Lefty Group Calling for Disclosure of Conservative Donors has Felon as Advisor

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently the Washington Post had a story about a coalition of left-wing advocacy groups calling for their counterparts on the conservative side to reveal all their donors even though the law does not require it. The Post feels the crusade is a bit odd since most of the lefty groups doing the complaining also don’t disclose all their donors. Even odder, the post itself doesn’t disclose that one of the representatives of the left-wing groups they quote is a convicted felon!

The story by Don Eggen talks about the “secret money” problem of the 2012 elections, laments the lack of transparency and disclosure of donors for many of these 501c3 and PAC organizations, and notes that the “liberal-leaning groups” that have allied to call for transparency on the right also don’t disclose their donors.

One lefty group in particular, though, fails this transparency test more than the rest. Sadly, even the WaPost doesn’t point out the fact that the representative from Americans United for Change that the paper quotes in the story is not only the husband of a vicious left-wing member of Congress, but is also a convicted felon.

In the ninth paragraph of the piece, the Post quotes “adviser” to Americans United for Change, Robert Creamer. This is the same Creamer, it should be noted (not that the Post does), who is the husband of vitriolic, left-wing Democrat Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Chicago. Creamer is also a convicted felon.

Back in 2006, Creamer was convicted over a check kiting scheme perpetrated to fund a left-wing advocacy group he was heading at the time. He was given a five-month sentence.

Isn’t it interesting that these lefty groups that want to paint conservative groups as shady because they won’t release donor lists is using a convicted felon as a spokesman?

Creamer’s quote in the Post story is also interesting. He says AUC only wants the conservative groups to be forced to disclose corporate donors because their argument is that “corporations should not be investing shareholder money in trying to influence elections.”

Note that AUC is a recipient of millions from Big Labor. Note that AUC gets millions from MoveOn.org which is funded by George Soros. Note that AUC wouldn’t want all that “disclosed.” As far as the AUC is concerned, only evil corporations should be forced to observe this “transparency.” Why it’s logical that corporations are the only entities in America that should be held to this so-called transparency is anybody’s guess.

Also note that AUC would rather not have its convicted felon husband of a well-known vitriolic Democrat “disclosed,” either — and the Post obliges them on that count.

There is another point about the AUC’s focus on corporations, too. Why is it the AUC’s place to tell corporate shareholders what their corporations should do with its profits? If shareholders don’t like what their corporation is doing it is their duty to hold the corporation to account and it’s no business of Americans United for Change.

So, let’s disclose that Americans United for Change is an activist arm of Big Labor, funded by the Teamsters, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, and George Soros-funded MoveOn.org among others. And let’s disclose that AUC is run by a former executive director of the Democrat National Committee, Tom McMahon, and a former aide to Speaker Pelosi, Caren Benjamin. Also, let’s note that Brad Woodbouse was the group’s executive director until he left to become the DNC’s communications director.

That’s a nice and cozy relationship with the Democrat Party, isn’t it?

Finally, we do understand why these leftist groups only want donations from corporations made public, don’t we? It’s because they want to know who to attack for indulging their right to free political speech by supporting conservative groups.

But don’t ask them to tell us exactly which unions gave them millions. That would be un-American, ya know?
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.


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