Bermuda in the Grassroots

Bermuda grass - it's the bane of our existence. If you've ever owned a property where some fool has planted the stuff at anytime in the history of man you'll understand that getting it out of your beautiful Bluegrass is damn near impossible. This "grass" - that should really be classified as a weed - sends out coarse tendrils right along the ground. They go through just about anything rooting themselves and creating cells of Bermuda along the way.

Each cell then sends out its own tendrils that root in more places spreading out at an unimaginable pace. It's an ugly coarse grass that hurts when you walk on it barefoot and gets denser over time choking out the grass around it. It reminds us of Aspen groves where each seemingly individual tree is connected to a single organism. Only Bermuda grass is as ugly as Aspens are beautiful and it hides in the grass that it is destroying.

You're probably wondering what grass has to do with, well... anything. There's Bermuda grass hiding among the Bluegrass of New Mexico. And just like the plant version each of the cells are connected.

What got us thinking about this was the series of ads being run on 770 KKOB by the Center for Civic Policy. You know the ones, Big Oil Bob and Healthcare Hal. The spots are a childish attempt to characterize corporations involved in producing energy and providing access to healthcare as selfish and greedy.

(Sidebar)
Businesses operate on profit. When profit is removed from the equation there's little reason to perform a task. You wouldn't work for nothing and we know that we wouldn't. Nationalizing (or as Rep. Maxine Waters - D California says "socialize") either industry will remove the incentive for companies to run efficiently, to produce more, better, and cheaper products to compete with other private companies. Government regulation is largely responsible for both crisis's and groups like the Center for Civic Policy are largely responsible for the regulation.
(End Sidebar)

Despite immediately dismissing the spots for their idiocy of message and poor production value, we were curious about this Center for Civic Policy. It turns out they're a 501(c)(3) connected to Clearly New Mexico which is a 501(c)(4) by the name of the Center for Civic Action. Both groups are run by one Eli Il Yong Lee. Mr. Lee is also listed as a consultant for 1Sky a global warming scare group. In addition, Mr. Lee is the CEO and President of Soltari a political consulting firm for liberal candidates in small elections.

Eli Lee is in turn connected with Matt Brix Executive Director of Common Cause. Mr. Brix is a registered lobbyist for both of Lee's non-profits and listed as employed by them along with Common Cause on the Secretary of State's website.

So far, we have four apparently independent organizations with different names but similar if not identical agendas. They are all cross employed with each other and have the ability to take tax exempt donations to fund those salaries. They're professional advocates that rely on charitable donations and scare tactics for their livelihood.

More importantly, the groups are clearly involved in coordinated political activity. How could they not be when they share leadership and salaries? Plus, they create an echo chamber by making the public think that the same opinions are coming from different organizations.

Look... we don't care that they advocate for positions and candidates that we vehemently disagree with. It's their Constitutional right to lobby government and speak out on any topic they choose. We'd defend that right at all costs because we benefit from those same protections.

Our problem is the hypocrisy involved. These groups rail against "corporate special interests" while creating a multi-cell lobbying group, run by them, for them and their financial gain, and with their own set of special interests. It's disingenuous, it's hypocritical, it's deceptive and it's just like the damn Bermuda grass hiding in our yard.