Kossacks have been keeping track of a bunch of races across the country featuring progressive, people-powered candidates.
One of those races is Deval Patrick in Massachusetts. He's running against two democrats in the primary: the Attorney General Tom Reilly, who some consider to be representing the "insider" element of the pary, and an extremely wealthy "money" candidate, Chris Gabrieli.
A year ago or so ago, less than 5% of the state knew who Deval Patrick was. Yet, he went town to town, city to city to introduce himself. He built up a grassroots network to help spread the word. Despite the fact that it was rigged for the establishment, Deval won the state's Democratic Party Convention with flourish. His grassroots campaign has been so successful, he's currently leading the polls, despite the fact he hasn't spent a dime on TV ads and opponents have spent millions (in June alone!).
So what are people to do? If you can't beat a candidate with ideas, then by God it's time to Swift Boat them! Unfortunately for Democracy, Karl Rove would be proud.
It all started
a few days ago when a Boston Globe Reporter decided to create a story out of a political non-story - a club Patrick was in during college. The reporter has continually written articles that have been decidedly anti-Patrick, whether it's about Patrick being in a particular club or about other seemingly damaging subjects. Well, the latest takes the cake.
Anyone a fan of the media being complicit in protecting the establishment? Well, you'll all love this. Apparently, since the Club Patrick article didn't seem to make a dent into Patrick's popularity (because, honestly, who cares?)... he needed to write another heavily anti-Patrick peice just yesterday. In a seemingly damning piece, the article is about a "New-York based" group set to hurt Deval in the polls. The group wasn't too happy with Deval Patrick's former corporate client: Coca-Cola.
To a politically astute crowd, who would be? Coca-Cola is far from a benevolent corporation. However, the article failed to mention one teeny, tiny fact: why Deval Patrick left Coca-Cola. You'd think that would be an important fact for the story, no?
Because, if the reporter was interested in finding the full truth, he'd know this: Patrick left Coke because they wouldn't let him do an investigation. Furthermore, Coke gave him a huge severance package, burdened with the industry-standard clause to keep him silent. Coke was afraid of Deval Patrick, who wanted to investigate serious claims against Coca-Cola. Regardless of Patrick's involvement with Coke, one thing is clear: he's not one of the "bad guys," for having been with the company. He tried to do good and was booted for it.
Remarkably, people have gotten that throughout the campaign. Patrick has faced some legitimate heat for his dealings with Ameriquest, a company he joined to clean up and then left soon after they laid off Massachusetts employees (though Patrick helped find them all jobs). However, even from Patrick's opponents, he hasn't faced criticism for his role at Coke. Why? Because there are no legitimate concerns there.
But, that won't stop people from making them up. Getting back to the Killer-Coke Boston Globe article, you'll have to remember a few things. The article used one person as a source for an entire new group. That person, Ray Rogers, had a lot of negative things to say about Deval Patrick. What the article failed to mention is the fact that the group "Killer Coke" isn't so much a group at all.
In fact, as far as it's possible to tell, the group only has one member: Ray Rogers. How does a one-member group get a huge article in the Boston Globe? You've got me. However, that doesn't change what's been done. The things people will do to win!
Just so readers get this straight, if Killer Coke isn't a group, what is it? Simply stated, it's a Democratic attempt to Swift Boat a Democrat. It's an attempt to hurt the only candidate in the race who has run a truly grassroots campaign and stayed away from spending gobs of money on TV.
It's also this:
Despite its ".org" URL, neither "Killer Coke" or the "Campaign to Stop Killer Coke" is registered with the IRS as any sort of 501(c) non-profit organization. Nor does the IRS or the FEC have any record of its being registered as a PAC, 527, or other political advocacy organization.
In fact, the "Campaign to Stop Killer Coke" isn't even registered as any kind of corporate or other business entity with the New York Department of State. Really, the only thing we actually know about it is the name of its director, Ray Rogers. So if you write a check to this "Campaign," where does it go?
It appears - though we can't be sure - that it goes to Ray Rogers' private consulting business, called "Corporate Campaign, Inc." (CCI, for short). CCI, despite its ".org" URL, is a New York for-profit business corporation that specializes in advising unions on media and fundraising strategy and other aspects of their battles with private or public employers. CCI's telephone and fax numbers are identical to those listed on Killer Coke's site. Although material on the CCI site routinely speaks in the first person plural ("We are a team of experts...," "We know where to find...," etc.), there's actually no indication from the site that CCI consists of anyone but its "president and director," Ray Rogers.
So is the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke just a bank account owned by CCI, or by Ray Rogers? We have no idea, and no way to find out. There's no doubt, though, that CCI and Killer Coke are closely related (if not identical). In addition to the identical phone and fax numbers, Killer Coke is listed and linked as a "current campaign" on CCI's home page, and all of Killer Coke's web pages have two addresses - you can find every "killercoke.org" page at the alternate URL "corporatecampaign.org/killer-coke."
The saddest thing is, not only was this an attempt to Swift Boat a progressive candidate and not only was it reported in the Boston Globe as if it were a legitimate labor group, but it sure seems illegal. A for-profit company dispersing campaign information for a political cause (attacking an opponent)? I somehow doubt that will sit pretty with the Commonwealth's laws. Hopefully, Deval Patrick's name will be cleared and supposed Democrats will get the message: Democrats should never Swift Boat other Democrats.
Kudos to David at Blue Mass Group for breaking the scandal and showing the world just what "Killer Coke" really is.