Nothing Grass-Roots About This: Secret Big Machine Campaign Finance Helps Ann Marie Buerkle

As the amount of money it takes to win an election balloons, so do the completely legal opportunities to make contributions secretly, and so do the legal opportunities for certain legal entities to help finance a candidate's campaign without revealing who its contributors are. So long as these entities do not actually tell a voter how to vote, they are legal. They are "limited" to "educating" the public. The entity highlighted in this blog is a 501 (c) 3, a not-for-profit created to inform the public about certain matters conservative and pro-growth.

When Ann Marie Buerkle's race became important to conservatives, the Tea Party and Republicans during the last three months before the election in November 2010, money began to pour into the district via at least one fund shrouded in secrecy, Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity, as well as from Republic leaders' PACs and Paul Singer and his Elliott Associates (about which Blueskygirl blogged earlier in the year. The Singer article makes interesting reading if you haven't seen it yet.) 

A section of an article appearing today on Bloomberg News is about secret legal campaign money spent against Dan Maffei among others late last fall.  

The article Secret Big Money Deciding U.S. Elections; Somebody Call Jimmy Carter by J. Crewdson, A. Fitzgerald, J. Salant and C. Babcock, can be found here. It is very good.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-19/secret-donors-multiply-in-u-s-with-finances-dwarfing-watergate.

Thanks to Bloomberg News for this section of the article:

A Desk Downtown

Former Democratic Representative Dan Maffei said he would have been re-elected "if it were not for the outside advertising which came in exclusively for my opponent late in the campaign." Maffei lost to Republican Ann Marie Buerkle in New York's 25th Congressional District, which includes Syracuse.

Nationally, Maffei said, outside money made the difference between the Republicans picking up "30 or 40" seats in the House and the 63 they won in the end.

Commission on Hope paid at least $2.10 million for ads against [Representative John, D-SC] Spratt, Maffei and nine other Democrats in seven states in the 60 days prior to voting, according to estimates by Campaign Media. Ten of the 11 Democrats lost.

Formed in March 2010, Commission on Hope lists only one person on its website - William B. Canfield, a former Republican Senate aide who is the group's general counsel. Its address is a downtown Washington law office where he has a desk. Canfield declined to comment.

[Note: Blueskygirl's bold]

We learn from FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenburg Public Policy Center, some information about Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity: 

According to the Form 1024 that it filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the president and executive director of CHGO is Steve Powell, a media consultant based in Vista, Calif., who has worked for Republican candidates, corporations and conservative causes. The group’s general counsel is William B. Canfield, a one-time lawyer for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who was until last year a registered lobbyist with the firm of Williams and Jensen. Some news reports credit GOP consultant Scott Reed with founding the organization. Reed was quoted by the Center for Public Integrity as saying that the group’s "big three" donors are "the financial services industry, the energy industry, and the health insurance industry."

No surprises here, except that nobody is accountable, nobody is limited in how much they can give, nobody is held to even the standards that we have more or less had to trust when it came to campaign finance for several decades.

The up-shot is that several hundred thousand dollars came into the Buerkle campaign or "educated" the public in the last weeks of the campaign and she overcame Dan's substantial lead. Buerkle attributed her victory to a “grassroots campaign” based on volunteers who had never been politically active before, said Liza Lowery, her spokeswoman. Really?

Questions for Ann Marie Buerkle's Next Town Hall Meeting, and the One After That...

Ms. Buerkle, you promised us honesty and transparency during your campaign. You promised that you would try to find common ground. The election results indicate that you won by only a very small margin, so it is safe to assume that there are a great many people who would like to know you share their concerns about where this country is headed. 

Now that you have gotten your feet wet in Washington, would you be so kind as to answer some questions for us?

• You talked repeatedly about job creation and job recovery during your campaign. Since the election you do not talk about jobs. Why?  

• What are your plans, and your party's plans, for job recovery?

• Since you personally benefitted during your campaign from NPR public radio and PBS television, how can you now vote to defund public broadcasting? 

• Do you personally listen to or watch public broadcasting?

• What are you doing to keep several hundred jobs in NYS which are part of the 1200 jobs in the Northeast that National Grid is eliminating? Or do you support eliminating those jobs? Do you know why they are being eliminated?

