Kevin Mannix FreedomWorks' Highest Paid Subcontractor

Going through the Guidestar IRS 990's (charitable tax returns online) for Freedomworks, for the past two years, we find that apostate Oregon Democrat, thence Oregon Republican Party Chair, nominee for Oregon Attorney General, and thence nominee for Oregon Governor (lost both), attorney Kevin J. Mannix of Salem, Oregon, was paid $200,089 for "Fundraising consulting" in 2005, and $70,989 in 2004 as one of a very small group of independent subcontractors.

Click HERE to take a look.

Freedomworks was created in 2004 by merging Citizens for a Sound Economy and Jack Kemp's "Empower America."

From People For the American Way:

CSE was founded in 1984 by David Koch who, along with his brother Charles, owns virtually all of Koch Industries, a wealthy privately-held company headquartered in Wichita, Kansas that controls a diverse group of oil, natural gas, ranching, securities, and finance firms. The brothers have long had a strong interest in libertarian theory, and the foundations operated by the Koch family have created, or funded, the likes of the Cato Institute, the Institute for Justice, the Federalist Society, and the Heritage Foundation. Like this other these groups, CSE is active on a variety of issues, including judicial nominations.

One of the members of its board of directors, C. Boyden Gray, has even created an organization called the Committee for Justice whose “mission is to defend and promote President Bush's judicial nominees.”

And here's PFAW on "Empower America"

Empower America was founded in 1993, after Bill Clinton’s election to the presidency, as a kind of “shadow government” of policy advocacy, in the words of co-founder Jack Kemp, a former congressman and Housing secretary and future vice-presidential candidate. Gathering Kemp, Bush “drug czar” William Bennett, former UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, and former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, The Wall Street Journal said the group “illustrates how such tax-exempt nonprofits have become safe harbors for elite figures in the conservative movement.” Leading up to Kemp’s 1996 bid, the group provided a “base” for him “to make $1 million to $2 million a year” giving speeches, and it played a key role in the Dole-Kemp campaign.

To be fair, Kemp is no longer associated with Freedomworks, according to Wikipedia:

Kemp also started the free market advocacy group Empower America, which later merged with Citizens for a Sound Economy to form FreedomWorks, but resigned as Co-Chairman of FreedomWorks in March 2005 after he was questioned by the FBI about his ties to Samir Vincent, a Northern Virginia oil trader implicated in the U.N. Oil-for-food scandal who pled guilty to four criminal charges stemming from the scandal, including illegally acting as an unregistered lobbyist of the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein

The chairman is Dick Armey -- former Republican House Majority Leader, who pulls down a cool six-figure salary for heading "Freedomworks." ($408,761 in 2004 and $320,000 in 2005. Hmmm. Wonder what caused the $80,000 cut in salary ... or was the remuneration via some other means? Just wond'rin')

What's truly strange about the Mannix numbers is that ONLY Oregon seems to be the beneficiary of this Freedomworks largesse. There has been an ongoing scandal about unprecedented "hit" mailings and phone calls to Democratic legislators' constituents claiming that they've voted for HUGE tax increases -- a highly dubious charge. Freedomworks was very prominent in Oregon's "mini-CPAC" "The Dorchester Conference" last weekend (see Carla's superb coverage over at Loaded Orygun).

At any event, you can look at it yourself over at guidestar.

FREEDOMWORKS FOUNDATION

Here's the link to the Guidestar.org .pdf
(you need to register, it's free)

http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/521/526/2005-521526916-025c0dc7-9.pdf

and here's their referring page (three years' worth of 990s and other data)

http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=guidestar&npoId=26780

More mystery money flooding into the state, backing the "free market" philosophies that seem to bring so much cash into the state, and spark so many political bloodbaths.

I'm getting SOOO tired of out-of-staters using Oregon as their petrie dish for Frankenstein legislation. (Measure 37? Anyone?)

The whole series I'm working on has a lot to do with watching these various leopards changing their spots -- but still working the same hunting grounds, and the same water-holes.

Where this will end, no one knows. But something is rotten in the state of Oregon.

In the state of the Union, frankly.

[Programming note: Dan Borchers, who was thrown out of CPAC by Ann Coulter's bodyguards, had graciously agreed to take some photos for me when he got there. Before they physically tossed him out of the building, he got the photos, and sent them to me yesterday. I will include them in the next posting -- the one I have been working on for a couple of days now, but this kind of stuff keeps pushing it back. Oy vey.]

Courage.