31 December 2006

Read the Series in Order

Note, not all blog postings are in this series. To see the latest, scroll below this header posting.

THE EPILOGUE IS Posted
(This completes the series)

To read the series on Howie Rich & Friends and their electoral shenanigans, click on the links below. Each article will open in its own page.

DOWNLOAD parts 1-15 as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file HERE.
(requires the free Acrobat Reader)

If you only have time to read ONE , then read "The Locusts" (Part 5).
That's all she wrote.

Courage.
.

6 Comments:

carla said...

I know nothing about your blog other than a cursory glance at content. But I had to tell you that this may be the best named blog I've ever stumbled upon.

7/21/2006 05:15:00 PM  
Anonymous said...

Published Sunday
August 27, 2006

Petition's origins tied to at least nine states

BY NICHOLE AKSAMIT AND PAUL GOODSELL



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

CHICAGO - Who's behind a proposed Nebraska amendment requiring patients to receive food and water until death?


Click to enlarge.

The trail leads to activists and attorneys in at least nine states and swirls through an office suite three blocks from the Sears Tower.

An Omaha couple filed the paperwork. Lawyers in Michigan and California helped draft the amendment.

An Idaho man funneled money to the campaign from interest groups in Illinois, New York and Virginia. A Wisconsin woman's company was paid $1.4 million to gather signatures on the humane care petition as well as another proposal to limit state spending, known as Stop Over Spending Nebraska.

None say they know why Nebraska was chosen for the humane care petition drive or who initiated it. No one has identified where the money originated.

But most have some connection to Americans for Limited Government (ALG), a Chicago-based group whose members have backed petition drives in the United States since the early 1990s.

ALG made the single largest donation to America at Its Best, the group that funneled all $835,000 contributed so far to the humane care petition drive.

But ALG is taking no credit for that effort, despite its financial stake and the active involvement of at least one of its board members.

"We have no position on the humane care measure," said John Tillman, president of ALG. "I've not even read that amendment."

The proposal would amend the Nebraska Constitution by requiring caregivers to provide food and water by any means to patients, unless they have an advance directive or living will that says otherwise. The petition drive came about a year after the family dispute over the wishes of a brain-injured Florida woman, Terri Schiavo, sparked a national debate over feeding tubes and end-of-life care.

The Nebraska secretary of state has yet to rule on whether the petition has qualified for the Nov. 7 ballot.

The humane care amendment was created and funded in a way that makes it hard to sort out its backers.

That's a problem, said Deborah Goldberg, director of the Democracy Project at New York University School of Law's Brennan Center.

She asked: "Don't you have a right to know who's funding policy initiatives in your state?"

The World-Herald traced the measure's origins to the following states:

Nebraska

The public face of the Nebraskans for Humane Care Committee is Thomas and Alexis "Lexi" Mann of Omaha. They are identified in campaign filings as treasurer and coordinator of the committee.

Thomas Mann is an attorney who runs Legal Software Consulting. Lexi Mann runs a business that arranges travel for the disabled. Thomas Mann said she recently left the campaign to tend to her business.

Mann said he met the organizers of the campaign after the petition language was drafted, but declined to name them. His contact, he said, was Steven P. Baer, who is a Chicago-area businessman.

The Manns have received $14,408 from the campaign so far for contractual services, according to campaign disclosure reports.

Michigan, California

Mann said the amendment was drafted by Steven J. Safranek, an attorney who was raised in Omaha and who teaches at Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Wesley J. Smith, a California attorney who has written books on euthanasia and medical ethics.

Safranek and Smith said they worked on the amendment via e-mail and conference calls, but that it wasn't their idea and they don't know whose it was. They said they weren't involved in funding or running the petition drive and didn't select Nebraska as the target state.

Safranek said there had been talk of a humane care amendment percolating in pro-life circles since the spring of 2005, when Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. He said he wasn't sure how he became part of an e-mail group drafting it.

He said he was paid $1,000 or less but doesn't recall who wrote the check.

"Americans for Limited Care maybe? Or Nebraskans for Limited Care?" he said. "I mean, I'm sorry, Nebraskans for Humane Care might have been it."

