Re: Rove, GOP secretly plot vast network to reclaim power

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Board and Key Advisors+, Wanted to ensure you saw this article from earlier today. Let me know if you would like to discuss. Mike 303-931-4547 cell http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36841_Page3.html Rove, GOP secretly plot vast network to reclaim power By: Mike Allen and Kenneth P. Vogel May 6, 2010 04:42 AM EDT The Republican Party¹s best-connected political operatives have quietly built a massive fundraising, organizing and advertising machine based on the model assembled by Democrats early in the decade, and with the same ambitious goal ‹ to recapture Congress and the White House. The new groups could give Republicans and their allies a powerful campaign apparatus separate from the Republican National Committee. Karl Rove, political architect of the Bush presidency, and Ed Gillespie, former Republican Party chairman, are the most prominent forces behind what is, in effect, a network of five overlapping groups, three of which were started in the past few months. The operating assumption of Rove, Gillespie and the other organizers is that despite the historical dominance of Republican fundraising and organizing, the GOP has been outmaneuvered by Democrats and their allies in recent years, and it is time to strike back. ³Where they have a chess piece on the board, we need a chess piece on the board,² said Gillespie, who is involved in all five groups in roles ranging from chairman to informal adviser. ³Where they have a queen, we shouldn¹t have three pawns.² The network, which doesn¹t have a name, attempts to replicate the Democracy Alliance, an umbrella group ‹ founded in 2005 and funded by George Soros and other billionaires ‹ and to borrow tactics from liberal groups established to help Democrats regain power after eight years of the Bush administration. Two organizers of the Republican groups even made pilgrimages earlier this year to pick the brain of John Podesta, the former Clinton White House chief of staff who, in 2003, founded the Center for American Progress and was a major proponent of Democrats developing the kind of infrastructure pioneered by Republicans. Rove, currently on a book tour, has provided ³a laying-on of hands² for the groups ‹ as one organizer put it ‹ by encouraging major Republican donors to support them as part of the GOP¹s path to revival. ³Karl has always said: People call us a vast right-wing conspiracy, but we¹re really a half-assed right-wing conspiracy,² he said. ³Now, he wants to get more serious.² While separate, the five entities are so closely related that three share an 11th-floor office near the White House. The groups are: American Crossroads American Crossroads  ‹ designed to counter spending by labor and progressive groups, including the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Unit and MoveOn.org ‹ will focus on voter contact with the potential to move into ground game and turnout efforts. Organized under the tax code as a Section 527 organization, meaning it can spend directly on political activity, it¹s set an ambitious budget of $52 million and says it¹s already received commitments for $30 million of that. Its president and CEO is former top U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive Steven Law; its political director is veteran GOP operative Carl Forti. The chairman is Mike Duncan, former RNC chairman; the treasurer is Jo Ann Davidson, former RNC co-chairwoman; and the secretary is Jim Dyke, former RNC communications director. To try to avoid undercutting RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who has alienated some givers, Duncan tells prospective donors that the party structure is ³an important part of winning² and that he is looking for people who ³want to go above and beyond.² American Action Network American Action Network, modeled on the Center for American Progress, will conduct polling in key races, and plans to put up TV advertising since it is allowed to engage in explicit political activity as a group organized under Section 501c(4) of the tax code. Former Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota is the CEO; Fred Malek, a longtime top GOP financier, is chairman; and Rob Collins, a former top aide to House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, is president. Board members include former U.S. Sens. George Allen and Mel Martinez and former House Reps. Tom Reynolds, Jim Nussle and Vin Weber. American Action Forum American Action Forum, a policy institute linked to the American Action Network, also will mirror CAP. Coleman is also chairman of this group, which as a 501c(3) organization, is prohibited from directly endorsing or opposing candidates. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director and campaign adviser to Sen. John McCain, is the president. Board members include former Govs. Jeb Bush of Florida and Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. Resurgent Republic Resurgent Republic co-founded a year ago by Gillespie and Republican pollster Whit Ayres, says in its official description that it is ³modeled on Democracy Corps, which has made important contributions to the public debate from the left and has proven to be a valuable resource for labor unions, environmentalists and liberal congressional leaders.