Boy, has this turned out to be a ride. What began as an interesting little exercise to catch similarities between Howie Rich’s Americans for Limited Government and Dick DeVos’s All Children Matter has left me feeling like Alice sliding down the rabbit hole. At every turn there’s something to catch the eye: a State House Speaker with ties to ACM jailed for wrongdoing, a husband-and-wife team serving as DeVos’s right-hand man (and woman) in all sorts of political intrigue, and electoral games stretching almost coast-to-coast. With the exception of a jail sentence for a politician caught in wrongdoing – unless something has happened that I didn’t catch – this sounds a lot like ALG back in the old days, before half of its number jumped ship. And it looks like the blogosphere in Wisconsin has been tracking the ACM saga for some time. Taking hold of one aspect of the story is like pulling a loose end of yarn from the sleeve of an old sweater: Pull hard enough and it leads you all the way to the other sleeve, leaving a mound of stringy mess behind.
And I’m grateful to fellow Kossack Count, whose eagle eye caught a fact that I’d cut and pasted from a newspaper article into last night’s post here http://www.dailykos.com/... but that I’d overlooked in my own reporting: It appears that George and Susan Mitchell ARE a power couple in the ACM tale, just as Eric O’Keefe and Leslie Graves were the power couple in ALG’s 2006 affairs.
As Count reminded me today, reporter Paul Sloth told us here http://www.journaltimes.com/... "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."
That last part clearly answers the question I raised later in my own text, when I learned that George Mitchell was acting as spokesman for DeVos’s All Children Matter, and Susan Mitchell was president of the Wisconsin chapter of Alliance for Choice in Education. According to Sloth’s reporting, then, George Mitchell is actually wearing two hats – serving both All Children Matter AND Alliance for Choice in Education – which makes it even more complex when trying to figure out whether PAC money was illegally shuffled between organizations in these different states.
One thing’s for sure: George and Susan Mitchell know the answer.
There’s another question I raised last night, after learning from reporter Scott Bauer that "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."
I wondered whether ACM had played ball in any other states.
Well, Google sent me a truckload of answers, several of them coming from a weblog called One Wisconsin Now at www.onewisconsinnow.org. These folks have been doing their homework, as Howie Rich once complimented editor Ray Ring of the High Country News.
Now, I know that weblogs get knocked for not being quote-unquote "legitimate" media sources, but in the interest of pursuing possible answers to various questions, and recognizing that One Wisconsin Now is clearly not a fly-by-night outfit, I’m willing to accept the work it publishes until other media clarify, or refute, or better report these details. That said, this is what I found here http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/...
The recent complaint filed against All Children Matter is nothing new for the right wing organization. They have been the subject of numerous complaints all over the country for the manner in which they engage with issues and elections.
On June 7, 2005, the Associated Press reported on an ethics complaint filed against a Republican legislator in Missouri involving All Children Matter. That complaint alleged that a Republican legislator appeared to bribe her fellow Republicans to get them to reappoint her as chairwomen of a House education committee. In a letter to her colleagues, the legislator mentioned that she has helped to raise nearly $400,000 for Republicans, most of which came from All Children Matter.
In 2004, All Children Matter was accused of violating Florida election law with a flier promoting a candidate for the state House. A rival candidate filed charges against the organization with the Florida Elections Commission, stating that their support for the other candidate was express advocacy that violated campaign-contribution limits. Another candidate in Florida threatened to file a libel lawsuit against All Children Matter for sending out a flier accusing the candidate of not paying their property taxes.
Earlier this year in Texas, another group requested that All Children Matter be investigated by ethics officials. They claimed that the pro-voucher organization may not have filed reports with the state's election commission as frequently as required. They were also accused of not reporting certain donations from specific contributors.
This reminds me, of course, of the laundry list of complaints or charges brought against Susan Johnson’s National Voter Outreach, the petition-circulation company that Howie Rich’s state-based folks picked to run their Taxpayer Bill of Rights petition campaigns. (Hey, come to think of it, NVO is based in Michigan, same as All Children Matter. Yet another coincidence!)
