CFG
=<div>this is a tag for club for growth</div><div>content post 3/15</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div><h1 id="pf-title" style="font-size: 23.1000003814697px; margin: 1em 0px; clear: both; color: green; font-family: Arial; direction: ltr; page-break-inside: avoid !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jeb Bush Trashes Father’s Clean Air Legacy to Woo Far Right-Wing</h1><p><span id="pf_author" style="font-size: 0.85em; color: rgb(127, 127, 127); display: block; margin: -1em 0px 1em; float: left; font-family: Arial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">John Walke, NRDC Action Fund</span></p><div id="pf-content" style="clear: both; direction: ltr; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="pf-content" data-twttr-id="twttr-sandbox-0"><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">Jeb Bush trashed the Clean Air Act last week. He was speaking to the far right-wing <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/club-for-growth-targets-republicans-88153.html" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">Club for Growth</a>, notorious for mounting mostly unsuccessful challenges from the right against Republican candidates during congressional primaries.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">A <em>Washington Post</em> reporter attended the speech and posted some of Bush’s remarks on Twitter:</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">So Jeb Bush thinks the Clean Air Act “stifled the ability for people to rise up.” Does he mean polluting corporations that a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/558/08-205/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">5-4 Supreme Court says are people</a>?</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">Or does he mean that loud clamor for “rising up” by ordinary Americans, who consistently voice very strong support for the Clean Air Act and clean air safeguards, with <a href="http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/resource-database/review-of-polling-data-on-clean-air" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">large majorities</a> across the political spectrum Bob Marley, Mr. Bush ain’t.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">Jeb Bush’s father, President <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19039" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">George H.W. Bush</a>, signed the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 after <a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=101&session=2&vote=00324" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">89 Senators</a> and <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/101-1990/h137" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">401 House members</a> (including 154 Republicans, all but 16) voted for the law.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">President Bush’s <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19039" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">signing statement</a> said he took “great pleasure in signing [the Clean Air Act] as a demonstration to the American people of my determination that each and every American shall breathe clean air.”</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/bush-domestic/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">Newspapers</a> at the time called the president’s signing of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 “the single most distinguished policy achievement of the Bush administration.”</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cleanairactbenefits/feb11/summaryreport.pdf" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">Clean Air Act</a> is estimated to achieve almost $2 trillion in yearly benefits to the American people by 2020. These vast benefits are delivered in the form of “significant reductions in air pollution” related premature death and illness, improved economic welfare of Americans, and better environmental conditions.” The <a href="http://www.epa.gov/cleanairactbenefits/feb11/summaryreport.pdf" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">estimated</a> annual costs to achieve these benefits will be about $65 billion by 2020. [graph omit]</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">So this staggering Bush senior achievement is one that Bush junior singles out for condemnation. It’s bewildering. One might even say it takes one’s breath away.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">Does Jeb Bush know of any federal law that accomplishes greater benefits for Americans relative to the cost? Would a law personally acceptable to him need to achieve $3 trillion in benefits compared to an even tinier fraction of costs? Mr. Bush’s applause line for the extreme right does not yield those answers.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">Clean Air Act benefits vastly outweighs costs over the entire study period in this exhibit. But what about any impacts to economic growth due to Clean Air Act implementation?</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">This <a href="http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/2010/report/airpollution.pdf" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">chart</a> shows that over the period from 1990 through 2008, primarily due to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 signed by President Bush, U.S. Gross Domestic Product increased by more than 64 percent while the six most common air pollutants regulated by the Act decreased 41 percent. [grapgh]</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">Stifling, I say.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">I cannot help but wonder whether a related clean air benefit prompted Jeb Bush’s condemnation of airline regulations. Does he mean another law signed by his father, one that “<a href="http://www.uhc.com/bmtn-categories/bmtn-news/2015/02/25/today-in-health-history-smoking-on-domestic-flights-is-banned" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">banned smoking on all domestic flights of less than six hours?</a>”</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">I cannot tell you how many flights I have been on since then where stifled passengers were loudly demanding the right to rise up and fill airplane cabins with choking tobacco smoke.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">The Post reporter also tweeted this Jeb Bush comment to the Club for Growth:</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;" /><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">It makes you wonder what Bush would have said if he were speaking to the Hair Club for Men.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">That “growth at all cost” mentality reminded me of an <a href="http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9AH07M20131118?irpc=932" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">article</a> I had read: “To Tackle Pollution, China to Drop Pursuit of Growth at All Costs.” The “growth at all cost” vision thing espoused by Bush has resulted in <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-31110408" target="blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">China</a> having some of the most despoiled and deadly air pollution in the world.</p><p style="color: rgb(8, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">The Chinese <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21542826" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(2, 106, 217); word-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none;">people</a> are rising up alright—against dangerous air pollution....</p><p><font color="#080000" face="Arial"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.0400009155273px;">http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/03/jeb-bush-trashes-fathers-legacy</span></font></p></div></div><p></p><p>716 capt main:</p><p>
</p><p>CFG716
7/16
=
see WI CfG
WI Club for Growth, Target of Walker Recall Probe, at Center of Dark Money Web
Governor Scott Walker's campaign and dozens of Republican-aligned political groups have been subpoenaed in a wide-ranging probe into potential campaign finance violations during Wisconsin's contentious 2011 and 2012 recall elections, and a group at the center of the storm appears to be Wisconsin Club for Growth, one of the top spenders during the recalls and whose leaders have close ties to Governor Walker and national donors, including the Koch brothers.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/12309
=
actualy run/funded by?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93012519
2008
The Club for Growth is a conservative group whose goals include making President Bush's tax cuts permanent, repealing the estate tax, cutting government spending and promoting free trade and tort reform — not to mention deregulation in general.
The group has been active in congressional races this year, but has not decided whether to support GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
The group was founded in 1999 by Stephen Moore (now a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board); National Review Chair Thomas L. "Dusty" Rhodes; Cato Institute President Ed Crane; stockbroker Richard Gilder; and Larry Kudlow, a former Reagan adviser and co-host of CNBC's Kudlow & Cramer.
The group supports "pro-growth" candidates, especially in Republican primaries, where it does not hesitate to criticize Republican incumbents for being too moderate.
In 2004, the group spent heavily in an unsuccessful bid to unseat Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), favoring the more conservative Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA). After Toomey's defeat, he became president of Club for Growth.
The Federal Election Commission sued and fined the Club for Growth's 527 for violating election laws by expressly advocating for the defeat of candidates in the 2004 election season.
Its old 527, called Citizens Club for Growth, is now inactive, though it also has another 527 called ClubForGrowth.net, which the group uses to pay for TV ads. The main Club for Growth is now a 501(c)4, and it also has another affiliated 501(c)4 called Club for Growth State Action. There is also a Club for Growth political action committee.
Funders: In 2008, Richard Gilder ($200,000); Virginia James ($500,000); Richard Schaife ($25,000); Jackson Stephens ($100,000); Bob Perry ($250,000); John D. Bryan ($75,000); Richard Sharp ($100,000). In 2007, John Childs ($200,000); Bob Perry ($200,000); and Jackson Stephens ($200,000).
Leadership: Patrick J. Toomey, Chuck Pike, David Keating, Adam Rozansky, Andrew Roth, Erika Sather, Nachama Soloveichik, Thomas L. "Dusty" Rhodes, Richard Gilder, Ken Blackwell, Frayda Levin, Howard Rich, Jackson T. Stephens, Ed Crane. Read more about these leaders in the Secret Money Leadership Directory.
Will Evans is a reporter for the Center for Investigative Reporting, NPR's partner on the Secret Money Project.
huffpo
here is more to the Indiana Senate race between Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and State Treasurer Richard Mourdock than meets the eye.
The contest will also be a rematch between Donnelly and his past House competitor, Mourdock backer and former Indiana Rep.Chris Chocola (R). In 2004, Donnelly challenged then-incumbent Chocola for his U.S. House seat. Chocola won the race with 54 percent of the vote. But in 2006, Donnelly tried again and emerged victorious. Donnelly has successfully defended his House seat over the past two election cycles.
Chocola currently serves as president of the conservative Club For Growth, whichsupported Mourdock in the Republican primary against six-term incumbent Richard Lugar. The organization has spent $517,691 on Mourdock's campaign so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
“We were opponents in two races, and they were both
2014
It looks like the Club for Growth really holds a grudge. The right-leaning free enterprise group that has been going after Republican incumbents is out with a new ad Monday targeting Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran (R) -- for votes as far back as the administration of President Jimmy Carter.
