frayda levin

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</div><div> =<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/06/rich-rewards-one-mans-shadow-money-network/" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/06/rich-rewards-one-mans-shadow-money-network/</a>howard rich 2012<div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin="margin" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> is the eighth story in an exclusive series about the funding behind politically active tax-exempt organizations that don’t disclose their donors. You can read the other stories in the series <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/reports/moneytrail.php" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">here</a>.</div><p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 10px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Long ago, Earth Day rooted itself in the minds of many Americans as a regular annual event — not bad for what started 42 years ago as a “teach-in” about the dangers of an industrial economy running amok.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 10px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">But there have always been opponents to the environmentalist agenda, and on Earth Day 2012, they found that they had their own, modern-day “teach-in” — a four-and-a-half minute video posted on YouTube. The slick production, titled “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">If I Wanted America To Fail</a>,” is a laundry list of libertarian grievances against big government billed as a response to the “economic suicide pact” of environmentalism.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“If I wanted America to fail, I would create countless new regulations and seldom cancel old ones,” says the narrator, black background and foreboding music adding to an apocalyptic tone. “They would be so complicated that only bureaucrats, lawyers and lobbyists could understand them. That way, small businesses with big ideas wouldn’t stand a chance.”<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">He goes on to mock alternative energy, the public education system and other standards of the left. “If I wanted America to fail, I would prey on the goodness and decency of ordinary Americans,” he concludes. “I would only need to convince them that all of this is for the greater good. If I wanted America to fail, I…I suppose I wouldn’t change a thing.”<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Heavily promoted by Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing commentators, the video went viral, racking up 2.3 million views since it debuted.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">But few, if any, of those millions of viewers understand the complicated web of secretive, densely interwoven political groups from which the video emerged.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">While the network is built around nonprofits with vague names and grassroots slogans that imply the participation of many ordinary Americans, it’s primarily the handiwork of one man: Howard Rich.
<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Rich, 72, made his fortune in Manhattan real estate, but since at least the early 1970s, his passion has been libertarian politics. He decamped from the Libertarian Party in the 1980s to establish his own network of like-minded think-tanks and publishing companies.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Rich is also prominently attached to leading national libertarian groups — he sits on the boards of directors of the Club for Growth and the Cato Institute. Yet he remains a mysterious figure, rarely interviewed and almost always several steps removed from any direct action.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Still, an examination of the publicity-shy mogul’s efforts makes several things clear. He is deeply committed to his ideological values — willing to spend massive amounts of money to push projects even in places where he has little apparent personal or business connection. He is single-minded in his approach, willing to lash out at conservatives as quickly and as viciously as he will go after liberals. And all indications are that he believes the ends justify the means, sometimes using money as a blunt force object to get his way.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">His involvement in electoral politics usually consists of transferring money — though it’s often difficult to say exactly whose money — into nonprofit groups that don’t disclose their donors. When he funds causes — or candidates — directly, Rich frequently camouflages his donations under any of dozens of nearly anonymous shell corporations. In that way, he’s the antithesis of a Sheldon Adelson, an ultra-rich Republicans who has openly given tens of millions to GOP presidential super PACs. On those occasions when Rich is revealed as the source of contributions, though, he’s been unapologetic about his role.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">According to Internal Revenue Service records analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics, from the early 2000s at least through 2010 Rich was the linchpin holding together a confusing, swirling array of political organizations — all of them nondisclosing nonprofit groups — that spent heavily to influence state and federal politics around the country. The constellation of organizations that operate out of a handful of Rich-related addresses is constantly changing, but some of them are well-known: Rich, in his role as chairman of U.S. Term Limits, a 501(c)(4) group under tax rules, has for years been the driving force of the movement to curtail how long  elected officials can stay in office. He’s also the chairman of a 501(c)(4) group called <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=Americans%20for%20Limited%20Government" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Americans for Limited Government</a>, which spent $1.02 million in 2010 targeting Democrats running for Congress and distributed millions more to other groups.