group should pay civil penalties and face further investigation.[10 (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_note-9)

insert;

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Associate Fellow at National Legal & Policy Center

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2. Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation (http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&company=Oregon+Capitol+Watch+Foundation&sortCriteria=R&keepFacets=true&goback=%2Enpv_169921511_name_3Swu1111111111111111111111111%2Efps_PBCK111111_American+Tradition+Institute21_Y111_false_1_R151151_true12222222222222222222_*2&trk=prof-0-ovw-curr_pos),
3. American Tradition Institute (http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&company=American+Tradition+Institute&sortCriteria=R&keepFacets=true&goback=%2Enpv_169921511_name_3Swu1111111111111111111111111%2Efps_PBCK111111_American+Tradition+Institute21_Y111_false_1_R151151_true12222222222222222222_*2&trk=prof-0-ovw-curr_pos)

Previous (http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=14701743&authType=OUT_OF_NETWORK&authToken=aA5Q&locale=en_US&srchid=8cb04299-87e1-4d52-b25d-e8a1c2879055-0&srchindex=3&srchtotal=8&goback=%2Enpv_169921511_name_3Swu1111111111111111111111111%2Efps_PBCK111111_American+Tradition+Institute21_Y111_false_1_R151151_true12222222222222222222_*2&pvs=ps&trk=pp_profile_name_link#background-experience)

1. Cascade Policy Institute (http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&company=Cascade+Policy+Institute&sortCriteria=R&keepFacets=true&goback=%2Enpv_169921511_name_3Swu1111111111111111111111111%2Efps_PBCK111111_American+Tradition+Institute21_Y111_false_1_R151151_true12222222222222222222_*2&trk=prof-0-ovw-prev_pos),
2. International Crop Research Institute of the Semi-Arid Tropics (http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&company=International+Crop+Research+Institute+of+the+Semi-Arid+Tropics&sortCriteria=R&keepFacets=true&goback=%2Enpv_169921511_name_3Swu1111111111111111111111111%2Efps_PBCK111111_American+Tradition+Institute21_Y111_false_1_R151151_true12222222222222222222_*2&trk=prof-0-ovw-prev_pos)

Education (http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=14701743&authType=OUT_OF_NETWORK&authToken=aA5Q&locale=en_US&srchid=8cb04299-87e1-4d52-b25d-e8a1c2879055-0&srchindex=3&srchtotal=8&goback=%2Enpv_169921511_name_3Swu1111111111111111111111111%2Efps_PBCK111111_American+Tradition+Institute21_Y111_false_1_R151151_true12222222222222222222_*2&pvs=ps&trk=pp_profile_name_link#background-education)

1. University of San Francisco (http://www.linkedin.com/college/?eduSchool=17968&goback=%2Enpv_169921511_name_3Swu1111111111111111111111111%2Efps_PBCK111111_American+Tradition+Institute21_Y111_false_1_R151151_true12222222222222222222_*2&trk=prof-0-ovw-edu)

Contact

Main Number: 1-888-WTP-USA1 2011-11 note: this number is not in service.

Donny Ferguson, National Director of Media & Public Relations

(703) 200-3669

donny.f@westerntradition.org

Articles and resources

References

2. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-0) Kaye Fissinger (2010-02-12). What’s behind this curtain? (http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/whats-behind-this-curtain/). Free Range Longmont. Retrieved on 2011-11-05. “[Gessler is] Registered agent for the Montana organization Western Tradition Partnership”
3. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-1) TRACER - Committee Detail - WESTERN TRADITION PARTNERSHIP EDUCATION FUND (http://tracer.sos.colorado.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/CommitteeDetail.aspx?OrgID=18765). Colorado Secretary of State. Retrieved on 2011-11-05. “Committee ID: 20105018765 - Physical Address: PO BOX 88 - Committee Type: 527 Political Organization - Date Registered: 10/13/2010 - Phone: 888-987-8721 [ATP's phone#] - Purpose: TO SUPPORT OR OPPOSE CANDIDATES BASED ON POSITION ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND BUSINESS ISSUES. - Registered Agent: MARIO DANIEL NICOLAIS II Phone: 303-534-4317 - Email: ...@HACKSTAFFGESSLER.COM”
4. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-2) Western Tradition Partnership Western Tradition Partnership (http://www.westerntradition.org/) Home page, accessed June 7, 2010
5. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-3) Western Tradition Partnership Mission (http://www.westerntradition.org/?page_id=59), organizational Web site, accessed June 7, 2010
6. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-4) Western Tradition Partnership WTP Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Western-Tradition-Partnership/237988616695), accessed July 26, 2011
7. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-5) American Tradition Partnership Home page (http://www.americantradition.org/), accessed July 26, 2011
8. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-6) email to ahaynes, 2011-11-07
9. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-7) Email to D.Ferguson, 2011-11-07. Searching for either "Western Tradition Partnership" or "American Tradition Partnership" brought up no organizations on Guidestar or ERI, attempted 2011-11-06 and -08. (The 501(c)(3) American Tradition Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute) does come up.)
10. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-2010-05-wolfpr_8-0) Western Tradition Partnership Fraud and deceit employed in the dangerous wolf "reintroduction" program (http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978230631) Press release, May 11, 2010
11. ↑ (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Partnership#cite_ref-9) Mike Dennison Ruling says Western Tradition Partnership broke state campaign law (http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_9b902fd2-dd81-11df-9486-001cc4c002e0.html), Montana Missoulian, October 22, 2010