The 76-year-old Cochran, who first went to Congress in 1973, certainly has cast a lot of votes, first in the House, then in the Senate, where he has been since 1978. There's plenty for opponents to criticize, and the Club for Growth goes for the whole sweep, starting with Cochran's voting with Carter on education policy. It also touches President George H.W. Bush's "read my lips" pledge of no new taxes, and the many times Cochran has backed hiking the nation's debt ceiling, which just about any politician who served more than a year has had to do.
In fact, while the Cochran ad doesn't mention it, Club for Growth president Chris Chocola voted for budgets that hiked the nation's borrowing cap three times: from $6.4 trillion to $7.384 trillion in 2003, to $8.1 trillion in 2004, and to $8.965 trillion in 2005 and 2006. Chocola was a Republican congressman from Indiana from 2003 to 2007.
The Club For Growth ad is not the only one being dropped on Cochran, who is being challenged by state Sen. Chris McDaniel. Senate Conservatives Action, a political action committee founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), also announced it was spending more than $300,000 on a spot touting McDaniel.
Grand Total: $5,394,277
Total For Democrats: $0
Total Against Democrats: $851,883
Total For Republicans: $786,755
Total Against Republicans: $3,755,639
Candidate State Party Office Total For Against
Amash, Justin MI R House $1,141 $1,141 $0
Begich, Mark AK D Senate $120,837 $0 $120,837
Brooke, William W AL R House $176,967 $0 $176,967
Bucshon, Larry IN R House $965 $0 $965
Cochran, Thad MS R Senate $2,417,688 $0 $2,417,688
Cotton, Tom AR R Senate $1,521 $1,521 $0
Crawford, Rick AR R House $965 $0 $965
Dinsdale, Sid NE R Senate $256,908 $0 $256,908
Ellis, Brian MI R House $195,296 $0 $195,296
Ellmers, Renee NC R House $965 $0 $965
Kinzinger, Adam IL R House $965 $0 $965
Lucas, Frank D OK R House $965 $0 $965
McDaniel, Chris MS R Senate $722,374 $722,374 $0
Osborn, Shane NE R Senate $221,668 $0 $221,668
Palazzo, Steven MS R House $965 $0 $965
Pryor, Mark AR D Senate $731,046 $0 $731,046
Ratcliffe, John Lee TX R House $56,247 $56,247 $0
Roby, Martha AL R House $965 $0 $965
Sasse, Ben NE R Senate $1,552 $1,552 $0
Schock, Aaron IL R House $1,122 $0 $1,122
Simpson, Mike ID R House $478,732 $0 $478,732
Smith, Bryan ID R House $3,143 $3,143 $0
Sullivan, Dan AK R Senate $777 $777 $0
Walden, Greg OR R House $503 $0 $50
---
JAMES, VIRGINIA
LAMBERTVILLE, NJ 08530 INVESTOR 02/19/14 $1,000,000
JAMES, VIRGINIA
LAMBERTVILLE, NJ 08530 INVESTOR 08/16/13 $500,000
MERCER, ROBERT
EAST SETAUKET, NY 11733 RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES CORP. 03/20/14 $500,000
UIHLEIN, RICHARD
LAKE FOREST, IL 60045 ULINE 12/30/13 $250,000
ARNOTT, ROBERT D
NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92660 RESEARCH AFFILIATES 04/09/13 $250,000
UIHLEIN, RICHARD
LAKE FOREST, IL 60045 ULINE 01/29/13 $200,000
PFEIFER, STEVEN
HOUSTON, TX 77056 P.O.&G. RESOURCES 09/06/13 $150,000
FISCH, LAURA ROBERSON
NEW YORK, NY 10128 09/25/13 $100,000
HAYDEN, JERRY
SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85255 PEACOCK ENG. CO. 10/02/13 $100,000
HAYDEN, JERRY
SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85255 PEACOCK ENG. CO. 02/10/14 $100,000
HAYDEN, JERRY
SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85255 PEACOCK ENG. CO. 02/15/14 $100,000
MERCER, ROBERT
EAST SETAUKET, NY 11733 RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES CORP. 06/24/13 $100,000
HAYDEN, JERRY
SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85255 PEACOCK ENG. CO. 05/10/13 $100,000
CHILDS, JOHN
VERO BEACH, FL 32963 J.W. CHILDS ASSOCIATES 03/17/14 $100,000
YOUNG, FRED M JR
RACINE, WI 53402 N.A 08/29/13 $70,000
DANIELS, GEORGE G
ORLANDO, FL 32859 DANIELS MANUFACTURING CORP. 12/17/13 $50,000
BANISTER, SCOTT
HALF MOON BAY, CA 94019 STARTUP CONSULTANT 02/20/14 $50,000
UIHLEIN, RICHARD
LAKE FOREST, IL 60045 ULINE 05/07/13 $50,000
KATZ, CARY
LAS VEGAS, NV 89134 COLLEGE LOAN CORPORATION 08/02/13 $50,000
CURTIS, JOHN
MAITLAND, FL 32751 ECONOMIST 03/04/14 $50,00
---
clarium
Clarium Capital Management to Mike Coffman (R) in 2010
Clarium Capital Management to Bob Beauprez (R) in 2006
Clarium Capital Management to Dana Rohrabacher (R) in 2006
Clarium Capital Management to Denny Rehberg (R) in 2006
Clarium Capital Management to Jeff Flake (R) in 2006
JW Childs Assoc $1,125,000 $1,125,000 $0
2 Exoxemis Inc drug co pharma $1,025,000 $1,025,000 $0
3 Clarium Capital Management $1,000,000 $1,000,000 $0
3 Perry Homes $1,000,000 $1,000,000 $0
3 Thiel Capital $1,000,000 $1,000,000 $0
6 Uline Inc $835,000 $835,000 $0
7 Research Affiliates LLC $750,000 $750,000 $0
8 Team Demint $700,000 $0 $700,000
9 Renaissance Technologies $600,000 $600,000 $0
10 Peacock Engineering $500,000 $500,000 $0
11 Richard & Barbara Gaby Foundation $200,000 $200,000 $0
12 HA Langer & Assoc $150,000 $150,000 $0
13 PO&G Resources $125,000 $125,000 $0
14 Maxir Corp $104,000 $104,000 $0
15 American Securities $100,000 $100,000 $0
15 Cato Institute $100,000 $100,000 $0
15 Elliott Assoc $100,000 $100,000 $0
15 Mountaire Corp $100,000 $100,000 $0
15 Parkman Whaling $100,000 $100,000 $0
15 Quantum Energy Partners $100,000 $0 $100,000
15 Rosebush Corp $100,000 $0 $100,00
=
Website: clubforgrowth.org
Social media: YouTube channel, Twitter profile, Facebook page (all accounts jointly operated with Club for Growth Action)
Finances:
For the group's fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010:
Total Revenue: $5.8 million
Total Expenses: $4.6 million
Net assets: $2.3 million
IRS Form 990 filing: 2009
Principals:
Chris Chocola (president): Chocola runs the Club for Growth network. He was CEO at CTB, a manufacturing corporation in Indiana and he represented Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District in U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007.
Chuck Pike (executive vice president): Pike held leadership positions at the Neumann Companies, a nature preservation company in Wisconsin, and Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit in Virginia that focuses on military service and veterans. Pike was chief of staff in Washington to several congressmen, including Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who was once president of the Club for Growth.
Stephen Moore (founder): Now on the Wall Street Journal editorial board, Moore began his economics career at the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, both libertarian think tanks. He founded the Club for Growth and served as its president until 2004. He also founded the Free Enterprise Fund and was a contributor to the National Review.
Profile:
Founder Stephen Moore started the Club for Growth — now a network of nonprofits and political committees — in 1999 to advance free-market, conservative ideals.
The Club focuses specifically on issues such as reducing the income tax, budget reform, a flat tax, tort reform, school choice and deregulation, according to its website.
Club for Growth Inc., a politically active nonprofit, also has a sister super PAC called Club for Growth Action, a traditional political action committee called Club for Growth PAC and several state spinoffs, including groups in South Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Missouri. Groups in Arizona, Virginia, Kansas and California have disbanded, according to a spokesman.
As a “social welfare” nonprofit organization, Club for Growth Inc. is not required to disclose its donors. While it can take and spend unlimited sums of money on independent campaign activities, the group cannot legally make election activities its “primary” purpose, according to tax law.
While the nonprofit’s donors are a mystery, several of the top donors to the super PAC, which does disclose its donors, are members of Club for Growth???s board of directors or leadership council.
The board and council members have ties to a free-market, conservative network funded in large part by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch:
Frayda Levin is also director at Americans for Prosperity, which was founded by David Koch. She and her husband, Ken Levy, are part of the Kochs’ “million-dollar club.” That means they have given $1 million or more to Koch-supported causes and were thanked personally by the Koch brothers at a private retreat in 2011, Mother Jones reported. The couple is also a major donor to the Cato Institute, which was founded by David Koch.