• Do you subscribe to the idea that President Obama is not an American-born citizen? Do you need to see his birth certificate before you believe he was born on US soil?

• What do you think about what is happening in Wisconsin?

• Knowing what you do, from your multi-faceted career and volunteer experience, 
• about the needs of people and families without health insurance; 
• about people who need to be represented by an attorney and lack the funds to afford one; 
• about women (and men) who have experienced domestic abuse; 
• about the importance of family planning and reproductive health,                      

             then how do you justify cutting funds to or eliminating programs that help the neediest among us?

• What is your position on nuclear power?

• How do you respond to the idea of the threat that the nuclear power plants near Oswego and Rochester pose either by terrorists or by natural disaster?  We think about how relatively easy it might be for a terrorist group, domestic or foreign, to crash a plane into a plant or for employees and contractors to infiltrate a plant over time. Do you think continuing generation of electricity using nuclear power is sustainable given the enormous costs in treasure, safety and security?

• Why did you accept a large collective contribution from Paul Singer and several of his employees at Elliott Associates and Elliott Management, both powerful hedge funds? Do you know that Paul Singer is a modern-day robber baron who crushes whole countries for profit?

• Do you understand the importance of the separation of church and state in a democracy? Would you be willing to describe and discuss its importance so that we are all clear about this judicial and Constitutional concept?

In Case You Wondered How Big Money Gets Into the Right Mailbox to Help the Little Guys and Gals

Just to try to bring this whole campaign finance thread around Ann Marie Buerkle and Paul Singer of Elliott Associates and Elliott Management hedge funds to a logical conclusion, here are data about contributions from Elliott  to AMB's 2010 campaign, and specific contributions attributed to various employees of both Elliott companies.

I laugh as I write "logical conclusion". The project has given me a big headache. This is only one very tiny corner that may not yet be entirely swept out and lighted. There is nothing logical about it, and it is in no way conclusive. Onward.

We repost, with thanks, the following data which was collected and posted by www.OpenSecrets.org: 

Top 5 Contributors [organizations*], 2009-2010, Campaign Cmte

Contributor	Total	Indivs	PACs
Elliott Management	$22,999	$22,999	$0
Every Republican is Crucial PAC	$15,000	$0	$15,000
Freedom Project	$10,000	$0	$10,000
Susan B Anthony List	$10,000	$0	$10,000
Free & Strong America PAC	$8,620	$0	$8,620

*The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.        

                                                                                 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Top 25 Contributions [individuals]

Election Cycle:  2010

Ann Marie Buerkle 

Results 1–25 of 25 contributions totaling $28,799 from 1/01/2010 to 11/22/2010 for election cycle 2010. Contributions data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Date         Amount   Contributor            Interest           Occupation/                 City, State, Zip

                                                                  Group              Employer

6/30/10      $500  Ayaz, Akbar     Hedge Funds    Manager/Elliott          Stamford CT 06902

                                                                                      Management

6/30/10  $1,200  Miller, Brian P.  Hedge Funds    Portfolio Manager/     Greenwich CT 06831   

                                                                                      Elliott Management

6/30/10   $2,400  Miller, Giovanna Hedge Funds    Homemaker/Elliott     Greenwich CT 06831

                                                                                      Management

6/30/10   $2,400  Miller, Giovanna Hedge Funds    Homemaker/Elliott     Greenwich CT 06831 

                                                                                      Management              [ed. note: this appears                    

                                                                                                                    to be a duplicate post]    

3/30/10   $2,400   Levine, Mark        Hedge Funds    Investment Manager  London UK

                                                                                      /Elliott Management

11/17/10 $2,400  Klarman, Seth A.  Hedge Funds   Investor/Baupost      Chestnut Hill MA02467 

                                                                                   Group

6/30/10     $500      Stephan,          Hedge Funds    Accountant/Elliott    Morganville NJ 07751

                              Michael                                          Management

6/30/10 $1,200      Rizzi, Peter J.  Hedge Funds    Trader/Elliott             Monroe

                                                                                      Management           Township NJ 08831

6/30/10  $2,000     Horn, Keith L.         Hedge Funds    COO/ Elliott              Woodcliff Lake NJ     