<div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">“If I Wanted America to Fail” is a textbook example of Rich’s tangled web. It was produced by a group called Free Market America, which, according to its website, is a joint project of Rich’s Americans for Limited Government and another group, Citizens for Limited Taxes and a Stronger Economy, Inc. Florida state records show that Citizens for Limited Taxes is registered at a Tampa address that also is home to at least 30 political action committees; the group’s only listed officers are two political operatives and the head of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. State campaign finance records show that in 2010, the group collected and spent more than $12 million helping defeat a proposition that would have slowed development in Florida. Its relationship with Rich? Like so much about his empire, that’s not entirely clear.</div><p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">OpenSecrets.org</a> made multiple attempts to interview Rich and other individuals involved with his groups, including several board members. But Ray Wotring, Americans for Limited Government’s treasurer, said the group would not allow any representative to comment.<div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">“You can keep pushing, but we’re not going to talk to you,” Wotring said, complaining that OpenSecrets.org published a “hatchet job on Howie in 2006.” For the record, OpenSecrets.org did not publish any articles about Rich in 2006, and has never written specifically about him.</div><div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">
</div><p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Eric O’Keefe, who co-founded U.S. Term Limits with Rich and is currently the CEO of the <a href="http://samadamsalliance.org/about" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Sam Adams Alliance</a>, a tea party group, and board member of the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail.php?ein=452318439&cycle=2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Wisconsin Club for Growth</a>, was the only individual close to Rich who would comment for this story. O’Keefe, who is no longer part of Rich’s organizations but said he follows them and counts Rich as a friend, said it is Rich’s deep commitment to libertarian ideals, not an expectation of payback, that drives his donations to political groups and candidates.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“Howie has given millions of dollars to these causes,” O’Keefe said. “All of us benefit from a functioning democracy and a functioning market economy, but he has never expected to have a tangible return on his investments.”<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">O’Keefe said Rich is careful to obey laws as they are written, but opposes limits on campaign contributions.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“I can’t speak for him, but I know he pays a lot of money to attorneys to follow the rules,” O’Keefe said. “I know he doesn’t favor the system for limits on contributions” because he believes it favors incumbents.<div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Occasionally, Rich grants an interview or offers his opinion more directly — posting columns on his own website, for instance. In 2010, he <a href="http://howardrich.org/?p=55" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">penned one about the Rod Blagojevich scandal</a> in Chicago, in which the former governor of Illinois was accused of selling political favors for campaign contributions. Rich, dripping with cynicism, portrayed the world of politics as a grimy, corrupt place.<div style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">“First of all, if you think this sort of pay-to-play scamming doesn’t go on every single day in Washington D.C. and state capitals all across America, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you,” Rich wrote, continuing:</div></div><blockquote open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" margin-left="margin-left" px="px" border-top-style="border-top-style" none="none" border-right-style="border-right-style" border-bottom-style="border-bottom-style" font-size="font-size" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 1em; border-left: 0.35294rem none rgb(225, 225, 225); padding-left: 1.17647rem; display: inline-block;">It may not always be so mindlessly overt (and the tape recorder may not always be on), but in the post-Jack Abramoff world we live in – a world of “free home renovations” for U.S. Senators and cash hidden away in Representatives’ freezers – let’s not delude ourselves.</blockquote><div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The network</div><div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">
