A Look at Freedom's Watch with a Note on Pennsylvania

While 527’s, like the 2004 group Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, are often discussed in political circles, another type of group, 501c4s, are equally influential. One of these, Freedom’s Watch, debuted last year.

General History

The idea for FW came out of an event held at the American Enterprise Institute in Dec. 2006 but did not get formally off the ground until a March 2007 meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Florida (Van Natta 9/30/2007)

The group’s early announced plans were ambitious:

Next week, the group will move into a 10,000-square-foot, or 930-square-meter office in the Chinatown section of Washington with plans to employ as many as 50 people by early next year. One benefactor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group was hoping to raise as much as $200 million by November 2008. (Van Natta 10/01/2007)

However, in January, 2008 there were 20 people on the staff, though it was expected to double. Joe Eule was quoted as the executive director, and Ed Patru, formerly of the House Republicans, was on board to be in charge of communications, and they were expecting to raise $250 million (Kane and Weisman). A few months earlier Bradley Blakeman was quoted as president of FW. Blakeman had been a deputy assistant to Pres. Bush. Matt S. David was quoted as a spokesman for the group (Van Natta, Jr., 9/30/2007) The group went through some growing pains in March, 2008, with “a leadership change and internal disagreements about its direction” (Mosk). In July Carl Forti is mentioned as the executive vice president (Kronholz and Audi), Tim Pearson is quoted as being the group spokesman (Singelton). That same month Patru is also quoted as an FW spokesman (Whittington).

Things have not gone exactly as planned. In June it was reported:

Freedom’s Watch has disavowed published reports that it would spend more than $200 million and has been roiled by staff turnover and infighting (Bolton)

The principal financial backer is Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino owner. Last February he “feigned ignorance” on what FW was (Kronholz and Audi). Other investors include:

Among the group’s founders are Sheldon G. Adelson, the chairman and chieve exective of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, who ranks sixth on the Forbe Magazine list of the worlds billionairs; Mel Sembler, a shopping center magnate based in St. Petersburg, Fla, who served as the ambassador to Italy and Australia; John M. Templeton, Jr., the conservative philanthropist from Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Anthony H. Goia, a former ambassador to Malta who heads an investment group based in Buffalo, N.Y. (Van Natta, Jr., 9/30/2007).

Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for Pres. Bush is another founder (Kane and Weisman). However, in its goal to be the conservative answer to MoveOn, FW intends to build a broad base of support and do grassroots fundraising (Kane and Weisman)

These groups can be involved in election activities provided more than half of their work is geared towards nonpolitical goals. Perhaps as part of the fulfillment of that obligation, it was reported last September (Van Natta 9/30/2007) that FW would sponsor “a private form of 20 experts on radical Islam that is expected to make the case that Iran poses a direct threat to the security of the United States.”

Initially the group intended to focus on the war in Iraq but later expanded to include ads on illegal immigration and, more recently, offshore drilling. In June 2008 they commented on mortgage deals received by two Democratic senators (Weisman and El Boghdady). In Sept. 2007, the group spent $15 million in television ads in 20 states, supporting Pres. Bush’s Iraq strategy. Later that month the group ran its first ad focusing on an individual district, in support of Rep. Brian Baird. (Seelye). This program continued and in Nov. 2007, seven freshmen Democrats were targeted in newspaper ads on emergency funding for the Iraq War (Miller). In May 2008, the group ran ads in two special congressional elections, both won by Democrats. That same month FW paid for robocalls in several Democratic congressional districts criticizing Congress for its strategy on funding the Iraq war (Beam). FW also decided to focus primarily on congressional races, no the presidential election (Thomma).

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has filed numerous complaints with the FEC over FW’s work. One was in April, 2008:

The DCCC says a Microsoft Word computer file of the ad sent to a Louisiana TV station contained an electronic identifier with the name Carl Forti, a Freedom’s Watch official and a former NRCC employee.

Political party committees are barred from coordinating with outside groups on ads that refer to federal candidates within 90 days of an election.

FW’s response from the same article:

A spokesman for Freedom’s Watch said the electronic identifier with Mr. Forti’s name was created by an outside vendor who used the same Microsoft Word template for multiple clients. The spokesman said the two groups have not coordinated on any campaigning. (Lengell and Sheffield)

This year:

Democrats also have challenged the tax-exempt status of Freedom’s Watch by contending that its ads inappropriately target candidates. Federal tax laws allow such groups to lobby on public policy, but not to advocate for or against specific candidates. The Internal Revenue Service declines to discuss whether it is investigating. (Kronholz and Audi)

The DCCC filed four complaints with the FEC in April or May.