Howie Rich, a real estate developer, sits on the board of the Cato Institute.
John W. Childs, a private equity investor, Jerry Hayden, former president of Peacock Engineering, and Virginia James, a New Jersey-based investor, are all part of the “million-dollar club.”
John Bryan, a retired oil tycoon, was a featured speaker at the 2011 Koch retreat in Palm Springs, Calif.
Moore began his career in the Kochs’ backyard, first as budget expert at the Heritage Foundation and a senior economics fellow at the Cato Institute.
Larry Kudlow, the host of CNBC’s "The Kudlow Report," is a member of the leadership council and has had Club for Growth President Chris Chocola on his show several times.
Like the super PAC, Club for Growth Inc. has spent money in favor of tea party candidates, including Richard Mourdock, who beat??longtime incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. The group also paid for ads critical of Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch.
The nonprofit's most recent independent expenditure is from July, when the group aired ads supporting Arizona Republican Rep. Jeff Flake in his U.S. Senate bid against fellow Republican Wil Cardon. Flake prevailed in an August GOP primary.
Advertisements: RINO]
No Moreappeared to blame incumbent Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana for the nation's $15 trillion debt. Club for Growth Action, the super PAC, ran ads opposing Lugar. Richard Mourdock defeated the longtime moderate senator in Indiana’s GOP Senate primary.
“Debt” also appeared to blame Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican, for the debt and for supporting the "Wall Street bailout." In the state's Republican primary, Hatch handily defeated Dan Liljenquist, who was backed many tea party activists.
For more ads, see Club for Growth’s YouTube page.
Last updated: Jan. 22, 2013
More stories about
Business and Finance, Politics, United States, Politics of the United States, Political action committee, Club for Growth, Chris Chocola, Lawrence Kudlow
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/08/22/10739/nonprofit-profile-club-growth-inc
=
firedog:
A Little Known Political Force: Club for Growth
5:10 pm in Uncategorized by Cynicalrevolt
During the debt ceiling kabuki, Republicans brought up a debt deal that couldn’t make it out of the House, because a significant number of Republicans voted against it. The next day, Republicans put a similar bill on the table, but this one had a “balanced budget amendment”. This one passed. Politico reported a big reason why, Club for Growth said they did not support Boehner’s old bill, but supported the new one, since it has the balanced budget amendment. This is no accident, because a little research shows that Club for Growth, although not a household name, is a key political force.
Club for Growth is classified as a “heavy hitter” by OpenSecrets. They have already spent almost 80,000 dollars (all for Republicans) for the 2012 election. Pat Toomey was the President from 2005-2009 and was a big contributor to the PAC before winning a Senate Seat in 2010. He is a Republican who supports charter schools, has a terrible environmental record, and is for de-regulation of private industry.
On their website, the group is publicly endorsing 4 candidates:
Josh Mandel is running for an Ohio Senate seat. He is running against Democrat Sherrod Brown and is currently the Ohio State treasurer. He is responsible for one of the biggest (and first) property tax slashes in history. While in the State Senate, he voted against a bill that would insure equal rights (and would make it illegal to discriminate because of sexual orientation) in the work place. His campaigns have been filled with anti-Islam rhetoric, fearmongering about Iran, and he is a member of the premier Israel lobby, AIPAC.
Ted Cruz is running for Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s (who is retiring) seat in the Senate. He was the former Solicitor General of Texas where he was appointed in 2003. He worked on the Bush/Cheney campaign and was the Domestic Policy Advisor under Bush 2 (remember how well that went?). He has been endorsed by people like Erick Erickson, FreedomWorks’ PAC, Mark Levin, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul. On his campaign site, he brags that he has defended “America’s Free-Market Economy” and fought “voter fraud.” He has also sued to “defeat ObamaCare”. Club for Growth has donated 5,000 dollars to his campaign.
The only incumbent Club for Growth is publicly supporting on their website is Congressman Steve King. They have donated 35,885 dollars to his campaign in this election cycle so far. Recently, King has been a real antagonist to the debt ceiling debate, has voted against any and every deal, and argued that default isn’t such a bad thing.
Jeff Flake is running for the Senate in Arizona (Flake is currently in the House). CFG has already donated 450,890 to Flake’s campaign. If you have been paying attention, you can guess what kind of politician Flake is. He argues for the “shrinking of the federal government” and “decreasing spending”. He still thinks that George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security was a good idea. Naturally, he voted for the renewal of the Patriot Act, voted for the Iraq War, and is staunchly anti-environmental.
Club for Growth has also donated 10,000 dollars to Rand PAC, which is “a leadership PAC” for Senator Rand Paul. Paul has held fundraisers for the PAC with recommended donations of 1,000-5,000 dollars a plate. Despite framing himself as a “Washington Outsider”, Paul has taken much more big money (from groups like Club for Growth, the Koch Brothers, and Big Coal) than small money. He even took 2,000 dollars from Sarah Palin’s PAC.
In the last election cycle, Club for Growth gave money to “Family-PAC” an Illinois PAC, which describes itself as a “pro-family, anti-tax political committee in Illinois” and laughably calls itself a “grassroots campaign”. They have supported Republicans (they have only donated to Republicans) Tom Coburn, Senator Jim Demint and others. They have received money from the CATO Institute, the US Chamber of Commerce, and Dick Barton (who has also donated to Michelle Bachmann), an executive of PNC Bank. PNC has good reason to donate to candidates, they are consistently accused of fraud, abuse, excessive fees, and general unfairness.
In the last election cycle, Club for Growth spent more than a quarter of million dollars for Sharron Angle in her loss to Harry Reid. They actually spent almost half a million dollars ($209,000 of it on TV ads, that they admit anyway) against John M. Spratt, who was the House Committee on the Budget chairman. He lost the race, and Paul Ryan became the new House Committee on the Budget chairman. Although Spratt out-raised the challenger Mulvaney, Mulvaney had 148,445 dollars of independent expenditures spent for him. Spratt had less than $7,000 of independent expenditures spent for him, and over 2 million dollars spent against him. In 2008, Club For Growth spent against Mike Huckabee, and John McCain’s bid for president, and didn’t seem to like any of the Republican candidates, one wonders who they will get behind this time.
So who are the donors to this group? There are a lot, The Center for Responsible Politics has 42 pages of about 75 people a piece on the 2008 cycle and about 28 pages for the 2010 election. Among those giving the max $5,000, are David Macneil, a member of the credit agency Silvercrest, Robert Levy of the Cato Institute, George Mitchell, the President of “School Choice” (read charter schools) of Wisconsin, and Howard Seidler, an investor of Saxon Investment Corporation. Out of people who gave $5,000 to the PAC for the 2010 cycle, I count 51 of them being involved in investment, banking, or hedge funds.
Club for Growth has proven to be a political force in and for the Republican Party, and as money continues to play an even bigger role in politics, its time we pay less attention to candidates and more attention to groups like this.
Tags: Bachmann, Cato, Corporations, Huckabee, Paul Ryan, PNC, Sharron Angle, Spratt
=
Founded in 1999, the Club for Growth is a conservative political action group that seeks to promote public policies that support a fiscally conservative economic agenda. The Club accomplishes its mission by raising money through its political action committee and donating it to candidates that adhere to this vision. hide
It also solidifies its clout through independent expenditures through a separate 527 committee. The Club’s PAC also acts as a conduit for federal candidates by accepting and transmitting earmarked contributions from the club’s many members to federal candidates. Historically, the Club has contributed to the campaigns of Republicans; and the Club’s conduit activities and adherence to a cornerstone of conservative philosophy give it serious clout in Washington -- conservative candidates often battle for the Club’s endorsement, particularly during intra-party primaries. The Club also recorded some lobbying expenditures earlier in the decade. During the 2010 election cycle, it spent more then $8.2 million primarily advocating for Republican candidates or against Democratic candidates through television, radio and other communications known as independent expenditures.