So they played in Missouri, Florida and Texas, at the very least. But last night, fellow Kossack Em Dash gave me this link http://coloradoconfidential.com/... and told me that they played in Colorado, too. I followed the link and found this:
Rep. Debbie Benefield... the Democratic candidate, who won the state's 29th House District by one percentage point in 2004 and is campaigning against Republican challenger Affie Ellis, has been a prime target for attack ads funded by two 527 groups. The 527s, All Children Matter – Colorado (ACM) and Coloradans For Change, aren't as well know as the Trailhead Group, but they are connected to well known Republicans, school voucher groups, and especially GOP attorney Scott Gessler.
"We went all summer without any kind of negative mailing," says Benefield
But now things have changed drastically. Benefield says that at the end of September, attack ads started to appear in mailboxes around the district, some accusing her of being weak on illegal immigration. Then came television spots.
IRS records show that All Children Matter comes out of Alexandria, Va., and is funded solely by the ACM Virginia State PAC. Gessler's law firm address also serves as the business address for this organization, and his firm received a total of $4,290 in legal fees from ACM in 2005. Perhaps more interesting is that nationally, ACM is a pro-voucher organization with the mission to "recruit, train, and fund candidates for election throughout America who are committed to these goals."
ACM gave $2,000 to a local group called Colorado Charter Voice, LLC. It turns out Colorado Charter Voice is registered to James Hackstaff, another attorney at Gessler's firm.
See, there are more side-groups and front-groups and paper organizations popping up in this story than you can shake a stick at, which is JUST like what bloggers found true in the case of Rich’s ALG last year.
O, but there’s more. Reading One Wisconsin Now, I learned about former Wisconsin House Speaker Scott Jensen, who isn’t serving as House Speaker anymore because he’s serving a prison sentence instead. What’s his connection to ACM? One Wisconsin Now tells us the answer here
http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/...
Scott Jensen, former Assembly Speaker and current convicted felon, is still at work on Wisconsin campaigns. While Jensen may have trouble voting... he still has a job connected to state legislative campaigns in Wisconsin this cycle. Despite his felony conviction, Jensen kept his job at the Alliance for School Choice, a group that is now funneling money to candidates all around Wisconsin.
The people that chose to employ Jensen after his conviction, the Alliance for School Choice Board of Directors, is funneling money to a conduit called the Fund for Choices in Education, which is run by George Mitchell. The following board members have contributed to the conduit: Christy Walton, John Walton, Lynn Walton, Dick DeVos, Betsy DeVos, John Fisher, Richard Sharp, William Oberndorf, Susan Oberndorf, and Susan Mitchell.
And who's getting the money from Jensen's employers? Jensen's former cronies in the state legislature: State Senator Tom Reynolds received $7,300. State Senator Ron Brown received $7,200. Candidate for State Senate Bill McReynolds received $5,150. State Senator Dave Zien received $3,550. Rep. Brett Davis received $3,050. Rep. Mark Pettis received $1,615. Rep. Jeff Wood received $600.
Hey, I recognize some of those names: Aren’t those Waltons the same who own Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club? But there was one I didn’t recognize: Fund for Choices in Education. Is it the same as Alliance for Choice in Education, or is it just another paper organization running parallel to ACE?
Meanwhile, that gives us additional confirmation that George and Susan Mitchell are the power couple (or one of them) in this story. But blogger Ed Garvey digs a bit deeper to tell us about them here http://www.fightingbob.com/... reporting and sharing some opinions, to wit:
Have you seen the latest attack spots aimed at Jim Doyle? You might think Mark Green has lost his cool but look closely to learn the attack is paid for by "All Children Matter" (ACM). What and who is ACM? Well, read the opening from 2004:
"All Children Matter is a right-wing group...based in Michigan advocating private school vouchers...George and Susan Mitchell represent the group in Wisconsin."
