Difference between revisions of "Coalition for American Values"

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The Coalition for American Values (CAV) is a [[Super PAC]] incorporated in November of 2011. Thus far, the group's activities have primarily focused on influencing the 2011-2012 recall election of Wisconsin Governor [[Scott Walker]]. While the CAV did not disclose its out-of-state funding sources at the time, tax filings later revealed that its primary source of funding in 2012 was the Koch-tied [[Center to Protect Patient Rights]].<ref name="koch network funded"/>
 
The Coalition for American Values (CAV) is a [[Super PAC]] incorporated in November of 2011. Thus far, the group's activities have primarily focused on influencing the 2011-2012 recall election of Wisconsin Governor [[Scott Walker]]. While the CAV did not disclose its out-of-state funding sources at the time, tax filings later revealed that its primary source of funding in 2012 was the Koch-tied [[Center to Protect Patient Rights]].<ref name="koch network funded"/>
  
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According to CAV's website, its stated goal is to "mobilize millions of Americans to come together to fight back and protect the values that make our country the greatest in the world." <ref> Coalition for American Values: [https://coalitionforamericanvalues.org/ About Us], Coalitionforamericanvalues.org. Accessed June 13th, 2012 </ref> The group is based in Illinois <ref> Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Profile: [http://www.wisdc.org/ind12-1100054.php Coalition for American Values]. June 4th, 2012. Accessed June 13th, 2012 </ref>  
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According to CAV's website, accessed in June 2012, its stated goal was to "mobilize millions of Americans to come together to fight back and protect the values that make our country the greatest in the world."<ref> Coalition for American Values: [https://coalitionforamericanvalues.org/ About Us], Coalitionforamericanvalues.org. Accessed June 13th, 2012 </ref> As of June 2012, the group was based in Illinois<ref>Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Profile: [http://www.wisdc.org/ind12-1100054.php Coalition for American Values]. June 4th, 2012. Accessed June 13th, 2012</ref>
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As of July 2014, no current website could be found for the CAV. However, CAV had made 2014 filings with the FEC, suggesting that the group remains active.<ref>Coalition for American Values PAC, [http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/447/14960741447/14960741447.pdf#navpanes=0 FEC report], organizational filing, April 15, 2014. Accessed July 9, 2014.</ref>
  
 
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Revision as of 15:29, 9 July 2014

{{#badges: Koch Exposed}} The Coalition for American Values (CAV) is a Super PAC incorporated in November of 2011. Thus far, the group's activities have primarily focused on influencing the 2011-2012 recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. While the CAV did not disclose its out-of-state funding sources at the time, tax filings later revealed that its primary source of funding in 2012 was the Koch-tied Center to Protect Patient Rights.[1]

According to CAV's website, accessed in June 2012, its stated goal was to "mobilize millions of Americans to come together to fight back and protect the values that make our country the greatest in the world."[2] As of June 2012, the group was based in Illinois[3]

As of July 2014, no current website could be found for the CAV. However, CAV had made 2014 filings with the FEC, suggesting that the group remains active.[4]

Koch Wiki

The Koch brothers -- David and Charles -- are the right-wing billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

The CAV's "primary source of the group's funding in 2012 was the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR), a conduit for $156 million in political spending raised by the Kochs and their network of funders," according to reporting by the Center for Media and Democracy.[1] In 2014, the Washington Post described the CPPR as a "major cash turnstile for groups on the right during the past two election cycles," because it received large amounts of money from Freedom Partners and TC4 Trust as part of the $400 million Koch political network.[5] In 2012, the group's role as a part of an $11 million campaign money laundering shell game was revealed after the California Fair Practices Commission filed suit against one of its donors and recipients, Americans for Responsible Leadership.[6]

The CAV also has links to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a news outlet that has been criticized for conservative bias. The CAV's lawyer, James D. Skyles, previously worked as a lawyer for the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a conservative think tank based in Bismark North Dakota which is part of the State Policy Network.[7] The CAV has also paid money to a consulting firm run by John Connors, director of operations of the Franklin Center.[1] The Franklin Center, which was founded in part by Koch operative Eric O'Keefe, received a small grant directly from the Charles G. Koch Foundation in 2012, and received over $15 million in funding from the Koch conduits DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund between 2010 and 2012.

Political Activities

2011-2012 "Wisconsin Way" Recall Ads Funded by Koch Network

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The CAV registered on May 23rd to make independent expenditures in the 2012 recall in support of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Their application was less than 2 weeks before the recall began, and past the deadline of the final report on campaign spending before the recall.

The group produced three ads, two 30-second spots and a 60 second spot.[8] As described by the Center for Media and Democracy, the ads, which ran just before the June 2, 2012 vote, "depicted individuals identified as "Wisconsin voters" saying they didn't vote for Walker in 2010, yet would vote for him in 2012 because they opposed the recall."[1]

The CAV, claiming that its donations were not given specifically to fund the ads, did not disclose the sources of its funding, even though the group did little aside from the ad campaign. Voters were thus not aware "that the ads, which tutored Wisconsin residents about "the Wisconsin way," were funded by a secretive out-of-state group backed by out-of-state billionaires and millionaires," the Center for Media and Democracy noted.[1]