Nebraskans for Humane Care Committee has not reported any payment to Safranek.

Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a Seattle think tank that supports the intelligent design theory of human origin, said he wasn't paid for his work. He said his initial contact was Baer, the Chicago businessman, sometime early this year.

Illinois

Safranek said he didn't know anything about Americans for Limited Government, the group that indirectly funded the Nebraska petition drives from its downtown Chicago headquarters.

He expressed surprise when told ALG and U.S. Term Limits share several of the same leaders. Safranek was a paid consultant for U.S. Term Limits in 1997.

Baer sits on the boards of both groups.

He ran for the Republican nomination for Illinois governor in 1990 and attempted to start a tax and term limits party in 1994. He was financed in those efforts partly by Chicago industrialist Barre Seid. Baer has served on the board of Seid's foundation, which has contributed to U.S. Term Limits, religious organizations and conservative causes.

Through an exchange of e-mails, Baer said he is a self-employed consultant, real estate investor and father of 10. He said he has worried for years about unethical withdrawals of food and water. He described his role in the humane care campaign as "cheerleader."

Montana, Idaho

If Baer is the cheerleader, that might make Laird Maxwell the quarterback.

Maxwell, of Boise, Idaho, heads America at Its Best, the Montana group through which money for the humane care and spending measures flowed.

"I kinda got a knack for petitions," said the white-bearded, bolo tie-wearing activist.

Maxwell and his wife, Lori Klein, also are involved with campaigns this year to limit land-use planning and government taking of private property in Idaho and Arizona.

Maxwell said he didn't come up with the humane care amendment. He said he could not recall why Nebraska was selected. He said he thought someone on his board pitched the humane care idea to him.

He said he signed off on it because it fits his philosophy.

"I don't think property rights are limited to dirt," Maxwell said. "Your right to work, your right to breathe, your body - those are yours, too."

When in doubt about what a person wants, he said, caregivers should err on the side of life.

Asked how he learned of Thomas Mann, Maxwell said: "Thomas Mann? Who's he?"

Reminded of Mann's position with the Nebraskans for Humane Care Committee, Maxwell said he recalled speaking with Mann and his wife once on a conference call.

As for who ultimately funded the effort, Maxwell said: "People from all over the nation. I don't really know. It's a national movement. I send donors to ALG. They send donations and donors to me."

During the keynote address at ALG's inaugural conference in Chicago this month, Eric O'Keefe said he, New York real estate investor Howard Rich and like-minded friends fueled the national term limits movement of the 1990s.

Their work continues today in ALG and similar groups. O'Keefe, chairman of ALG's executive committee, said they support citizens in taking back their government.

"It's a question of: Are we subjects or sovereign citizens?"

A recent report by the Oregonian newspaper estimated that ALG-affiliated groups have pumped more than $7.3 million into ballot initiatives this year. Those measures include spending caps, eminent domain, term limits for judges and school vouchers in at least 13 states.

ALG gave money to Maxwell's group, which in turn was used for the two Nebraska petitions. ALG board member Baer was clearly involved. But other ALG leaders publicly embrace only the spending measure.

The decision to spend money on humane care, they said, was up to Maxwell.

"We haven't done anything on (humane care)," O'Keefe said.

But his wife has.

Wisconsin

Leslie Graves, who is married to O'Keefe, started Renewal Voter Outreach, the company that was paid $1.4 million to gather signatures on the Nebraska petitions.

Graves is no stranger to petition drives. The Spring Green, Wis., woman ran signature-collecting efforts to put third-party candidates on the ballot in the 1970s and 1980s, including Libertarian Ed Clark for president in Nebraska.

But she said the humane care petition was the first she's really cared about. Once she decided to do humane care, she was asked to circulate the spending petition as well.

Graves works for Rachel's Vineyard, a Wisconsin-based organization that holds retreats for women recovering from abortions.

Graves said she's been active in pro-life causes for more than seven years and feels strongly that the humane care measure is needed. But she said it wasn't her idea and she wasn't involved in funding it. She said she heard about the amendment from Safranek, whom she said she had known for years.

Safranek, however, said he doesn't know Graves and didn't inform her about the measure.

