Cebu_4_2
14th March 2016, 06:56 AM
Billionaire George Soros funds $15M effort to stop Trump, mobilize Latinos
Published March 10, 2016Fox News Latino
soeor.jpg
Sept. 27: Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros speaks during a discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York/
Donald Trump often notes that he has plenty of millions to battle his way to the Oval Office.
But now another billionaire New Yorker is putting up his own millions to prevent Trump from winning the presidency and is calling on Latinos to be part of that effort.
Financier George Soros is launching, along with other donors, a $15 million campaign to achieve the largest Latino and immigrant participation at the polls, the New York Times reported.
Through a new super PAC named Immigrant Voters Win, the campaign is funding organizations in states such as Florida, Nevada and Colorado, which have large or growing Latino and Asian communities, in the hope of influencing turnout in November, the Times reported.
Trump shot to the front of the Republican presidential field last year by proposing a hard-line immigration policy. The Hungarian-born Soros is contributing $5 million of his own money to the campaign.
People involved in the effort told the Times that it is the largest Democratic-voter turnout effort campaign to target Latinos and immigrants. The goal is to have a minimum of 400,000 new voters by the general election in November.
“This is really taking the gloves off,” said Cristóbal Alex, the president of the Latino Victory Project, which is part of the campaign.
“From the first day [Trump] attacked us, he called us rapists and thieves,” Alex told the Times. “We could have a giant wall built and millions of families broken apart. The country is on the precipice.”
Trump, political experts generally agree, has turned the presidential race into one like no other in recent history. A billionaire who never has held political office, his candidacy was greeted with skepticism last year, with many considering his campaign a joke. Most analysts didn't give him much of a chance of winning the GOP nomination.
Instead Trump has cultivated a strong and, until now, loyal group of supporters who have gone to the primaries in large numbers. Televised GOP debate ratings have been high, something many experts attribute to the novelty of Trump’s brash and unpredictable style. He consistently has ended up in the top slot of national polls of GOP voters and has won more primaries and caucuses than any of his GOP rivals.
Democratic voters, by contrast, seem far less enthusiastic, worrying many who want to stop Trump’s march to the White House. Democratic debates, now including just former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have drawn much smaller audiences than the GOP ones, and Democratic primaries and caucuses also have had lower turnouts than their GOP counterparts.
Conservatives, to be sure, are hardly sitting by idly as Soros and Co. begin their Latino outreach.
Libre Initiative, which is in large part funded by the Koch brothers, reportedly is spending some $10 million to mobilize Latino turnout. The organization’s approach is to have a grassroots presence in states where Latinos live in large numbers or where there is a fast-growing community.
The group promotes conservative principles while providing help to people obtaining driver's licenses or preparing for GED exams, among other things.
Trump wasted no time in laying out his hard-line immigration proposals. When he announced he was running for president, he condemned Mexico for dumping its worst citizens, as he put it, on the U.S. He vowed to build a wall along the border and to have a kind of deportation army that would track down and remove the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States.
Soros told the Times in an email that he had been rattled by what he viewed as the xenophobic tone of the Republicans running for president. He was upset by the call by Trump and others to ban Muslim refugees from the United States.
Soros has a long history of contributing millions to liberal political causes, and pockets don't get much deeper than his. He ranked No. 23 in the latest Forbes richest men list.
He told the Times, “The intense anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has been fueled by the Republican primary is ... harmful to our democracy and to our national interests,” Soros said. “There should be consequences for the outrageous statements and proposals that we’ve regularly heard.”
The Times said participants in the new campaign are responding to criticism by Latinos about the lack of financial support from wealthy liberals.
“One reason we had lower turnout is because of historical underinvestment in our community,” Alex said to the Times. “Folks who want a progressive vision of the country have to match what is happening on the right. Now we are seeing a recognition by certain donors of the importance of our vote.”
