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July 24, 2006

Nice-Sounding Groups Aren't Always What They Seem

Back in 2000, Oregonians faced 27 ballot measures all at once. Seven of them were Bill Sizemore measures. Sizemore came up with a brilliant idea that would allow him to influence Oregon voters on every single measure without them knowing he was the one who was influencing them. He wrote up and I designed a slick multi-page voter guide entitled "27 Ballot Measures Made Simple." The guide was presented as a coordinated effort of several grassroots groups, and money was moved through an array of different bank accounts to hide the Sizemore connection.

The groups were what you would call "astroturf" groups (fake grassroots groups). We found people who could assure us that they would never be available to the media to lend their names as heads of these fake groups, some of which were created specifically for this project. Others had been defunct for some time and were reactivated in name only for this project. An introductory letter inside the front of the guide implied that the groups had met several times and voted on which measures to support. Altogether, these means allowed us to create the false impression that the views in the voter guide represented a broad cross-section of people, rather than the opinions of one man – Bill Sizemore.

I tell this story not because it is news today, but to illustrate a method that is being widely used this year across several states to create the appearance of support of multiple local grassroots campaigns when the reality is that these campaigns are being funded and pushed by a single individual – Howard Rich. Granted, other people are lending support and contributing funding to the project, just as occurred in the "27 Ballot Measures Made Simple" voter guide. But the reality is the campaigns are neither local nor grassroots.

Howard Rich and his extremely small group of libertarian friends are working through a broad array of front groups. They take advantage of local campaign finance laws where necessary to move money from one front group to another to create the appearance of a broad-based effort. Specifically, in several states around the country (including Oregon), Rich and his very small group of close associates are this year pushing ballot initiatives that would reduce the size of state governments by 50% within 15-20 years (TABOR), require payment to landowners for all land use regulations (under the guise of curing eminent domain abuse), and strictly limit the terms of elected representatives. This same group also is working to expand school choice and privatize Social Security. Just so you know.

Is Howard Rich working on a campaign in which you are interested? Look through the following list, and see if you recognize any of the names. All of these groups are either front groups for Howard Rich or groups that he controls, in whole or in part:

Americans for Limited Government, the Cato Institute, Social Security Choice.org, Laissez Faire Books, Foundation for Economic Education, U.S. Term Limits and multiple state term limits groups, Americans Back in Charge, Americans to Limit Congressional Terms, Howard Rich Irrevocable Trust, OKE Associates, Crunch Fitness, Reason Foundation, LaSalle Associates, Dayrich LLC, 538-14 Realty LLC, Fund for Democracy, Americans for Limited Terms, Montanans In Action, America At Its Best, LEAD Foundation, All Children Matter, Citizens in Charge, Committee for State Stewardship, state-level affiliates with Club for Growth, National Taxpayers Union, This House is My House, Parents in Charge, www.politicalactivists.org, National Voter Outreach, 470 W 166 LLC, NewEnvironmentalism.org, Privatization.org, UrbanFutures.org, National Alliance, Joseph R. Rich, Daniel Rich, 123 Lasalle Inc., 4220 Broadway Inc., 4220 Broadway LLC, 123 Lasalle Associates, Spinksville LLC, 405 49 Associates, West 14 & 18 LLC, JMG Realty, Rosemeade Investors, LLC, Ashborough Investors, Bradford Management of New York Inc., Rich Lending Corp., 538-14 Realty LLC, Votenet Solutions Inc., eConstituent, eBallot, and Votenet Voter Registration. I'm sure there are others – but the point is, if Rich needs a front to hide his contribution, he and/or his closest associates make up a new group or file a new corporation and he's off and running.

This practice is commonplace in Oregon. It is a system most used by Oregonians in Action, petitioning companies, and Bill Sizemore and it is very effective at both hiding the source of funding and creating the appearance of broad-based support when such support does not exist. It is a sophisticated means of avoiding the problems faced by people like Loren Parks, who donate large amounts of money in the open for everyone to see, suspect, and criticize. When you see the repercussions that Mark Hemstreet faced for his support of Bill Sizemore years ago, you can understand why people go to such extremes to hide their giving. But truly, voters need to stop being so dense about these things. That nice-sounding group "Grandmas for Affordable Housing" might well be more aptly named "Developers for Freedom from Land Use Laws."

Posted by Becky at July 24, 2006 09:34 AM