2012
Flake, Jeff (R-AZ) House $1,000,112
Cruz, Ted (R-TX) Senate $705,657
Mourdock, Richard E (R-IN) Senate $524,050
Neumann, Mark W (R-WI) Senate $470,233
Mandel, Josh (R-OH) Senate $301,553
King, Steven A (R-IA) House $255,021
Cotton, Thomas (R-AR) House $249,833
Mack, Connie (R-FL) House $189,168
Rothfus, Keith J (R-PA) House $138,721
Massie, Thomas (R-KY) House $118,057
Stenberg, Don (R-NE) Senate $82,103
Wimmer, Carl (R-UT) House $60,052
Allen, George (R-VA) Senate $43,075
Rehberg, Denny (R-MT) House $17,100
Brown, Scott (R-MA) Senate $15,135
Heller, Dean (R-NV) Senate $12,526
Berg, Rick (R-ND) House $10,250
Lingle, Linda (R-HI) Senate $10,075
Amash, Justin (R-MI) House $7,500
Romney, Mitt (R) Pres $7,500
Akin, Todd (R-MO) House $6,750
Garrett, Scott (R-NJ) House $5,000
rms: elim income tax (also kansas0
moyers 4/13:
NORMAN ORNSTEIN: …some others well, I think, you know, he's sees himself as the Speaker of the House. And some of it is political as well. He's being pushed by other forces. But it's really important that we focus as much on the outside forces as the inside ones.
BILL MOYERS: Such as?
NORMAN ORNSTEIN: Well, when the fiscal cliff debate came up and we get this bill coming over with 89 votes in the Senate, and you had around that time, before those negotiations, Boehner trying to get a little traction, knowing there would be a tax increase. Coming up with his very poorly named Plan B, you know? I think maybe some of his members rejected it because they thought they didn't want an over-the-counter drug here.
But it was, give me some traction. I'd propose a million dollars as the level here, and then we can negotiate. And some of his members were ready to support him, just to give him that traction. The Club for Growth, Heritage Action step up and basically said, you members, you lift your heads out of that foxhole and support any tax increase, and you've got a target on your backs and millions of dollars in a primary against you.
Some of this is coming from the kinds of people who we're electing to office, through a nominating process that has gotten so skewed to the radical right. But some of it is an electoral magnet that pulls them away from voting for anything that might have a patina of bipartisan support because they'll face extinction.
THOMAS MANN: Bill, this is such an important point. Nowadays, political parties are not organizations, they're networks. We talk sometimes about parties versus outside groups. No, no, no. The outside groups are part of the political parties, and so too are the media outlets. The large funders. It's a broad system. Super PACs don't exist as independent forces. They in fact are run by former party operatives and leaders of one kind or another.
And right now, you have a conjunction of forces that you can see in the conservative media, in the funding organizations, and in the Grover Norquist and the Koch brothers. And it all comes together to provide such overwhelming pressure on individual Republicans to toe the line, to oppose even when they want to engage in problem solving.
BILL MOYERS: So when you mention The Club for Growth, you're talking about essentially Wall Street finance group of private citizens who will take on a Republican in the primary to defeat him if he doesn't toe the line on what the financial interests want?
NORMAN ORNSTEIN: And these are financial interests who don't just focus on financial interests. Many of them are themselves radical either libertarians or who have a very strong ideology. And so The Club for Growth will intervene not just on tax issues, but on others. And they're joined by other groups. You know, when Jim DeMint left the Senate
BILL MOYERS: To head The Heritage…
BILL MOYERS: Right. A very conservative organization.
NORMAN ORNSTEIN: Which used to be a think tank. Now, of course, it has a 501(c)4 called Heritage Action. They're raising money. They're aggressively participating in the political debates, and will in campaigns. Because you can have as much impact as Tom said, it's all part of a party apparatus now. From the outside, if you use the leverage of money, and you can also use the leverage of the social media, the talk radio hosts, and others, who have such a dominant impact on the party now, that it takes the problem solvers and puts them in a really, really tricky situation.
BILL MOYERS: You say, in the book, that what we all know: President Obama made great efforts to work cooperatively with the Republicans during his first term. Didn't get him anything in terms of legislation; got him maybe a second term. But in The New York Times this week, Michael Shear and Peter Baker say, call him, "A president who hesitates to twist arms." Can you not be president without twisting arms?
THOMAS MANN: Oh, I think that's a myth.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Club_for_Growth
2010:
--
In March, 2010, two months after the Citizens United ruling, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals legalized unlimited donations to partisan PACs. The case, known as SpeechNow, was brought by David Keating, the executive director of the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group.
That year, Politico named Larry McCarthy the “Attack Ads’ Go-To Guy,” noting that he was one of the largest beneficiaries of the spending spree resulting from the campaign-finance rulings. F.E.C. records for the fall of 2010 show that four organizations whose funders are secret??the American Future Fund, Americans for Job Security, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Rove-founded group Crossroads G.P.S.???together spent nearly seventy million dollars on campaign ads. Of that sum, eighteen million was spent on commissioning, then airing, ads from McCarthy’s firm.
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/13/120213fa_fact_mayer?printable=true¤tPage=all#ixzz21CStEDb1
--
As of September
20, 2010 The Club for Growth PAC has endorsed 28 candidates in the 2010 election cycle. They are Senators Jim DeMint (SC) and Tom
Coburn (OK); Senate candidates Sharron Angle (NV), Ken Buck (CO) (endorsed after he won the primary), Mike Lee (UT) (endorsed after he won the primary, though the Club campaigned against Sen. Bennett before the state convention), Ron Johnson (WI), Joe Miller (AK) (endorsed after the Alaska primary), Rand Paul (KY) (endorsed after the Kentucky primary), Marco Rubio (FL) and Pat Toomey (PA); Representative Tom Graves (GA 9) and House candidates Justin Amash (MI 3), Kevin Calvey (OK 5), Jeff Duncan (SC 3), Stephen Fincher (TN 8) (endorsed after primary), Tim Griffin (AR 2), David Harmer (CA 11) (endorsed after primary), Andy Harris (MD 1) (endorsed after primary), Nan Hayworth (NY 19) (endorsed after primary), Tim Huelskamp (KS 1), Jesse Kelly (AZ 8) (endorsed after primary), Mick Mulvaney (SC 5)(endorsed after primary), Mike Pompeo (KS 4), Kevin Rothfus (PA 4) (endorsed after primary), Dave Schweikert (AZ 5) (endorsed after primary), Tim Scott (SC 1), Robin Smith (TN 3), and Todd Young (IN 9) (endorsed after primary).
Club for Growth
From SourceWatc
Club for Growth is a right-wing political group that endorses and raises money for candidates.
Contents
[hide]
1 Recent controversies
1.1 Protests in Wisconsin in 2011 over Plan to Eliminate Public Unions
1.2 2010 Midterm Elections
1.2.1 "Privatize Social Security? Hell Yeah!"
1.2.2 Club for Growth PAC Endorsed Candidates
1.3 2010 Expenditures
1.3.1 Independent Expenditures (as of September 30, 2010)[7]
1.3.2 Club for Growth Action expenditures [8]
2 Prior controversies
2.1 2005 FEC Lawsuit
3 History and Background
4 Directors & Staff
4.1 Board of Directors
4.2 Staff
4.3 Leadership Council
5 Participation in 2006 Congresssional Race
5.1 Republican primaries
6 Contact Information
7 External links
8 References
Recent controversies
Protests in Wisconsin in 2011 over Plan to Eliminate Public Unions
On February 18, 2011, Wisconsin State Representative Gordon Hintz (D-54th) stated in floor debate that he heard a radio ad paid for by the Club for Growth prior to the bill even being distributed to members. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZsOKNfNkfQ , marking Club for Growth's involvement into state level anti-Union activities.
2010 Midterm Elections
Club for Growth invested in a variety of campaigns in the 2010 midterm election season. The group has also established local spinoff political groups so their anonymous donors can direct their funds towards specific races.[1] For example, Club for Growth has established a Wisconsin chapter to support Republican Congressional and Gubernatorial candidates.
Club for Growth conducts its activities through its 527 Political Action Committee (deemed a "super PAC" by the Washington Post), and its 501(c)(4) Club for Growth Action committee. For the 2010 midterm election, Club for Growth indicated that it intended to take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision and raise unlimited funds from corporations and other deep-pocket donors.[2]
Despite being allowed to raise unlimited funds, Club for Growth's 501(c)(4) wing is not required to disclose its donors, and the Super PAC wing need not disclose until after the 2010 midterm elections are completed.
The group supports far-right Republican candidates, spending money to not only oppose Democrats, but also moderate Republicans they deem "RINOs" (an acronym for Republican In Name Only). Some within the Republican party dislike the Club;[3] Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate (and current FOX News host), says the group should be called the "Club for Greed."[4]
"Privatize Social Security? Hell Yeah!"
One of the Club's campaigns focuses on privatizing social security, an issue many Republicans fear. Democrats have tried to capitalize on the issue.Club For Growth is spending [$6 million?] in the 2010 midterm elections, and has distinguished itself through its bellicose call for social security privatization entitled "Social Security Privatization? Hell Yeah!" [5] [6]
The Club accomplishes its mission by raising money through its political action committee and donating it to candidates that adhere to this vision. It also solidifies its clout through independent expenditures through a separate 527 committee. The Club’s PAC also acts as a conduit for federal candidates by accepting and transmitting earmarked contributions from the club's many members to federal candidates.