Tax documents filed long after the end of the election cycle revealed that the CAV's "primary source of the group's funding in 2012 was the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR), a conduit for $156 million in political spending raised by the Kochs and their network of funders."[1] California's elections board described the CPPR as "the key nonprofit in the Koch Brothers' dark money network of nonprofit corporations"[9] when it "fined the group $1 million for its role in what [California] called a "campaign money laundering" scheme to influence a 2012 ballot initiative in that state, where $15 million was passed between four nonprofits to evade the state's disclosure laws."[1] In response to the record fine, a CPPR representative asserted that "The Commission today recognized that CPPR acted in ‘good faith’ and that there was absolutely no intent to violate campaign reporting rules."[10]

Other Political Activities

The CAV produced a now-defunct site called Protect Sand Mining, which defended Sand Mining in Wisconsin. The site praised the frac-sand mining industry for providing "Thousands of good paying jobs throughout the state" while overlooking the environmental damage caused by fracking. An archived copy of the page from June 2012 is available via the Internet Archive.[11]

Funding

The CAV has not offered any information on the group's funding sources, leadership, or political strategy.

Documents available long after the end of the 2012 election cycle revealed that "the primary source of the group's funding in 2012 was the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR), a conduit for $156 million in political spending raised by the Kochs and their network of funders," according to reporting by the Center for Media and Democracy.[1] The CPPR gave $510,000 to the CAV, meaning that the bulk of the group's budget for that year came from out of state. The CPPR, which has also provided funding to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, received a record fine in California "for its role in what [California] called a "campaign money laundering" scheme to influence a 2012 ballot initiative in that state, where $15 million was passed between four nonprofits to evade the state's disclosure laws."[1] In response to the record fine, a CPPR representative asserted that "The Commission today recognized that CPPR acted in ‘good faith’ and that there was absolutely no intent to violate campaign reporting rules."[6]

Data collected by the Center for Responsive politics for the 2012 cycle revealed only one large individual donor, Rebekha Mercer of New York, who gave the group 50,000 dollars on November 1st, 2011[12]. Mercer has also given money to support the campaigns of Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Steve King (R-IA).[13]. The Wall Street Journal reports that Mercer runs a bakery and is the daughter of a hedge fund manager. In 2010, she and her husband spent $28 million purchasing 13,000 square feet of real estate in New York's Trump Place. [14]

Personnel

The CAV's FEC filings list the group's treasurer as Brent Downs of Mt. Prospect, Illinois. CAV's lawyer is James D. Skyles.[1]

Ties to the Right-Wing Franklin Center

The CAV's lawyer, James D. Skyles, previously worked as a lawyer for the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a conservative think tank based in Bismark North Dakota which is part of the State Policy Network.[15] The CAV has also paid money to a consulting firm run by John Connors, director of operations of the Franklin Center.[1]

The Franklin Center was founded in party by Koch operative Eric O'Keefe, head of the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

Contact

Organization:

4201 Wilson Blvd, Suite 110-468 Arlington, VA 22203

Phone: (703) 996-9843


Attorney:

Skyles Law Group 109 S Emerson, #23 Mt. Prospect, Il, 60056

Phone: 897-721-7560

Related Sourcewatch Resources

References

  1. ↑ Jump up to: 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Brendan Fischer, "Exclusive: Ads Telling Voters "Recall Is Not the Wisconsin Way" Funded by Out-of-State Koch Network," Center for Media and Democracy, January 8, 2014. Accessed July 9, 2014.
  2. ↑ Coalition for American Values: About Us, Coalitionforamericanvalues.org. Accessed June 13th, 2012
  3. ↑ Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Profile: Coalition for American Values. June 4th, 2012. Accessed June 13th, 2012
  4. ↑ Coalition for American Values PAC, FEC report, organizational filing, April 15, 2014. Accessed July 9, 2014.
  5. ↑ Matea Gold, "Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012," Washington Post, January 5, 2014.
  6. ↑ Jump up to: 6.0 6.1 Reid Wilson, "California to levy massive fine against Koch brothers groups," Washington Post, October 24, 2013. Accessed July 9, 2014.
  7. ↑ Andy Kroll, "Could this Pro-Walker Dark-Money Group Torpedo Recall Turnout?,", June 5, 2012. Accessed July 9, 2014.
  8. ↑ Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Profile: Coalition for American Values. June 4th, 2012. Accessed June 13th, 2012
  9. ↑ California Fair Political Practices Commission, "FPPC ANNOUNCES RECORD SETTLEMENT IN $11 MILLION ARIZONA CONTRIBUTION CASE," press release, October 24, 2013. Accessed July 9, 2014.
  10. ↑ Reid Wilson, "California to levy massive fine against Koch brothers groups," Washington Post, October 24, 2013. Accessed July 9, 2014.
  11. ↑ Protect Sand Mining, About, website archived by Internet Wayback Machine, accessed July 9, 2014.
  12. ↑ Center for Responsive Politics, Coalition for American Values, PAC donor profile. Accessed July 9, 2014.
  13. ↑ Andy Kroll: [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/wisconsin-recall-coalition-american-values-scott-walker Could this Pro-Walker Dark-Money Group Torpedo Recall Turnout
  14. ↑ Juliet Chung: Six Apartments May Make One Wall Street Journal, Published April 27th, 2010. Accessed June 13th, 2012
  15. ↑ Andy Kroll, "Could this Pro-Walker Dark-Money Group Torpedo Recall Turnout?,", June 5, 2012. Accessed July 9, 2014.
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