One wonders what dinner conversation must be like nowadays between Howie Rich of New York City and William Wilson, one of the few Americans for Limited Government still waving the flag from Washington, D.C. Do they recount those halcyon days when the rising tide elevated Newt and the Hammer to power, before the U.S. Supreme Court snatched their term-limit victories from them? Or do they, Chardonnay spent, mourn the absence of lost friends, those who lately jumped the sinking ship, who paddled away on the flotsam and jetsam of so many exploded ballot initiatives? Whither Eric O’Keefe and Leslie Graves? Whither John Tillman? Whither Paul Jacob? And worse, whither the patron saint Milton? Might they harmonize in their cups, "Where have you gone, Milton Friedman? A movement turns its lonely eyes to you..."?
I bet, somewhere among the philosophizing about the past year and strategizing the next one, the Center for Public Integrity is mentioned once or twice. Webloggers did their part to uncover ALG’s string-pulling from Oregon to Maine, but the Center for Public Integrity stripped away Rich and Company’s last dirty secret: that there really IS no ALG with much-ballyhooed, countless contributors across America! Instead, CPI discovered, three major donors raised 99 percent of ALG’s $5.4 million budget in 2005. If those three anonymous donors were peering into the same rosy crystal ball as Rich, Wilson, Tillman, O’Keefe, Graves, Jacob and others a year ago, then might those three anonymous donors have tripled their support in 2006, giving Rich a budget closer to $15 million to spend on ballot measures across the land?
Reporter Bill Hogan broke the shocking news here http://www.takingsinitiatives.org/... "Americans for Limited Government, the tax-exempt organization that bankrolled a series of controversial ballot initiatives this year, raised 99 percent of its $5.4 million in total contributions in 2005 from just three donors, the Center for Public Integrity has learned. The number of ALG’s major donors in 2005, but not their identities, was disclosed in financial statements obtained by the Center."
"New York political activist Howard Rich, the organization’s high-profile chairman, did not respond to the Center’s requests for information about ALG’s financial affairs, including a question about how much of his own money, if any, he has given to the group. Rich has repeatedly declined to disclose the identities of donors to ALG and eight other tax-exempt organizations that share common management."
"Rich was recently described by The Wall Street Journal as ‘a publicity-shy, libertarian-leaning businessman who has become the go-to man for supporters of conservative ballot initiatives’," Hogan adds. Yeah, I remember reading that, too: Rich is a "go-to" guy. Sadly, some of his nearest and dearest have chosen to "go-from," but we’ll get to that soon enough.
Hogan observes, "The reliance of Americans for Limited Government on such a small number of big donors is at sharp variance with how the organization bills itself to journalists and to the public."
"Americans for Limited Government is funded by thousands of individuals from across the country," he quotes ALG’s own website. "Grassroots volunteers and donors make up the heart and soul of our organization."
Suuuure they do. Everywhere you turn, there are ALG grassroots volunteers emptying their pockets for The Cause!
"It’s a theme that Rich and his lieutenants have sounded again and again," Hogan writes. "Months before the November elections, for example, Rich told a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle that his network of organizations — chief among them Americans for Limited Government — is funded by thousands of individual donors."
Thousands, he said. Thousands. That’s a lot more than mere hundreds, or scores or dozens. And it’s a ton more than three, I guarantee. It’s thousands!
You have to imagine that quotes like this one clang in their ears when tossed back to them nowadays. But anybody can slip and drop an extra "thousands" here and there when chewing the fat with a reporter. It’s the WRITTEN words that must cause their eyes to dilate, like these: "And in an October 24 e-mail to the Center, John Tillman, ALG’s president, said that the organization’s ‘funding comes from thousands of Americans all over the country.’ Tillman went on to say that ‘we are also proud of the fact that our support is broad and deep’."
Ouch. Broad and deep, he said. Three anonymous donors, and ALG’s support is "broad and deep."
Is there any Chardonnay left in that bottle, fellas?