<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">One way to begin tracing Rich’s network is to follow the numbers — for example, 9900. At least six of the groups affiliated with Rich are based out of an office at 9900 Main Street in Fairfax, VA.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Suite 303 of that four-story office building is home to Americans for Limited Government Inc., Americans for Limited Government Foundation, U.S. Term Limits, Inc., U.S.Term Limits Foundation, Legislative Education Action Drive and Parents In Charge Foundation. Some are 501(c)(3) charities under the tax code, and some are 501(c)(4)s.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Rich is the chairman or president of all of them, with a tight circle of trusted lieutenants in key positions. Bill Wilson, a libertarian political operative who has worked with Rich since the 1990s, is a paid employee of all of the groups. And their various boards of directors are strikingly similar — and dominated by other prominent libertarians, like Ed Crane, the president of the Cato Institute, who in 2010 was a board member of four of Rich’s groups. Frayda Levy, who sits on the board of Club for Growth, is listed as a director of two of Rich’s groups.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Together, these six groups listed $11.6 million in revenues in 2010, the most recent year for which a report is available, and $12.8 million spent on things like political consultants, mass mailings and grants to other politically-oriented nonprofits. There tax status prevents them from having to publicly disclose their funders, so almost none of the $11.6 million these groups reported in revenue can be traced to a specific source.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">One exception: A <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/05/cppr.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">recent OpenSecrets.org investigation</a> into a previously unreported group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights found that the group gave tens of millions to major conservative 501(c)(4) organizations — including $5.6 million to Americans For Limited Government, Inc., in 2010. But that trail dead-ends at a post office box in Arizona, with no indication of who is providing the Center’s funds. And there’s very little indication where the rest of Rich’s network gets its money — although Rich’s own pocket is a possibility.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">O’Keefe declined to say whether Rich’s own money drives his organizations.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">But O’Keefe said that he and Rich share the belief that donors have a constitutionally protected right to contribute to political causes (though not candidates) without having to reveal their names.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“Our position was always that we were always happy to have people brag about their money, but it’s not our business to brag about their donations,” O’Keefe said.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Repeating an argument often made by those who oppose disclosure, O’Keefe said that when donors’ names are made public, they become targets for solicitations from other people seeking money, and it opens them up to retribution from powerful interests.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“That’s a real and ongoing concern,” he said. “We viewed it as our role to protect [donors] from that.”<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">The churn<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Trying to trace the cashflow between Rich’s groups is a little like watching a Rube Goldberg contraption: there are a lot of moving parts. For instance, in 2010, Americans for Limited Government Foundation gave the Parents In Charge Foundation a grant of $225,000, and the U.S. Term Limits Foundation a grant of $234,000. But it also owed $1 million to its 501(c)(4) sibling, Americans for Limited Government, Inc.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Americans for Limited Government, Inc., in turn, gave a grant of $125,000 to U.S. Term Limits Inc. — and then lent it $346,000 more.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Yet the same year, U.S. Term Limits Foundation lent $85,000 back to Americans for Limited Government, Inc.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Confused yet? This may well be the point, or, according to tax attorney and former top IRS official Marcus Owens, it may be a clever system to skirt restrictions on how the organizations can operate. Because of the similarities between the various groups — their staffs, board members, missions and organizations they fund — the churn of cash back and forth raises questions, Owens said.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“It’s the same group, at the same address, with occasionally some new faces and they all seem to act on the same set of principles — limited government and term limits — so it seems kind of implausible that there is some sort of benefit from these internal financial relationships other than to disguise and modify the character of the money,” he said.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">For example, grants from a 501(c)(3) organization, such as U.S. Term Limits Foundation, couldn’t be used by a 501(c)(4), such as Americans for Limited Government, Inc., for political activity. Loans from the same group, structured as ordinary business transactions, would have no such restrictions, Owens noted.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Also, tax law requires 501(c)(4)s like Americans for Limited Government, Inc., to spend the majority of their resources on “social welfare” activities. Spending too much on politics can lead to a challenge of their tax-exempt status.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“If you have a 501(c)(4) that’s heavily engaged in political activity, it needs to somehow establish that 51 percent of what it does, isn’t political — how do you do that quickly? Make a grant,” Owens said. “You could have a sort of circular cycling of dollars that attempts to support the tax status of all the (c)(4)s in the network.”