Roll Call's Emily Cahn reports that the American Future Fund is spending a couple of ethanol tanker cars of cash to let those of us who live in Minnesota's Seventh Congressional District that the Iowa-based group thinks "we" have a problem.
Cahn writes in Peterson Targeted in New Ad From Outside Group:
A GOP outside group has started attacking Rep. Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota on the airwaves — less than two weeks after a local Republican state lawmaker announced he would challenge the longtime Democrat in 2014.
The ad, released by the American Future Fund, accuses the 12-term Democrat of “losing his Minnesota nice” after being in Washington, D.C., too long.
“He’s been in Washington for decades and the choices he makes affect our lives. So where is he when we want answers?” says the announcer in the 30-second spot. “… Tell Collin Peterson if he’s lost his Minnesota nice he’s been in Washington too long.”
Well, that's different, because, for sure, there's nothing people in Minnesota appreciate more than Iowans telling us about Minnesota Nice. Cahn writes that the group, which has roots in Iowa and the Koch Brothers' web of political organization, according to Factcheck.org, is spending "a nearly $100,000 buy on broadcast and cable in the 7th District, which spans the western third of the state."
Is American Future Fund's "Dark Money" Minnesota Nice?
Open Secrets notes that "501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Service code, American Future Fund does not have to disclose its donors" but researchers have been able to determine where some of the group's money is coming from.
Public Integrity reported in July 2013 that GOP leadership PACs boost American Future Fund:
The trend of GOP leadership PAC giving to the American Future Fund was first noted by the New York Times’ Derek Willis on Twitter.
Since it was created in 2008, the American Future Fund has become one of the top-spending politically active nonprofits. During the 2012 election cycle alone, the group spent at least $29 million on political advertisements, as the Center for Public Integrity previously reported.
Little is known about the group’s donors.
In 2008, Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter provided an unspecified amount of “seed money” for the organization. And between 2009 and 2011, records filed with the Internal Revenue Service indicate that another nonprofit, the Arizona-based Center to Protect Patient Rights, gave the American Future Fund more than $14 million — half of the $27 million it raised during the three-year period.
The Center to Protect Patient Rights was founded by Republican operative Sean Noble, who has close ties to the political network of billionaire industrialist brothers David and Charles Koch.
Campaign finance reform organizations have long questioned whether the American Future Fund’s primary purpose is truly something other than influencing elections — a charge with the conservative nonprofit denies.
Complaints have been filed in recent years with both the IRS and FEC, which have not, to date, issued rulings.
There's been other mischief as well. In October 2013, ProPublica reported in Dark Money Groups Pay $1 Million in Fines in California Case:
Two dark money groups linked to conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have paid a record $1 million in fines to California to settle allegations that the combined $15 million they spent on two ballot proposals in the state was not properly disclosed.
The civil settlement, announced Thursday afternoon in Sacramento, caps a year of investigation into the activities of the two Arizona groups, Americans for Responsible Leadership and the Center to Protect Patient Rights. . . .
The settlement disclosed new details in the case, including how the money was raised and how the Center to Protect Patient Rights disguised its two contributions to two California political committees. As part of the settlement, the Center to Protect Patient Rights conceded it was responsible for funneling $11 million through Americans for Responsible Leadership to a political committee spending money to fight a tax-hike measure and to support a proposition restricting unions’ political power.
The Center to Protect Patient Rights also gave an additional $4 million to another dark money group, the American Future Fund, which gave the money to another political committee spending on the anti-union measure.
“What is the takeaway from this trail of dark money?” asked Ann Ravel, the outgoing head of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, which investigated the groups along with the state attorney general’s office. “This is a nationwide issue. These groups exploit loopholes in the law to undermine the clear purpose of the law, to give essential information to the public.”
Looks like those of us who actually live in the Seventh won't ever know where the people who paid the nice announcer lady to say "we" got their money.