Club for Growth PAC Endorsed Candidates
David Harmer (CA-11)
Keith Rothfus (PA-04)
Andy Harris (MD-01)
Nan Hayworth (NY-19)
Jesse Kelly (AZ-08)
David Schweikert (AZ-05)
Joe Miller (AK-Sen)
Tim Griffin (AR-02)
Todd Young (IN-09)
Stephen Fincher (TN-08)
Ken Buck (CO-Sen)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Rand Paul (KY-Sen)
Ron Johnson (WI-Sen)
Sharron Angle (NV-Sen)
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Mike Pompeo (KS-04)
Tim Huelskamp (KS-01)
Tim Scott (SC-01)
Jeff Duncan (SC-03)
Tom Graves (GA-09)
Pat Toomey (PA-Sen)
Marco Rubio (FL-Sen)
Mike Lee (UT-Sen)
Jim DeMint (SC-Sen)
Tom Coburn (OK-Sen)
2010 Expenditures
Independent Expenditures (as of September 30, 2010)[7]
Race Candidate Party Support/Oppose Expenditures
GA-9 Tom Graves R Support $9,621.00
GA-9 Lee Hawkins R Oppose $114,131.00
KS-1 James A. Barnett R Oppose $110,662.00
KY-Senate Rand Paul R Support $11,115.00
MI-3 Justin Amash R Support $7,908.00
MI-3 Bill Hardiman R Oppose $125,727.00
NV-Senate Sharron E. Angle R Support $247,218.00
NV-Senate Sue Lowden R Oppose $238,458.00
NY-23 Doug Hoffman 3 Support $340,450.00
NY-23 Bill Owens D Oppose $137,818.00
NY-23 Dierdre Scozzafava R Oppose $167,016.00
OK-5 Kevin Calvey R Support $160,163.00
PA-Senate Pat Toomey R Support $12,639.00
PA-Senate Arlen Specter D Oppose $159.00
SC-1 Tim Scott R Support $54,233.00
SC-1 Paul Thurmond R Oppose $52,327.00
SC-3 Jeff Duncan R Support $220,234.00
TN-3 Robin Smith R Support $51,865.00
TN-3 Charles Fleischmann R Oppose $58,541.00
UT-Senate Robert F. Bennett R Oppose $186,309.00
WI-Senate Ron Johnson R Support $12,162.00
Club for Growth Action expenditures [8]
Race Candidate Party Support/Oppose Expenditures
CO-Senate Ken Buck (R) Support $12,500.00
CO-Senate Michael F. Bennet (D) Oppose $299,739.00
FL-Senate Marco Rubio (R) Support $35,366.00
FL-Senate Kendrick B. Meek (D) Oppose $1,572.00
FL-Senate Charlie Crist (I) Oppose $280,151.00
KY-Senate Rand Paul (R) Support $12,500.00
NV-Senate Sharron E. Angle (R) Support $35,366.00
NV-Senate Harry Reid (D) Oppose $211,894.00
PA-Senate Pat Toomey (R) Support $15,626.00
PA-Senate Joe Sestak, Jr (D) Oppose $770,317.00
WI-Senate Russ Feingold (D) Oppose $183,205.00
WI-Senate Ron Johnson (R) Support $14,866.00
Prior controversies
2005 FEC Lawsuit
In September 2005, the Federal Election Commission filed a lawsuit "against the Club for Growth, the first case of its kind to arise from high-dollar fundraising during the 2004 elections. The pro-Republican group spent at least $21 million in the 2003-2004 election cycle. ... The FEC contends the club spent enough in federal races to require it to file with the commission as a political committee and to follow contribution and spending limits. It wants the court to fine the group and order it to comply with campaign finance rules." [9] [10]
In September, 2007 the Club for Growth agreed to pay $350,000 in civil penalties and criticized the FEC for the lawsuit.[11]
History and Background
Club for Growth was "founded in 1999 by Steve Moore, National Review president Dusty Rhodes, Cato Institute president Ed Crane, Richard Gilder, economist and CNBC Kudlow & Cramer co-host Larry Kudlow, and other like-minded pro-growth conservatives." [1] (Stephen Moore is now at the Wall Street Journal, and former President Pat Toomey is now running for Senate in Pennsylvania).
According to Lobbyists.info, "The Club is primarily dedicated to helping elect pro-growth, pro-freedom candidates through political contributions and issue advocacy campaigns. Among the major economic growth issues the Club emphasizes are fundamental income tax reduction and simplification; school choice for all families; and personal investment of Social Security."
$2.4 million in campaign contributions from the Club for Growth helped elect 10 new Republicans to Congress in 2000. "The Club for Growth has grown six-fold since the 2000 election cycle and the Club and its members raised or donated over $10 million to help elect seventeen new Members of Congress in the 2002 election cycle." [2]
In the run up to the 2004 Democratic caucuses in Iowa, the PAC arm of Club for Growth ran advertisments attacking Presidential candidate Howard Dean. The advertisements characterized Howard Dean and his supporters as a "tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show."
Not even President George Walker Bush is immune from Club for Growth criticism. After Bush unveiled new programs costing billions of dollars in the 1/20/04 State of the Union Address, then Club president Stephen Moore criticized George Walker Bush as a "big government Republican." [3]
Longtime Republican benefactor Harlan Crow is a [former] member of the founders committee of the Club for Growth. [4]
"The group, which in the past has challenged moderate Republicans it considers big spenders, is running television spots targeting three GOP lawmakers who are undecided about private accounts: Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Rep. Joe Schwarz of Michigan and Rep. Sherwood Boehlert of New York," the Chronicle reports. "The Club also plans to hire a full-time lobbyist to promote the private account plan on Capitol Hill."
Directors & Staff
Board of Directors
Thomas L. Rhodes - Chair
Richard Gilder - Chairman emeritus
Ken Blackwell
Frayda Levin
Howard Rich
Jackson T. Stephens, Jr.
Chris Chocola
The group was formerly led by Pat Toomey.
Staff
Chris Chocola, President and CEO
Chuck Pike, Vice President
David Keating, Executive Director
Adam Rozansky, Chief Financial Officer (former Director of Operations)
Andrew Roth, Vice President, Director of Government Affairs
Erika Sather, Vice President, Development
Mike Connolly, Communications Director
Stacy French, Office Administrator
Maria Gullo, Senior Development Associate
Alyssa Bonk, Development Assistant
Former Staff
Patrick Toomey, President
Nachama Soloveichik, Communications Director
Stacie Smith, Development Assistant
Oliver Schwab, Membership Assistant
Leadership Council
Jean Belanger
Bruce Bent
Brent Bozell
Martin Boles
John Childs
Chris Chocola
Terry Considine
Dan Cook
Oliver R. Grace
Lawrence Kudlow
Virginia James
George Mitchell
Rex Sinquefield
Lee Tenzer
Louis Woodhill
Participation in 2006 Congresssional Race
Republican primaries
On September 14, Toomey sent out a club bulletin summing up its activities in the Republican primaries (subscription required [5]:
"...the Club's PAC racked up 9 wins against just 4 losses. It's a record we're proud of, especially given that our endorsed candidates competed in races with nearly 50 major opponents. In most cases our candidate was the underdog, as in yesterday's Rhode Island race. The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Club's PAC "had an extremely successful run so far this cycle."
"And the Club's PAC scored its first-ever knockout of an incumbent when Tim Walberg defeated Rep. Joe Schwarz in the Michigan Republican primary. We accomplished something vitally important in Rhode Island despite the vote tally.
"Politicians are risk-adverse. Every Republican in Congress knows what we did in Rhode Island. They realize that Club members donated an incredible $725,000 to Chafee's challenger. They know that the Club for Growth PAC spent an additional $515,000, mostly on TV ads, and took a challenger from being down 2 to 1 in the polls to the edge of an upset. As senators cast their votes on key bills, wavering Republicans will have to wonder if they could withstand the same punishment.
"National Review yesterday wrote that Laffey's "loss was by no means an exercise in futility: Sometimes it's better to fight and lose than not to fight at all. Two years ago, Pat Toomey nearly defeated Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania's GOP primary. Yesterday, Laffey gave Chafee a genuine scare. Both Toomey and Laffey received crucial support from the Club for Growth [PAC]. Senators are a notoriously risk-averse crowd. And now, for the second election cycle in a row, Republican senators have received a sharp reminder that if they behave too much like liberals, they may not be senators for long."
The breakdown of club member support for the nine candidates according to the group's website was as follows:
Steve Laffey (RI)--no financial information listed.