<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">And moving money between groups may help Rich’s organizations appear to be funded by multiple sources. Receiving all its donations from a single source can be problematic for an organization trying to maintain its favorable tax status, according to Owens, as it suggests the group’s purpose is to benefit that single donor.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">The fact that Rich lends money to the groups in his network is unusual, Owens noted.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">In 2010 Rich lent $772,000 to U.S. Term Limits, Inc., through Rich Lending Corporation. In previous years he lent money to Americans for Limited Government, Inc., and sometimes the group lent money back to Rich Lending Corporation, as well.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">According to Owens, this may be a way to gain a tax benefit for funding a politically active nonprofit. Simply donating money to the group money might not be tax deductible as a business expense — particularly if the group engages in lobbying or political activity, which Americans for Limited Government does. But if the money is loaned by a for-profit company it can be used for any purpose by the recipient and the source of the funds would avoid limitations on business deductions.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“If they loan money, then it’s not an expenditure, it’s a business transaction and any related expenses would likely be deductible,” Owens said.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">The spread<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Rich’s network, though, isn’t entirely a closed system. The groups also spend money on political campaigns directly. OpenSecrets.org data shows Americans for Limited Government spent $1.02 million on mailers attacking Democrats in 2010 — the biggest target being Sen. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00006692&cycle=2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Barbara Boxer</a> (D-Calif.) Another $6 million was spent hiring political consultants and direct-mailing firms in Utah, California and Arizona, according to the group’s tax form.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">And Rich’s groups also distribute to an array of other nondisclosing nonprofits in the form of grants.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">In 2010, Americans for Limited Government sent $250,000 to <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cycle=2010&cmte=Americans%20for%20Job%20Security" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Americans for Job Security</a>, a nonprofit closely linked to several of George W. Bush’s top political advisers. Americans for Job Security spent almost $9 million in 2010, targeting mostly Democratic congressional candidates. It also stepped into an Alaskan state ballot initiative fight, spending $1.6 million supporting a local 501(c)(4) in an effort to try to defeat a referendum limiting mining. In response to complaints filed about the local group and its claims to be a grassroots organization, the Alaska Public Offices Commission opened an investigation to determine the group’s funding sources.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">“Americans for Job Security has no purpose other than to cover various money trails all over the country,” the commission’s report concluded.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">AJS, whose executive director shared office space with the Karl Rove-linked organization <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=American%20Crossroads/Crossroads%20GPS" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">American Crossroads</a>, was also accused in the report of being an improper conduit for money from the mine’s owner. Though AJS never admitted wrongdoing, it paid a $20,000 settlement.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">Most of the grants Americans for Limited Government gave in 2010 seemed to follow a similar playbook: at least $1.1 million went to other 501(c)(4)s in three states — Colorado, South Carolina and Alaska. Those groups, in turn, passed much of the money on to other groups, which then intervened directly in local and state elections. Rich’s other groups made similar donations to many of the same local groups.<p open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;">In Alaska, Americans for Limited Government sent $66,000 to a 501(c)(4) called Alaskans for Open Government — which in turn sent most of the money to another group called Clean Team Alaska. That group spent heavily to promote a ballot measure that would have banned virtually anyone who received public money — government contractors, municipalities, public employee unions (<a href="http://howardrich.org/?p=583" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">a regular hobgoblin in Rich’s writings</a>) — from lobbying the government or contributing money to political campaigns. The effort was <a href="http://www.adn.com/2010/08/25/1423598/ballot-measure-1-soundly-rejected.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">abruptly abandoned</a> just before the Alaskan Public Offices Commission required the Alaskan groups to disclose their funders.<span open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" /><div open="Open" sans="Sans" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" droid="Droid" arial="Arial" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Rich is fond of ballot initiatives for a very simple reason, U.S. Term Limits co-founder O’Keefe says.“They don’t change their mind after the election,” he said. “They don’t renege on campaign promises. It’s a policy, not a candidate. You don’t actually know what you’re getting back from a candidate.”