The Mitchells were heavily involved in the Kelly-Wilcox Supreme Court race. Remember that one? A couple hundred thousand dollars flowed illegally to the campaign of Justice Wilcox just before the Wis. Supreme Court took up the constitutionality of vouchers for religious schools. Now, with Mark Green, voucher supporter, only four points behind Jim Doyle, the voucher forces are pouring money into the effort to defeat Doyle.
Why not have Green sponsor the 30-second spots? Might make Green look too mean. Or, maybe he would not say, "I'm Mark Green and I approve this ad." Perhaps his supporters, the Mitchells, are taking control.
So, from this explanation, may we assume that the Mitchells, representing DeVos’s interests and supporting candidate Mark Green for governor, took it upon themselves to pay for political ads attacking his opponent? If it is true that Mitchells were involved in the plan to send funds to the Wilcox campaign, and later to attack Doyle with ACM money, might they have done it in this present mess against Lehman too?
Green, by the way, is a character, if you read more from One Wisconsin Now, here http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/... I’m learning all sorts of things about Wisconsin, all because I noticed a similarity between ACM and Howie Rich’s ALG. Here’s what I read about Green:
Last year, the State Elections Board changed the rules governing the transfer of campaign funds from federal to state accounts. Just one day before the planned change, Mark Green tried to game the system by rushing his $1.3 million through in preparation for his statewide campaign. Green may have thought that he had successfully skirted the rule, but he was wrong.
Recently the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign found that $468,000 of Green's money came from political action committees (PACs) that were not registered in Wisconsin - a violation of state law. Wisconsin law also states that candidates for governor can take no more than $485,000 from PACs in a four-year election cycle, yet Congressman Green has taken over $667,000 from PACs - another violation of state law. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign called for the State Elections Board to order Congressman Mark Green to divest himself of these questionable funds.
On Wednesday the State Elections Board heard the case from nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign regarding Congressman Green's dirty funds. By a margin of 5-2 the board ordered Congressman Mark Green to divest himself of the Washington D.C. special interest cash. The Libertarian Party Board member Jacob Burns summed up the situation forthrightly saying "Congressman Green has accepted tainted PAC money, period."
Mark Green's campaign responded that they have already spent the money so they will not have to adhere to the Election Board's order – even though the campaign has millions of dollars in the bank. That sounds like the sort of thing that a slippery Washington politician would say. As a matter of fact, Green's campaign used this same line when trying to keep tainted money from indicted former Congressman Tom DeLay.
He won't give back dirty money that violates Wisconsin law? Someone with Wisconsin values would have admitted their wrongdoing, accepted the Election Board's decision, gotten rid of the corrupted cash and moved on.
It seems that Congressman Mark Green may have been in Washington too long. Why does Mark Green think he is above the law? This ruling highlights Mark Green's problem with outside special interest cash and his lack of respect for Wisconsin's values. We call on Congressman Green to set aside the Washington culture: Accept the State Election Board's ruling, honor Wisconsin's campaign finance laws and return the illegal money.
Anybody know how that turned out?
Okay, okay, I didn’t get all of my reading from One Wisconsin Now. It appears that when ACM began playing in Missouri politics, the Show Me State’s pre-eminent political weblog paid attention. In fact, blogger Roy Temple at Fired Up Missouri uncovered an email message dated August 20, 2006, from Missouri Representative Jane Cunningham to ACM’s political director, Chad Goote, sort of handicapping the campaign landscape. Could Cunningham’s memo be read as a grocery list for campaign contributions for these candidates, if someone WANTED to read it that way? Temple gave us the scoop here http://www.firedupmissouri.com/...
----- Original Message -----
From: JaneCunningham@redacted
To: Chad Goote
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: Missouri Primary
Chad,
Thanks for the thorough report. Rodney Hubbard truly is a hero.
I was sorry about the 4th Senatorial. I like Derio Gambero a lot. We worked together on school choice when the Democrats were in control. Yaphett El-Amin was more with us than you all may have realized. Her husband should be an asset next session.
Let me know if you need some insight into specific candidates or assistance in deciding who to support.