Sharron Angle (NV)--"Club members contributed over $605,000..."[6]
Tim Walberg (MICH)--won over the incumbent with over $600,000 in donations from club members [7]
Doug Lamborn (CO)--won with over $200,000. [8]
Kevin Calvey (OK)--came in fourth after over $249,000. [9]
Phil Krinkie (MN)-- withdrew, as pledged, when he didn't receive the party's endorsement. Received over $154,000.[10]
Jim Jordon (OH)--won and received over $92,000. [11]
Henry Cueller (TX)--won and received over $170,000[12]
John Campbell (CA)--won in 2005 and received over $118,000. [13]
Contact Information
Club for Growth
2001 L Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202-955-5500
Fax: 202-955-9466
Website: http://www.clubforgrowth.org
??
External links
"Moore Passes Torch to Toomey. Former PA Congressman to Lead Preeminent Pro-Economic Growth Advocacy Group," Club for Growth, January 6, 2005.
Josh Gerstein, "Power Struggle Grips the Club for Growth," New York Sun, February 2, 2005.
Bennett Roth, "Social Security lobbying war is on: Costly, partisan bid seen as Part 2 of 2004 election," Houston Chronicle, February 14, 2005.
David Savodnik, "Club redoubling efforts, Toomey says, despite rift," The Hill, May 4, 2005.
David D. Kirkpatrick, "Leadership Dispute Causes a Split in a Powerhouse of Fund-Raising for Conservative Causes," New York Times, July 8, 2005.
References
?? Alexander Bolton, Club for Growth eyes new political fund for expenditures in Nevada, other states, The Hill June 3, 2010, accessed September 30, 2010.
?? Club for Growth Action intent to accept unlimited donations, SunlightFoundation.Org, accessed September 30, 2010.
? Naftali Bendavid, Club for Growth Wears on Some Republicans, Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2009, accessed October 1, 2010.
? Transcript: Mike Huckabee on 'FOX News Sunday' November 19, 2007, accessed October 1, 2010.
? Brian Beutler, Dems Seize On Club For Growth's "Hell Yeah!" Push For Social Security Privatization, Talking Points Memo, September 22, 2010.
? Andrew Roth, Privatize Social Security? Hell Yeah!, Club For Growth Blog, September 21, 2010.
? Club for Growth Independent Expenditures, Sunlight Foundation, accessed September 30, 2010.
? Club for Growth Action expenditures, Sunlight Foundation, accessed September 30, 2010.
?? Associated Press, September 19, 2005
? FEC Files Suit Against Club For Growth, FEC website, Sept 19, 2005.
? Citizens Club for Growth to pay fine, Associated Press, September 5, 2007.
Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Club_for_Growth"
Category: Social Security privatization
GW:
26 Club for Growth targets sens (liddy dole) may 2008
see also Club of Rome?
Dole voted yes, out of office 5 mos later
Max Baucus caved? (targets by Rome ads, as was Rockefeller
------------------------------------
walker Wisc:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/10247
Club for Growth and Club for Growth Wisconsin
Founded in 1999, the Club for Growth (CFG) is a 501(c)(4) "civic league" that seeks to promote public policies it describes as "fiscally conservative." It does not reveal its donors. In its 2009 tax filing, the group reported income of $3.9 million and expenses of $4.1 million. It reported that it was preparing to spend at least one million dollars on a TV ad campaign against the health care bill and that it gave almost a half million dollars to state and local groups fighting for its agenda. CFG Wisconsin (CFGW) was formed in 2004, and reported that in 2009 in received about a half million in funding (down from nearly 3.5 million during the presidential election year). Notably, one of Walker's main consultants in his race for governor, R.J. Johnson, also previously served as a paid consultant to CFG Wisconsin.
From website:
=
deKos
Hardcore anti-tax group which specializes in nuking centrist Republicans and favoring conservative Republicans in primary elections. Vicious and merciless in their use of attack ads.
Club for Growth ran attack ads against Ohio and Maine senators George Voinovich and Olympia Snowe due to their then-opposition to the 2003 Bush round of tax cuts (ironically, the "Franco-Republican" ads backfired in Maine, where nearly 25% of the population are descended from the French). They were instrumental in nearly dislodging longtime so-called moderate Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter in his April 2004 primary fight against Pat Toomey.
Club for Growth was also responsible for the infamous "Sushi-eating" ad during the 2004 Iowa caucuses which tried to paint Howard Dean as some pierced, tattooed, gay freak show.
Criticism
Club for Growth claim to be invested only in anti-tax and anti-spending, not social conservatism, but seemingly every candidate they have run has a hardline view on gays, abortion, and affirmative action, and promotes them as his or her chief calling card. In terms of firing homosexuals from their ranks, they have proven to be as pandering as any other part of the Republican Party. More often than not, this "renegade" organization seems to be saying the same old story.
External Links
Club for Growth
Club for Growth SourceWatch.
Gourevitch, Philip. Fight on the Right New Yorker, April 12, 2004.
Horrigan, Marie. Conservative ‘Club’ Wins With a Broader Battle Plan CQ Politics.com, July 31, 2006.
How the Club for Growth Might Help us in November - DailyKos diary on 2006 congressional elections.
-----
2010
Includes contributions from the organization’s employees, their family members, and its political action committee.
James W DeMint (R-SC)
Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
Tom Graves (R-GA)
Joe Miller (R-AK)
Kevin Calvey (R-OK)
Doug Hoffman (3-NY)
Ken Buck (R-CO)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Sharron E Angle (R-NV)
Pat Toomey (R-PA
Evidence of Club for Growth's lobbying activities:
"Club for Growth is designed to help our members achieve that goal of enacting pro-growth policies. We do it with our strategic advocacy ads, public education, grassroots lobbying, organization of a nationwide network of committed pro-growth members, and research on the positions of candidates in important elections." [Club for Growth]
Here is Club for Growth’s account on Lobbyists.info via Sourcewatch: "The Club is primarily dedicated to helping elect pro-growth, pro-freedom candidates through political contributions and issue advocacy campaigns. Among the major economic growth issues the Club emphasizes are fundamental income tax reduction and simplification; school choice for all families; and personal investment of Social Security." [Sourcewatch]
Definition of Grassroots lobbying: “Grassroots lobbyists enlist the help of the community to influence politicians by writing, calling, or demonstrating on the organization’s behalf. This means long hours spent on the phone and writing letters, trying to rouse the community to get involved. These lobbyists also report to politicians about the concerns and reactions they have gotten from community members. Indirect lobbying is also done through the media. Grassroots lobbyists write articles for newspapers and magazines and appear on talk shows to generate interest in and awareness of their issues.??? [Princeton Review]
Congressman Toomey was the head of The Club for Growth from 2005 to 2009, which was known as “Wall Street's lobby.” [New York Times, 12/21/04]
"He lost narrowly, then moved on to the Club for Growth, the anti-tax lobby that spent heavily for him in the 2004 campaign and has followed the same pattern this year." [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/19/10]
In a segment on Hardball with Congressman Toomey representing Club for Growth as its President, Chris Matthews introduces the Club as "a Washington lobbying group which support the president's plan (to privatize Social Security)." [MSNBC, 2/7/05]
The Club for Growth was founded by Wall Street:
“Over the past decade, a group of Wall Streeters has quietly funneled money to politicians, think tanks and advocacy groups that share their … Now, their investment has paid off. Meet the bankrollers of the conservative counter establishment. Introducing the Political Club for Growth.” [National Journal, 1/28/95]
“The Club [For Growth], many of whose leaders have Wall Street pedigrees, has raised more than $2 million while remaining shrouded in mystery, refusing to release its full membership list.” [Arizona Republic, 4/2/00]
“The Club for Growth, founded by Wall Street investors, …operate a traditional political action committee that directs disclosed contributions to favored candidates.” [Miami Herald, 6/27/00]
???Although the club is headquartered in Washington, its genesis was on Wall Street, where the bulk of its financial support still originates.” [New York Observer, 5/28/01]
Club for Growth??s “roots lie in a small group of Wall Street movers and shakers known as the Political Club for Growth that in the mid-1990s enjoyed ties to conservatives such as Newt Gingrich and Steve Forbes.” [Orlando Sentinel, 8/12/02]
“The Club for Growth was formed in 1999 with significant backing from Wall Street investors and … true to its original founding, it is driven by conservative fiscal-policy priorities.” [Politico, 11/17/09]
=
koch conf:
Stephen Moore -- Wall Street Journal editorial board member and senior economics writer and former President of the Club for Growth.
Moore has ties to the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, two of the top Koch beneficiaries, and was a National Review magazine contributing editor.