[dyn graph] cf</div><div style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 20px 0px 20px 20px;">Rich’s Network: This interactive graphic displays some of the groups that are either part of Rich’s network of non-disclosing 501(c) organizations, or have received money from them, based on 990 forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service. You can zoom in or out, reduce the number of organizations to see only the larger ones, or reshape the network. To see the data behind this visualization — including the value and type of transaction between each group — click <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/RichNetwork.xlsx" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">here</a> to download an Excel (.xlsx) spreadsheet. </div>Palmetto State PoliticsRich may have made his biggest mark in South Carolina — a state where he appears to have no personal connections or obvious business interests. But since 2006, Rich has spent large sums in the state, largely to pursue one of his favored causes: School vouchers to allow parents to send their children to educational institutions other than their local neighborhood schools.In 2010 alone, Rich’s organizations gave more than $1.7 million to a handful of South Carolina non-profits — groups like South Carolinians for Responsible Government and Conservatives In Action. South Carolinians for Responsible Government is actually two separate nonprofits, one a 501(c)(3) and another a 501(c)(4). Both groups are based at the same address and have the same president and identical boards of directors. Combined, they listed having more than $1.6 million in revenue in 2010.“South Carolinians for Responsible Government is a statewide grassroots non-profit organization,” the group claims on its <a href="http://www.scrgov.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">website</a>. “Unlike our opponents, who use tax dollars to fund their operations, we depend entirely on the generosity of citizens like you.”But that’s true only if “citizens like you” includes four of Rich’s groups, which, according to their tax filings, made five grants to the two South Carolina organizations totaling $1.5 million — about 90 percent of the recipient groups’ revenues. It’s a classic Rich maneuver, indirect and complicated.As is Rich’s sidestepping of South Carolina’s campaign finance laws: A <a href="http://www.thestate.com/2012/04/08/2225730/ny-dollars-flow-into-sc-school.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">recent investigation</a> by The State newspaper found that since 2008, Rich had contributed at least $188,000 to 38 members of the South Carolina House of Representatives. An OpenSecrets Blog review of South Carolina’s campaign finance disclosures indicate that since that article was published, Rich has given at least another $19,000 to three state Senate candidates facing primary fights.But since South Carolina caps individual donations at $2,000, Rich had to be creative. Instead he made his gifts through shell companies with names like Stillrich LLC, Coolcal LLC, 188 Claremont LLC, 123 LaSalle, Inc., and 51 First Avenue, LLC. The companies, many of which appear to linger from Rich’s time in real estate – a realm in which it’s common for each property to exist as its own LLC — all list 1420 Walnut Street, Suite 1011, Philadelphia, PA, as their address.That’s the address of the Center for Independent Thought, the libertarian think tank run by Rich’s wife, Andrea Millen Rich.Dick Harpootlian, the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, is blunt in his assessment of Rich.“He owns the whole fing state,” Harpootlian said recently in an interview with OpenSecrets Blog.Phil Noble, a Democratic party activist who in 2010 traveled the state confronting candidates for taking Rich’s campaign contributions, is almost as blunt.“He’s basically bought the Republican Party and virtually all the state House candidates is what it boils down to,” Noble told OpenSecrets Blog. “God knows how many millions he has spent here.” According to Noble, Rich first came to the state to back former governor Mark Sanford, who was a prominent school voucher proponent.Noble said that Rich has targeted candidates, often moderate Republicans, in primary contests, usually shortly before an election. One left-wing South Carolina blog found that in 2008, LLCs and individuals affiliated with Rich contributed $40,000 to a conservative state Senate candidate, Lee Bright, in the final two weeks before he faced off against an incumbent Republican. The contributions, which were not made public until after the vote, accounted for 20 percent of Bright’s funds in that election.Simultaneously, the South Carolina Club For Growth — a group affiliated with the national Club For Growth, where Rich is a board member — dropped <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFwoAEGdNuA" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">an attack ad on the incumbent</a>, blasting him for taking money from trial lawyers.Bright narrowly won the race.Noble blames Rich for corrupting South Carolina’s political culture by encouraging the development and use of secretive non-profits to attack political enemies.“He was sort of the impetus for the the creation of a whole (c)(4) support network for Sanford and his agenda,” Noble said. “He brought that whole culture with him.”Furthermore, said Noble, Rich and his network “don’t care at all” about bad publicity. “They just spend what they have to, and they keep spending big.”Continuing to SpendThere are indications that increasingly Rich is aiming his operation at federal politics. For the past two years, OpenSecrets.org data shows, Americans For Limited Government, Inc., has <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000060083&year=2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">employed a federal lobbyist</a>. So far this year, the group has lobbied in support of two anti- union bills, including one sponsored by Rep. