Eye Told You: Exposing the Weeds in the Grassroots

A couple of weeks ago we told you about the infestation of the New Mexico's political Bluegrass by political action groups posing as non-profits. We likened the infestation of the grassroots to that of the Bermuda trying to take over our Bluegrass lawn (read it here).

Last Friday, the first few shoots of that weed were exposed when three Democratic Legislators - Sen. Shannon Robinson, Sen. James Taylor, and Rep. Dan Silva - filed a lawsuit alleging illegal political activity involving one Eli Il Young Lee. According to the suit, Lee's Center for Civic Policy and the League of Young Voters New Mexico (now New Mexico Youth Organized) funneled money to six other non-profit organizations for the purpose of defeating both the targeted candidates and New Mexico Campaign Disclosure laws.

The lawmakers, all Democrats, allege in the lawsuit a "secret campaign" among opponents Eric Griego, Tim Keller and Eleanor Chavez to distribute literature, make phone calls to voters and funnel at least $180,000 of undisclosed campaign funds using local nonprofits.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The game being played by Lee and his cohorts is to use non-profits like Lee's Center for Civic Policy to send out hit, uh... "educational" mail pieces and to provide other campaign services that target politicians who won't play ball with them.

Officials for the Center for Civic Policy said in May they had sent out literature for the Legislative Accountability Project in conjunction with several other nonprofits, including the SouthWest Organizing Project.

They said they sent the materials out as mailers starting after the end of the last legislative session as educational materials for voters based on the legislators' voting records, not as campaign materials intended to unseat lawmakers.

- ABQ Journal (Subscription)

The problem is that the mailers can't help but be coordinated since all of the players are associated with one another.

According to the lawsuit (it's posted on Haussamen here), candidates Tim Keller, Eleanor Chavez and Eric Griego (a long time Soltari client) shared a campaign manager, Neri Holguin. Holguin is a former employee of Eli Lee at Soltari and is the current Treasurer for Conservation Voters Alliance of New Mexico.

Meanwhile Keegan King another former Soltari employee runs New Mexico Youth Organized, is employed by 1Sky New Mexico where Lee is a "consultant," and is Executive Director of New Energy Economy, Inc. Another respondent, Javier Benavidez is the Executive Director of Conservation Voters Alliance and an employee of 1Sky New Mexico - again, where Lee is a "consultant."

You already need a score card to keep track of all of the players, their non-profits, and their entanglements and we haven't even gotten to the other non-profits like Southwest Organizing Project, ACORN (like they've ever been above board), or the role that Congressional Candidate Martin Heinrich played as an advisor to New Mexico Youth Organized when the illicit campaign cash was being meted out.

The filing further alleges that the non-profits were used to raise and funnel tax deductible contributions to the three campaigns, along with providing manpower for get out the vote efforts. The candidates are alleged to have full knowledge of the contributions and in fact are purported to have approved individual mail pieces distributed by the non-profit organizations.

The lawsuit truly does read like a who's who of far left activists and political groups and even names George Soros as a funding source. We'd like to say that we were shocked about former Councilor Heinrich's involvement, but like Eric Griego he has a long standing relationship with Lee through Soltari.

Folks, these guys are not the United Way or your local church. They're using multiple non-profits as a front for professional political activism and allegedly funneling tax deductible donations to illegally alter the outcomes of elections. In the final analysis, Lee and his cronies are no better than the corporate lobbyists that they attack in their "Hal and Bob" ads. In fact, they're probably a hell of a lot worse considering that these political "non-profits" purport to be supporting the grassroots when they're actually choking them out.

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.