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 >>

Irony of ironies. Harold Simmons, the Texas billionaire and McCain fundraiser behind the incendiary ads attacking Senator Barack Obama, is divisive even in his own family.

It turns out that at least one of Simmons' daughters, Serena Connolly, is a max-out donor to both Senators Clinton and Obama. She wrote her first check to Senator Obama in the 2nd quarter of 2007.

Another Simmons daughter, Lisa Epstein, has donated to Democrats in the past.

Neither of the daughters has supported smear campaigns like their father. And, it has been reported they have a lot of disagreements with their father over politics.

Both Ms. Connolly and Ms. Epstein are directors of the foundation named after their father--the Harold Simmons Foundation. As it turns out, the foundation supports a lot of what some would call liberal causes: helping immigrants, campaign reform, prison reform, handgun control, reproductive rights. 

Check out more on the Harold Simmons Foundation >>

Campaign finance filings reveal that billionaire Harold Simmons is the sole financier of ads attacking Obama for his relationship with former activist Bill Ayers. Simmons donated the entire $2.8 million that funds the American Issues project, a new group that will continue to release incendiary ads against Obama.

It's no surprise that Simmons would spend millions attacking Obama. Simmons is a max out donor and a bundler to McCain's Presidential Campaign. Texans for Public Justice also reports on the extent of Simmons government interests: "Taxpayers subsidize Simmons sugar prices, bankroll military purchases of his aerospace metals and ultimately pay for the limits that government officials place on his tax and pollution liabilities. President Clinton used the line-item veto to narrowly avert a 1997 loophole for Simmons to dodge $80 million in taxes."

Harold Simmons has a long history of corruption and scandal:

Simmons earned his fortune through hostile takeovers, and his companies have been charged with raiding their workers pension funds to finance such takeover deals. [Source: Washington Post, 5/12/83]

Simmons's NL Industries was found liable for the lead poisoning thousands of children in Rhode Island. The company has also been named as a potentially responsible party for several superfund sites throughout the nation.

Simmons's Waste Control Specialists fought to ship low-level radioactive waste to a West Texas site. Rep. Robert Talton accused company lobbyists of trying to bribe him with a job and $60,000 in donations. Simmons continues seek approval to bury the radioactive waste in Texas, and continues to donate millions in contributions to Texas politicians.

This Texas billionaire is also no stranger to bypassing federal contribution limits. In 2004, he contributed $3 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth a group that maliciously attacked Sen. Kerry's service record. In 1993, "the Federal Election Commission fined him $19,800 for exceeding federal contributions limits." In 1997, two of Simmons's daughters alleged in a lawsuit that their father put their names on hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions. The case was settled for $50 million dollars.