Related SourceWatch articles

American Tradition Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute)

External resources

American Tradition Partnershipwebsite (http://www.americantradition.org/) ( http://www.americantradition.org/ - not to be confused with the American Tradition Institute (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute) website at http://www.atinstitute.org/ )

External articles

‘Tasteless’ mailer complaint linked to Gessler:http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/11/25/tasteless-mailer-complaint-linked-to-gessler/

Western Tradition Partnership – Political Hitmen : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/10/16/wtp-thugs-and-hitmen/

Gessler’s car wreck : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/10/15/gessler-car-wreck/

Longmont power brokers launch perpetual electioneering : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/08/20/perpetual-electioneering/

Coincidence or Coordination? : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/06/30/coincidence-or-coordination/

Did Money Buy Longmont Council Elections? You Decide : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/06/27/longmont-elections-bought/

Council Member Levison: Standing strong for honest elections: http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/06/01/council-member-levison-standing-strong-for-honest-elections/

They can run, but they can’t hide : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/05/06/they-can-run-but-they-cant-hide/

Open, transparent, fair and just Elections? : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/05/06/open-elections/

Scott Gessler: By the company he keeps : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/04/11/scott-gessler-by-the-company-he-keeps/

Where’s the skin? : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/03/09/wheres-the-skin/

Longmont’s Hidden 100 : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/03/07/longmonts-hidden-100/

Who benefited from outside influence? : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/who-benefited-from-outside-influence/

What’s behind this curtain? : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/12/whats-behind-this-curtain/

A Correction: Mayor Baum and his contributors and contributing factors : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/01/24/mayor-baum-and-contributors/

Gessler blowing money like there’s no tomorrow : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/06/04/gessler-blowing/

Scott Gessler’s Fundraising Black Hole : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/02/26/scott-gesslers-fundraising-black-hole/

Wrongmont loves Gessler : http://www.freerangelongmont.com/2010/10/04/gessler-wrongmont/

Categories (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories): Stubs (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Stubs) | Front groups portal (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Front_groups_portal) | Climate change (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Climate_change) | Environment (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Environment) | Politics (U.S.) (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Politics_%28U.S.%29)

fromati:

Cases & FOIA (http://www.atinstitute.org/law-ctr/environmental-law-center-cases-and-foia-work/)

American Tradition Institute v. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (http://www.atinstitute.org/american-tradition-institute-v-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration-dr-james-hansen/)(records of Dr. James Hansen, Freedom of Information Act Petition filed June 21, 2011)

On June 21, 2011 American Tradition Institute’s Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia to force NASA to release ethics records for Dr. Hansen. The action followed NASA’s denial of ATI’s federal Freedom of Information Act request (PDF (http://www.americantraditioninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ATI_NASA_Hansen_Ethics_FOIA.pdf)) with NASA, seeking records detailing whether and how ‘global warming’ activist Dr. James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has complied with applicable federal ethics and financial disclosure laws and regulations, and NASA Rules of Behavior.

American Tradition Institute v. University of Virginia (http://www.atinstitute.org/american-tradition-institute-v-university-of-virginia-dr-michael-mann/) (records of Dr. Michael Mann, Freedom of Information Act Petition filed May 16, 2011)

American Tradition Institute’s Environmental Law Center and Virginia Delegate Robert Marshall asked a Prince William County judge, under the Commonwealth’s Freedom of Information Act, to expedite the release of documents withheld by the University of Virginia that pertain to the work of its former environmental sciences assistant professor Dr. Michael Mann. The legal action follows a delay by UVA of more than four months since ATI and Del. Marshall made their original request (http://www.atinstitute.org/american-tradition-institute-va-taxpayers-request-records-from-university-of-virginia-on-climate-scientist-michael-mann/) on Jan. 6.