Hogan wraps up thusly – you know, in the interest of giving context to the reader: "The Center previously reported that Americans for Limited Government was apparently forced last month to move out of Illinois, its longtime base of operations, because it could not comply with the state’s charity laws. Just after the November 7 elections the organization changed the address listed on its Web site to the Virginia residence of one of its officers."
That would be William Wilson, who took over for Eric O’Keefe as executive director.
Speaking of O’Keefe, his nascent Sam Adams Alliance is growing by millimeters there in the heartland. Yes, it’s heavy work crafting a "national networking station" out of thin air, especially without the wisdom and guidance of his mentor Rich. Wasn’t it Rich who was there to boost him into the national director’s chair at the National Libertarian Party way back when? In fact, wasn’t Rich there to salve the wounds on August 8, 1982, when Alicia Clark unceremoniously removed him from that chair?
Thanks to the sage and long-mourned Murray Rothbard, that sad tale is preserved for all time at the Mises Institute website, www.mises.org. There was Clark, asking for the resignation, and O’Keefe "maintaining his own indispensability to party success," Rothbard tells us. There was Honey Lanham of Texas, nominated by Clark to replace him. There was Leslie Key, aka Leslie Graves and the future Mrs. Eric O’Keefe, advising the delegates unflatteringly, "She sells cosmetics." And there was Andrea Rich, wife of Howie, "badgering" Clark with the question, "How does she make her money?"
O, "Dallas" and "Dynasty" were never so good, and I encourage you, faithful reader, to catch up on the episode in our leisure.
So, considering the ties that bound so tightly the O’Keefes and the Riches, we must imagine that the parting was bittersweet as O’Keefe staked himself to this new enterprise, the Sam Adams Alliance, and left Wilson to salvage the ruins of the ALG. There are doubters, certainly, who speculate in their cynicism that this is merely another ALG façade – there being so many already – and that the ties that bind are still entwined. But O’Keefe puts to rest those doubts on his FAQ page about his bold new venture, found here http://www.samadamsalliance.org/...
(I love FAQ pages. Like an oracle of old, the author imagines what burning questions a random questioner may bring, and he devises an answer to that question, to be ready just-in-time, like McDonald’s French fries.)
There are the perfunctory references to de Tocqueville; what Libertarian intellectual worth his salt would issue a statement without dusting off de Tocqueville? (Gingrich could quote him backwards, standing on his head!) And he gets the necessities out of the way, like ol’ Joe Friday.
"Q: When did the Sam Adams Alliance form?"
"A: The Sam Adams Alliance officially formed on October 20, 2006."
But then we get to the discussion of the surgical separation of SAA from ALG, its progenitor. Witness, and mind the arterial spray:
"Q: How is the Sam Adams Alliance related to Americans for Limited Government?"
"A: Many of the Sam Adams Alliance's Chicago-based staff and management formerly worked with Americans for Limited Government. Our Chairman, Eric O'Keefe, served on the board of Americans for Limited Government; our President, John Tillman, served as ALG's president; and our Senior Advisor, Paul Jacob, was ALG's senior fellow.
"The Sam Adams Alliance grew out of a realization that no national network exists to serve and assist local leaders and groups, and that real political change depends on a citizen movement with true staying power on the local level. Many of ALG's Chicago-based staff agreed with this new mission, and joined SAA as a result. The formal division of the groups occurred in November of 2006.
"ALG continues to exist and has moved to the Washington, DC area."
That was sanitary enough. Seasoned with a little rhetoric and a well-measured polity. No need for hurt feelings and salted wounds, after all. But then O’Keefe imagines the questioner probing for more, pressing for a frayed nerve, and he tamps down any exposed edges as best he can:
"Q: Is SAA headed by Howard Rich?
"A: SAA is not affiliated with Mr. Rich, who remains the head of Americans for Limited Government. The Sam Adams Alliance shares no management or management decisions with ALG or its affiliates, but we do wish them the best in their future endeavors.
"Q: But that's not what I read on a website...
