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Cursor.orgMediaTransparency.org sponsor More stories by Bill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs' Media Transparency writersAndrew J. Weaver FundometerEvaluate any page on the World Wide Web against our databases of people, recipients, and funders of the conservative movement. |
ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz Direct mail kingpin's hateful connectionA year after attempting to capitalize on the Terri Schiavo case, Response Unlimited's Philip Zodhiates has taken to peddling anti-Semitic mail lists to conservative groupsLast March, shortly before Terri Schiavo -- the woman who had been in a "persistent vegetative state" since 1990, and whose case was dominating the political/media landscape -- died, her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, inked a pact with Response Unlimited (website), a Waynesboro, Virginia-based direct mail marketing firm. Run by longtime conservative activist Philip Zodhiates, the deal would have allowed Response Unlimited to market the names and e-mail addresses that the Schindlers had garnered during their campaign to save their daughter's life. Before the names and addresses of donors could be sold -- the company planned to charge $150 per thousand names (6,000) or e-mail addresses (4000) of people who responded to an e-mail fundraising appeal from Terri's father -- the New York Times' David Kirkpatrick exposed the arrangement, and the company quickly removed Schindler's list from its catalogue. At the time, Media Transparency reported that the company had advertised the fund-raising potential that the list represented: On its website, Response Unlimited pointed out that "These compassionate pro-lifers donated toward Bob Schindler's legal battle to keep Terri's estranged husband from removing the feeding tube from Terri." The people on the list "are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia and are pro-life in every sense of the word!" The huge market for Christian-related mail listsResponse Unlimited brokers hundreds of mail lists from conservative organizations and political campaigns. Fundraisers and organizers can choose from lists representing nearly 3,000 Christian Computer Software Buyers or 40,000 Christian Political Donors "concern[ed] for the protection of the traditional American family and are generous in what they'll dish out for Christian, conservative, GOP and humanitarian fundraising opportunities." A list of the 71,000 active subscribers to the Weekly Standard, "the ground breaking, courageously independent conservative magazine edited by political powerhouses William Kristol and Fred Barnes" as well as one with 15,208 Jewish donors to the Heritage Foundation are also available. It recently came to light that Response Unlimited (RU) is also peddling the list of readers of The Spotlight, "America's leading anti-Semitic newspaper" and, since about 2001, its successor publication, the American Free Press, the Southern Poverty Law Center's Spring 2006 issue of Intelligence Report pointed out. Subscribers and former subscribers to the now-defunct Spotlight are listed in the "What's Hot" section of the company's website. RU charges $100 per thousand, and $50 per thousand, for 42,408 Subscribers and 79,866 “Expries” respectively. The Spotlight, founded by the longtime anti-Semite Willis Carto, "carried anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic and wildly conspiracist articles interspersed with ads for Klan, neo-Nazi and related hate groups." An additional selling point for buyers of The Spotlight list is that it contains the names of "politically active readers [who] are predominately retired men who want the inside stories that only The Spotlight can provide." After The Spotlight was "shut down amid legal and financial troubles surrounding Carto," the American Free Press -- another Response Unlimited client -- "picked up many of its predecessor paper's propagandists," the Intelligence Report reported. These days, the American Free Press "carries stories on Zionism, secret ‘New World Order' conspiracies, American Jews and Israel. Mixed in are advertisements for outfits like Pete Peter's Scriptures for America and Kingdom Identity Ministries -- practitioners of Christian Identity, a theology that claims that Jews are the literal descendants of Satan." Response Unlimited is offering American Free Press' 21,824 current subscribers and 37,919 "Expires." The company describes the publication as "a nationally distributed weekly newspaper of a populist and nationalist bent .... [that] promotes ‘Life and Liberty' and staunchly opposes the ‘New World Order'... These readers are extremely responsive to alternative and natural health offers, investment opportunities, other subscription offers, book and video offers, pro-America, anti-United Nations, anti-tax and pro-sovereignty fundraising." Zodhiates "acquired" The Spotlight "lists in the spring of 1998," Todd Blodgett, a Washington operative who specializes in direct mail lists and who once worked for Spotlight founder Willis Carto, told the Intelligence Report. "Blodgett, who says he was in the business