                                                                                       Management             07677

6/30/10     $500     Phillips, Andrew Hedge Funds    Systems                   Livingston NJ 07039

                                                                                      Coordinator/Elliott

                                                                            Associates

6/30/10     $500     Bose, Rajat            Hedge Funds   Manager/Elliott        Princeton NJ 08540

                                                                                      Management

6/30/10   $1,200    Nadell, Joshua Hedge Funds   CFO/Elliott                 Short Hills NJ 07078 

                                                                           Management

6/30/10     $833 Joel, Edward T. Hedge Funds  Chief Compliance      Ho Ho Kus NJ 07423

                                                                           Officer/Elliott

                                                                           Management

6/30/10     $500 Pollina, Joseph Hedge Funds   Finance/Elliott           Seaford NY 11783

                                                                            Management

6/30/10 $100 Montoya-Tybicki,    Hedge Funds Finance/Elliott           New York NY 10019

Vernice                                        Management

6/30/10 $166 Feig, Jason B.         Hedge Funds Accountant/Elliott      New York NY 10021

                                                                              Management

6/30/10     $500 Driscoll, Kyle E. Hedge Funds Operations Mgr/ Forest Hills NY 11375

                                                                            Elliott Management

6/30/10 $1,000 Levine, Joshua L.    Hedge Funds Accountant/Elliott       West Hempstead

                                                                            Management              NY 11552

6/30/10 $1,000 Sica, Frank V.         Hedge Funds Finance/Soros Fund Bronxville NY 10708

                                                                            Management

6/30/10 $500 Rinat, Guy               Hedge Funds Manager/Elliott Great Neck NY 11020

                                                                            Management

6/30/10 $2,000 Greenberg, Elliot      Hedge Funds Finance/Elliott           New Rochelle NY 

                                                                             Management              10804

6/30/10 $100 Reinhardt-               Hedge Funds Middle Office/           Staten Island NY 

Gonzales, Elliott Management    10304

Kimberly A.

6/30/10  $100 Sorgle, Daniel          Hedge Funds Finance/Elliott           Plainview NY 11803

                                                                              Management

11/12/10 $2,400 Singer, Paul             Hedge Funds CEO/Elliott                New York NY 10024

                                                                              Associates

11/19/10 $2,400 Loeb, Daniel S. Hedge Funds President/Third New York NY 10023

                                                                               Point LLC

About our data from OpenSecrets.org website:

Read the details about our data sources and methodology.

Contributions data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org)

Data returned by this service is subject to the use restrictions set by the Federal Election Commission. By accessing this data, you understand that you are using the data subject to all applicable local, state and federal law, including FEC restrictions.

All data licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. By downloading data, you are agreeing to the terms of the license.

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Michael Steele and Paul Singer Spend Some Money

Elliott Associates and Elliott Management, hedge funds, led by Paul Singer, [see this blog on Tuesday, March 1, http://thatsourgal.blogspot.com/2011/03/25th-congressional-district-tea.html ]  is the combined single largest contributor to Ann Marie Buerkle's campaign last year.

Here is a transcript of the Republic National Committee's Michael Steele and Elliott Associates' Paul Singer's telephone conversation last June, 2010.  Well, close...:

Paul: Hi Mike, thanks for getting back to us.

Mike: Thanks for returning my call. We appreciate it that we can call folks like you when we need some help.

                                                                                                                                                            

Paul: Hey, what's up Mike?

Mike: We've got a gal who won her House primary in upstate NY and can use a little help. She has a solid Tea 

Party base from some activism years ago, and her opponent is slipping. Bright guy but not a lot of charisma.

Gave Jim Walsh a good run for his money and won the seat when Walsh retired.

We think she can edge him out with a little boost from us

Paul: Any bumps?

Mike: A couple. The major one was a blackened fetus in a jar at a protest years ago. She says she's older 

now and her priorities are different.

Paul: (silence)

Mike: Also, she owes some commercial taxes to NYS and the town due to a little misunderstanding with the tenant. 

That's being resolved. Looks like it won't change much.

Paul: Everybody has one of those hanging around. Ha, ha. Right? How big is it?

Mike: Less than twenty.

Paul: OK, it probably won't be a problem. Anything else? 

Mike: She got a Palin endorsement and that is still in the positives.

