Hey everyone, I don't know much about campaign finance laws or the rules that govern non-profits, but I got a pair of emails on Friday that make me think the Republican National Committee is sharing selected parts of its email address list with a non-profit corporation called Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute (HAPI). Does this sound kosher? Or is this worth investigating further?
Details after the fold...
Background information is that in October 2004, some lovely "prankster" found my email address affiliated with an anti-Bush group and submitted it to the RNC's Bush-Cheney '04 web site - and in doing so, selected every single possible affiliation for me. I know this because I got an email from them welcoming me and indicating that I was part of "Muslims for Bush," "Women for Bush," "Jews for Bush," "College Students for Bush," "Lawyers for Bush," "Veterans for Bush," and "Hispanics for Bush," among many others.
Since then I have received regular missives from Ken Mehlman and the rest of his little pals at the RNC. I get updates about George's Social Security travels, links to videos promoting the latest Bush talking point, emails from a <snark> super cool </snark> bunch of college kids who want me to know they're just like me!, and lots of other stuff. They also use these emails to calm the masses when the sh*t is hitting the fan - for instance, a couple of days after John Cornyn put his foot in it by suggesting that federal judges had it coming to them, the RNC sent me an email with a link to an up-close-and-personal interview with his nibs.
Usually I just delete these without reading them, but sometimes I review what's in them to see what the mind-manipulation message du jour is.
Well, yesterday I opened one from Rafael Bejar at GOP.com:
From: gopteamleader@gopteamleader.com
Subject: Texans: Rally for Justice Owens
Date: TxTiger@noneofyourbusiness.com
May 20, 2005
Dear TxTiger,
Please join the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute at a rally for Justice Priscilla Owen at the Texas Capitol building in Austin next Tuesday! Please turn out to support Justice Owen, who has been nominated for the U.S Court of Appeals by President Bush, but whose nomination is being stalled by U.S. Senate Democrats.
Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute
Rally for Justice Priscilla Owen
May 24, 2005
12:00 pm
State Capitol Building, South Steps
Austin, TX
For more information call the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute at 512-804-1106
Sincerely,
Rafael Bejar
RNC Director of Hispanic Coalitions
Hmm, I thought, I wonder why Hispanics would rally around Priscilla Owen? Is she Hispanic? Or would this just make a good photo op for the local news on the day the Republicans decide to go nuclear?
Then I open the next message and it's from the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute:
From: manuellujan@earthlink.net
Subject: Austin Rally supporting Priscilla Owen
Date: May 20, 2005 1:26:01 PM CDT
To: TxTiger@noneofyourbusiness.com
Reply-To: events@bellsnydergroup.com
Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute
May 20, 2005
Greetings!
Please join the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute for a Rally in support of The Honorable Priscilla Owen, Texas Supreme Court Justice & President Bush Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit.
Austin Rally for Priscilla Owen
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 @ 12:00 noon Texas State Capitol Building, South Steps Austin, Texas
For more information please call 512-804-1106 or email events@bellsnydergroup.com
Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute is a non profit 501(c) (4) organization.
Sincerely,
Manuel Lujan
Chairman, HAPI
email: manuellujan@earthlink.net
web: http://www.haprogressinstitute.org
HAPI | 111 Congress, 4th Floor | Austin | TX | 78701
(emphasis mine)
So, basically I just got the same message from two different sources. This is GOP astroturf in action.
What I want to ask my fellow Kossacks is, is it illegal/unethical for the RNC to "share" my email address with a non-profit?
There is no way HAPI has my email address from its own files - I'm not Hispanic and I've never heard of them. I'm also not aware of any Democratic organizations sharing my email address with non-profits, so I don't think this is a standard practice.
So I did a little more googling on this and found some factoids of interest at a Republican blogger's web site (this post was from his visit to the Republican National Convention - it's almost worth clicking thru just to read his breathless fan-zine prose!):
Manuel Lujan, former Interior Secretary of the first Bush Administration, spoke. New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici introduced the president. Former President Bush highlighted how his son, President George W. Bush, has appointed more than 600 Hispanics to government positions.
<snip fawning description of George P. Bush>
There was an abundance of food, drink and live music and the reception was well attended. The group HAPI should be proud of itself for putting on a great performance.
The Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute is a new conservative nonprofit organization that will work to counter liberal Hispanic groups, help to improve the economic conditions of Hispanics and promote traditional family values.
This doesn't sound non-profit to me - it sounds like a wing of the Republican party. What is a non-profit doing hosting a reception with "an abundance of food, drink and live music"? And how in the world can such a clearly partisan organization be considered a non-profit? It pisses me off to think that donations to this organization are tax-deductible, that's for sure! Now admittedly, this is the blogger's statement and I did not find any documentation of this assertion anyplace else, but it reads like he copied it from HAPI's press release about the party.
So my sneak-o-scope is gyrating wildly. How 'bout it, people? Is this as illegal as it looks, or am I just naive about the way things are...?
PS: From this, I also conclude that Tuesday is THE DAY and the RNC is readying the troops....