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00030752&cycle=2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Jeff Duncan</a> (R-S.C.), to whose campaign Rich personally gave $2,500. <a href="http://netrightdaily.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">NetRightDaily.com</a>, an online publication sponsored by Americans for Limited Government, has <a href="http://netrightdaily.com/2012/05/nlrb-secret-ballot-election-attack-defunded-in-u-s-house-of-representatives/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">trumpeted</a> the role the group played helping Duncan develop the legislation.In March, Rich gave $50,000 to the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00487470&cycle=2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Club For Growth Action Fund</a>, a super PAC affiliated with the libertarian Club For Growth where Rich is on the board. Characteristically, Rich shrouded the donation under cover of a shell corporation, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/usearch/index.php?q=ashborough+investors&searchButt_clean.x=0&searchButt_clean.y=0&searchButt_clean=Submit&cx=010677907462955562473%3Anlldkv0jvam&cof=FORID%3A11" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Ashborough Investors LLC</a>, which lists his wife as the manager.He has given another $48,500 directly to candidates like <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?cycle=2012&id=INS1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Richard Mourdock</a>, the Indiana Tea Party challenger who successfully upset long-time incumbent Republican Sen. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00001764&cycle=2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Dick Lugar</a>, as well as to PACs — including Club for Growth and the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2012&strID=C00286880" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Term Limits America</a> PAC.If Rich is gearing up his operation for a big effort at the federal level, there will likely be a liberal pushback — his name is often mentioned on liberal blogs in the same breath as the Koch brothers (although CRP found no direct connection between Rich and the Kochs).But if Rich is pushed on his campaign finance activities, expect him to push back.In 2008, when a liberal group took it upon itself to notify conservative donors with ties to non-disclosing outside spending groups that they were being watched for possible election and tax law violations, Howard Rich — despite his own extensive involvement with political groups that hide their funding sources — sent a <a href="http://www.accountableamerica.com/files/letter.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">similar letter</a> to liberal donors.“As a donor to one or more of these organizations and efforts, you have been able to engage in these activities without notice, operating in relative obscurity. I am writing to inform you that this will no longer be the case,” Rich wrote in his letter. “Your name has been put in our database. We are monitoring all reports of a wide variety of leftist organizations. As your name appears in subsequent reports, it is our intent to publicize your involvement in your local community.”Center for Responsive Politics researcher Robert Maguire contributed to this story.</div></div>http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-koch-brothers-231863no links
Charles Koch once likened the contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to being asked to choose cancer or a heart attack.Now, Koch’s allies are helping to launch Trump’s administration, giving Charles and his brother David potential inroads with a president whose campaign they refused to support.The president-elect, in filling out his transition team and administration, has drawn heavily from the vast network of donors and advocacy groups built by the billionaire industrialist brothers, who have sought to reshape American politics in their libertarian image.
From White House Counsel Don McGahn and transition team advisers Tom Pyle, Darin Selnick and Alan Cobb to Presidential Inaugural Committee member Diane Hendricks and transition-team executive committee members Rebekah Mercer and Anthony Scaramucci, Trump has surrounded himself with people tied to the Kochs.“In creating the Koch network, I don’t think that we ever envisioned that we would be supplying staffers to this semi-free market, semi-populist president,” said Frayda Levin, a donor to the network who chairs the board of its main voter mobilization group, Americans for Prosperity. “But we’re happy that he’s picking people who have that free market background, particularly because on many issues, he is a blank slate, so anybody with expertise is in an amazing position to shape his agenda.”

Trump's baseless assertions of voter fraud called 'stunning'By ANDREW RESTUCCIA
And many more Koch-linked operatives are expected to join Trump’s nascent administration in the coming weeks, according to Trump transition-team sources. Names being considered include Koch Industries lobbyist Brian Henneberry and former company spokesman Matt Lloyd, as well as Daniel Garza, who runs a Koch-backed nonprofit called the LIBRE Initiative that courts Latinos, not to mention a handful of veterans of the Koch network’s advocacy groups who worked on the Trump campaign — from top Pence adviser Marc Short and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to ex-campaign aides Stuart Jolly, Eli Miller, Scott Hagerstrom, Charles Munoz and Matt Ciepielowski.