² The group has released a series of polls and offers itself as a message-testing laboratory to help GOP lawmakers develop policies. The Republican State Leadership Committee The Republican State Leadership Committee, which focuses on down-ballot races for statewide and legislative offices, raised $22 million in the last campaign cycle. Gillespie took over as chairman earlier this year. Its goal is to raise at least $50 million to $70 million to influence congressional elections this fall and to road-test an agenda for a future Republican House and, ultimately, a Republican president. Coleman recalled in an interview that he admired the left¹s financial prowess so much that until recently, he gave potential donors copies of ³The Argument,² a book by Matt Bai that chronicles progressives¹ rising financial power. ³This is what the left does ‹ we need to do it on the right,² Coleman said he told people. Democrats say the new GOP network has the potential to tip Republicans back into the House majority, since the formal party structures will burn through money as they struggle to compete in a record number of House seats. Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said he is worried about the groups as a potential ³conduit for a lot of special-interest money to flow into campaigns.² The Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission opened possibilities for groups like American Crossroads, American Action Network and others backed by corporations, unions or huge donors to be more aggressive in supporting or opposing candidates. Democrats in Congress are pushing legislation that would curtail its effects, but right now the decision is emboldening donors - particularly on the right - who had grown reluctant to open their wallets to outside groups, said Charlie Spies, a GOP campaign finance attorney on Resurgent Republic¹s legal advisory board. ³It sent out a message to donors that it¹s OK to engage again,² said Spies. Organizers say another reason the GOP¹s ³donor community² and ³political investors² are ready to step up their giving: Republicans had opposed the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law and therefore were slow to adapt their structures to what it permitted. But Democrats weren¹t shy and got a huge head start. ³It¹s time for us to accept and embrace it and stop getting outspent,² Gillespie said. ³It¹s the law of the land, and it¹s not going away.² Because the groups are registered only with the Internal Revenue Service and not the Federal Election Commission, they can accept so-called soft money ‹ that is, contributions not subject to FEC donation limits or source restrictions forbidding cash from corporations or unions. ³There are a lot of people who were very active in the Bush years who are going to get active with these groups, just because of the leadership of the groups,² said one major GOP fundraiser, or ³bundler.² According to its first report to the IRS, American Crossroads¹ first gift was a check for $250,000 from B. Wayne Hughes of Lexington, Ky., the chairman of Public Storage. The American Action groups and Resurgent Republic are not required to disclose individual donors. Tom Matzzie, a Democratic operative specializing in independent group activity, said MoveOn, which he effectively ran during the 2006 Democratic takeover of Congress, has been successful because big contributions and high-priced consultants have taken a backseat to small donors and grassroots activists. By contrast, conservatives¹ repeated attempts to copy MoveOn have been ³huge donor-driven TV ad operations run by consultants,² Matzzie said, asserting Republicans ³tend to keep the creativity all isolated to a few elites whereas the MoveOn model allowed a good idea to come from anywhere including the membership.² The idea for a federally focused ³527² started over breakfast at the Mayflower Hotel last year. Gillespie was looking to stay involved in politics after his White House years. Law, then the U.S. Chamber¹s chief legal officer, mused as he complained about Republicans¹ inability to match the spending of Democratic-friendly political groups: ³I really think we¹ve got to do something to offset this.² Law said that he had studied MoveOn and America Coming Together, which relied on a combination of union funding and huge contributions from Soros and other activists. ³Democrats have had tremendous success in building enduring and fairly large and sophisticated third-party organizations that have a major impact on politics,² Law said. ³On the Republican side, it¹s mostly been small, ad hoc efforts that tend to pop up and then disappear from cycle to cycle.² Democratic strategist James Carville said the GOP¹s extra-party machine is emerging now largely for the same reason the Democrats¹ did. ³There¹s nothing that makes people hungry like being out of power and out of government,² Carville said. ³When you¹re in government, all of the big operatives have good jobs or they¹re working for some lobbying firm and making $3 million a year, while the other guys don¹t have anything to d Podesta didn¹t return an email seeking comment about conservative efforts to mimic his group, but Malek said that after American Action Network formed, ³Podesta being the class act that he is, called Norm Coleman and congratulated him and welcomed him to the battle.² Michael Huttner Founder and CEO (303) 931-4547 www.progressnow.org CA: Courage Campaign CO: ProgressNow Colorado FL: Progress Florida MI: Progress Michigan MN: Alliance for a Better Minnesota (ABM) NH: Granite State Progress NV: ProgressNow Nevada OH: ProgressOhio PA: Keystone Progress WA: Fuse Washington WI: One Wisconsin Now (OWN)