American Issues Project

Last updated

The American Issues Project is a political action group organized as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, so that it can engage in limited amounts of civic campaigning, but cannot legally advocate for or against candidates. [1] During the 2008 United States presidential election, it became known for commercials linking Barack Obama to former Weather Underground founder William Ayers. [2] The group has received substantial media attention. [3] [4] After Obama came into office, the group concentrated on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. [5]

The AIP was co-founded by conservative political activists Tony Feather (also a co-founder of the conservative 527 group Progress for America) and Chris LaCivita. [2] [6]

Funding for AIP, which spent close to $3 million for the Ayers ads, is provided by Harold Simmons, who previously gave $3 million to fund Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and another $500,000 to Progress for America. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act</span> 2002 American law regulating political campaigns

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act or BCRA, is a United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of political campaigns. Its chief sponsors were senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John McCain (R-AZ). The law became effective on 6 November 2002, and the new legal limits became effective on January 1, 2003.

A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of U.S. tax-exempt organization organized under Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. A 527 group is created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office.

Negative campaigning is the process of deliberately spreading negative information about someone or something to worsen the public image of the described. A colloquial, and somewhat more derogatory, term for the practice is mudslinging.

Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, formerly known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), was a political group of United States Swift boat veterans and former prisoners of war of the Vietnam War, formed during the 2004 presidential election campaign for the purpose of opposing John Kerry's candidacy for the presidency. The campaign inspired the widely used political pejorative "swiftboating", to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The group disbanded and ceased operations on May 31, 2008.

<i>Unfit for Command</i> 2004 book by John ONeill and Jerome Corsi

Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry is a 2004 book about then U.S. Presidential candidate John Kerry by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi published by Regnery Publishing. The book was released at the time that ads by Swift Vets and POWs for Truth were being aired on U.S. television.

USA Next, formerly known as the United Seniors Association, is a United States lobbyist group whose slogan is "Building a Legacy of Freedom for America's Families". It presents itself as a conservative senior citizens organization. The group is a 501(c)(4) organization. Since 2001, Charles Jarvis has led the group.

The term swiftboating is a pejorative American neologism used to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The term is derived from the name of the organization "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" because of their widely publicized—and later discredited—political smear campaign against 2004 U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry. Since the 2004 election, the term has come to commonly refer to a political attack that is dishonest, personal, and unfair.

FreedomWorks is a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representatives. It was widely associated with the Tea Party movement before firmly aligning with Donald Trump. The Koch brothers were once a source of the organization's funding.

Bobby Jack Perry, known as Bob J. Perry, was a Houston, Texas homebuilder, owner of Perry Homes, and major contributor to a number of politically oriented 527 groups, such as the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth and the Economic Freedom Fund.

Christopher Joseph LaCivita is an American political consultant, and partner in FP1 Strategies, a national public-affairs and campaign firm. LaCivita is currently a senior advisor to Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

The MoveOn.org ad controversy began when the U.S. anti-war liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org published a full-page ad in The New York Times on September 10, 2007, accusing General David H. Petraeus of "cooking the books for the White House". The ad also labeled him "General Betray Us". The organization created the ad in response to Petraeus' Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq. MoveOn hosted pages on its website about the ad and their reasons behind it from 2007 to June 23, 2010. On June 23, 2010, after President Obama nominated General Petraeus to be the new top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, MoveOn erased these webpages and any reference to them from its website.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one of the most influential American conservative organizations.

The American Leadership Project (ALP) was a political organization in the United States, active during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary elections and the subsequent presidential election. It was an unincorporated association organized under section 527 of the IRS code, formed in February 2008. The ALP did not endorse any candidate, and was not officially linked with any candidate's committee, but ran adverts before primary elections in the states of Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana in support of Hillary Clinton and against Barack Obama. After the conclusion of the primary season, when Obama became the Democratic nominee, the organization ran several campaign ads against his Republican opponent John McCain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Ayers 2008 presidential election controversy</span>

During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, controversy broke out regarding Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a former leader of the Weather Underground, a radical left organization in the 1970s. Investigations by CNN, The New York Times and other news organizations concluded that Obama did not have a close relationship with Ayers.

<i>The Case Against Barack Obama</i>

The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate, by author David Freddoso, is a bestselling book published in late 2008, providing a critical examination of the life and opinions of the then United States presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama.

Tony Feather is a Missouri-based American political consultant for the Republican National Committee and Republican candidates and campaign who specializes in direct voter contact. Feather is a co-founder, with fellow Republican Jeff Larson of FLSConnect, the leading Republican direct voter contact company in America.

RightChange.com was an American conservative political group. It was devoted to electing conservative U.S. Republican Party candidates, thus the reference to the political right in its name. It spent millions supporting Republican candidates in the 2010 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Crossroads</span>

American Crossroads is a US Super PAC that raises funds from donors to advocate for certain candidates of the Republican Party. It has pioneered many of the new methods of fundraising opened up by the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United. Its president is Steven J. Law, a former United States Deputy Secretary of Labor for President George W. Bush and the Chairman of the Board of Directors is former Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan. Advisers to the group include Senior Advisor and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.

The Emergency Committee for Israel is a right-wing nonprofit political advocacy organization in the United States.

The American Future Fund is a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization based in Iowa.

References

  1. New York Times (October 26, 2008) "Swift Boat Financier Finds Efforts Are Muted"
  2. 1 2 "Swift Boaters Start Your Engines". Mother Jones. 2008-10-02. Archived from the original on 4 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  3. "FEC Complaint Filed Against Group That Ran Ayers Ad". The Washington Post . 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  4. "Without 527s, Candidates Must Carry Negative Message". The Washington Post . 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  5. "VIDEO: Group counters stimulus with Jesus in TV ad". The Politico. 2009-02-20. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  6. Washington Post (September 14, 2008) "Group With Swift Boat Alumni Readies Ads Attacking Obama"
  7. "No Cavalry Coming For McCain". CBS News . 2008-10-22. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-29.