Perhaps more surprisingly, despite some predictions of imminent policy clashes, there’s already informal communication between the Trump team and the Koch network, and both camps are signaling a willingness to work together on issues of mutual interest. David Koch even attended Trump’s election night victory party.
How long the comity lasts between Trump and the powerful Koch brothers could go far in determining whether Trump is able to take full advantage of the complete Republican control of Washington ushered in by his stunning victory over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Things weren’t so agreeable during the campaign, when the Koch operation blocked Trump from directly accessing its data or its candidate forums, while the brothers condemned the first-time candidate for his combative tone, his calls for a Muslim immigration ban and his opposition to the sorts of trade policies that facilitate the brothers’ vision of unfettered global capitalism. At one point, Charles Koch compared the choice between Trump and Clinton to choosing between “cancer or heart attack,” and the Koch network did not spend any money directly boosting Trump or attacking Clinton.
Trump in turn boasted that the Kochs could not influence him because he didn’t “want their money or anything else from them.” And he blasted his rivals for the GOP nomination as puppets of the Kochs. A possible truce after Trump clinched the nomination broke down quickly, with the two sides clashing over who rejected a proposed meeting.
The Koch network, which some believed was discouraging its operatives from working with Trump’s campaign, is now seen by insiders as welcoming the chance to have allies on the inside of Trump’s administration.
At the same time, though, the network already is signaling that it intends to oppose aspects of Trump’s agenda that run counter to the brothers’ brand of small government, low-regulation conservatism, possibly including the incoming president’s $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan and his pledge to renegotiate trade deals.
Trump’s press office didn’t respond to requests for comment.
James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the central group in the Koch network, said, “We’ll try to find areas to work together to advance a free and open society and reverse the counterproductive policies that have created a two-tiered society.” He added: “We wish the new administration well.”
Setting aside the personal and policy conflicts, Trump’s willingness to draw from the Kochs’ operation makes sense in several ways.
PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITIONTrump douses White House hopes of Cruz, Rubio and othersBy BURGESS EVERETTCharles and David Koch over the past decade mobilized some of the biggest donors on the right to finance what amounts to a privatized political party — a network of donors and advocacy groups that became a leading employer of conservative operatives and policy professionals independent of the official GOP during a period when Republicans were mostly out of power in Washington.
The 1,200-employee network, which claims it will have spent about $750 million in the run-up to the 2016 election, would have been a logical pool from which any incoming Republican administration might have drawn as it endeavored to fill thousands of jobs.
But there’s an added appeal for Trump.
During the campaign, Trump railed against a Washington GOP establishment — embodied by the family of his vanquished primary foe Jeb Bush — from which the Kochs for years had worked to demonstrate their independence. And, after he won, President-elect Trump announced a sweeping lobbying ban that could be more of a deterrent for many conservative policy professionals than for Koch network staffers, who can work for years within the brothers’ network of think tanks and advocacy groups without directly lobbying federal or state officials.
“If you’re not going to pull from the Chamber of Commerce, Bush wing of the party, you don’t have that many places to go, so it makes sense to look to Koch world,” said a GOP operative who advised Trump team’s during the campaign and the transition. “Trump is looking for new blood that wasn’t part of the traditional establishment, and his presidency is already totally rewriting the Republican hierarchy. There were all these people who were locked out who are now getting their chance.”
Some former Koch staffers told POLITICO that the allure of joining Trump’s team was compounded by what they saw as the network’s retreat from the 2016 presidential race and its increased emphasis on advocating libertarian-infused policies such as decreasing incarceration and government subsidies.
“It’s less a result of Trump recruiting from the network as it is a result of the network retreating from the political field, leaving people looking for places they could go to have an impact,” said a former network staffer who worked on the Trump campaign.In fact, many of the Koch veterans who played major roles in the Trump campaign had left the Koch network weeks or even months before joining forces with Trump, including Short, Lewandowski, Ciepielowski, Cobb, Jolly, Miller and Munoz — none of whom responded to requests for comment for this story.Most notably, Short resigned his role as president of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce in late February to join Marco Rubio’s rival presidential campaign, motivated partly by the network’s decision to sit out the presidential race.