The conflicting stories highlight the fuzzy origins of the humane care effort.

Goldberg, the campaign finance expert at the Brennan center, said the public needs to know who is pushing an issue onto the ballot.

"If you know who's behind it," she said, "you have a better sense of knowing what it's about."

World-Herald researcher Jeanne Hauser contributed to this report.

8/27/2006 11:27:00 AM  
ed waldo said...

Thank you anonymous. You really made my day. Much appreciated.

8/27/2006 10:58:00 PM  
mrs panstreppon said...

Mrs Panstreppon here. I don't how far you want to take this story. I wish I had more time to spend it on it myself.

If you haven't already, take a look at the original reports filed by the Term Limit America PAC at the FEC website.

Between August and September 2003, Term Limits America loaned a total of $50k to the Maine Freedom Committee which was scheduled to be repaid in 2004.

The $50k loan was noted in the July 2004 report filed by Term Limits America but was not listed in the October 2004 report. No repayment was made nor was there an indication that the loan was written off.

According to the Term Limits America reports, the address of the Maine Freedom Committe is PO Box 257, Auburn Maine.

I found one online reference to the Maine Freedom Committee that indicated that John Michael was in charge of it.

John Michael was the treasurer of Term Limits America until September 2003 which is the same time that the loans were made.

Michael appears to be a former Maine state legislator. He, along with William A. Wilson and US Term Limits , won a Maine court case involving petitions in 1998.

I don't know how to find financial information about the Maine Freedom Committee. I think the $50k loan was never expected to be repaid and I'd like to see how it was recorded on the Freedom Committee's books.

Mark W. Dane of NYC succeeded John Michael as treasurer of Term Limits America in September 2003.

Mark Dane and his wife, Yuki M. Dane contributed approximately $76k to Term Limits America, Spirit of America and Republican candidates and causes between 1994 and 2003.

The only contribution made by Mark or Yuki Dane after 2002 was $2k to the Pro-Action Growth Team in 2003.

Mark Dane listed himself as an NCR executive, computer consultant, an associate of Vitria Technology and Saratoga Systems and retired in various FEC filings.

Yuki M. Dane is listed as a housewife.

The Danes list 167 E. 67th St, ANYC as their address.

Take a look at some of the contributors to Term Limits America in the back years for an idea of who is contributing to these organizations.

I don't recall if you have mentioned that Ronald Lauder is a director of the US Term Limits Foundation.

Lauder has been involved in some very questionable financial deals through his now bankrupt RSL Communications company and his sponsorship of the One Jerusalem Foundation.

Going through the 990s of some of these associated entities, I noticed loans made between them. I've wondered for awhile if these loans are ever repaid or are disguised contributions.

Sigh. If I only had more time and got paid to research this stuff. These people are so dangerous!












J

9/19/2006 09:19:00 AM  
Pingveno said...

I'm an Oregonian and became concerned by some of the citizen initiatives that are going to show up in our November 2006 ballot. Our initiative process has become stuffed with deceptive initiatives, most of them placed on the ballot by shadowy organizations such as the ones that you document. Most of these organizations put several initiatives on the ballot as well. I am glad to have stumbled on your articles so that I have a good idea where these strange organizations come from. Thank you for your sleuthing.

10/14/2006 02:30:00 AM  
Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Williams,
While sluthing some myself due to a request for conditional use of a R7 zoned property in Hillsboro from Heritiage Christian School in my neighborhood I happened across your AVA Jan 13,04 report.
I found the links you mentioned Wilson "Association of Classical Christian Schools" Agape (closed this year), Heritiage, Veritas.
Seems Agape mergered with Heritiage to form their grand opening of the grammer school Sept 2006.
They are sharing space with Trinity church on river Road until they purchase a 10 acre site for a K-12 campus (Hillsboro Argus 10/10/06.
But for now they are searching for CU's from Hillsboro planning and zoning. Seems to be a very tangled web that has been weaved since your 2004 report.
I would like more information and any links to groups that would be in favor of exposing the web that is being weaved.
These groups forster fear in me but I have courage and believe that with the right press we can heed a warning.

11/03/2006 07:19:00 PM  

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