Last night, as I reported here http://www.dailykos.com/... the Center for Public Integrity pulled back the curtain on Howie Rich’s Americans for Limited Government to reveal that 99 percent of ALG’s funding in 2005 came from only three major donors. A reporter covering CPI’s announcement noted that this fact refuted the well-documented stream of ALG propaganda claiming that "thousands" of supporters across the nation funded Rich’s committee. Of course, I’ve read and written a good deal about how that (and more) funding was used in 2006, bouncing from ALG in New York to handful of paper organizations in the states, to pay for petition circulators and campaigns for Rich’s ballot initiatives. And it hit me –again – that I’ve read about the exact same thing happening in Wisconsin: money from anonymous donors funneled back and forth between states and paper organizations to be used in politics. Only this time, the organization is called All Children Matter.
Now, I’m not as familiar with ACM as I’ve become with ALG – I’ve been Googling the latter for a few months now – but I mentioned this Wisconsin business first here http://www.dailykos.com/... and Google has already helped out a good bit since then. Let’s recap the story.
Reporter Paul Sloth told us here http://www.journaltimes.com/... "A group of residents and local unions... filed a complaint with the State Elections Board claiming the Michigan-based school choice group All Children Matter violated Wisconsin state law. The complaint alleges the group broke state elections law by advocating against a candidate in a local state Senate race without properly registering with the State Elections Board. The complaint stems from a direct mail flier sent to residents in the 21st Senate District urging them to ‘vote against’ Rep. John Lehman in his campaign for the Senate seat against Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds."
So All Children Matter – ACM – is based in Michigan but sent mail to voters in Wisconsin hoping to affect the outcome of a legislative race. And apparently, because they clearly advocated for Rep. John Lehman’s defeat, they were acting as a political action committee and therefore were subject to laws governing PACs in Wisconsin. Okay, clear enough to me so far.
Sloth continued, "Milwaukee attorney Richard Saks, who represents the group filing the complaint, said All Children Matter registered as a non-resident political committee with the Secretary of State, but did not register with the State Elections Board as a political action committee. The group filing the complaint contends that the ad constitutes express advocacy, which triggers all the state's statutory obligations. Once a political group engages in express advocacy, they have to comply with the state's election laws for political committees requiring disclosure of who they are, where they get their money and how they're spending their money."
Aha. So while they dotted one I, they didn’t cross the other T, and the T was just as important under Wisconsin law as the I.
Is anyone else curious about why a Michigan-based organization is playing ball in Wisconsin’s politics? Do they purport to be a national outfit, a la Howie Rich’s Americans for Limited Government?
At any rate, since they didn’t register as a PAC in Wisconsin but sent out political mail in that state, they broke the law there. As I said in December, an eight-year-old could get this.
And Sloth explained further, "Michigan billionaire Dick DeVos formed All Children Matter in 2003. DeVos did so to promote private school voucher programs - commonly known as school choice - like the one in Milwaukee, according to the nonpartisan watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, an advocacy group that tracks spending in state elections. All Children Matter works with the Wisconsin pro-(school) choice group known as the Alliance for Choices in Education, headed by George and Susan Mitchell of Milwaukee."
Is this the same Dick DeVos who ran for governor in Michigan and got waxed by incumbent Gov. Jennifer Granholm? I believe it is. That means this is the same Dick DeVos who’s the heir to the Amway fortune, meaning he’s a gazillionaire. Again, shades of Howie Rich emerge. Rich has term limits, his beloved eminent domain, his judicial recall plots and his TABOR ballot initiatives. DeVos has, it appears, private school vouchers. (Well, it was the only thing left, I suppose, after Rich had taken the good ones.) Rich collects funds from three anonymous donors and funnels it through ALG to various state committees, and DeVos apparently did something similar, at least funneling money from Michigan to Wisconsin.
More from Sloth: "In a prepared statement, George Mitchell, a state representative for All Children Matter, said the complaint is without merit and his group will demonstrate that in a response to the State Elections Board. ‘All Children Matter will continue to engage in the democratic process while doing so in full compliance with the election laws of the state of Wisconsin,’ Mitchell said."