The Wall Street Journal’s opinion section serves as a podium for prominent skeptics with ties to the Kochtopus, such as Bjorn Lomborg, Richard Lindzen and Patrick Michaels. Michaels, the champion denier of the Cato Institute and other Koch-backed institutions, used the Wall Street Journal’s opinion section to continue pushing “climategate” even after scientists were exonerated by formal investigations. Michaels himself is coming under scrutiny for being dishonest during a 2009 Congressional testimony about the funding he receives from the oil industry.
Between moving to the Wall Street Journal and being forced out of the Club for Growth, Moore founded the Free Enterprise Fund with Arthur Laffer and Mallory Factor, both former Club for Growth directors. Arthur Laffer’s Laffer Center for Global Economic Growth is tied to Koch Industries through its Vice Chairman, Richard Fink, and Executive Director Wayne Gable, both prominent Koch executives, and a $100,000 grant from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation in 2009.
Moore is also a frequent commentator on CNBC’s Kudlow & Co and Fox News' On the Record with Greta van Susteren.
=
from okeefe page:
---
The Club for Growth Wisconsin (CFGW) is a state arm of the far right-wing national issue ad group, the Club for Growth, which is funded by the wealthiest Americans [1] and supports Republican candidates for office. The Green Bay Press-Gazette, in a March 9, 2011 article, noted that CFGW has ties to New York real estate developer Howard S. "Howie" Rich, who has put millions into Republican and libertarian causes.[2]
Contents
[hide]
1 Gov. Scott Walker's Budget Bill
1.1 Endorsements
1.2 Associations
1.3 Other Resources
2 Staff, board, personnel and advisers
3 Wisconsin Supreme Court electioneering
4 Budget Issue ads
5 Previous negative ads & electioneering
6 Issues
6.1 Pro-corporate, anti-worker
7 Climate change denial
8 Backing "tort reform"
9 Sourcewatch resources
10 External resources
11 Contact
12 References
Gov. Scott Walker's Budget Bill
On Feb. 14, three days after Gov. Scott Walker introduced his budget bill, the Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCFG) aired [3] a commercial that accused state workers of not having to sacrifice like private sector workers. In an effort to divide the house of labor, the commercial urged private sector workers to support Walker’s budget repair bill and make state workers “pay their fair share.” When the commercial failed to dissuade protesters from going to the capitol, WCFG along with Americans for Prosperity, a group funded by the Koch brothers, organized a pro-Walker rally on Feb. 19. [4]
WCFG criticized protesters for taking off of work because private sector workers “would like [public workers] to contribute more towards their healthcare and pensions,” [5] even though state workers said they were willing to do so if they could keep their collect bargaining rights. According to the Nation’s John Nichols, WCFG is “an organization funded by extremely wealthy conservatives to carry out their budget-stripping goals [and] has been a key player in Republican Governor Scott Walker's move to take out the state's organized workers.” [6] In addition to this, WCFG, in a press release, targeted eight Republican State Senators that did not initially commit to Walker’s budget repair bill.[7] Club For Growth, according to Think Progress, funded several “hard-hitting attack ads” against candidates who supported raising taxes on the rich or “have done anything to hold powerful corporations accountable.” [8]
Endorsements
WCFG also released four other videos promoting Walker’s budget reforms and endorsing Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and Senator Alberta Darling. During the April 5 Wisconsin elections, WCFG provided over $400,000 for Prosser’s campaign.[9] Prosser’s conservative law history ensured that Walker??s budget bill would clear the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In March, when recall efforts achieved over 30,000 signatures for recall, WCFG released another commercial praising Darling for “keeping Wisconsin open for business without raising taxes.” [10]
??
Associations
Almost all of the board members of Club for Growth have extensive ties to Wall Street and Energy companies. Media Matters lists several donations and connections CFG board members have with the Koch Brothers’ charities, Exxon Mobile and other right leaning organizations. [11] According to ThinkProgress, CFG collected funds from “employees of J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, while being buoyed by large donations like a $1.4 million contribution from investor Stephen Jacksons of Stephens Groups Inc.” Furthermore R.J. Johnson, one of WCFG’s main organizers, was a strategist for Walker’s campaign. [8]
Club for Growth does not just back just any GOP candidate, Rep. Steve Latourette (R-OH) referred to the group as the “Spanish Inquisition” after their campaigns ousted moderates from the GOP. [8] In May 2010, the group “organize the GOP uprising in Utah … that toppled three-term Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R), and …Florida Gov. Charlie Crist out of the GOP as well.” [8] With strong ties to Wall Street and the Tea Party, Club for Growth has already endorsed over 20 candidates and provided funds and organizers for their campaigns. Their goal, according to the Washington Post, is “to capitalize on the Republican-dominated "tea party" movement that has coalesced in opposition to President Obama's health-care overhaul, the Wall Street bailouts and other fiscal concerns.” [12] “They just like to take money from anonymous donors, fire shots at folks without any accountability,” said Mike Huckabee to Fox News. [13]
Some Republicans have accused Club for Growth of backing right leaning candidates that lose to democrats; however, the indorsed candidates have already begun the work they were hired to do. Candidates such as State Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC),Mike Lee (R-UT), Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Sharron Angle (R-NV), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Mike Pompeo (R-KS) are supporting big businesses such as BP and “rushing to defend the rights of corporation over the American victims of the [BP oil disaster].” [8]
Other Resources
Club For Growth Commercials: http://www.youtube.com/user/clubforgrowthwi?feature=mhum#p/u/0/im9DfnOW8XM
Staff, board, personnel and advisers
R.J. Johnson, a former political strategist for Wisconsin's embattled Governor Scott Walker, is a key adviser to the Club for Growth Wisconsin.[14] In the 2008 tax year, R.J. Johnson's eponymous consulting business made $33,791 on activities performed for the Club for Growth Wisconsin.[15] In 2010, Walker paid RJ Johnson & Associates, Inc. $30,000 for "Consulting Fees- General."[16][17]
Eric O'Keefe is also a board member of the CFGW. O'Keefe is part of the Koch Brothers' political network, having attended the Kochs' 2010 Aspen strategy soiree.[18] He is also the chair and CEO of the Sam Adams Alliance, and a board member of the Institute for Humane Studies, which has taken millions from the Kochs and for which billionaire Charles Koch serves as chairman. [19]
The Club for Growth Wisconsin webpage has a "Congressional Corner with Congressman Paul Ryan" featuring links to various statements made by him 2007-2010.
Wisconsin Supreme Court electioneering
Club for Growth Wisconsin spent more than $1 million on outside electioneering activities in the 2007 and 2008 state Supreme Court races and the 2008 and 2010 fall elections.
The Club for Growth Wisconsin was the first outside special interest group to promote a candidate in the 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, spending at least $321,000 on the race, and out-spending all candidates combined, and accounting for 70% of all spending in the race. The group has hired the Republican polling firm, Public Opinion Strategies, to health defeat efforts to obtain universal health insurance in Wisconsin.[20][21][22]
Budget Issue ads
During the February, 2011 battle in Wisconsin over Republican Governor Scott Walker's "budget repair bill, the Club for Growth Wisconsin sponsored a black-and-white television ad that featured working-class faces and superimposed newspaper headlines about the economic downturn which asserted that public employees have made no sacrifices while ordinary people have suffered substantially. The ad cited concessions by workers at Harley-Davidson, Mercury Marine and Sub-Zero while somber music played in the background. The narrator intoned: "But state workers haven't had to sacrifice. They pay next to nothing for their pensions, and a fraction of their health care. It's not fair. Call your state legislator and tell them to vote for Gov. Walker's budget repair bill. It's time state employees paid their fair share, just like the rest of us."[23]
PolitiFact Wisconsin reported that "officials with the Club for Growth -- Deb Jordahl and R.J. Johnson -- told us the ad meant to highlight just two issues regarding state employee compensation: pension and health care payments.... The portion of health premiums paid by employees more than doubled under then-Gov. Jim Doyle, from 2.5 percent to 5.6 percent in 2011.... But the most notable change for state workers has come on pay.