Short landed in Trump’s orbit when the Republican nominee tapped as his running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. A longtime ally of the Koch network, Pence had previously employed both Short and Lloyd, who later went to work for Koch Industries, the privately owned multinational oil and industrial conglomerate that is the source of the brothers’ fortunes, which are estimated at $43 billion each. Short is now helping Pence run the transition effort and is expected to fill a senior role in the vice president’s office, as is Lloyd, who is working as a deputy chief of staff in Pence’s gubernatorial office in Indiana and could not be reached for comment.
Other ex-Koch operatives, including Lewandowski, left the network on less-than-great terms, and jumped at the chance to join up early with Trump as he launched a campaign that few establishment operatives or donors took seriously.
Lewandowski had worked for years at Americans for Prosperity, where he drew complaints from co-workers and directed an underperforming voter registration initiative. Still, he brought with him from AFP undeniable organizing experience. Under his leadership, the Trump campaign brought on a number of former AFP operatives, including Ciepielowski, Cobb, Jolly, Miller and Munoz — all of whom are up for posts in Trump’s administration or at the Republican National Committee, according to sources in Trump’s operation.
Cobb is currently working for the transition team, which also is getting advice from Selnick and Pyle.
Selnick is a senior adviser and consultant to Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit group funded by the Koch network that has pushed to allow veterans to access private health care — a goal that Trump embraced on the campaign trail.
“The Trump transition team’s collaboration with experts like Darin is a positive sign that the president-elect is prioritizing real VA reform,” said Dan Caldwell, a Concerned Veterans spokesman, referring to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “We are optimistic that President-elect Trump will now turn these ideas into tangible reforms, and we will support him in that effort.”Pyle, who is leading the Trump transition team’s Energy Department landing team, is the president of a fossil fuel advocacy group called the American Energy Institute, which has received significant Koch network funding. But the group gradually has been cut out of the network, which may have given it leeway to officially endorse Trump over the summer, even as the Koch network was sitting out the race. Pyle declined to comment.
Additionally, some of the deepest pockets helping Trump have either contributed significant sums to the Koch network or attended its twice-a-year donor gatherings. They include transition team executive committee members Mercer, a hedge fund heiress, and Scaramucci, a Wall Street impresario; as well as self-made roofing billionaire Hendricks, a member of Trump’s Presidential Inaugural Committee. Family members of Betsy DeVos, whom Trump nominated last week as his secretary of education, have also been contributors to the network.
McGahn, who last week was named White House counsel, represented Freedom Partners and its affiliated super PAC — work he continued for a time even after signing on with the Trump campaign. He didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Garza, whose LIBRE Initiative is in good standing in the Koch network, told POLITICO that he is engaged in “some initial talks” about a possible role with the Trump team. But he suggested that, even if he joined the team, it wouldn’t mean that the Trump administration would get a free pass from his group. “We’ll encourage and advocate for freedom-oriented, pro-growth policy proposals and call out bad policy prescriptions regardless of party or personality.”
The first potential battle between the Kochs and the Trump administration — the one repeatedly mentioned by operatives in and out of the network — is Trump’s centerpiece infrastructure plan, which constitutes the sort of Big Government domestic spending for which the Kochs have long attacked Democratic and Republican politicians alike.
“It will be interesting to see whether AFP actually holds the line on something,” said one top Republican operative. “There really could be a Trump-Koch spat in Year One.”
Others are interpreting the Koch-Trump détente as evidence that the true allegiance of many Koch staffers was always to the Republican Party, despite the network’s attempts to cast its efforts as independent from the official GOP.
“Starting in 2006 when Republicans lost control of Congress and even more so in 2008, when we lost the White House, a lot of people just needed a paycheck to keep up with their mortgage, and the Koch network kept them afloat,” said one former network official. “That’s not the way Charles Koch saw it, but the people who were accepting the checks saw it that way. And now, there’s an opportunity for them to get off the Koch dole and get back in power.”
Then there’s the question of whether Trump will even want to collaborate.
Several operatives around the Koch network said there’s concern that the Trump administration will have no incentive to work with the network.</div>