mick silver
14th March 2016, 07:04 AM
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6201
Groups
21st Century Democrats (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7613)
Air America Radio (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6352)
America Coming Together (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6708)
America Votes (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6527)
American Association for Justice (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7338)
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6707)
American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7507)
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7515)
American Federation of Teachers (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7513)
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6968)
Brennan Center for Justice (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6922)
Campaign for America's Future (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7331)
Campus Progress (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7122)
Catalist (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7369)
Center for American Progress (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6709)
Center for Progressive Leadership (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7368)
Change America Now (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7333)
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7309)
Constitution Project (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7607)
Defenders of Wildlife (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7052)
Democracy 21 (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7351)
Democracy Alliance (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7151)
Democracy For America (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7337)
EMILY's List (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6344)
Human Rights Campaign (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7619)
Institute for Policy Studies (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6991)
League of Conservation Voters (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6907)
Media Fund (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6712)
Meyer, Suozzi, English and Klein, PC (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6964)
Midwest Academy (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6725)
MoveOn (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6201)
Moving Ideas Network (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7322)
NARAL Pro-Choice America (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6929)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6160)
National Education Association (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7428)
NDN (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7472)
New Organizing Institute (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7232)
People for the American Way (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6400)
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7083)
Project Vote (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6966)
Secretary of State Project (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7487)
Service Employees International Union (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6535)
Shadow Party (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6706)
Sierra Club (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6930)
Think Progress (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=7121)
Thunder Road Group (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6713)
USAction (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6729)
Vote For Change (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6698)
Working Families Party (http://discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofile.asp?grpid=6965)
mick silver
14th March 2016, 09:42 AM
NEW TARGET FOR "REGIME CHANGE": AMERICA
But right now, in 2003-04, Soros's primary focus was on the United States, whose government he considered to be at least as dangerous and oppressive as those of the aforementioned communist and authoritarian regimes. “I believe deeply in the values of an open society,” Soros said. “For the past 15 years I have focused my energies on fighting for these values abroad. Now I am doing it in the United States.”223 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote223sym) Asserting that he could “do a lot more about the issues I care about by changing the government than by pushing the issues,”224 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote224sym) Soros set out to “puncture the bubble of American supremacy.”225 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote225sym) To accomplish this, he would create a political apparatus of extraordinary influence.
Soros had quietly laid the groundwork for this apparatus during the preceding eight years. Between 1994 and 2002, the billionaire had spent millions of dollars promoting the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform (http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=11100)Act (http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=11100)—better known as the McCain-Feingold Act (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=456) 226 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote226sym)— which was signed into law in November 2002 by President Bush. Soros began working on this issue shortly after the 1994 midterm elections, when for the first time in nearly half a century, Republicans won strong majorities in both houses of Congress. Political analysts at the time attributed the huge Republican gains in large part to the effectiveness of television advertising—most notably the “Harry and Louise (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/business/media/17adco.html)” series (which cost $14 million (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/business/media/17adco.html) to produce and air) where a fictional suburban couple exposed the many hidden, and distasteful, details of Hillary Clinton's proposals for a more socialized national health-care system. Indeed the 1994 election became, to a considerable degree, a referendum on this attempted government takeover of one-sixth of the U.S. economy—and on the Democratic President who had tacitly endorsed it. George Soros was angry that such advertisements were capable of overriding the influence of the major print and broadcast news media, which, because they were overwhelmingly sympathetic to Democrat agendas, had given Hillary's plan a great deal of free, positive publicity for months. Three weeks after the 1994 elections, Soros announced that he intended to “do something” about “the distortion of our electoral process by the excessive use of TV advertising.”227 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote227sym) That “something” would be campaign-finance reform.
Starting in 1994, Soros's Open Society Institute and a few other leftist foundations began bankrolling front groups and so-called “experts” whose aim was to persuade Congress to swallow the fiction that millions of Americans were clamoring for “campaign-finance reform.” This deceptive strategy was the brainchild of Sean Treglia, a former program officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderProfile.asp?fndid=5213).228 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote228sym) Between 1994 and 2004, some $140 million of foundation cash was used to promote campaign-finance reform. Nearly 90 percent of this amount derived from just eight foundations, one of which was the Open Society Institute, which contributed $12.6 million to the cause.229 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote229sym) Among the major recipients of these OSI funds were such pro-reform organizations as the Alliance For Better Campaigns ($650,000); the Brennan Center for Justice (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6922) (more than $3.3 million); the Center For Public Integrity ($1.7 million); the Center For Responsive Politics ($75,000); Common Cause (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7610) ($625,000); Democracy 21 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7351) ($300,000); Public Campaign ($1.3 million); and Public Citizen (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6430) ($275,000).230 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote230sym)
The "research" which these groups produced in order to make a case on behalf of campaign-finance reform was largely bogus and contrived. For instance (http://www.citizen.org/congress/article_redirect.cfm?ID=9776), Brennan Center political scientist Jonathan Krasno had clearly admitted in his February 19, 1999 grant proposal to the Pew Charitable Trusts that the purpose of the proposed study was political, not scholarly, and that the project would be axed if it failed to yield the desired results:
"The purpose of our acquiring the data set is not simply to advance knowledge for its own sake, but to fuel a continuous multi-faceted campaign to propel campaign reform forward. Whether we proceed to phase two will depend on the judgment of whether the data provide a sufficiently powerful boost to the reform movement."
