A new 60-second TV ad released by Accountable America today confronts the closing argument from Republicans that Democrats shouldn't be allowed to control all of government. The ad argues that "Americans Don't Want Government Hand Outs, Just Government in Good Hands."

The ad was produced by ZOON POLITIKON LLC, a newly founded ad company based in Louisville, Kentucky. Principally Elliot Greenebaum and Gabriel Wrye, two experienced feature filmmakers who draw on a talent pool of professional writers, actors and creative technicians, Elliot and Gabriel were in Kentucky when Hurricane Ike hit the coast. In the wake of the storm which disabled Louisville for a week, and Elliot and Gabriel saw the opportunity to make this ad, staging the action on an actual site of storm devastation, and use the real residents of the location as actors.

ZOON POLITIKON has already produced spots for statewide campaigns and national political organizations. ZOON POLITIKON aims to move political advertising away from the traditional 1950's informational, power-point model and replace it with real experiences. Their work can be seen at ZoonPolitikon.com.

Check out our new ad about Freedom's Watch.

Conservatives could care less whether the public thinks their ideas are good or not. They want to force them on all of us. Ruy Teixeira writes at the Center for American Progress about public opinion trends on Social Security privatization.

He writes:

This was a bad idea when President George W. Bush was pushing it
back in 2005, but it’s an even worse one now. No wonder the public
opposes it so vigorously. In a CNN poll last weekend, just 36 percent
said they favored a proposal to allow workers to invest a portion of
their Social Security taxes, while 62 percent opposed the proposal.

It’s about time for conservatives to admit that dog just won’t hunt. The American people want more security, not less.

Isn't it time for conservatives to abandon their fantasy plan for ruining Social Security?

Since the inception of Social Security conservatives have opposed the program. They fought its inception. They fought its expansion to add disability insurance and survivors insurance. And, they've been trying to force people to privatize Social Security by putting it in the stock market. Yes, that stock market--the one that has fallen dramatically in the last few weeks.

During that entire time there has been unified oppositin to privatization from Democrats and progressives who have been holding Wall Street and conservatives accountable.

Opposing Social Security privatization. Standing up to Wall Street. That's accountability. Over the next few weeks Accountable America will expand its agenda to focus on big issues. And Social Securit is issue number one.

If you've followed this blog you know that we've been hounding the American Issues Project--a shadowy group that seems to have no other purpose than to attack Senator Barack Obama with unsubstantiated smears. No issue agenda. No record or history of advocacy work.

Today the group Democracy 21 filed a complaint with the FEC naming American Issues Project (and a Democratic group). The complaint alleges that AIP should be regulated as a "political committee" and subject to contribution limits and disclosure requirements.

Central to Democracy 21's complaint is the fact that AIP has no record or history of non-political advocacy work. They write on their website:

“AIP’s $2.86 million expenditure in August 2008 on an ‘express
advocacy’ ad means that AIP must demonstrate it spent at least more
than $2.86 million during 2008 on activities that are not campaign
related in order to establish that its ‘major purpose’ is not to
influence federal elections, “ according to Wertheimer.

To date it is hard to find what other activity AIP has engaged in give them $2.86 million of non-political spending. We'll keep an eye on this. Check out the following for more reading.

Read more about the complaint from Democracy 21 >>

Report on WashingtonPost.com about the complaint >>

Report from the Associated Press >>

For two months Accountable America has run our project aimed at deterring funding of conservative and business-oriented groups that violate election and tax laws in order to block progressive change and attack progressive political candidates.  And, even while we head into the final stretch of the election when spending by these groups will most likely hit their peak, it is clear our work has been successful.

To date the media spending by outside groups is about $106 million less in 2008 than comparative spending in the 2004 election, according to reports by the Campaign Media Analysis Group.

A headline in The Politico notes: "Where are the third-party groups?" The author, Jonathan Martin, continues: "I wrote in June that there was an absence of third-party activity on the right but that most GOP operatives thought an anti-Obama effort would eventually, somehow, materialize. Today is October 6th."

Chris Cilizza in The Fix for The Washington Post writes, "a series of attempts to organize efforts on the right and left have failed to get off the ground due to a lack of interest on the part of major donors to fund the efforts." 

CNN's Mark Preston writes, "At this time four years ago, independent groups had spent $120 million on commercials for the presidential race compared to the $13.2 million invested so far in this race, according to an analysis of political television ad spending conducted for CNN by TNSMI-Campaign Media Analysis Group."

He continues, "So far this election cycle, spending by anti-Obama and anti-McCain groups is dead even with each totaling $6.6 million so far this election cycle. In the last two weeks, Republican issue groups have spent $2.3 million, while Democratic issue groups have accounted for about $1 million."

Even if independent groups wage an all-out-bench-clearing-knock-down-drag-out fight in the next four weeks, it will be too late for new groups to arise and make a significant impact. These projects take time, money and legal fortitude. And, even after 2007's WRTL Supreme Court case, which made it easier to run candidate-referential broadcast advertising before elections, running a 527 is actually still harder than people might imagine. (Trust me, I've done it.) 

It is a little known fact that while 527s can seek to influence the issue debate in an election year, they risk everything if they focus on outright personal attacks on candidates for federal office. That means Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko and whatever other phony non-policy matter conservatives want to air is almost entirely off-limits to a 527.

Interestingly, at the same time their efforts to affect the race for the White House have been small, conservative and business groups fueled by oil companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are spending like crazy in Senate races.  And casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's Freedom's Watch is still spending a little in House races. (Albeit far short of the $250 million they threatened in January.)