O, I remember that quote. I said it sounded just like Howie Rich, sending a "prepared statement" in writing through a locutor. Still does.
See, it’s coming back to me now; reporter Jennie Tunkieicz gave her account here http://www.jsonline.com/... informing us that ACM has a state committee in Virginia just like Rich’s ALG does, and that the complaint filed against ACM included its "VA State Political Action Committee."
Does that mean that ACM in Michigan funneled its funds to the state-based ACM in Virginia to be funneled back to Wisconsin for political purposes? I’m not clear on the details, but why else would ACM-VA be included in the complaint? And if that’s the case, why all the funneling? Isn’t Wisconsin next-door-neighbors with Michigan? Why drag the cradle of the Confederacy into it?
DeVos’s locutor, George Mitchell, didn’t answer that question, but he did send Tunkieicz this gem of a quote: "All Children Matter will continue to engage in the democratic process while doing so in full compliance with the election laws of the state of Wisconsin. This will include the filing of any reports necessitated by its activity."
So if the State Board of Elections asks for disclosure of his contributors, he’ll pony up. That’s how I read it, and it’s more than Howie Rich’s paper organizations do. And it’s a good thing, because the State Board of Elections asked for exactly that information, and gave ACM until January to answer the question.
See, as reporter AP reporter Scott Bauer told us, "If it turns out a flier circulated by All Children Matter attacking a Democratic state Senate candidate wasn't paid for by the Wisconsin arm of the group, Elections Board chairman John Savage said Wednesday that criminal charges for making a false filing could be pursued. The flier sent in October had a return label showing that it came from All Children Matter, a national organization based in Michigan that promotes private school voucher programs."
"A complaint was filed with the Elections Board saying that distribution of the flier required the group to register and meet various reporting requirements, which it hadn't done. After the complaint, a Wisconsin political action committee operating under the All Children Matter name submitted the required paperwork. State law requires political groups to meet the various requirements if they are involved in express advocacy for or against a candidate, rather than simply raising issues. The board agreed in a unanimous vote that the flier constituted an express advocacy."
"Kevin St. John, the attorney for All Children Matter, said at Wednesday's Elections Board meeting that the mailing was paid for by the Wisconsin PAC, but original plans for its creation came from the national group. He said he had not seen a canceled check paying for the flier. After the meeting, St. John said he would provide the additional information requested by the board before its Jan. 17 meeting. He declined further comment. As board members tried to unravel the weave of different PACs and groups operating under the All Children Matter name, St. John defended the group."
Well, it’s January. Google hasn’t brought me anything new on THAT point but Scott Bauer did give us some more information here http://www.twincities.com/... He writes, "The complaint... says an All Children Matter political action committee based in Virginia should have registered in Wisconsin before it donated $35,000 in October to its Wisconsin PAC. The complaint also alleges that a $90,000 donation made to the Virginia PAC from a group not registered with Wisconsin election officials — the Milwaukee-based Alliance for Choices in Education — violated a state law barring corporate contributions."
Wow, so there’s a $35,000 contribution from ACM-VA, which is a real-life registered PAC, to ACM-WI, which was not a real-life registered PAC at the time. Plus, there’s now there’s a Wisconsin-based organization, Alliance for Choices in Education, which sent $90,000 to ACM-VA. Did that $35,000 spent against Lehman come from the $90,000 contribution from ACE to ACM-VA? (The alphabet soup is dizzying.) It must have, if it’s being included in the complaint. Anybody know anything about them?
Bauer explains, "The complaint argues the $90,000 wound its way back to Wisconsin through the $35,000 donation spent on ads criticizing three Democratic legislative candidates — John Lehman, Cory Mason and Pat Kreitlow. All went on to win."
Well, there’s your answer.
"The complaint asks the Elections Board to require the Virginia PAC to comply with reporting and disclosure requirements under Wisconsin law, showing who made contributions, and return the $90,000 to the Alliance for Choices in Education," he writes.