American Tradition Institute v. State of Colorado, et al. (http://www.atinstitute.org/american-tradition-institute-v-state-of-colorado-constitutionality-of-renewable-energy-standards/) (filed April 4, 2011)

American Tradition Institute’s Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit (http://www.americantraditioninstitute.org/american-tradition-institute-v-state-of-colorado-constitutionality-of-renewable-energy-standards/) in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard, based upon evidence that the state’s law violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Commerce Clause reserves the regulation of interstate commerce to the federal government.

2 Responses to “Cases & FOIA”

FOI FYI » Blog Archive » FOI DAILY DOSE: SEC to reward whistleblowers, U-Va. caves to FOI pressure (http://blogs.spjnetwork.org/foi/?p=1137):

May 26, 2011 at 4:29 pm (http://www.atinstitute.org/law-ctr/environmental-law-center-cases-and-foia-work/#comment-255)

[...] American Tradition Institute’s Environmental Law Center and state legislator  Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) requested about 9,000 pages of records, [...]

Will Marshall pull Allen to the right? | US Senators (http://us-senators.com/2012/01/will-marshall-pull-allen-to-the-right/):

January 19, 2012 at 10:23 am (http://www.atinstitute.org/law-ctr/environmental-law-center-cases-and-foia-work/#comment-991)

[...] hundreds of e-mails involving its former climatology professor Michael Mann, Marshall stepped in. Working with the American Traditions Institute, Marshall filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get some of the e-mails and further the [...]

Profile: American Tradition Partnership (ATP)

a.k.a. Western Tradition Partnership

Related Entities:

Has as leader Donald Ferguson (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=donald_ferguson_1)

Child organization of American Tradition Institute (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=american_tradition_institute_1)

American Tradition Partnership (ATP) was a participant or observer in the following events:

December 30, 2011 and After: Montana Supreme Court Rules that State Campaign Finance Ban Stands in Spite of ‘Citizens United’ Decision (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a123011mtscwtpban#a123011mtscwtpban)

(http://www.historycommons.org/eventedit.jsp?oid=1626004942-108187)

The Montana Supreme Court rules 5-2 in the case of Western Tradition Partnership v. Bullock that a century-old law prohibits corporate spending in state and federal elections conducted within the state. The ruling seems to challenge the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling (see January 21, 2010 (http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a012110ussccitizensunited)). The case stems from a challenge by a “social welfare organization,” Western Tradition Partnership (WTP, which changed its name to American Tradition Partnership after the original lawsuit was filed), joined by two other corporate entities, to Montana’s 1912 Corrupt Practices Act (CPA). The law banned corporate spending in elections, after two out-of-state copper industry magnates attempted to “buy” the Montana legislature by pouring money into the 1894 state elections. The law declares that “corporations may not make… an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political committee that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party.” The Montana Supreme Court finds that the CPA is needed to ensure the integrity of Montana’s elections, and to make sure that citizens and not corporations are running the state. However, the Court acknowledges that its ruling conflicts with the Citizens United decision, though it says that the Citizens United decision allows for restrictions on corporate political speech if the government can demonstrate that the restrictions are as minimal as possible to achieve a compelling governmental interest. The Montana Court rules that because of Montana’s history of corporate vote-buying and the narrow restrictions of the CPA, the law should stand. It also notes that Western Tradition Partnership argued in its original suit that disclosure laws, as opposed to outright bans, would serve the public interest and guard against corruption; however, the organization is currently involved in another lawsuit in which it argues that those same disclosure laws are unconstitutional restrictions of the freedom of speech. WESTERN TRADITION PARTNERSHIP V. BULLOCK ET AL, 12/30/2011  (http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/MT-expenditures-decision.pdf); LOS ANGELES TIMES, 1/4/2012 (http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/04/nation/la-na-montana-court-20120104); REUTERS, 6/25/2012 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/us-usa-campaign-court-idUSBRE85O0P520120625); OMB WATCH, 6/25/2012 (http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12113); WASHINGTON POST, 6/25/2012 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/supreme-courts-montana-decision-strengthens-citizens-united/2012/06/25/gJQA8Vln1V_blog.html);OMB WATCH, 7/10/2012 (http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12133)] Even one of the dissenters, Justice James C. Nelson, disagrees with the Citizens United characterizations that corporations are legally people, writing: “Corporations are not persons. Human beings are persons, and it is an affront to the inviolable dignity of our species that courts have created a legal fiction which forces people—human beings—to share fundamental, natural rights with soulless creatures of government. Worse still, while corporations and human beings share many of the same rights under the law, they clearly are not bound equally to the same codes of good conduct, decency, and morality, and they are not held equally accountable for their sins. Indeed, it is truly ironic that the death penalty and hell are reserved only to natural persons.” WTP’s director Donald Ferguson says after the decision that the case hinges on freedom of speech (see January 21, 2010 (http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a012110ussccugopfree)): “The current state law says that if you own a business and you would like to use the resources of the business to speak out about how you see the law, you essentially have to ask prior permission from the state. Under the current regime, the state regulatory agencies and the newspapers basically have a monopoly on information. We’re simply trying to put more free speech in motion.” LOS ANGELES TIMES, 1/4/2012 (http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/04/nation/la-na-montana-court-20120104); [HUFFINGTON POST, 1/4/2012 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/citizens-united-montana-supreme-court-corporate-spending_n_1182168.html)] 

