American Leadership Project

The American Leadership Project (ALP) is an unincorporated association organized under section 527 of the IRS code formed in February 2008 in order to highlight issues of importance to the American middle class, such the economy, jobs, the rising cost of health care, and the mortgage crisis. The ALP intended to communicate issue-specific messages during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary elections and presently for the general election. The ALP does not coordinate with any candidate or any candidate’s committee. The ALP's messages were used preceding primary elections in the states of Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The ads had been pro-Hillary Clinton and anti-Barack Obama. Since the conclusion of the Primary season, with Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee and John McCain as the Republican candidate, the organization has run several ads against McCain.

American Leadership Project
Founded2008
Type527 group
Location
Websiteleadership-project.org

As of March 5, the group had raised US$1.2 million, including a one million dollar contribution from AFSCME, a labor union backing Clinton.[1]

Their first television advertisement stated, "If speeches could create jobs, we wouldn't be facing a recession," mirroring Clinton, who has argued that Obama's eloquence would not lead to real policy change.[2][3][4]

Controversy

Spending

The group had been rumored to plan to spend around $10 million on ads in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the lead up to those U.S. state's 2008 Democratic primaries.[5] The group actually aired $833,000 worth of pro-Clinton television ads in Texas and Ohio and had $300,000 left in the bank according to FEC filings on March 5.[6]

As a 527, ALP is required to disclose their donors quarterly to the IRS and have done so.[7] Because they engage in electioneering communications, they are also required to disclose their donors and expenditures to the FEC within 24 hours of new communications.[8]

Questions of legality

Jason Kinney, a California political consultant that helped develop the group, said it relies on "a new and developing area of the law, but we've taken every step and are as confident as we can be that we are adhering to all of the regulations." Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a campaign finance reform group, said of ALP, "This pop-up 527 group clearly has been created to spend unlimited soft money to influence the presidential election. As far as the duck test goes: It looks like a campaign ad; it sounds like a campaign ad; it's a campaign ad."[2]

Subodh Chandra, a lawyer in Ohio and Obama supporter filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, calling on them to open an investigation, shut down the organization and seek criminal penalties against its directors and donors.[9] He said the new organization allows Mrs. Clinton's backers to "cheat the system" by paying for their own ads for Mrs. Clinton even through they have already donated the maximum $2,300 allowed by law to her campaign.[9] It took three years for the FEC to settle similar complaints lodged against independent political entities operating in the 2004 election.[9]

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Mike Gravel filed his own lawsuit against the ALP in Ohio federal court, requesting that the organization be barred from airing a television ad in Ohio before the Ohio primary.[10]

Ads during Texas primary

The group premiered two ads during the Texas Democratic primary comparing the opposing candidate's health care plans. Factcheck.org, who was quoted in the first ad, claimed it misrepresented what they had said about Clinton's plan. The group also criticized the second ad for selectively quoting an editorial from The Washington Post'' authored by Steven Pearlstein in a way that made the quote appear to be the paper's own editorial opinion.[11]

See also
  • American Leadership Project's channel on YouTube
  • "American Leadership Project". Archived from the original on 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2019-09-26.

References
  1. Vogel, Kenneth P. (2008-03-05). "Pro-Clinton 527 preps for Pa. air war". Politico.
  2. Mosk, Matthew (2008-02-21). "Independent Group to Air TV Ads Echoing Clinton Attacks on Obama". The Washington Post.
  3. Tapper, Jake (2008-02-20). "New Pro-Clinton 527 to Ding Obama in Ohio". ABC News.
  4. Morain, Dan (2008-02-21). "Californians looking to aid Clinton: An independent group is organized to raise money to assist her presidential campaign". Los Angeles Times.
  5. Mullins, Brody; T.W. Farnam; John Emshwiller (2008-02-21). "Clinton Backers Launch Ads As Obama Gets Union Support". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. Malcolm, Andrew (2008-03-05). "As Clinton and Obama struggle, so do the unions behind each". Los Angeles Times.
  7. "IRS Quarterly Filing".
  8. "FEC Disclosure Reports". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
  9. Mullins, Brody; T.W. Farnam (2008-02-26). "Group's Ads Lauding Clinton Stir Discord Over Rules". The Wall Street Journal.
  10. Troy, Tom (2008-02-29). "U.S. judge in Toledo may rule on "issues" ad". Toledo Blade.
  11. Jackson, Brooks; Joe Miller (2008-03-04). "Misleading Ads in Texas: Independent pro-Clinton group misrepresents us in one ad and uses a misleading blurb in another". factcheck.org / Newsweek.
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