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RELATED LINKSExternal LinksMoJo: Tales of a Push Pollster: What’s in the Swift Boat crowd’s bag of last-minute tricks? Taylor Marsh: Robert J. Perry: The Original 'Swiftboating' Money Man Taylor Marsh: Robert Perry's Swiftboat Group Loses in Court (10/27/2006) 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 The power of Bob Perry's 'Swift-Boating' moneyPerry, the Houston-based homebuilder and the primary funder behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is pumping millions into this year's congressional racesIn New Mexico, according to Federal Election Commission records, Americans for Honesty on Issues has spent $165,000 in support of the campaign of Republican The money for these, and several other congressional races, comes from Bob Perry, the Houston, Texas-based homebuilder who heads Perry Homes (website) and who gained national notoriety when he funded the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ad campaign that questioned Democratic Party nominee John Kerry's Vietnam War record during the 2004 presidential campaign. This electoral season Perry has already contributed at least $8 million to a host of Republican congressional candidates around the country. A Los Angeles Times article dated August 15, 2004, pointed out the Perry guarded his privacy, lived fairly modestly considering his wealth, and willingly donated huge sums of money to the Republican Party. Interestingly enough, although he has given millions to many political candidates "the vast majority of those people have never laid eyes on him," Court Koenning, executive director of the Republican Party in Harris County, told the Los Angeles Times. (The Swift Boat advertisements that ran in such key battleground states as Wisconsin, Ohio, and West Virginia, were "part of a multimedia campaign questioning Kerry's fitness as a leader and commander in chief." The Center for Responsive Politics documented the fact that Perry gave the group, which subsequently changed its name to Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, $4.45 million in 2004.) ''Bob Perry is a very generous guy with his political donations," Koenning said. ''His primary interest is good government...Everybody agrees that John Kerry's service to this country is admirable. But if he lied about it, that speaks to his character." At the time, Charles Soechting, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, noted that Perry "pulls the strings and never gets his hands dirty. But even by his standards, this latest deal is just over the top." Perry, who worked with Karl Rove for years, declined to comment through his spokesman, Bill Miller, an Austin political consultant. This electoral season Perry has already contributed at least $8 million to a host of Republican congressional candidates around the country. According to Congressional Quarterly's PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks how money is spent in politics, Perry is ranked the No. 1 donor this year. (For more on Perry's donations, see CampaignMoney.com, which describes itself as "a unique website that lets you see for yourself the hidden world of American political campaigns.") Americans for Honesty on IssuesIn mid-October, the Houston Chronicle reported that Perry had given $2 million to Americans for Honesty on Issues, "a new group that is buying television ads aimed at helping Republicans facing tight House races in Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Arizona, North Carolina, Kentucky and New Mexico, according to the group's latest report to the Federal Election Commission." Americans for Honesty on Issues "is spending more than $1 million on...ads, which accuse Democratic candidates of carpetbagging, coddling illegal immigrants, being soft on crime and advocating cutting off money for troops in Iraq," the New York Times' John Broder reported earlier this month. Sue Walden, a Houston-based political consultant who is reported to have close ties to the ethically-challenged former Republican Congressman Tom DeLay, is president of the organization. According to the New York Times, Walden "has also raised money for President Bush and served as an adviser to Kenneth L. Lay, the former chief executive of Enron who died in July." The Houston Chronicle also reported that "Earlier this election cycle, Perry contributed $5 million to the Economic Freedom Fund, which targeted Democratic congressional candidates in competitive races in Georgia, Indiana, Iowa and West Virginia. The Free Enterprise Fund"Perry kicked in another $1 million to the Washington, DC-based Free Enterprise Fund (website), which is airing ads attacking MoveOn.org, a liberal group that has been active in elections, and Democrats running for the U.S. Senate in Montana and Connecticut." The $1 million made up the vast majority of funds recently received by the group, according to Political Money Line. The Free Enterprise Fund's "Stop MoveOn.org" campaign "is running television ads attacking the online organization" and tying the group "to 'radical billionaire George Soros,' who appears in the spots looking like a crazed burglar," The Nation magazine recently reported. In mid-September, TPMMuckraker.com's Paul Kiel reported that Perry's Free Enterprise Fund is again "working with" Stevens, Reed, Curcio, and Potholm (SRCP), the same group that produced the Swift Boat ads. Stevens, Reed, Curcio and Potholm has worked for the National Republican Campaign Committee as well as a number of top-shelf Republicans including Sen. George Allen (R-VA), Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Kiel pointed out that "This July, the group got in hot water for an ad it ran against Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown...which hit Brown for being weak on national security, [and] featured a doctored image of the twin towers with photogenic smoke hovering around them." "According to documents and local television managers in Georgia and Iowa, SRCP has been responsible for buying the airtime for the Economic Freedom Fund's television ads -- attacks against Reps. