right wing

Columnist Dimitri Vassilaros received a news release about a grassroots "petition to stop climate alarmism" and attacking Al Gore's work. He checked it out and found that "for an organization that claims 'we are grassroots to the core,' Grassfire.org acts as if it is hiding a lot of Astroturf. The politically conservative nonprofit is happy to talk about its worthy online petition campaigns," but is "very tight-lipped about talking about itself. ... The Maxwell, Iowa, address for donations to the grassroots organization is clearly displayed on its Web site. But its 2006 IRS 990 form states its address is Bethesda, Md., near Washington, D.C." The SourceWatch article on Grassfire revealed its relationship to Craig Shirley and his "slick Washington-area PR firm, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs. ... When asked a few times about the organization's finances, [Grassfire's] Mr. De Jong first said he didn't know the size of the organization that he speaks for. He also said he 'could ask around' about that 990 form. When I offered to ask the bookkeeper for him, De Jong said, 'She will call, dude. Relax. I'll take care of it for you. I am a man of my word.' As of Thursday noon, no one had called this dude."

The Center for Public Integrity has begun a five part report on the stunning impact of big money advocacy groups in electoral politics, from MoveOn to Freedom's Watch. "Their names roll off the tongue with a patriotic cadence: Freedom’s Watch, Democracy Alliance, Citizens United, Progress for America, Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America. These are the new giants of American politics, the well-funded groups organized behind a veil of secrecy to influence the voters’ choice for president of the United States in 2008. Financed by many of the nation’s wealthiest investors and business leaders, as well as millions of small donors, these organizations are responsible for a flood of political attack advertising. ... With their identities hidden under stunningly misleading names and legal technicalities, many offered questionable facts and unproven charges intended to confuse voters or appeal to their worst prejudices."

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at how Barbie celebrates Earth Day, why Freedom's Watch is under scrutiny, and how some environmental groups could think giving "clean coal" a closer look makes sense. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we run down Merck's long history of using spin to counter their Vioxx scandal. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

A recent New York Times story describes the Republican-linked pro-war group Freedom's Watch as "beset by internal problems" and unclear on "what kind of role, if any, it will actually play this fall" in the U.S. presidential elections. Freedom's Watch is currently running ads in Louisiana which claim that the Democratic candidate in a special Congressional election supports higher taxes. The ads prompted a formal complaint from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, accusing Freedom's Watch of illegally coordinating with the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). The Democrats point out that the "metadata" of the ad script file identifies the NRCC as the originator, and that former NRCC employee Carl Forti -- who now works for Freedom's Watch -- was the last person to edit the script. They note that the Freedom's Watch ad and an NRCC ad for the same race use the same graphics and similar scripts, and the Freedom's Watch ad debuted the day after the NRCC stopped airing its ad. Patrick McCarthy, who wrote the ad for Freedom's Watch, said "an innocent mistake caused the document to appear as if it came from the NRCC," reported the Washington Post. McCarthy, a former NRCC employee, "said he pulled up an old ad template from his NRCC days and wrote the Louisiana ad script over it."

Administrators of "Popline," the "world's largest scientific database on reproductive health," which is housed at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health, "blocked the word 'abortion' as a search term after receiving a complaint from the Bush administration over two abortion-related articles listed in the database." The search block has since been removed, with the university's public health dean stressing the school's commitment "to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and not its restriction." But the two studies that prompted the complaint have been removed from the database. Popline is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In 2001, President Bush revived the "gag rule," which bans U.S. government funding for groups that perform or "actively promote abortion." A USAID spokesperson said she "could not identify the documents that prompted her office's complaint, but said the publications were one-sided in favor of abortion rights."

The pro-war lobby is heading to Washington and the halls of Congress Tuesday, April 8, when General David Petraeus testifies on the continuing war in Iraq. The Modesto Bee reports that the Republican front group called Vets for Freedom, "in an extraordinary move suggestive of fairly deep pockets ... will pay all travel, lodging and food expenses" for any recent veteran wanting to lobby with them in DC. The offer attracted Zak Applequist, a local soldier. "He's never been to Washington; until now, he hasn't even been particularly involved in politics. ... 'I heard about it through my mom,' Applequist said, 'and she heard about it through Fox News.'"

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at Al Gore's not-so-green PR firm, who cares about the FDA, and a strange definition of "civil rights." In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," how Big Oil is courting the blogosphere. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

Freedom's Watch, the right-wing advocacy group, recently hired Carl Forti, the former political director for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, signalling that the group "is getting ready to gear up for Election 2008," reports Bill Berkowitz. Forti, a notorious mudslinger, was communications director at the National Republican Congressional Committee from 2004 to 2006, turning it into what the the Annenberg Political Fact Check called an "attack-ad factory" whose work "stands out ... for the sheer volume of assaults on the personal character of Democratic House challengers." Freedom's Watch has pledged to spend close to $250 million during the coming election cycle, but Berkowitz notes that several prominent staffers have recently left the group, including its co-founder, Bradley Blakeman, and Matt S. David, its communications director, amid "reported questions about the actual existence of the $250 million war chest that Freedom's Watch's leaders have boasted about." The group has also been criticized by some conservative activists as a "rootless organization built to capitalize on the Republican agenda" that "no doubt will raise and spend a lot of money and much of it will go to the PR company that organized it and for which they are a front."

Ward ConnerlyPeople in Colorado who signed an anti-affirmative action ballot initiative petition are charging that petition circulators deceived them about the measure's real purpose and intent. The signature-gathering effort is part of a push by African-American conservative Ward Connerly to qualify ballot initiatives in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma that would end affirmative action policies and programs in those states. Signature-gatherers for Connerly's measure, which is deceptively titled the "Colorado Civil Rights Initiative," reportedly approached people in the Denver metro area by asking them whether they were "against discrimination." If a person answered "yes," they were asked to sign a petition that they were told would legally end discrimination in their state. Many signers were upset later when they discovered that the "Civil Rights Initiative" was really an effort to end existing affirmative action programs and policies that help level the playing field for groups like minorities and women, that historically have suffered the most from discrimination in employment, contracts and educational opportunities.

It was originally planned as "a low-key classroom discussion about patriotism and service to country" at Forest Lake High School in Minnesota. But when the Republican Party-associated pro-Iraq war group Vets for Freedom "decided to call a press conference at the school and alerted media," things got heated. "Anti-war activists, including veterans of Iraq who oppose the war" decided to organize "their own press conference and rally." The high school canceled the event, and angry conservatives began contacting the principal, "calling him a coward, a Communist or a spineless America Hater." Columnist Nick Coleman writes, "Maybe a Minnesota school was just trying to keep its students from becoming pawns in a political game. There would not have been much outrage" if, instead of being billed as the "Vets for Freedom National Heroes Tour," the event had been called the "Republican Tour to Shore Up the Pro-War Vote," he suggests.