Ed Robb is critical from an education and budget perspective. Scott Muschany will likely be coming on the Ed Committee and potentially he will be the next chair if he does not get elected to leadership. Rick Stream over Jane Bogetto is another critical race because he could potentially take Senator Gibbons place in 2 years.....a lot at stake there for all of St. Louis County. Dwight Scharnhorst is looking really good. I've been in some private meetings where he came on strong for the scholarship charity proposal in front of NEA types.
Jerry Nolte has taken some pretty brave steps for us in a risky district. Others may be Rex Rector, Jim Lembke, Therese Sander, Marilyn Ruestman, Tim Flook, Bob Behnen in the Senate and Victor Calahan if he has a race, maybe the fellow running against Sara Lampe if he has a chance. You have the surveys on the new guys. Sara will be effective against us and she is growing for the Senate where she can filibuster. An NEA teacher is running hard against me. I think I'm going to be OK in a Republican area, but it could get ugly.
I have noticed that on the Citizens for Educational Freedom and MO Catholic Conference surveys, some reps are not being truthful. One is Connie Johnson who said she was for vouchers and has actively worked against them and was instrumental if overthrowing Ted Hoskins and Rodney Hubbard from their Black Caucus Leadership positions.
Feel free to check any of these with me. My office will be putting together a cross reference of questionnaire responses as we have in the past and matching with voting record from the 05 session.
Jane Cunningham
Indeed, Cunningham’s email to Goote bore fruit. Blogger Jeff Mazur reports here http://www.firedupmissouri.com/... that ACM doubled its contributions to legislative races in Missouri in 2006, with a few of Cunningham’s named favorites collecting their share.
[In December] the non-partisan Missouri Citizen Education Fund (MCEF) released its analysis of 2006 political spending by pro-voucher interest group All Children Matter. The report points out that All Children Matter (ACM) nearly doubled its spending on legislative races since the previous cycle, boosting its outlays on House and Senate campaigns to $310,414 this year from $159,344 in 2004.
In the pay-to-play atmosphere that currently predominates under the capitol dome, political expenditures often correlate closely with expected policy outcomes. This makes MCEF's compilation of data critical to exposing the groups seeking to ram anti-public education voucher or "tuition tax-credit" legislation through the general assembly in 2007.
Though the MCEF report shoehorns a tremendous amount of data and analysis into a concise four page report and should be read in its entirety, it's worth pulling out a few pieces of the research for examination here.
Some toying with the numbers reveals that the grand majority of ACM's expenditures on 2006 legislative contests were concentrated into what we might call their top ten races. If we look at the ten legislative seats on which ACM spent the most, we find that $257,901 --or more than 83%-- of their 2006 dollars were spent on those races, despite the fact that those represent just about a quarter of the 39 districts in which ACM played. Consider the chart below, which examines those top ten races:
Seat ACM $ Beneficiary Party Result
S2 $49,345 Scott Rupp R W
H24 $34,714 Ed Robb R W
S18 $33,847 Bob Behnen R L
H58 $31,965 Rodney Hubbard D W
H21 $25,840 Steve Hobbs R W
H32 $20,606 John DeStefano R L
H93 $18,651 Dwight Scharnhorst R W
H92 $15,649 Charles Portwood R W
S8 $15,562 Matt Bartle R W
S10 $11,722 Mike Flaherty D L
A glance at the chart should also make clear another key beneficiary, even if his name doesn't appear as a direct recipient of ACM funds. The House Republican leadership, specifically Rod Jetton and the House Republican Campaign Committee, were obvious targets of ACM's political largesse. Note that of the six house seats of the top ten that ACM played in, five of the beneficiaries were Republicans and the sixth beneficiary was a Democrat with only a primary opponent. Of the 5 Republican House candidates who benefitted from ACM's spending, four were key targets (Hobbs, Robb, DeStefano and Scharnhorst) of the campaign arm of the House Republican caucus.
In other words, beyond the obligation that these contributions were meant to inspire in individual candidates, they were also designed carefully to confer benefit upon the very leaders whom ACM will need to rely upon to move their agenda during the 2007 session. We'll see, if and when a vote comes up, whether All Children matter got its money's worth.