to make money and little else, said he approached Zodhiates with Carto's approval. Blodgett said Zodhiates was originally apprehensive because he'd heard that ‘some Spotlight readers had a reputation for being anti-Semitic.' "But Blodgett managed to convince Zodhiates not to worry, he says now. He says he told Zodhiates that ‘anti-Zionism is not necessarily anti-Semitism.' He also noted that the attorney for Carto's main anti-Semitic organization, Liberty Lobby, was Mark Lane, who is Jewish. (Lane is also a prominent theorist of a conspiracy in the assassination of President Kennedy.) That was enough for Zodhiates. "The list, which Response Unlimited says ‘works phenomenally well for products of all types, subscription offers, hard-money and other investment offers,' was successful right away, Blodgett said. He said the list immediately began earning Carto some $8,000 to $9,000 a month. According to Blodgett, Zodhiates got an additional 35 percent in broker and management fees, or some $3,000 a month." "Ripoffs Unlimited'Philip Zodhiates and James Lloyd could be kindred spirits; they both make their living from Christian conservative evangelical politics and culture. While Zodhiates markets the mail lists of hundreds of Christian groups, Lloyd is the man behind an enterprise called Christian Media Research (CMR - website). CMR is a website devoted to providing "informative files, radio programs, and fact-based commentaries, about Christian public figures, ministries and doctrinal positions." Lloyd's website maintains that it is "part of the larger Christian Media ministry -- encompassing a nationally distributed tabloid style print newspaper, two printed prophecy newsletters, a daily Internet prophecy commentary, an Internet forum/fellowship group, and a 24/7 Internet, Satellite and Shortwave radio network." In a report by Lloyd bitterly entitled "Ripoffs Unlimited: A Critical Examination Of Response Unlimited -- A Christian Direct Mail Company," he described his experience working with Zodhiates' company: After many years of working with Christian musicians and creatives in video, radio, and print [and] ... as the publisher of the leading trade directory of all organizations professionally involved in Christian media ... I had accumulated a significant mailing list of Christian singers, songwriters, record producers, video creatives, and others professionally engaged in media. I ran into a rep for Response Unlimited who told me they could market that list and it would help to finance our prophecy materials with a minimal effort. The salesperson was persuasive, as he told me if I signed up with Response Unlimited, a list like mine (which had about 10,000 names) was sure to make Christian Media a minimum of a dollar per name per year -- or about $10,000 per year just for letting other ministries "rent" the list. In need of an infusion of cash for his multiple media enterprises, Lloyd signed on. But he was soon to find out that mail list marketers are not necessarily operating on the up and up. "One of the problems in religious direct mail fund-raising is the inability of those that have gotten on a mailing list to actually get their name removed from the original mailing list that is being continuously rented out," Lloyd explained. Most people only receive a single solicitation from the organization that rented a list with their name on it; if they want their name deleted it would have to be deleted by the mail list broker that controls the list, and most people have no idea who that broker might be. "Cautious" about the use of his list, Lloyd told Response Unlimited that he "would not release the database electronically as Response Unlimited wanted, but would provide any rental customers with the peel off pressure sensitive labels of the mailing list." After not receiving any rentals after four months, Lloyd realized that in order "to generate a dollar per name per year as had been represented, the list would have to be rented out around once a month. This was because mailing lists rental fees average about $100 per one thousand names on a one-time basis. This meant a full rental of 10,000 names was worth about $1,000 -- or a dime per name." After a few years where there was little or no contact with the company, Lloyd decided to do some promotion for his own businesses. He found that the main broker of Christian lists was Response Unlimited. In short, after using several lists he found that they contained an overwhelming number of useless names and addresses. ConservativePetitions.comLas year, when the New York Times reported on the Schindler mail list deal, it pointed out that the transaction had been negotiated with Phil Sheldon. In 2000, Sheldon, the son of longtime anti-gay activist Lou Sheldon, the founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, co-founded with Philip Zodhiates ConservativePetitions.com (website). According to its website, Conservative Petition.com aims "to offer people the opportunity to harness Internet technology in making a difference on critical issues they care about." sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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