The stated purpose of McCain-Feingold was to purge politics of corruption by: (a) putting restrictions on paid advertising during the weeks just prior to political elections, and (b) tightly regulating the amount of money that political parties and candidates could accept from donors. Vis à vis the former of those two provisions, the new legislation barred private organizations—including unions, corporations, and citizen activist groups—from advertising for or against any candidate for federal office on television or radio during the 60 days preceding an election, and during the 30 days preceding a primary. During these blackout periods, only official political parties would be permitted to engage in “express advocacy” advertising—i.e., political ads that expressly urged voters to “vote for” or “vote against” a specified candidate. Equally important, major media networks were exempted from McCain-Feingold's constraints; thus they were free to speak about candidates in any manner they wished during their regular programming and news broadcasts. This would inevitably be a positive development for Democrats, who enjoyed the near-universal support of America's leading media outlets.231 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote231sym)
In addition to its limits on pre-election political advertising, McCain-Feingold also placed onerous new restrictions on the types of donations which candidates, parties, and political action committees (PACs) could now accept. Previously, they had been permitted to take two types of contributions. One of these was “hard money (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=813),” which referred to funds earmarked for the purpose of express advocacy. Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations stipulated (http://www.fec.gov/press/bkgnd/bcra_overview.shtml) that in a single calendar year, no hard-money donor could give more than $1,000 to any particular candidate, no more than $5,000 to a PAC, and no more than $20,000 to any political party.232 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote232sym)
The other category of pre-McCain-Feingold donations was “soft-money (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/theshadowpartypoe2004.html),” which donors were permitted to give directly to a political party in amounts unlimited by law. But to qualify for designation as “soft money,” a donation could not be used to fund “express advocacy” ads on behalf of any particular candidate. Rather, it had to be used to pay for such things as “voter-education” ads or “issue-oriented” ads—political messages that carefully refrained from making explicit calls to “vote for” or “vote against” any specific candidate. So long as an ad steered clear of uttering such forbidden instructions, there was no limit as to how much soft money could be spent on its production and dissemination.
McCain-Feingold raised the per-donor maximum for certain hard-money donations: A donor could now give up to $2,000 to a candidate, $5,000 to a PAC, and $25,000 to a political party.233 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote233sym) But the new law banned soft-money contributions to political parties altogether.
Historically, Republicans had enjoyed a 2-1 advantage over Democrats (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6214) in raising hard money from individual donors. Democrats had relied much more heavily on soft money (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=813) from large institutions such as labor unions.234 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote234sym) Thus it seems counter-intuitive that Soros, who clearly favored Democrats over Republicans, would seek to push legislation whose net effect—the removal of soft money—would be unfavorable to Democratic Party fundraising efforts.
But Soros's motive becomes clear when we look at the types of organizations whose fundraising activities were left unaffected by McCain-Feingold. These were “527 committees (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=813)”—nonprofits named after Section 527 of the IRS code—which, unlike ordinary PACS, were not required to register with the FEC. Run mostly by special-interest groups, these 527s were technically supposed to be independent of, and unaffiliated with, any party or candidate. As such, they were permitted to raise soft money—in amounts unbound by any legal limits—for all manner of political activities other than express advocacy. That is, so long as a 527's soft money was not being used to pay for ads explicitly urging people to cast their ballots either for or against any particular candidate, the letter of the McCain-Feingold law technically was being followed. Practically speaking, of course, such things as “issue-oriented ads” and “voter-education” ads can easily be tailored to favor one party or candidate over another, while carefully steering clear of “express advocacy.”