Got its money’s worth? I’ll say. If the mainstream media is to be believed, ACM ratcheted up its influence with Missouri Governor Matt Blunt this year, so much that he recruited his new chief of staff from ACM’s ranks, and he recently nominated an ACM loyalist to serve on the State Board of Education. At least, that’s what reporter Janese Heavin told us here http://www.columbiatribune.com/... In December, an education coalition got together to oppose Blunt’s nomination, and Heavin tells the tale thusly:
The Education Roundtable, made up of eight administrator, teacher and parent groups, announced opposition last week to Donayle Whitmore-Smith serving on the board, which oversees Missouri’s public school districts. Whitmore-Smith is director of the Missouri Coalition for School Choice, an advocacy group for education reform, and has actively lobbied for tuition tax credits.
"She’s been very open in her support of vouchers and school choice and is also associated with" All Children Matter, a group that supports public funding for private schools, said Brent Ghan, Missouri School Boards Association spokesman. "That’s troublesome. ... Being on the State Board of Education gives you a certain platform and visibility."
Whitmore-Smith’s appointment hinges on Senate confirmation in January. Gov. Matt Blunt is "disappointed" that education groups have already come out against her, said his interim spokesman, Brian Hauswirth.
Ghan said confirmation of Whitmore-Smith’s nomination would head the state down a road that might not be in the best interest of public education.
...Blunt has several ties to Michigan-based All Children Matter. The group spent close to $200,000 on advertising against Blunt’s opponent, Claire McCaskill, in the 2004 gubernatorial race. In August, Blunt tagged as chief of staff Ed Martin, whose law firm represents All Children Matter and the Alliance for School Choice.
So Ed Martin’s law firm represents All Children Matter AND the Alliance for School Choice (and is that, too, another name for Alliance for Choice in Education, or another paper organization altogether? The mind boggles). But Kansas City Star columnist Laura Scott says Martin’s connection to ACM is even closer than that. She writes here http://www.kansascity.com/... that Governor Blunt "doesn’t support vouchers, his staff says, but he does support the tax-credit idea. The governor has been associated with All Children Matter, a pro-tax credit and pro-voucher organization that has funneled thousands of dollars to his and other campaigns. All Children Matter’s former treasurer, Ed Martin, is Blunt’s chief of staff. Clearly, the organization has influence with him."
Ah, Martin is ACM’s former treasurer, AND his law firm represents ACM, AND now he’s Blunt’s chief of staff. I’d say ACM got its money’s worth in Missouri.
Whew. And I haven’t had time to get to Texas and Florida yet. See what I mean about pulling a loose thread on the sweater sleeve? If Howie Rich and Dick DeVos haven’t met before now, they oughta consider it. The number of coincidences in strategies, tactics and thought processes between their respective entities is amazing.
Hopefully I’ll collect more details about ACM’s participation in the Texas and Florida elections this weekend. As always, your faithful Sandlapper with share with you what I find.
COLORADO
http://coloradoconfidential.com/...
Blogger Erin Rosa, "HD-29 In The Crosshairs"
MISSOURI
http://www.firedupmissouri.com/...
Blogger Roy Temple, "Jane Cunningham's Political Analysis For All Children Matter"
http://www.firedupmissouri.com/...
Blogger Jeff Mazur, "Pro-Voucher 'All Children Matter' Doubled Legislative Giving in '06"
http://www.columbiatribune.com/...
Reporter Janese Heavin, "Educators lobby against vouchers supporter"
http://www.kansascity.com/...
Columnist Laura Scott, "Appointed education board no panacea"
WISCONSIN
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.onewisconsinnow.org/...
One Wisconsin Now, "All Children Matter Has a Troubling History"
http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/...
One Wisconsin Now, "Jensen Group Funnels Money to Jensen Cronies"
http://www.fightingbob.com/...
Blogger Ed Garvey, "Kidnapping democracy"
http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/...
One Wisconsin Now, "Mark Green's Washington Values Exposed Again"