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Jim Marshall (D-GA), and John Barrow (D-GA)," TPMMuckraker.com reported. "It's not clear if the firm actually produced the ads, or was merely working with Meridian Pacific, the well-connected California consulting firm that works with the group, to get the ads placed. Neither SRCP or Meridian Pacific returned my calls to explain their involvement." The groups that Perry is funding are -- like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- "527s", "named after a provision in the federal tax code," the Chronicle's Kristen Mack pointed out. "Donations Perry and others make to those groups are not subject to the same limits as donations directly benefiting federal candidates or political parties." "Direct donations from any individual to a single federal candidate are limited to $2,100 in an election cycle." "Expenditures by 527s may not be directed to specific candidates. The money often buys advertising that is strongly favorable or negative to a candidate or cause, without specifically soliciting a vote." In early October, the Austin Chronicle pointed out that Perry and San Antonio hospital-bed tycoon James Leininger "remain unmatched in the amount of dollars they give to political candidates and committees...In a review of contributions made during the first 18 months of the 2006 election cycle, watchdog group Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) found [that]...Perry and Leininger still rank No. 1 and No. 2 on TPJ's latest megadonor report." While mostly known for his political donations, Perry has also given $1 million to the League City YMCA, $1 million to the University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies, $100,000 to the Harris County Hurricane Relief Fund, and $100,000 to the Jefferson County Hurricane Relief Fund, according to Perry spokesman Anthony Holm. Texas' home builders lobby lands blow on housing buyersAs a major home builder Perry appears to have played a significant role in lobbying for the creation of the decidedly anti-consumer Texas Residential Construction Commission. Last summer, the Texas Monthly wrote about the birth of this new agency: In the good old days, if you scrimped and saved and bought your dream home in Texas, you could sleep easy at night knowing that the roof over your head was protected by a common-sense legal doctrine. Known as an implied warranty of habitability, in layman's terms it meant that -- whether or not anything was put in writing -- the courts would hold the builder to a guarantee that your home was fit to live in and constructed with care. If your foundation sagged or your windows leaked or your roof caved in, you could demand that the builder fix the defect and take him to court if he didn't. That option is no longer available. In 2003, after spreading around $9 million in campaign contributions, the powerful home builders' lobby got the Legislature to agree with its contention that implied warranties were too darn vague and that the lawsuits they produced were too damaging to the industry. Instead, it asked lawmakers to create a new state agency to protect builders from legal retribution. It was one of the most blatant power plays in recent years, made possible by an anti-lawsuit fervor that swept through the new Republican-controlled Legislature and by the influence of two politically active builders: the biggest individual contributor, Bob Perry (no relation to Governor Rick Perry but lots of political ties), and the co-founder of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Dick Weekley. Thus was born the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC), which in its short life has served as the classic case study of what can happen when a public agency is captured by the industry it is supposed to regulate. Free Enterprise Fund launches anti-Ford ads in TennesseeOn October 19, the Scripps Howard News Service reported that in the hotly contested Senate race in Tennessee between Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr. and Republican Bob Corker, the Free Enterprise Fund "began airing ads in Middle and West Tennessee on Tuesday [October 17] that attack Democrat Harold Ford Jr. for 'living it up on campaign cash but pushing higher taxes for Tennessee families.'" Michael Powell, senior advisor to the Ford campaign, said the organization was "not a group that is interested in telling the truth. This is a group interested in scaring voters and slandering Congressman Ford." The ad, which dubs the Democrat "fancy Ford" for his allegedly "lavish spending from campaign funds. The three examples cited in the ad are 'luxurious five-star hotels,' 'fancy designer Armani suit' and 'fine Davidoff cigars,'" Scripps Howard reported. "Swift boat politics has no place in Tennessee," said Powell. "By embracing this kind of stuff, Bob Corker proves yet again that truth is not important to him." As the Bush campaign did in 2004, a spokesperson for the Corker campaign denied that it had any "contact or control with the Free Enterprise Fund" and it claimed it hadn't seen the ad until it ran on October the 17th. But, added Corker spokesperson Todd Womack, the ads "facts appear to be accurate." 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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