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."

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.

American Issues Project, a new Republican 501(c)4, has started a multi-million dollar smear campaign attacking Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. The group's recent aduses imagery linking Obama to 9-11 and criticizes Obama for his relationship with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, despite Obama's denunciation of Weather Underground's crimes in the 1960s.

American Issues Project plans to spend $2.8 million airing the ad, which will be the largest single third-party expenditure this cycle. Spokesman Christian Pinkston says the ad is just the first of a series of things the group will do to target Obama, and indicates that the group has other provocative material that was not included in the ad.

Pinkston has experience producing misleading attacks. His media and consulting firm, The Pinkston Group, did work for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004.

News reports point out that the release of the ad matches a recent upswing in the McCain campaign's references to Ayers. American Issues Project's board member, Ed Failor Jr, was previously a paid consultant for McCain's campaign, raising questions about whether this new 501(c)4 is truly independent from the McCain Campaign. Unlike a candidate committee, American Issues Project bypasses campaign finance regulations, and is not required to disclose its donors.

The group initially wanted to air the ad on Fox, but a Fox spokesman said the network declined to run it.

Bob Perry recently donated $400,000 to Club for Growth, a group with a reputation for producing misleading attack ads. The group is now using Perry's contribution to produce ads against Democratic Senate Candidate Mark Udall. TPM speculates that these attack ads may be Republican candidate Schaffer's only hope:

Schaffer will be relying on wealthy funders like Perry to be funding, via Club for Growth, attack ad campaigns that just might enable him to hang on to his seat despite the scandals engulfing him.

But this isn't Perry's first foray into funding deceptive ads:

In 2006, Perry became the primary financier of the Free Enterprise Fund, a 527 heavily criticized for producing an attack ad suggesting Senator Menendez had mob connections. Perry also had a habit of putting the home telephone numbers of Democratic Candidates in his TV attack spots.

In 2004, Perry was the primary financier of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a smear campaign devoted to undermining Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry.

In 2001 and 2002, Perry was the largest contributor to DeLay's PACs, giving $165,000 in 2002 and $95,000 in 2001. DeLay was later indicted for conspiracy charges in 2005.

Read more about Perry's efforts here and here.

It's Day One at Accountable America and right-wing veterans of the Swift Boat effort are already on the attack:

Chris LaCivita, a Republican strategist who helped organize the Swift Boat effort, said Mr. Matzzie’s group was likely to have the opposite effect on potential donors, firing them up instead of discouraging them.

“They’re not going to be intimidated by some pipsqueak on the kooky left,” Mr. LaCivita said.

Stay tuned to this space for more squeaking.