Once McCain-Feingold was in place, Soros and his political allies collaborated to set up a network of “527 committees” ready to receive the soft money that individual donors and big labor unions normally would have given directly to the Democratic Party. These 527s could then use that money to fund issue-oriented ads, voter-education initiatives, get-out-the-vote drives, and other “party-building” activities—not only to help elect Democratic candidates in 2004, but more broadly to guide the Democratic Party ever-further leftward and to reject the “closed” society that Bush and the Republicans presumably favored. By helping to push McCain-Feingold through Congress, Soros had effectively cut off the Democrats' soft-money supply and diverted it to the coffers of an alternative network of beneficiaries—which he personally controlled.235 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote235sym) As Byron York observed, “[T]he new campaign finance rules had actually increased the influence of big money in politics. By giving directly to 'independent' groups rather than to the party itself, big-ticket donors could influence campaign strategy and tactics more directly than they ever had previously.... And the power was concentrated in very few hands”—most notably Soros's.236 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote236sym)
SOROS'S "SHADOW PARTY" TAKES SHAPE
While Soros's 527s were clearly devoted to Democratic Party agendas and values, they publicly professed to be independent of any party affiliations. Their partisanship was somewhat shrouded in proverbial shadows. Gradually, a number of journalists began to make reference to the emergence of certain pro-Democrat “shadow organizations” that seemed geared toward circumventing McCain-Feingold's soft-money ban. In time, the term “Shadow Party (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=842)” came into use.237 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote237sym)
George Soros set in motion the wheels of this Shadow Party when he gathered a team of political strategists, activists, and Democrat donors at his Long Island beach house on July 17, 2003, to discuss how President Bush could be defeated in the 2004 election. Attendees included such luminaries as OSI director Morton Halperin (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1682); EMILY's List (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6344) founder and abortion-rights activist Ellen Malcolm (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1073); former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1626); Sierra Club (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6930) executive director Carl Pope (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1750); labor leader and former Clinton advisor Steve Rosenthal (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1627); former Clinton speechwriters Jeremy Rosner and Robert Boorstin; and major Democrat donors such as Lewis and Dorothy Cullman, Robert Glaser (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2494), Peter Lewis (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2003), and Robert McKay (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2495).238 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote238sym)
The consensus was that voter turnout—particularly in 17 “swing” or “battleground” states239 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote239sym)— would be the key to unseating President Bush. Steve Rosenthal and Ellen Malcolm—CEO and president, respectively, of a newly formed but poorly funded (http://www.richardpoe.com/2005/10/06/part-1-the-shadow-party/) voter-registration group called America Coming Together (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6708) (ACT)240 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote240sym)— suggested that voters in those swing states should be recruited and mobilized as soon as possible. Agreeing, Soros told the pair that he personally would give ACT $10 million to help maximize its effectiveness. A few other attendees also pledged to give the fledgling group large sums of money: Soros's billionaire friend Peter Lewis (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2003), chairman of the Progressive Corporation, promised to give $10 million; Robert Glaser (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2494), founder and CEO of RealNetworks, promised $2 million; Rob McKay (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2495), president of the McKay Family Foundation, committed $1 million; and benefactors Lewis and Dorothy Cullman pledged $500,000.241 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote241sym)
By early 2004, the administrative core of George Soros's Shadow Party was in place. It consisted of seven ostensibly “independent” nonprofit groups—all but one of which were headquartered in Washington, DC. In a number of cases, these groups shared one another's finances, directors, and corporate officers; occasionally they even shared office space.242 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote242sym) The seven groups were:
1) America Coming Together (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6708) (ACT): Jump-started by Soros's $10 million grant, ACT in 2004 ran what it called (http://actforvictory.org/) “the largest voter-contact program in history,” with more than 1,400 full-time paid canvassers contacting potential voters door-to-door and by phone.243 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote243sym)
2) Center For American Progress (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6709) (CAP): This entity was established to serve as a think tank promoting leftist ideas and policy initiatives. Soros, enthusiastic about the Center's potential, pledged in July 2003 to donate up to $3 million to help get the project off the ground.244 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote244sym) From the outset, CAP's leadership featured a host of former high-ranking officials from the Clinton administration.245 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote245sym) Hillary Clinton predicted that the organization would provide “some new intellectual capital” with which to “build the 21st-century policies that reflect the Democrat Party's values.”246 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote246sym) George Soros and Morton Halperin (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1682) together selected former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta to serve as president of CAP. Podesta said his goal was to develop CAP as a “think tank on steroids,” featuring “a message-oriented war room” that “will send out a daily briefing to refute the positions and arguments of the right.”247 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote247sym)