Paul: So, what do you need right now?

Mike: Twenty will make a nice difference. We see a pretty big opening and plan to use it.

Paul: OK then, send Carole a memo re this conversation and we'll get it right out to you. Thanks for thinking of us.

Mike: You bet. Thanks so much. Have a good one.

Paul: No problem. Let us know if we can help you out later on.  Oh, by the way, what's her name?

Ann Marie's Very RIch New Friends

The following article from American Independent  http://www.americanindependent.com/171511/report-shows-links-between-house-oversight-committee-and-oversight-hostile-koch-brothers  summarizes the pernicious (to all ordinary people of any stripe) early links between home-grown NY Upstater Ann Marie Buerkle and the Texas-grown Koch brothers.  

AMB received a small enticement to get on board with the Koch brothers before the election.  As Chair Darrell Issa's newest briefcase carrier, there is no telling just how much she is getting now, on Issa's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to help defeat new and renewing Environmental Protection Agency regulations. 

Children be damned; health be damned; environment be damned; children in utero be damned. Watch her march!

Report shows links between House Oversight committee and oversight-hostile Koch brothers

11 of the 23 committee Republicans received money from Koch Industries

By Kyle Daly | 02.28.11 | 4:03 pm

The Watchdog Institute, a nonprofit reporting center based out of San Diego State University, has released a report showing connections between a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Koch brothers, Charles and David. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, a San Diego Republican who also happens to be the richest member of Congress with a net worth of $451.1 million, according to a recent Mother Jones review.

This month, Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform published a report critical of federal regulatory practices that it considers “impediments to job creation.” The report several times singles out the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an entity whose regulations create costs for small businesses that inhibit job growth. Given the committee’s Koch connections, it may come as little surprise that its report targets the EPA, as Koch Industries has come into repeated conflict with federal and state environmental protection agencies. The most recent flare-up between Koch Industries and environmental regulators comes in the form of a battle between Koch Industries-owned Georgia-Pacific Paper and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection over a wastewater pipeline Georgia-Pacific wants to route into Florida’s St. John’s River [in Rep Corrine Brown's district].

The Watchdog report demonstrates that the parallels between the House committee’s criticisms and Koch Industries’ clashes with federal and state regulators certainly may not be mere coincidence. At least six Republican staffers with the Committee on Oversight have demonstrable corporate lobbying connections, according to the Watchdog Institute. Additionally, 11 of the 23 Republican representatives in the committee received financial help from Koch Industries in the last election.

The largest recipient of Koch Industries contributions overall, with $12,500 since 2008, is Chairman Issa, though two other members of the House Committee have matched the $10,000 in campaign contributions from Koch Industries that Issa received prior to last year’s election: Dennis Ross of Florida and James Lankford of Oklahoma. John Mica, of Florida’s 7th district, which includes part of the St. John’s River (though not the site of Georgia-Pacific’s proposed wastewater pipeline), got $2,500 in campaign funds from Koch Industries. Connie Mack, a Florida representative who may be a potential 2012 Senate candidate (though he still refuses to confirm that he intends to run) received $7,500.

New York representative Ann Marie Buerkle received the smallest Koch donation, getting $250 from Catherine Haggett, Director of Federal Affairs for Koch Industries. Michigan’s Tim Walberg, New Hampshire’s Frank Guinta, South Carolina’s Trey Gowdy and Pennsylvania’s Mike Kelly and Patrick Meehan all received between $2,500 and $7,500 in Koch campaign money leading up to the 2010 election.

With the controversial Koch brothers making headlines lately, House Oversight representatives, especially those like Rep. Mack with a reported eye on higher office, may not be that happy to be tied to them. But as long as Issa and his fellow committee members continue to accept Koch money and advocate deregulation that would conveniently benefit Koch Industries and other energy, petroleum and chemical corporations, they may be stuck to Charles and David Koch. Representatives and staffers on the committee have declined to comment on any perceived conflict of interest.

Compact 25: Left in the Dust?

Buerkle's campaign committee created COMPACT25 by early August 2010. It was a statement of the values by which Ann Marie Buerkle promised to govern if she were elected. A short series of town halls were scheduled to follow the declaration.


On August 10 AMB held four one-hour town hall meetings in Cicero, Cato, Lyons and Irondequoit, respectively, to roll out this campaign.


