Free Republic

Mandy Grunwald, an adviser to the Clintons for over two decades and a top strategist to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, is expected to serve as a senior adviser for communications to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s all-but-certain presidential bid. Ms. Grunwald will advise Mrs. Clinton on strategy and make some of the television ads along with Jim Margolis, whose firm, GMMB, is expected to take the lead on producing and buying the commercials. The pollster Joel Benenson is another senior adviser poised to work for Mrs. Clinton on her second White House run.

Two high level former Obama campaign officials orchestrated more than $1.1 million of “in-kind” contributions over a 17 day period in November to an independent expenditure committee with no apparent assets that supports the election of Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama U.S. Senate election, according to Federal Election Commission reports and publicly available documents. Bully Pulpit Interactive, a Washington, D.C. based consulting firm founded by former Obama campaign official Andrew Bleeker, provided more than $800,000 in online advertising services to Highway 31, an independent expenditure committee based in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 17 days between November 6, when the...

FULL TITLE: Report: Soros and Schumer-Backed Organizations Are the ‘Dark Money’ Behind Alabama Shell Group Attacking Roy Moore Politico reported on Monday that the George Soros-funded Priorities USA Action and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) Senate Majority PAC are the dark money behind the Alabama shell group that has spent more than $4.1 million to defeat conservative Republican Roy Moore in Tuesday’s Alabama U.S. Senate special election in which he faces liberal Democrat Doug Jones: Highway 31, which has dropped more than $4.1 million in support of Jones and against Roy Moore ahead of Tuesday’s Senate special election, is a joint...

Was the real reason behind Senator Elizabeth Warren’s outrage over Mick Mulvaney’s appointment as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about her own political survival? The New York Post’s Paul Sperry reports that the CFPB is engaged in a wide-variety of corruption. Everything from amassing secret ledgers to using penalties to ‘launder,’ funds into left-wing causes. Of course, because the CFPB operates independently of the U.S. Government, a full audit of the agency’s balance sheet have never been done. This sad reality may very well change under Mulvaney’s leadership.

State contractor sues subcontractor; police and auditor notified. Sacramento -- Nearly $3 million in public money earmarked for pro-preschool commercials is missing, marking a weird twist in the controversy surrounding a move by a state commission headed until recently by director Rob Reiner to air the commercials while Reiner was working to get a preschool initiative on the ballot. The new head of the First 5 California Children and Families Commission and the commission's lead advertising firm acknowledged Thursday that $2.8 million owed to Spanish-language television stations for commercials aired last fall is unaccounted for. The firm, GMMB Inc., filed...

California's First 5 commission is investigating the apparent disappearance of nearly $3 million in tax money owed to television stations that aired its recent preschool ads, the commission chairman said today. Hector Ramirez, First 5 California Children and Families Commission chairman, also called on the Los Angeles Police Department and California Bureau of State Audits to find out what became of $2.8 million given to the Los Angeles public relations and advertising firm Durazo Communications. The firm was supposed to use the money to pay the TV stations. "What we're going to be doing is just conducting a full investigation...

John Kerry's Presidential campaign expense statements list "Riverfront Media, LLC" of Chicago, Illinois as the recipient of millions of dollars of media fees related to campaign activities. This is shown below: JOHN KERRY (D) Expenditures2003-2004 Cycle Total Records: 27017 Cycle: Sort by: Recipient Amount Date Description Subtotal: $11,400,414 2/29/2004   Total itemized above: $11,391,723 2/29/2004   To adjust for fundraising expenses initially repor $1,075,335 9/30/2003   Riverfront Media, LLC, Chicago, IL $827,159 2/23/2004 Media Riverfront Media, LLC, Chicago, IL $709,978 2/23/2004 Media Riverfront Media, LLC, Chicago, IL $435,279 9/4/2003 Media Riverfront Media, LLC, Chicago, IL $386,568 1/9/2004 Media Citation Shares...

Here's a bit of breaking news from inside the Kerry campaign. For months Kerry has relied on two heavy-hitting ad-makers to produce his television spots, Bob Shrum of Shrum, Devine & Donilon, and Jim Margolis of GMMB. Margolis reports that he will no longer be serving Kerry in that role. Here's what he told TNR a few minutes ago: Unquestionably, being a part of Senator Kerry's presidential campaign has been one of the most important efforts our campaign has ever undertaken. The stakes couldn't be higher for our country, and we have been honored to help produce the spots and...