"A: Many ‘non partisan research’ websites have a distinct agenda--many, for instance, are funded by left-wing maven George Soros--and they don't let the facts get in the way of their quest to defame groups they perceive as threatening. In the same way, left-leaning blogs tend to ignore basic points of fact (they also tend to ignore logic, but that's another story).
"We sometimes wonder about the moral fiber of those who do this sort of thing for a living, but then again, it's kind of amusing to see the wacky things they cook up. Reader, beware."
Caveat lector, indeed. Ab ovo usque ad mala, even.
But here – understandably so – O’Keefe both falls back into the traces of ALG’s message machinery AND forges new ground, tarring those who dare ask which fat cat donors are fueling him as all brands of evil, the same as racists, bigots, arch-fiends from a bygone era!
"Q: Where does the Sam Adams Alliance get its funding?
"A: We are funded by independent private donors from across the country. Unless our donors prefer otherwise, they are kept confidential. This is quite common in the political world, where donating to a cause can sometimes bring repercussions from union bosses, bureaucrats, or government agencies. Donor privacy is an important right, has been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, and stems back to the civil rights era, when donors fighting Jim Crow laws were often targeted or threatened because of the groups they supported."
Take that, you do-gooders at the Center for Public Integrity. Don’t threaten the Sam Adams Alliance with your fire hoses.
And, careful reader, I can’t help but share this imaginary exchange, merely quoted from the page itself:
"Q: What can I do to get involved?
"A: We're glad you asked."
So there it is, or there it must be, if words mean anything at all. Prometheus is unbound; the mentored has broken with the mentor, Grasshopper has claimed the pebble from the master’s hand. The legendary, longstanding alliance of Rich and O’Keefe – yes, tantamount to Starsky and Hutch in their day – is no more, thanks to the ragged mess that was 2006.
No matter. Rich is left, after all, with Wilson and his brother-in-law Paul Jacob, the columnist of "Common Sense". Surely familial bonds are made of stronger stuff, and one’s brother-in-law cannot – would not – forsake one in the wake of such disastrous strategery. Family is family.
What’s this? An email sent by Paul Jacob to those happy campers subscribing to his column, and sent to them on the very first day of the New Year? What does it say?
From: Common Sense <commonsense@getliberty.org>
Reply-To: commonsense@getliberty.org
To: --------------------
Subject: Common Sense: A New Year, A New Sponsor
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 13:04:26 -0500 (EST)
"A New Year, A New Sponsor
1/31/07
Dear Subscriber,
Happy New Year!
In this wondrous New Year, let me be the first to tell you that Common Sense is moving to a new sponsor."
Ono, dear reader! This is tragic!
"It's bittersweet for me. Americans for Limited Government has been a great sponsor, doing some of the most critical work in the country to protect property rights and restore accountability to government."
"Common Sense's new home, The Sam Adams Alliance, will be concentrating efforts especially at the local level, assisting and networking with activists. So, watch for even more reports from the grassroots of American politics. As a subscriber, you'll of course continue to receive..." etc, etc, etc.
"Those of us who love freedom and take individual responsibility for protecting that freedom face a great many challenges in the coming year. No one said it was going to be easy. Common Sense hopes to help, to educate, to entertain, to keep us all together, smiling, laughing or rolling our eyes, and always fighting the good fight."
"Best, Paul Jacob"
The good fight? Isn’t that what Rich and Company were fighting? He calls this "keeping us all together"?
Alas, poor reader, alea iacta est. What’s done is done. 2006 proved to be the rock against which diamonds themselves were broken, with Rich and Wilson left with the shredded sails of ALG, and O’Keefe, Graves and Jacob – a brother-in-law, no less – taking up their cudgels and, well, in the words of an altogether different saint named Milton,
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
They, hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
Acta est fabula plaudite.
http://www.samadamsalliance.org/...
Website, Sam Adams Alliance
http://www.takingsinitiatives.org/...
Reporter Bill Hogan, "Three Big Donors Bankrolled Americans for Limited Government in 2005"
http://www.literature.org/...
St. John Milton, "Paradise Lost"