The Curious History of the Chris Berg Scold Footage
While we who actually live in the Seventh won't know where the American Future Fund came up with the money to pay for this, some of the footage is familiar. Late last May 2013, Chris Berg interviewed Collin Peterson on Hot Box, an occasion referenced by conservative North Dakota blog Say Anything in Minnesota Democrat Says North Dakota Democrat Attack On Kevin Cramer Is Inaccurate:
Last night Valley News Live’s Chris Berg interviewed Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson at a farm bill forum he held alongside North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer. During the interview, Berg asked Rep. Peterson about claims North Dakota Democrats have made about Rep. Cramer and the farm bill. . . .
When asked about those comments, Rep. Peterson (who is a Democrat) said they were inaccurate. “No,” he said in response to Berg’s question about the veracity of the attack, “he hasn’t voted on anything. He’s not on the committee, so there’s been no vote.”
Rep. Peterson also explained what changes are being made to the food stamps program (or SNAP), saying he’s more comfortable with what Democrats [sic] are doing with the program than with what his own party is doing.
“What was done in 1996 is they created this exception from the federal law,” he said talking about the income levels at which you can quality for the program. “This is kind of a crazy deal. The states can create the rules which are higher than the federal and send us [Congress] the bill.”
“It’s not fair.”
What he’s saying is that some states can actually set a higher threshold for qualifying for food stamps – say 200% of the poverty level – and send the federal government the bill for it. Peterson would like to see a uniform standard for all the states that would be lower than where some states have set it.
That might result in some people losing those benefits, but those would be people earning well above the federal poverty line.
The video of the late May interview is no longer available on the site, but a screenshot remains. By early July, Berg was grousing on air about Peterson "dodging" him, despite an appearance just weeks before. The complaints continued into August, and that's where the American Action Fund picked up the ranting footage.
Peterson appeared on the show on August 29, 2013; neither the late May nor late August segments are still online.
Where's this dude when Chris Berg wants him? Redwood or a couple of dozen other counties in MN?
While Peterson didn't make it up to North Dakota to talk to Berg again until August 29, he was spotted in his district at Farmfest in early August, talking to the ag show attendees and media. Or attending the Minnesota Agriculture Leadership Conference in Brainerd and visiting Fagen Fighters WWII Air Museum in Granite Falls in mid-August. That ribbon-cutting at the Fargo VA Medical Center, where many NW Minnesota vets receive treatment and a constituent meeting in the district with "educators, farmers, faith leaders, and labor leaders for a wide-ranging discussion on the Farm Bill, immigration, education, and other topics."
Or that sexy July unveiling of the Arvid Clementson Municipal Building in lovely Fosston. Those July Farm Bill meetings in Little Falls and Crookston.
Or Moorhead in late June, visiting the DuPont Pioneer Research Center in Moorhead. Or that West Central Dairy Days visit in Willmar or the one in Hutchinson. Or that Farm Credit meeting in Willmar.
Yes, it's really too bad Peterson couldn't fit Berg in until the end of August (or that you can't watch the May and August clips anymore) and those dark money folks in Iowa have to wonder where Peterson is. But Bluestem thinks there's a helpful tool if they have questions.
The congressman's weekly newsletters are filled with news of Peterson's meetings in the district, and the meetings with constituents in DC (since Peterson does go to work when he's expected to do so). Perhaps if the American Future Fund and Chris Berg wants to know what the old Blue Dog has been up to in both the seventh district and DC, they might sign up for it. The sign up box is in the lower right hand corner on his congressional page.
Heckova lot cheaper than paying a hundred grand to ask the question on cable and broadcast, don't you know.
Note: Bluestem has a call in to Peterson's office for an list of meetings, tours, and events the rep had in his district and constituent meetings in DC. Since the Iowa dark money group is paying a lot to ask "where's Collin," we thought we help them out.
Update: In an email to Bluestem, Peterson's communications director Allison Myhre fills in more details about Peterson's visits across the district, although this isn't an exhaustive list: ". . . he was in 24 parades this summer. I'm still not at my office so don't have exact dates for all this."
Photo: Collin Peterson, Amy Klobuchar and some farm folk in Little Falls in early July (above); Peterson on Hot Box in late May (below). Via a newsletter.
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