Anti-tax group has help against Huckabee (The Club for Growth expands its ad campaign v. Huckabee)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 12/26/07 | Jim Kuhnhenn - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - A conservative anti-tax group Wednesday expanded its ad campaign against Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, helped by a major GOP donor who bankrolled ads that questioned Democrat John Kerry's war record during the 2004 campaign.

The Club for Growth is spending $175,000 to continue running ads in Iowa that highlight tax increases adopted in Arkansas when Huckabee was governor. During the past three weeks, the group has spent $550,000 to criticize Huckabee's economic policies.

According to Federal Election Commission records, ClubForGrowth.net received $200,000 this month from Bob Perry, a Houston homebuilder who in 2004 pumped nearly $4.5 million into the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth to pay for unsubstantiated ads that questioned Kerry's Vietnam service.

Perry contributed $2,300, the maximum allowed, to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is Huckabee's top rival in Iowa. Romney has been running his own ads against Huckabee, criticizing his record on immigration and taxes.

Perry has donated to the Club for Growth in the past, including $150,000 during the 2006 election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Another major donor is Jackson T. "Steve" Stephens Jr., a Little Rock, Ark., businessman and member of the Club for Growth's board of directors. Stephens is a longtime critic of Huckabee who once considered running against him for governor. He has donated $200,000 to the group, including $100,000 this month.

"Most Iowans have figured out this is a Washington special interest that's attacking the governor," Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman said. "It's one or two people with a lot of money."

Stephens owns ExOxEmis Inc., a biomedical business that produces enzyme-based therapeutic drugs. Like Perry, Stephens has contributed large sums to the Club for Growth in the past.

Club for Growth spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said Stephens' presence on the board and his contributions are not driving the campaign against Huckabee.

"He is on our board and is a voice as much as any other member," she said. "If you look at Huckabee's record, on economic issues, he's is the worst Republican in this race."

The Club for Growth has not been shy about trying to defeat Republicans.

In 2006, it mounted a primary election campaign against Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., a moderate who had voted against President Bush's tax cuts. Chafee eventually lost to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in the general election.

This year, the Club for Growth also is running ads against Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., who is facing a primary challenge from Maryland state Sen. Andrew Harris.

[Always Right]

Chafee, a moderate????

[Nonstatist]

Club for Growth doesent like Mike Huckabee either. Don’t you want to make fun of them, too? I hear most of those guys have bad haircuts, for example.

[timer]

Huckabee...warts and all...

[Nonstatist]

"Most Iowans have figured out this is a Washington special interest that's attacking the governor," Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman said. "It's one or two people with a lot of money." .

Ordinary folk dont needs to be bothered by them outsider carpetbaggers that dont make no sense!

[Onelifetogive]

unsubstantiated ads that questioned Kerry's Vietnam service.

Weren't the ads basically, "We served with him and we are not supporting him"? How is that unsubstantiated?

[NormsRevenge]

Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee talks to members of the media during a hunting trip in Osceola, Iowa December 26, 2007. (Keith Bedford/Reuters)

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

They haven’t changed my opinion of Huckabee, but they have changed my opinion of Club for Growth.

[grandpa jones]

Can the Republican nomination be bought? The Club for Growth apparently thinks so, as their spending on the anti-Huckabee crusade has grown to over $550,000 in the last three weeks alone. The Associated Press is reporting that Houston homebuilder Bob Perry of Swiftboat fame, is joining with fellow scalawag ¹ Jackson "Steve" Stephens, Jr. to bankroll the Club for Growth's last ditch effort to stop Mike Huckabee. Mr. Perry is actively supporting Mitt Romney for the 2008 nomination, having donated the maximum allowable to Romney's campaign. Perry, who has been described as "the man who pulls the strings," but "never gets his hands dirty," is largely "unknown outside campaign-finance databases and a small group of political leaders. Many politicians who have received Perry's money say they never have met him." ² Perry was the nation's biggest donor in the 2006 elections, giving more than $16 million to state and federal candidates and campaign groups. Bob Perry's political donations figure prominently in a recent lawsuit against Gov. Rick Perry's (no relation) 2006 re-election campaign and the Republican Governor's Association today claiming they illegally hid $1 million in donations from the Houston homebuilder. ³ You can view a copy of the lawsuit here. It does makes one wonder if being running afoul of campaign finance laws is an unwritten requirement for membership in the Club for Growth, whose own settlement with the FEC made headlines just three months ago:

The agreement [with the Federal Election Commission] asks the court to enter a consent judgment requiring Club for Growth to pay a civil penalty of $350,000 for failing to register with the FEC as a political committee and report its contributions and expenditures. ⁴

In the 2006 election cycle, Perry, who was the "#1 individual donor to 527 committees, donated as much as the #2, #3 and #4 on the list. That is $9,750,000 in total."⁵ Update: I ran across this⁶ a few days ago, and it made me wonder. Jackson (Jack) Stephens, Steve's father, who passed away on June 23, 2005, apparently made some 20 contributions totaling roughly $200,000 to The Club for Growth, after he died. How can that happen? _____________________ ¹ To most Southerners, scalawags were an unprincipled group of traitorous opportunists who abandoned their countrymen and ingratiated themselves with the hated Eastern Elite for their own material gain. ² Seattle Times ³ Texas Politics ⁴ USA Today ⁵ Sourcewatch ⁶ Campaign Money
Originally posted at Nuke's

[Nonstatist]

Does Mr Perry represent the Club for Growth? Are his positions different from the rest of the Club for Growth? I dont think so. They have been around for a long time.

Club for Growth Policy Goals:

Making the Bush tax cuts permanent
Death tax repeal
Cutting and limiting government spending
Social Security reform with personal retirement accounts
Expanding free trade
Legal reform to end abusive lawsuits
Replacing the current tax code
School choice
Regulatory reform and deregulation

Without getting into ad homeneim attacks, which is about all Huckabee can counter with, Can you honestly say your boy Huckabee is on the right side of most of those issues? His dubious Fair Tax plan aside, I'd say no to most of the others. Especially judging from his time in Arkansas as a big tax raiser and lover of Nanny government.

By the way, misdirection and changing the subject is only going to get you so far, wait and see.

[Nonstatist]

From their website...

“Over the pas ten months, Governor Huckabee’s embrace of his liberal economic record as governor and his populist, protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail has only confirmed the Club for Growth’s original assessment,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Huckabee himself admits that he is a ‘different kind of Republican,’ a code word for more government involvement, less personal freedom, and greater dependence on government bureaucrats.”

Huckabee is proud of his tax hikes, his spending increases, and his regulatory expansions as governor, and he has not indicated that he would govern any differently as president. Nominating Mike Huckabee for president or vice-president would constitute an abject rejection of the free-market, limited-government, economic conservatism that has been the unifying theme of the Republican Party for decades.”

[grandpa jones]

I ran across this a few days ago and wanted to take the opportunity to ask our readers this question:

"Is it legal for dead people to make political contributions?"

I don't think the deceased is too worried about facing any legal consequences, but what about the person or persons who engineered the donations? And what about the organization that accepted the contributions? In this case, the deceased donor is/was Arkansas gazillionaire Jackson (Jack) Stephens. The recipient of his graveyard largesse is The Club for Growth. Jackson (Steve) Stephens, Jr., is also a big time contributor to the Club for Growth, and serves on the Board. Jackson Stephens passed away on June 23, 2005. According to Campaign Money.com, Mr. Stephens apparently made some 20 contributions totaling roughly $200,000 to The Club for Growth, after he died. The spreadsheet shows separate contributions for Jackson Stephens and Jackson Stephens, Jr., so it doesn't appear to be just a clerical error. Frankly, it may all be perfectly legit, some sort of estate planning gimmick, I don't know. I'm just wondering, how can this happen?

[Def Conservative]

I’ve said it once and i’ll say it again...Huckabee is the WORST candidate in the bunch. Glad to see his opposition is building up steam!

I can hold my nose and vote for any other jerk the GOP puts up but if it’s Huckabee i’ll have one more reason to stay home on election day.

[Def Conservative]

What about the Club For Growth’s policy positions? It’s easy to find a sour apple in an organization...and as a Huckabee supporter I’m not sure you wan’t to talk about supporting people or groups who’ve had some noted ethics problems.

[BamaBelle]

Club for Growth

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/personalities/club-growth/

Fred Thompson

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/250/