Legal Scholars Anticipate Montana Ruling to be Overturned - Paul Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center calls the Montana high court’s ruling “an antidote to the crabbed view of corruption” displayed in Citizens United. Ryan, like many others, anticipates the US Supreme Court will overturn today’s ruling. HUFFINGTON POST, 1/4/2012 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/citizens-united-montana-supreme-court-corporate-spending_n_1182168.html)] One of those others is law professor Richard Hasen, who writes: “[I]f the Court were being honest in Citizens United, it would have said something like: ‘We don’t care whether or not independent spending can or cannot corrupt; the First Amendment trumps this risk of corruption.’ But the Court didn’t say that, because it would have faced even greater criticism than it already has. So it dressed up its value judgment (no corruption ‘implied in law’) as a factual statement. The Montana Supreme Court called SCOTUS [the US Supreme Court] on this. And when SCOTUS reverses, the disingenuousness of this aspect of CU will be on full display for all.” Hasen is referring to the Court’s finding in Citizens United that independent spending in elections does not legally imply corruption. RICK HASEN, 1/1/2012 (http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27232)] 

Appeal to Supreme Court - Attorneys for WTP and the other corporate plaintiffs will appeal to the US Supreme Court on the grounds that Montana is bound by theCitizens United decision and that the decision applies to state as well as federal elections. Attorney James Bopp, in filing the appeal, will say: “If Montana can ban core political speech because of Montana’s unique characteristics, free speech will be seriously harmed. Speakers will be silenced because of corruption by others over a century ago.” The US Supreme Court will quickly issue a stay of that decision. [REUTERS, 6/25/2012 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/us-usa-campaign-court-idUSBRE85O0P520120625); OMB WATCH, 6/25/2012 (http://www.ombwatch.org/node/12113)] When the case reaches the US Supreme Court, the name of the plaintiff will change into “American Tradition Partnership,” and the Court’s documentation will reflect that change. The Court will overrule the Montana decision (see June 25, 2012 (http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a062512usscmontana)). After the decision, American Tradition Partnership’s Web site will disappear, but the liberal accountability organization SourceWatch will describe the organization’s parent, the American Tradition Institute, as described in the group’s mission statement: “a public policy research and educational foundation… founded in 2009 to help lead the national discussion about environmental issues, including air and water quality and regulation, responsible land use, natural resource management, energy development, property rights, and free-market principles of stewardship.” ATI and its affiliates are pro-development and against expanded environmental regulation, according to SourceWatch’s documentation, made up of “a broader network of groups with close ties to energy interests that have long fought greenhouse gas regulation.” SOURCEWATCH, 2012 (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Tradition_Institute)]

Entity Tags: American Tradition Institute (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=american_tradition_institute_1), American Tradition Partnership (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=american_tradition_partnership_1), Donald Ferguson (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=donald_ferguson_1), James C. Nelson (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=james_cnelson_1), 1912 Corrupt Practices Act (Montana) (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=1912_corrupt_practices_actmontana1), SourceWatch (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=sourcewatch_1), US Supreme Court (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=supreme_court), Paul S. Ryan (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=paul_sryan_1), Montana Supreme Court (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=montana_supreme_court_1), James Bopp, Jr (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=james_bopp__jr_1), Richard L. Hasen (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=richard_l._hasen)

