Gotta get their inside men to make it easier to steal elections. Any time an election on a state level is close enough to recount, the Dem is going to win, period. Also, look for these guys to squash the initiative process. The Oregonian (piss be upon them) had a glowing article a few days ago about how our new Dem SOS and AG are going to “end the abuses of the initiative process”. Translation: stop letting the little people have their small share of the lawmaking pie.
Secretary of State Project
The Secretary of State Project was begun to get Democrats elected to the state-wide office of Secretary of State in the United States.
Politico.com noted in November 2008 that “Democrats have built an administrative firewall designed to protect their electoral interests in five of the most important battleground states. The bulwark consists of control of secretary of state offices in five key states - Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio - where the difference between victory and defeat in the 2004 presidential election was no more than 120,000 votes in any one of them. With a Democrat now in charge of the offices, which oversee and administer their state’s elections, the party is better positioned than in the previous elections to advance traditional Democratic interests - such as increasing voter registration and boosting turnout - rather than Republican priorities such as stamping out voter fraud. Perhaps more important, in those five states Democrats are now in a more advantageous position when it comes to the interpretation and administration of election law — a development that could benefit Barack Obama if any of those states are closely contested on Election Day.” The Secretary of State Project is “affiliated with Democracy Alliance. ... ‘We were tired of Republican manipulation of elections,’ said Michael Kieschnick, a founder of the group who is also the president of Working Assets, a company that provides credit cards and mobile phone services to progressive organizations.”
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Democracy Alliance was founded by former Clinton Treasury official Rob Stein, Erica Payne and various donors in 2005.
“At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute $1 million or more apiece to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up over the past three decades,” The Washington Post reported in August, 2005.
The Democracy Alliance tries to keep a low profile and its wealthy donors prefer anonymity. According to published reports, organizations funded by Democracy Alliance are asked not to reveal the funding.
“Members of the Democracy Alliance include billionaires like George Soros and his son Jonathan Soros, former Rockefeller Family Fund president Anne Bartley, San Francisco Bay Area donors Susie Tompkins Buell and Mark Buell, Hollywood director Rob Reiner, Taco Bell heir Rob McKay ... as well as New York financiers like Steven Gluckstern.”
Rob McKay of the McKay Foundation and Anna Burger of SEIU are the elected chair and vice chair of the board of directors of the Democracy Alliance.
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The Board of Directors identified on the Democracy Alliance website (September, 2007) are:
Rob McKay, Chair
Anna Burger, Vice Chair, SEIU
Drummond Pike, Treasurer
William Budinger
Robert H. Dugger
Al Dwoskin
Dr. Gail Furman, ACSW, PhD
Robert A. Johnson
Steven Phillips
Charles Rodgers
Deborah Sagner
Michael Vachon
Rob Stein, Founder
Members of the Democracy Alliance self-identified or identified in published articles include:
Anne Bartley
Fred Baron
Ann Bowers
Mark Buell
Susie Tompkins Buell
Lewis B. Cullman
David Friedman
Chris Gabrieli
Tim Gill
Davidi Gilo
Robert Glaser
Steven Gluckstern
Michael Kieschnick
Gara LaMarche
Norman Lear
Peter Lewis
John Luongo
Alan Patricof
Rob Reiner
Herb Sandler
Marion Sandler
Guy Saperstein
Bernard Schwartz
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
William Soskin
George Soros
Jonathan Soros
Albert Yates
[edit]Staff of Democracy Alliance
The following staff are listed on the Democracy Alliance website (September, 2007):
Jonathan Adler
Chris Bolyai
Kelly Craighead
Kathryn Greenberg
Josh Leffler
Ingrid Renaud
Shannon Roche
Ryan Rodriguez
Frank Smith
Alexandra Visher
Eddie Wong
Felicia Wong
[edit]Funding Recipients
Organizations self-identified or identified in published reports as receiving financial support from the Democracy Alliance include the following:
ACORN
Air America Radio network
America Votes
AmericanForeignPolicy, [5]
Catalist, [6]
Center for American Progress
Center for Community Change
Center for Progressive Leadership
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, [7]
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, [8]
EMILY’s List
Kirwan Institute
Media Matters for America
New Democratic Network, [9]
People for the American Way, [10]
Progress Now
Progressive Majority, [11]
Secretary of State Project
Sierra Club
USAction
VoteVets, [12]
Young People For, [13]
Women’s Voices. Women Vote., [14]
[edit]Related SourceWatch Resources
MoveOn
Campaign to Defend America
Colorado Democracy Alliance
John Podesta