"The Club for Growth ad dramatically highlights 'frozen wages' and 'pay cuts' accepted by unions at the private companies -- and then says 'state workers haven’t had to sacrifice.' In fact, state workers have taken a hit on wages -- in the form of furlough days.... Doyle also rescinded 2 percent raises for non-union employees in the 2007-2009 state budget.... Doyle also suspended merit awards in November 2008.... So state workers have in fact given up some pay, which is the definition of sacrifice."[24]
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that as of March 13, 2011, CFGW had spent $805,610 on broadcast TV ads over Wisconsin's budget fight.[25]
Previous negative ads & electioneering
"Club for Growth Wisconsin spent an estimated $950,000 on negative broadcast advertising and other electioneering activities in the 2007 and 2008 Wisconsin Supreme Court races and the 2008 fall elections," according to Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. "The group sponsored a radio ad about three weeks before the November 2010 elections against Democrat Elmer Monk of Kimberly, who is running for the 1st Senate District open seat against Republican Frank Lasee. The ad criticized Monk for voting to raise property taxes as Kimberly school board member."[26]
Issues
Pro-corporate, anti-worker
The Club for Growth Wisconsin "seek[s] to extinguish the voice of public labor unions... because those unions... provide the most important bulwark of campaign-season defense via volunteers and dollars against the corporate interests' unimpeded domination over elections."[27] The Club for Growth Wisconsin's other efforts are aimed at helping corporations "avoid... their fair share of taxes, blocking minimum wage efforts and preventing any 'mandate' in environmental or workplace regulation they find inconvenient."[28] The Club's overall strategies are aimed at splitting the middle and working classes by "pitting unionized workers against non-unionized workers, public-sector workers against nonpublic, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don't believe these programs will be there for them, and the poor against the working middle class," according to former labor secretary Robert Reich. Reich said, "By splitting working America along these lines, Republicans want Americans to believe that we can no longer afford to do what we need to do as a nation. They hope to deflect attention from the increasing share of total income and wealth going to the richest 1 percent while the jobs and wages of everyone else languish." [29]
Climate change denial
The Club for Growth Wisconsin calls global warming/climate change a "fraud." [30]
Backing "tort reform"
The Club for Growth Wisconsin supports and works to advance tort reform,[31] a "movement" propagated by companies and entire industries -- such as the tobacco and asbestos industries -- that are vulnerable to legal actions seeking damages for the impacts of their products. Proponents use the term "tort reform" to refer to legislative measures designed to limit the ability of individuals to sue companies and to restrict the amount of potential damages available to individuals who take legal actions against companies.
Sourcewatch resources
Club for Growth
R.J. Johnson
Eric O'Keefe
External resources
Organizational web site: http://wicfg.com/index.cfm
Mary Bottari National Right-Wing Spin Machine Gears Up In Wisconsin, PRWatch.org, March 3, 2011
Contact
Wisconsin Club for Growth Inc.
1223 West Main Street, #304
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 53590
Phone: (877) 707-0571
References
?? Abe Sauer A Blueprint for a Takeover: Wisconsin Republicans Lied While the Kochs Schemed, The Awl, March 8, 2011
? Steve Contorno Budget battle hits airwaves, groups spend $620,000 on ads, Green Bay Press Gazette, March 9, 2011
? Wisconsin Club for Growth Benefits YouTube, Feb. 14, 2011.
? Ed Shultz [1] YouTube, Feb. 17, 2011
? Club For Growth Update Facebook, Feb. 16, 2011.
? Ed Shultz [2] YouTube, Feb. 17, 2011
? Club For Growth Update Facebook, Feb. 14, 2011.
? 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 .” Lee Fang Club for Growth Radical Success Think Progress Editorials, Jun. 26, 2010
? Ian Millhiser Leader of Koch Front Group is Behind Ads Supporting Wisconsin Justice David Prosser Think Progress, Apr 4, 2011
? Tom Tolan Democrats confirm it: Pasch will run against Darling in recall Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 5, 2011
? Media Matters [3] Conservative Transparency
? Dan Eggen Club for Growth’s Electoral Tactics Causing Headaches for GOP Washington Post, May 19, 2010.
? Fox News Transcript: Mike Huckabee on ‘Fox News Sunday’ ‘Fox News Sunday’ Interview, Nov. 19, 2007
? Don Walker Wisconsin Club for Growth plans to stay active, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 22, 2011
??? Club for Growth Wisconsin, United States Internal Revenue Service Club for Growth Wisconsin's 2008 Tax form 990 (pdf), accessed/uploaded to SourceWatch on March 17, 2011
? Government Accountability Board Friends of Scott Walker Fall Pre-Primary 2010 Report, Campaign Finance Report, accessed/uploaded to Sourcewatch May 9, 2011
? Government Accountability Board Friends of Scott Walker July Continuing 2010 Report, Campaign Finance Report, accessed/uploaded to Sourcewatch May 9, 2011
? Little Sis Koch Network Participants, Aspen 2010 photos, accessed March 17, 2011
? Abe Sauer A Blueprint for a Takeover: Wisconsin Republicans Lied While the Kochs Schemed, The Awl, March 8, 2011
? Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Hijacking Justice 2011 Club for Growth Wisconsin, February 17, 2011
? Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law Special Interest Group Outspends Candidates on TV in Wisconsin Judicial Election, Press release, February 15, 2011
? Gene Ulm Confidential memorandum to Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Club for Growth - Wisconsin, Public Opinion Strategies (polling firm), August 21, 2007
? Paul Fanlund Madison360: Why the revolt downtown is even bigger than it appears, The (Madison, WI) Capitol Times, February 21, 2011
? Group says Wisconsin state workers 'haven’t had to sacrifice', Journal Sentinel PolitiFact Wisconsin, February 18, 2011
? Craig Gilbert Budget fight TV ads top $3 million, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, March 15, 2011
? Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Hijacking Campaign 2010 Club for Growth Wisconsin, organization website, accessed May 9, 2011
? Paul Fanlund Madison360: Why the revolt downtown is even bigger than it appears, The Capital Times Political Blog, February 21, 2011
? Ibid.
? Robert Reich The Republican Strategy, Robert Reich Blog, February 17, 2011
??? Club for Growth Wisconsin Breaking News/Global Warming: a Fraud Running on Fumes, article, October 28, 2009
? Club for Growth Wisconsin Tort Reform, organizational web site/position statement, undated, accessed March 17, 2011
Categories: Stubs | Front groups portal | Front groups
crooks and liars
Eric O'Keefe
Eric O'Keefe is Chairman and CEO of the Sam Adams Alliance and sits on the board of the Wisconsin Club for Growth, Institute for Humane Studies, Center for Competitive Politics, and the Health Care Compact. All of these are Koch-related and/or funded entities. O'Keefe also is connected to Joe Ricketts and Houston building billionaire Leo Linbeck III.
This is how pissant liars like O'Keefe get any traction at all. They get some funding from billionaires whose single focus is on taking over the whole damn country, work with a compliant corporate media to amplify without any actual verification what O'Keefe does, and so he gets to keep doing it over and over and over.
----
bs?
Chris Chocola Net Worth: Chris Chocola is an American politician who has a net worth of $10 million. Born Joseph Christopher Chocola on February 24, 1962, in Jackson, Michigan, he is the current president of a fiscally conservative 501(c)4 organization called the Club for Growth. A keen member of the Republican Party, Chocola was representing Indiana's 2nd congressional district at the U.S. House of Representatives in the period from 2003 to 2007. Once he defeated former Democratic congresswoman Jill Long Thompson in his 2002 run for the U.S. House, he became a member of the Agriculture, Small Business, Transportation and Infrastructure, as well as Ways and Means committees of the House of Representatives. Subsequently, he defeated former Mishawaka Marian School Board President Joe Donnelly in 2004, and lost in a rematch in 2006. As of April 2009, he landed the president post at the Club for Growth, where he still serves.
Joseph Christopher "Chris" Chocola (born February 24, 1962) is an American businessman and politician who is the current president of the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative 501(c)4 organization. A member of the Republican Party, Chocola is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Indiana's 2nd congressional district from 2003 to 2007.
In 2002, Chocola ran for the U.S. House, defeating former Democratic congresswoman Jill Long Thompson. Chocola was a member of the Agriculture, Small Business, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Ways and Means committees of the House of Representatives. He defeated former Mishawaka Marian School Board President Joe Donnelly in 2004, and lost in a rematch in 2006.
In April, 2009, Chocola became president of the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative 501(c)4 organization.
Chocola was born in Jackson, Michigan. He grew up in Michigan, graduating from Williamston High School in 1980. He graduated in 1984 from Hillsdale College, in Hillsdale, Michigan, with a double major in business administration and political economy. While at Hillsdale College he joined the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. After graduation, he went to work at Society National Bank, now known as KeyBank, which had recruited him into its management program in Cleveland. When he left to go to law school, he was a foreign exchange trader for the bank.
Chocola attended law school classes at night at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, in Lansing, Michigan, while working as a credit manager for his family's business, Chocola Cleaning Materials. He graduated in 1988.
In 1988, Chocola was hired as corporate counsel by CTB International in Milford, Indiana, a manufacturer of products for the poultry, egg, swine, and grain production industries, which his grandfather, Howard Brembeck, had founded. He initially managed all the legal aspects of the business as corporate counsel. He then held various management positions until he
</p></div><div>==</div>