Timeline Tags: Civil Liberties (http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=civilliberties)

(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=120&winname=addthis&pub=historycommons&source=men-120&lng=en&s=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.historycommons.org%2Fentity.jsp%3Fentity%3Damerican_tradition_partnership_1&title=American%20Tradition%20Partnership&logo=&logobg=&logocolor=&ate=AT-historycommons/-/-/51e99fe3879202bb/2&frommenu=1&uid=51e99fe3183c51a9&ct=0&pre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&tt=0&captcha_provider=nucaptcha)

February 10-17, 2012: US Supreme Court Issues Stay on Montana Supreme Court’s Ruling against ‘Citizens United,’ Will Likely Hear Appeal (http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a02101712usscstaymtsc#a02101712usscstaymtsc)

(http://www.historycommons.org/eventedit.jsp?oid=1626004942-108174)

The decision of the Montana Supreme Court to uphold Montana’s ban on corporate donations to political campaigns (see December 30, 2011 and After (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=american_tradition_partnership_1#a123011mtscwtpban)), which directly contradicts the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision (seeJanuary 21, 2010 (http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a012110ussccitizensunited)), is being appealed to the US Supreme Court. The plaintiffs, American Tradition Partnership (ATP) and the other two corporate entities that joined ATP in the original lawsuit, ask Justice Anthony Kennedy to issue a stay on the Montana high court verdict while the Supreme Court considers the appeal. In their application for a stay, the plaintiffs write: “The Montana Supreme Court held the ban constitutional despite the holding in [the Citizens United decision] that ‘[n]o sufficient governmental interest justifies limits on the political speech of nonprofit or for-profit corporations.’ Immediate relief is needed to prevent irreparable harm to the corporations’ First Amendment free-speech right. Montana’s primary elections are on June 5, making it vital that planning begin now for independent expenditures before the election.” The application also asks Kennedy to refer the matter to the Court, have it treated as a petition for review, and then summarily reverse the Montana Supreme Court. James Bopp, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, writes, “The lower court’s refusal to followCitizens United is such an obvious, blatant disregard of its duty to follow this Court’s decisions that summary reversal is proper.” In a statement, Bopp adds: “Unequivocally, Citizens United means that corporate independent expenditure bans are invalid under the United States Constitution. The Montana Supreme Court has shirked its responsibility to follow that decisions and the United States Supreme Court should reverse their ruling.” The other two parties involved as plaintiffs are the Montana Shooting Sports Association and Champion Painting Inc. At least five justices vote to issue the stay, though an official decision to accept the case on appeal is still pending, and the Court has not spoken on the subject of summary reversal. Two justices who dissented from the Citizens United case, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer, agree that the Montana Supreme Court’s decision should be reviewed, but in a statement attached to the stay order, add: “Montana’s experience, and experience elsewhere since this Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm’n, make it exceedingly difficult to maintain that independent expenditures by corporations ‘do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.’ A petition for certiorari will give the Court an opportunity to consider whether, in light of the huge sums currently deployed to buy candidates’ allegiance, Citizens Unitedshould continue to hold sway. Because lower courts are bound to follow this Court’s decisions until they are withdrawn or modified, however, I vote to grant the stay.” The stay allows Montana corporations to donate without restriction to super PACs operated on behalf of electoral candidates. LEGAL TIMES, 2/10/2012 (http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2012/02/montana-independent-expenditure-challengers-ask-justice-kennedy-to-stay-lower-court-ruling.html);SCOTUSBLOG, 2/17/2012 (http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/02/montana-campaign-ruling-on-hold/); US SUPREME COURT, 2/17/2012  (http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/11A762_American_Tradition_v_Bullock_Order.pdf)] The US Supreme Court will strike down the Montana ruling (see June 25, 2012 (http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a062512usscmontana)).

Entity Tags: Montana Shooting Sports Association (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=montana_shooting_sports_association_1), American Tradition Partnership (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=american_tradition_partnership_1),Anthony Kennedy (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=anthony_kennedy_1), James Bopp, Jr (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=james_boppjr_1), Stephen Breyer (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=stephen_breyer_1), Champion Painting Inc. (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=champion_painting_inc1), Montana Supreme Court (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=montana_supreme_court_1), Ruth Bader Ginsberg (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=ruth_bader_ginsberg_1), US Supreme Court (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=supreme_court)

Timeline Tags: Civil Liberties (http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=civilliberties)

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=american_tradition_partnership_1 (http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=american_tradition_partnership_1)

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