"State Elections Board spokesman Kyle Richmond said the complaint likely will be taken up at the board's Jan. 17 meeting. The new complaint is in addition to one the board took up at its November meeting related to All Children Matter's spending in the election. Elections Board Chairman John Savage said at that meeting that the board might pursue criminal charges against All Children Matter for making a false filing if there is evidence showing that someone other than the Wisconsin PAC paid for the ads in question."
This part is especially funny: nobody knows nothin’, and they pass the hot potato to the next fella: "All Children Matter attorney Kevin St. John, of Madison, said he had not seen the latest complaint and had no immediate comment. George Mitchell, director of the Wisconsin arm of the group, referred questions to All Children Matter executive director Greg Brock in Grand Rapids, Mich. Brock did not respond to telephone or e-mail messages seeking comment. The Wisconsin president of ACE, Susan Mitchell, did not immediately return a call seeking comment."
Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phones. The Wisconsin president of ACE is Susan Mitchell. Meanwhile, the spokesman for Dick DeVos and ACM-WI is George Mitchell. Coincidence? Or are they family? If they’re family, I smell a rat, and it reminds me of another husband-wife arrangement that draws even MORE comparisons to Howie Rich and ALG. If memory serves, ALG’s chairman was Eric O’Keefe when a $1.4 million contribution was given by ALG to ALG’s little state-based partner in Nebraska, who then paid that $1.4 million to Leslie Graves and her Renewal Voter Outreach to run the petition-circulation operation in Nebraska for Rich’s TABOR there. In fact, the arrangement was so peculiarly cute that fellow blogger Hart Williams wondered if O’Keefe delivered the check to Graves across their bed.
I could be completely off-base, but Google hasn’t told me yet whether George Mitchell of ACM and Susan Mitchell of ACE are kindred. I’ll keep asking.
And Bauer wraps up with this context for us: "All Children Matter was formed in 2003 by Michigan billionaire Dick DeVos. The group promotes voucher programs that allow children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense and supports tuition tax credits and charter schools. The group has been active in political races nationwide — including Wisconsin, where it paid for a TV ad this fall attacking incumbent Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. Just who funds the group, and its involvement in campaigns, has been an ongoing question in many of the states where it operates, including Texas and Florida."
Texas and Florida, hmm? Wonder if they played anywhere else?
Editors at the Capitol Times of Madison aren’t mincing words about it here http://www.madison.com/... "Even our overly cautious state Elections Board ought to be able to recognize that something untoward appears to have occurred when the Milwaukee-based Alliance for Choices in Education, a group that wants state money to fund private education, and two political arms of a national group, All Children Matter, shifted huge sums of money around in what looks to have been an attempt to skirt state election laws."
See, editors know how to break it down.
"According to a complaint filed with the Elections Board, the Alliance for Choices in Education sent the Virginia-based All Children Matter political action committee $90,000 in September. This transfer of money is confirmed by Virginia Board of Elections records. Then, in October, the Virginia group shifted $35,000 to a Wisconsin-based All Children Matter political action committee, which turned around and spent roughly that amount on campaign season mailings that encouraged voters to defeat Democratic legislative candidates. Under Wisconsin law, the Virginia-based All Children Matter PAC had to be registered in this state in order to legally transfer the $35,000. By all accounts, it was not so registered."
"The Elections Board should move swiftly, and decisively, to address this issue - and to sanction any and all groups and individuals that may have engaged in efforts to avoid obeying the law."
Mm-hmm. So now I guess we wait for an update... and meanwhile I’ll continue to consult Google for this question, and that one, and that one... and I’ll report what I find. Could it be that Howie Rich and Dick DeVos have the same political consultant?
WISCONSIN
http://www.jsonline.com/...
Reporter Jennie Tunkieicz, "Election flier spurs complaint: State to examine whether school voucher group violated law"
http://www.journaltimes.com/...
Reporter Paul Sloth, "Group files complaint about anti-Lehman flier"
http://www.twincities.com/...
Reporter Scott Bauer, "PACs accused of illegal donations"
http://www.madison.com/...
Editors, "Get to bottom of cash shift"