3) America Votes (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6527): This national coalition coordinated the efforts of many get-out-the-vote organizations and their thousands of contributing activists.248 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote248sym) Soros's support for America Votes would continue well past 2004. Indeed he would donate $2.15 million (http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_donors.php?ein=204359961&cycle=2006%20) to this coalition in the 2006 election cycle,249 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote249sym) another $1.25 million (http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_donors.php?cycle=2008&ein=204359961) in advance of the 2008 elections,250 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote250sym) and yet another $1.25 (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/us/politics/30dems.html) million in 2010.251 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote251sym)
4) Media Fund (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6712): Describing itself as “the largest media-buying organization supporting a progressive message” in the United States, this group produced and strategically placed political ads in the print, broadcast, and electronic media.252 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote252sym)
5) Joint Victory Campaign 2004 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderprofile.asp?fndid=5342&category=79) (JVC): This fundraising entity focused on collecting contributions and then disbursing them chiefly to America Coming Together and the Media Fund. In 2004 alone, JVC channeled $19.4 million to the former, and $38.4 million to the latter.253 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote253sym) Soros personally gave JVC more than $12 million (http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/lookup.php?cycle=2010&donor=george%20soros&page=1) that year.254 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote254sym)
6) Thunder Road Group (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6713) (TRG): This political consultancy coordinated strategy for the Media Fund, America Coming Together, and America Votes. Its duties included strategic planning, polling, opposition research, covert operations, and public relations.255 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote255sym)
7) MoveOn.org (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6201): This California-based entity was the only one of the Shadow Party's core groups that was not a new startup operation. Launched in September 1998, MoveOn is a Web-based political network that organizes online activists around specific issues, raises money for Democratic candidates, generates political ads, and is very effective at recruiting young people to support Democrats.256 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote256sym) In November 2003, Soros pledged to give MoveOn $5 million to help its cause.257 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote257sym)
According to Ellen Malcolm of America Coming Together (ACT), the financial commitment which Soros made to these Shadow Party groups in 2003 “was a signal to potential donors that he had looked at what was going on and that this was pretty exciting, and that he was going to stand behind it, and it was the real deal.”258 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote258sym) As Byron York observed, “After Soros signed on, contributions started pouring in.” ACT and the Media Fund alone took in some $200 million—including $20 million from Soros alone. This type of money was unprecedented in American politics.259 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote259sym)
Harold Ickes (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1624), who served as White House deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House, had a hand in creating every Shadow Party core group except MoveOn. He was also entrusted with the vital task of making these organizations function as a cohesive entity. In 2004, Democratic strategist Harold Wolfson suggested that outside of the official campaign of presidential candidate John Kerry, Ickes “is the most important person in the Democratic Party today.”260 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote260sym)
In addition to its seven core members, the Shadow Party also came to include at least another 30 well-established leftwing activist groups and labor unions that participated in the America Votes coalition. Among the better-known of these were ACORN (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6968); the AFL-CIO (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7507); the AFSCME (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7515); the American Federation of Teachers (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7513); the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7338); the Defenders of Wildlife (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7052) Action Fund; EMILY's List (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6344); the Human Rights Campaign (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7619); the League of Conservation Voters (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6907); the NAACP (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6160); NARAL Pro-Choice America; (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6929) the National Education Association (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7428); People for the American Way (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6400); Planned Parenthood (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7083); the Service Employees International Union (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6535); and the Sierra Club (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6930).261 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote261sym)
New Mexico's then-governor, Democrat Bill Richardson (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2358), observed that “these groups” were “crucial” to the anti-Bush effort. “Now that campaign-finance reform is law,” he said, “organizations like these have become the replacement for the national Democratic Party.”262 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote262sym) And no donor was more heavily invested in these organizations—or in defeating President Bush—than George Soros, who contributed $27,080,105 to pro-Democrat 527s during the 2004 election cycle. The second leading donor was the billionaire insurance entrepreneur Peter Lewis (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2003) ($23,997,220), followed by Hollywood producer Stephen Bing (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2134) ($13,952,682) and Golden West Financial Corporation founders Herbert and Marion Sandler (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2484) ($13,007,959).263 (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977#sdfootnote263sym)
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