It is worth reading. Blue Sky Girl will be interested to find out whether AMB sticks to her promise to accept no influence from special interest groups. Will she hold at least one town hall meeting every month? Will she do her homework and come to understand that "ObamaCare" will ultimately help to relieve our country's debt and decide to support it?


Since August a few pro-Buerkle writers have referenced Compact25. She has not returned to it.

Here is Compact25, as published in August 2010:

The Kind of Leader Upstate New York Needs

Upstate New York is a wonderful place to live and raise a family.  Those of us who have spent our lives invested in this community realize that the 25^th District of New York is facing the same difficulties as the rest of the country. Few Upstate New Yorkers believe that our country is moving in the right direction.

Upstate residents worry about their children leaving the District to find work. They worry about losing their businesses, their farms, and their healthcare.  Upstate New York needs new and better leadership.

The Kind of Leader I Will Be

There are certain things you should expect from your elected officials. If you support me with your vote, here is what you can expect from me:

I will be accountable

I recognize that as your Representative I will answer to you.  I understand that your support is not a blank check for me to go my own way without considering your wishes. While you and I may not completely agree on everything, I will welcome discussion and will approach every vote carefully.  I will post on my website an explanation and justification of every major vote I cast.

I will be accessible

I believe that all of the residents of the 25th District of NY are entitled to interact with their Representative in public forums. I will host at least one public town hall-style meeting every month. I will spend time in the district when Congress is in recess meeting one-on-one with my constituents to discuss issues of concern to them. My staff will understand and share my commitment to the people of upstate New York.

I will be responsible

I will approach any piece of legislation responsibly. This will include completely reading the bill and considering whether the legislation is Constitutional. I will consider how the bill might affect my constituents in the long-term as well as the short-term.

I will be independent

I will be the voice of the people and not the voice of a party, a President, or a special interest group. The only special interest group I’ll be listening to is the people of the 25th District of New York.

The Kind of Leadership America Needs

As our country faces some of the most challenging times in its history, its elected leaders must advocate for real, substantial reform that is effective without compromising the freedom of the American people. Areas that call for special attention and reform include:

Government Overreach

• Defund and Repeal Obamacare
• Review all of the federal agencies for efficiency and effectiveness and cut their budgets accordingly

National Defense

• Ensure that the Department of Defense is adequately and appropriately funded
• Adjust the timetable for withdrawal in Afghanistan
• Fully fund and support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Treat our allies like allies and our enemies like enemies
• Develop a strong and effective policy for holding Iran and North Korea accountable
• Secure our borders

Healthcare

• Make Health Insurance Portable
• Implement Significant Tort Reform
• Allow health insurance to be purchased across state lines
• Enhance Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
• Encourage Small Business Health Plans

Jobs & Economy

• Make the 2001-2003 Tax Cuts Permanent
• Eliminate the Death Tax
• Reduce or Eliminate Capital Gains Tax
• Simplify the tax code
• Reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses

Veterans

• Relax the requirements for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) for businesses to include all recent veterans
• Launch media awareness campaign to inform veterans of  job and education opportunities
• Increase funding  for counseling of veterans and their families to reduce veterans’ suicides
• Insist that veteran’s preference is enforced in the filling of civil service jobs

Education

• Allow parents a tax-credit if they choose to send their children to private schools
• Give businesses a dollar-for-dollar tax-credit for donations made to scholarship organizations

Compact25

Upstate New York is a wonderful place to live and raise a family. Those of us who have spent our lives invested in this community realize that the 25th District of New York is facing the same difficulties as the rest of the country. Few Upstate New Yorkers believe that our country is moving in the right direction.

As you may know, Compact25 is an agreement with the voters of the 25th District of New York. I have listened to voters concerns about the lack of jobs, the national debt, the overreach of the federal government, the need for true Healthcare Reform, and our National Security.

As the race continues, it’s even more important to me that people have a say in Washington and I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens by being accountable, accessible, responsible, and independent. Please join me in restoring Upstate New York’s voice. Join me in signing Compact25.

Check out a photo from the Compact25 Irondequoit town hall. Be sure to join Ann Marie in signing Compact25 today!

Cato Town Hall Photo