OK, so you see an ugly attack ad on TV from some "committee" you've never heard of before. These things typically turn up in October, in the last few weeks before the election.
So, you've got the name of your committee (say, "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth"?) and you want to learn more about who's behind it. Just like in last night's diary (which focused on searching the FEC's public database, and is still open for Recs until 9:30 tonight), I'm going to continue looking into Americans for Honesty on Issues (AHI), which was active in the 2006 cycle in several Congressional districts, including one of particular interest to me: Albuquerque-based NM-01.
We already know that their only donor, to the tune of $3 million, was Bob Perry of Houston, who was also the biggest donor to the Swiftboaters in 2004 ($4.45 million!) So, lets look into AHI at the IRS.
FEC allows you to look up individuals. IRS, not so: individual tax returns (thank goodness!) are strictly private. Charities and political committees, not so much. Starting at the IRS main site - IRS.gov. It's not obvious from their public interface where you should go next - this is it:
Then, next, it's more obvious:
Once you're on the "political organizations" page:
Which leads you here:
That's quite a few clicks to get to the relevant search page!
Having entered my committee of interest, Americans for Honesty on Issues, here's what we get:
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That was a search just on one form. Turns out you don't have to choose just one - you can ask for all of them in one search result. And now, too, we've got an EIN for AHI, as well as the committee number identifier from the FEC. Those unique identifiers can be useful for future searches, because sometimes there can be a lot of similar or partially-included names. You can limit the search to a particular period of time, too. But for a short-lived hit entity like AHI, the total number of filings is pretty small, so I went for them all:
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From this, we learn that AHI first announced its existence to the IRS on 8/28/2006, only a few days before Perry dropped the first couple of million in. I think it's safe to assume that Perry was in on the planning, and the donation was planned before any papers were drawn up. And they finished dotting the "i"s and dotting the "t"s in June 2008, when they put it to bed for good. That last filing indicated that "operations"
First, let's take a look at their initial filing on IRS form 8871. That's public notice that they exist - even if the public doesn't know about it yet.
Again, there's that fake Alexandria, VA address. Except, unlike the FEC filings, there's no direct indication that it's really run out of Houston. Thanks to Google maps, here's their "address" - it's nothing but a PO box - not unlike that building with 19,000 corporations on Grand Cayman:
And again, Sue Walden's name is the only name reported. On this form, her title is President. We know from the FEC filing that she's working out of Houston, but there's no way to know that from the IRS forms.
I know a lot about Sue Walden, because I looked her up on Lexus Nexus. Not everyone has access to that powerful tool. But plain old Google gives you the basics. She's not the photographer in San Francisco that comes up first. SourceWatch is a good place to start. And there's this from the New York Times. It's worth noting that they first wrote about this story only after the FEC filings began, not when it was hatched (the IRS filing):
The leader of Americans for Honesty on Issues is Sue Walden, a close ally of Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who left Congress amid questions on ethics and fund-raising. Ms. Walden has also raised money for President Bush and served as an adviser to Kenneth L. Lay, the former chief executive of Enron who died in July.
The second filing, an 8872 dated September 30, lists $2 million from Perry, and a few expenditures. $1.3 million for media buy, through an outfit called Pathfinder Marketing, run out of a suburban tract home near Houston. Given the name, the address and Google, one can find a phone number, and with reverse lookup the name of the people living in that house, and look back to the FEC for their political donations. I'm not going to include any of that personal information here, however.
However, I have found that political operatives don't generally make political donations - they live off them. And you have to be careful: There could be address errors, or people could have moved. But if you find phone listings and addresses, and check reverse lookup which leads you back to the same address, then you're getting more solid information about who's actually producing this stuff.
Their other expense was $3011 to Patton Boggs, one of the biggest political law firms in DC. It's unremarkable - they do this kind of work all the time, on all sides of the aisle. You got the money, they do the work, and it's gonna be compliant.
The next report is a required pre-election report, due in October. It's intended to get as much information out in public ahead of the election. Some of the nastiest expenditures are slipped in after that, since those aren't made public until after the election's over.
Most of the money this time went to Strategy Group for Media, which specializes in Republican hit pieces (client list includes Citizens United), plus treacle for the likes of Mike Pence. They also worked for a guy called Sukup who failed in a primary run for IA-Gov in 2002. Sukup vs. Gross - no kidding!! Check out their portfolio!
Campaigns and Elections Magazine recognized The Strategy Group for Media for producing some of the "Best Political TV Ads" in the nation. Additionally, the magazine has repeatedly featured ads produced by The Strategy Group for Media in their publication.
Perry's second donation, $1 million on 10/27, came after the pre-election report went in. This IRS form 8872 return is dated 12/14/06, and Sue Walden's still the name attached to the organization. Expenditures were $45,775 for Strategy Group for Media, and nearly $1.2 million to Pathfinder Marketing for media buys. There were also predictable legal and accounting fees, something under $20k for both.
Year-end 8872 isn't remarkable. There's more money to Pathfinder, and a $30k "donation" from them, too - presumably a refund of unspent funds prepaid to them for media buys. At year end, Sue Walden's name got removed from the organization. One Tyson Culver got substituted as President, contact and everything else. The rest of the filings are just mop up operations - accounting, legal, some minor adjustments to earlier numbers. Once the election was over, the big-gun political operatives moved on. Culver signed the final tax form to close the operation out.
And the contact information is still, to the end, that UPS store in Alexandria:
So, Pathfinder Marketing is run from a home office in an unremarkable suburban tract home, and the media group is on the map. But, one wonders, who is this Tyson Culver creature?
Best I can tell, he's based out of Austin, TX. He does media, including through his own video production company, with a client list that includes Gov. Rick Perry's Office. He's got a fairly public FaceBook page. Without friending him, I learned that he's 36 years old, divorced, he's into music and that his favorite books include Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. His production company includes a testimonial from Anthony Holm of The Patriot Group, which claims him as a principal:
The best thing about 2am is that they live up to their namesake. Most of our work in the political arena demands a fast turnaround for maximum impact, and 2am Productions always delivers. Whether it's a live event, a political narrative or a response ad that needs to be posted to the internet "yesterday", these guys never disappoint.
The Patriot Group's client list includes Bob Perry/Perry Homes, so we've connected back around again. Makes me suspect I've found the right Tyson Culver here. Their philosophy, which should be considered together with their conservative client list:
We are not mercenaries. We want to work with clients in whose causes we believe. We value the principles of free enterprise, liberty, limited government, private property, and peace.
Tyson Culver might be an up-and-comer? Judging by his YouTube channel, he's more interested in music than politics. But maybe he does dirty campaign work below the radar which doesn't bear his name? We might well be seeing his name crop up in years to come. Time will tell.
In the last midterm, 2006, there was plenty of oppo research needed in unraveling the Republican culture of corruption (thanks, dengre and others!) Those people haven't gone away, and it's a good idea to keep tabs on them. Amongst other things, you can dig up stories that help in various races. In any case, it's dangerous to sit back and let the other guys define the narrative.