As for Accountable America, our mission has always been broader than our work aimed at exposing and explaining the financing, leadership and objectives of conservative and business groups. That work serves our greater goal of achieving sound, progressive public policies on the big issues like the economy, energy and national security.

We will begin new projects over the next month focused on these and other issues. After the election, the transition will be the critical point to push for policy commitments by the next president and Congress. We will be actively involved in that effort, and we expect the same groups on the right that now are talking about candidates to turn their attention to blocking real progress on all fronts.  Election Day isn't the end--it's the beginning.

Until then, we expect conservative and business groups to spend most of their budgets in these last four weeks, but those efforts will be well shy of what they and their allies spent in 2004. That is a win for Accountable America and for all of us.

We will remain vigilant. And the $100,000 reward offer is still on the table.

In what one report called a "mirror image" of Accountable America, the conservative group Americans for Limited Government (ALG) is sending letters to liberal donors warning them about the risks of their contributions.

The letter is signed by ALG's chairman Howie Rich. In the letter he writes:

Your name has been put in our database. We are monitoring all reports
of a wide variety of leftist organizations. As your name appears in
subsequent reports, it is our intent to publicize your involvement in
your local community. Should any of these organizations be found to be
engaged in illegal or questionable activity, it is our intent to
publicize your involvement with those activities. You should know that
instances of coordinated voter fraud are surfacing all across America
and investigations into possible criminal coordination are underway.

ALG's president, Bill Wilson, told The Politico that: 

"We've looked at it as fair warning. A number of these groups have
had no problem stepping over the line with the FEC in the past," said
Wilson. "The people funding them should be aware of what's going on."

ALG's Chairman Howie Rich is a New York millionaire real estate developer who has spent his fortune on various ballot measures and other conservative
activity. He is sometimes described as a libertarian.

Attached to the letter is a memo to Howie Rich from attorney Frank Northam of the firm Webster, Chamberlain & Bean. In the memo, which was made public when it was attached to ALG's letter to thousands of people, the conservative-allied law firm lays out many of the risks for groups and donors engaged in the sort of activity conducted by Freedom's Watch, the American Issues Project, Veterans for Freedom, American Futures Fund and other conservative groups. The memo describes the investigatory powers of the FEC and some of the consequences of election law violations.

As for Accountable America, well, all we've got to say is "Thanks for the legal memo from a conservative law firm. It will work well in our next mailing to conservative donors."

Download and read the Americans for Limited Government cover letter >>

Download and read the full Webster, Chamberlain & Bean legal memo >>

UPDATE: The website www.howierichexposed.com
by the progressive Ballot Initiative Strategy Center has been hounding
Rich for his advocacy. If you want to send a message to Howie Rich you can contribute online to BISC by clicking here.

The Politico reports that the Christian Coalition is objecting to billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's smear group Freedom's Watch. They write:

The Christian Coalition takes issue with Adelson, who made billions
-- he's the country's fifteenth-richest man, according to this year's
Forbes 400 list -- in the casino business, with properties in Las Vegas
and Macau. The Venetian Macau is what sticks in the craw of social
conservatives. "Where Adelson has placed his treasure makes it quite
clear where his heart is: in gambling and in backing the regime in
China that persecutes Christians," Alabama Christian Coalition
president Randy Brinson said in a statement.

The coalition also invokes disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who
helped Native American tribes get approval for new casinos, often
aiding his clients by funneling money to Christian organizations that
would then rally in opposition to other tribes' efforts. "We're tired
of the Abramoffs and Adelsons of this world using their ill-gotten
gains to try to buy elections and influence," Brinson said.

Freedom's Watch recently aired an ad attacking a Democratic candidate in Alabama. The candidate invoked his Christian religion as part of his defense.

Conservative feud in the works.

A new right-wing interest group is spending millions to smear Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. RightChange.com, calls itself a "nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping Americans see through the haze of politicians' spin." But the organization is creating spin, rather than clarifying it.

The group just released an anti-Obama ad and plans to spend $1.5 million on cable networks including Fox and CNN.

RightChange.com markets itself as a group that "will provide a clear view of economic policy issues" but the Associated Press debunks the groups most recent attacks on Obama:

"The group's criticisms of Obama's proposals are based largely on a July 29 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by Michael Boskin, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George H.W. Bush. The column included some faulty assumptions about Obama's proposals. For example, it said Obama might place a new tax of up to 12.4 percent on earnings now exempt from the Social Security payroll tax. Obama has said his new tax would not exceed 4 percent, and it would apply only to annual incomes above $250,000."

NPR agrees that Rightchange.com's claims are bogus:

"The Web site cites the nonpartisan source FactCheck.org to attest to Obama's "willingness to raise taxes" -- which might be amusing to FactCheck, since the cite is taken out of context from a report on how McCain distorts Obama's positions. Other FactCheck.org reports contradict some RightChange.com assertions."

Fred Eshelman, a pharmaceutical executive, is the primary backer of Rightchange.com. He served as Senior Vice President for former Glaxo, was recently appointed to the management board of Anton Pharma, and founded his own consulting firm, Pharmaceutical Product Development. He is a max-out donor to McCain, and has contributed more than $200,000 to Republicans since 2002.

The Washington Post reports that swift boat donor Sam Wyly is sitting out the 2008 election smears business too. With T. Boone Pickens also out, some of the heaviest hitters on the Right are looking for other projects.

Wyly is one of the top donors to Republican causes over the last few decades.

When asked about funding Right-Wing groups he told the Associated Press, "I've done that, and other people can do that now."