In a Federal Election Commission complaint filed Wednesday, the DCCC alleges that the outside conservative group “aired multiple electioneering communications without filing reports with the commission,” specifically television ads starting April 22 and April 29 the at “clearly identified, and advocated the defeat,” of now Rep. Don Cazayoux (D. La). (Murray)

A similar complaint was filed in Mississippi.

Democrats have not simply filed complaints but fired back:

Democrats, initially caught off guard by Mr. Adelson and Freedom’s Watch, have since tried to turn them into a liability for candidates the group has supported. During two special elections in Louisiana and Mississippi this spring, the Democratic Party bought ads on Christian radio stations that linked Republican candidates to Freedom’s Watch, Mr. Adelson, his gambling interests and his business relations with China – a country, the Democrats noted, where an authoritarian government promotes abortion. Both Republicans lost. (Fronholz and Audi)

Pennsylvania Connections

In August of 2007, a focus group in Pennsylvania viewed the group’s ads on Iraq. Later that month FW spent around $1 million in Philadelphia to encourage Sen. Arlen Specter to support the president’s Iraq strategy (Meek). Among those targeted in November 2007 with newspaper ads was Chris Carney of Pennsylvania’s 10th district:

As for the pro-military ad campaign, Mr. Carney, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, who was activated for service in the Afghanistan war, bristled at the ad that ran in his district in the Scranton Times-Tribune.

“As someone who still wears the uniform, he will always support giving our troops the resources they need,” said Carney spokesman Rebecca Gale (Miller).

Dr. John Templeton is often listed as one of the major donors to FW. Templeton was recently listed in PolitickerPA’s 50 most influential people in Pennsylvania politics. Other Pennsylvania donors include:

Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, the huge Philadelphia sports and entertainment firm; … and Richard Fox, who is chairman of the Jewish Policy Center and was Pennsylvania state chairman of the Reagan/Bush campaign in 1980. (Spak)

Ardmore businessman Gary Erlbaum is also connected to FW (Carpenter).

In May of 2008 FW used robocalls in specific House districts, criticizing Iraq War spending bill votes. Among those targeted were Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak, Patrick Murphy, Chris Carney and John Murtha (Kurtz)

Democratic Congressmen Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney were among 16 House Democrats targeted by radio ads in July 2008. The ads were identical and accused the incumbents of voting against offshore drilling and drilling in ANWR. Robocalls proceeded the radio ads (Singleton).


Sources:

Beam, Alex, “Adelson bets big on right-wing politics,” Boston Globe 6/03/2008

Bolton, Alexander, “Left’s cash crushing right,” The Hill 6/04/2008

Carpenter, Paul, “The propaganda crusade on Iraq has a local link,” Morning Call 9/09/2007.

Kane, Paul and Jonathan Weisman, “Political advocacy group formed by former Bush aides plan a broad agenda,” Washington Post 1/20/2008

Kronholz, June and Tamara Audi, “Jackpot: Vegas tycoon bankrolls Republicans,” Wall Street Journal 7/15/2008

Kurtz, Josh, “Freedom’s Watch hits Democrats with calls,” Roll Call 5/27/2008

Lengell, Sean and Carrie Sheffield, “GOP accused of FEC violation; activist group linked to ad,” Washington Times 4/17/2008

Meek, James Gordon, “Don’t give up, ads urge GOP 15M blitz aims to keep pols’ support for war,” New York Daily News 8/25/2007

Miller, S. A., “Ads target new House Democrats on war funding: debate on ’08 bill set to start,” Washington Times 11/14/2007

Mosk, Matthew, “Leading GOP donor push to catch up to liberal groups,” Washington Post 4/21/2008

Murray, Matthew, “Freedom’s Watch gets hit again by DCCC,” Roll Call 5/08/2008

Seelye, Katharine Q., “Battle over Iraq strategy,” New York Times 9/05/2007

Singleton, David, “Kanjorski, Carney targets of Freedom’s Watch ads,” (Scranton) Times-Tribune 07/01/2008.

Spak, Dan, Republican group plays on patriotism for selfish reasons,” Wilkes Barre Times Leader 9/01/2007

Thomma, Steven, “The failed assault; Republican attrack groups are largely silent about Obama,” National Post 6/30/2008

Van Natta, Jr., Don, “Big coffers and a rising voice lift a new conservative group,” New York Times 9/30/2007

Van Natta, Jr., Don, “Group aims for wealthy U.S. donors on the right,” International Herald Tribune 10/01/2007

Weisman, Jonathan and Dina El Boghdady, “Countrywide gave special attention to lawmakers,” Washington Post 6/14/2008.

Whittington, Lauren W., “DCCC goes for broke; new site hits Freedom’s Watch,” Roll Call 7/31/2008