Conservative sites are flaming former Minnesota Republican kingpin Jeff Larson, scorching the reach of his octopi-tentacles into the pockets and the defeat of 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Red State: Incestuous Bleeding
In the ur-article at the center of the fire, The Incestuous Bleeding of the Republican Party, Red State diarist Erick Erickson writes:
If money is the root of all evil, for the Republican Party evil is located on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA 22314.
Strip away the candidate and coalition and it is on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza where the seeds of Mitt Romney’s ruin and the RNC’s get out the vote (GOTV) effort collapsed — bled to death by charlatan consultants making millions off the party, its donors, and the grassroots.
66 Canal Center Plaza is also why Jeff Larson, the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee, should not be put in charge of the autopsy of the GOP’s defeat. Multiple sources confirm to me that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has already put Larson in charge of the so called autopsy. . . .
Down the Rabbit Hole
To understand the problems, we need to go back in time. Michael Beach is a co-founder of Targeted Victory, LLC, as is Zac Moffatt. Before that, he was the National Victory Director for the Republican Party during the 2008 campaign.
Targeted Victory, LLC operates from suite 501 of 66 Canal Center Plaza in Alexandria as a foreign limited liability company. Targeted Victory, LLC is actually a Minnesota limited liability company. In Virginia, its co-founder Michael Beach, is listed as its registered agent by the Virginia Secretary of State. It was formed on February 5, 2009, around the time Michael Beach left the RNC.
Targeted Victory, LLC’s registered office is 7300 Hudson Blvd, Suite 270, St. Paul, MN 55128. It’s manager, who is the person who controls the day to day operations of an LLC on behalf of its members, is Tony Feather.
Drum roll please — Tony Feather happens to also be the F in FLS Connect, LLC, which made millions off both the Romney campaign and the RNC.
The “L” in FLS Connect is Jeff Larson, the present Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee.
Curiously, the Virginia Secretary of State notes that FLS Connect, LLC uses a registered agent in Virginia Beach, VA, but is a foreign limited liability company just like Targeted Victory, LLC. More curious, its principal office is the same office in St. Paul, MN as Targeted Victory, LLC, but FLS Connect is actually an Arizona limited liability company. . . .
Erickson dives into the wreck, emerging with:
FLS Connect continued to get business from the RNC and also got business from Team Romney. But now Targeted Victory enters the picture.
Targeted Victory, LLC’s principal office is the same office in St. Paul, MN that FLS Connect, LLC lists as its own principle office. Targeted Victory’s manager is Tony Feather, who is the F in FLS Connect.
Rich Beeson, who used to work for FLS Connect, is now with Team Romney and Team Romney awards a contract to Targeted Victory, LLC for its digital work with Zac Moffatt as Digital Director of the campaign.
Targeted Victory, LLC and FLS Connect, LLC rake in millions in commissions. The central component to Rich Beeson’s get out the vote operation is Project ORCA, which is headed by Zac Moffatt of Targeted Victory, LLC, whose principal office in Minnesota is shared by FLS Connect, LLC. As of October 26, 2012, Targeted Victory had been paid $64 million by Team Romney and FLS Connect had been paid $16.5 million.
And now the “L” in FLS Connect, Jeff Larson, will perform the autopsy on why Election Day and its related operations collapsed. . . .
The MNGOP Way: Incest Is Best, Or the Party that Pays Together
Bluestem is surprised that anyone in the Republican Party can feign shock, much less surprise at this news, since this sort of collective ingrown toenailhood has marked Larson's business dealing for the party for years.
Two 2011 articles at City Pages by Andy Mannix and Mike Mullen illustrate this point well, though not for the first time. There's their cover article, "RNC Piggy Bank", a fine piece of investigative journalism about Larson's involvement in staging the 2008 RNC convention and his profit from the committee created for the event. Go read it.
And then there's Jeff Larson: Political Landlord:
In mid-2008, it came out that Jeff Larson had been renting a Washington, D.C. apartment to then-Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn), a close friend and political cohort.
As a landlord, Larson -- the subject of last week's feature, "RNC Piggy Bank" -- had been pretty lax on collecting rent. He allowed Coleman to miss several payments, and even admitted to accepting furniture from Coleman instead of a rent payment. This all raised ethical questions with political watchdog groups, leading to a formal complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee.
But records show that Larson's career as a political landlord extends beyond this one incident.
In 2003, Larson was the founding treasurer of Coleman's political action committee, Northstar Leadership. In the years since, Northstar Leadership has paid more than $300,000 to Larson's telemarketing firm, FLS Connect, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.Some of this PAC money has gone toward Larson renting an office from FLS. In addition, Coleman for Senate '08, the Senator's official 2008 campaign committee, also rented an office from FLS. As did the 2008 Republican National Convention host committee, of which Larson was the CEO and treasurer.
At one point, FLS was renting an office to Coleman's PAC, Coleman's campaign committee, and the host committee, all at the same time. . . .
Read the rest at City Pages. Or just google "Jeff Larson Landlord Coleman" and plenty of gems will emerge, like Wonkette's 2008 minor masterpieice, Senator Norm Coleman Sleeps In A Drawer.
Coleman and Larson: Twin Brothers of Different Mothers?
Nor have former one-term wonder Coleman and Larson parted compaign when it comes to conservative campaign bidness. Coleman's American Action Net handed over some checks this year to Targeted Victory as well, according AAN's October Quarterly report of independent expenditures on file at the FEC.
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187 Arlington, Virginia 22202 Expenditure Description: Internet Advertising and Website Date Expended = 09/14/2012 In OPPOSITION to RICHARD MICHAEL NOLANAmount Expended = 28999.00
Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 282738.63
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187 Arlington, Virginia 22202 Expenditure Description: Internet Advertising and Website Date Expended = 09/14/2012 In OPPOSITION to DAVID MICHAEL GILLAmount Expended = 28999.00
Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 183747.80
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187 Arlington, Virginia 22202 Expenditure Description: Digital Advertising and Website Date Expended = 09/14/2012 In OPPOSITION to RICHARD MICHAEL NOLANAmount Expended = 28999.00
Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 311737.63
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187 Arlington, Virginia 22202 Expenditure Description: Digital Advertising and Website Date Expended = 09/14/2012 In OPPOSITION to JOSE M HERNANDEZAmount Expended = 28999.00
Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 504183.40
Targeted Victory
P.O. Box 2187 Arlington, Virginia 22202 Expenditure Description: Digital Media Advertising and Website Date Expended = 09/14/2012 In OPPOSITION to DAVID L CROOKSAmount Expended = 28999.00
Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought = 43935.74
As lame duck one-term congressman Chip Cravaack can attest, that $57,998 was money well spent on digital advertising and a website.
Photos: Jeff Larson, top; Norm Coleman, bottom.
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I'm glad Erick Erickson was able to bring us this news, even though it meant that he had to take some time away from his weighty deliberations on whether to mount a primary challenge to Saxby Chambliss for daring to back off from Grover Norquist's He-Man Woman-Hater's (erm, I meant "Tax-Hater's") Club:
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/28/erick_erickson_mulling_a_challenge_to_saxby_chambliss/
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Nov 29, 2012 at 07:04 PM