Progress For America
Encyclopedia
Progress for America (a 501(c)(4)) and its affiliate Progress for America Voter Fund (PFA-VF) (a 527 committee) are national tax-exempt organizations in the United States
. PFA was established in 2001 to support George W. Bush's "agenda for America". The PFA Voter Fund, which was set up in 2004, raised US$38 million in support of Bush's 2004 election bid
.
as well as at the affiliated telemarketing and fundraising firm of Feather Larson Synhorst-DCI (FLS-DCI). Feather set up PFA as a “grassroots organization that mobilizes the public to contact their members of Congress about pending legislation and to write local newspapers to publicize the White House’s agenda,” the Center for Public Integrity
wrote in 2002. During the first part of the Bush Administration, it led campaigns to support tax cuts, conservative judicial appointments and energy legislation.
Feather told the Washington Post in August 2002 that PFA was simply a vehicle for building grassroots support for Bush Administration policies. However others said it was intended to accept soft money donations which political parties were barred from accepting starting in 2002. Feather left PFA in 2003 after receiving a legal opinion that his involvement with it and the Bush-Cheney campaign could violate regulations barring coordination between the entities.
On February 28, 2007 the Federal Election Commission
(FEC) reached a settlement with Progress for America related to its activities in 2004. In the 2004 election cycle, the Fund had raised US$45 million. Under the terms of the settlement, PFA-VF did not admit to any wrong doing, and agreed to pay US$750,000 and to register as a political committee if it undertakes any activities similar to those in 2004. The FEC stated: "Over US$41 million of those funds consisted of excessive contributions from individuals, while over US$2 million came from sources prohibited from making contributions . . . ."
’ Media Fund
, which spent US$5 million.
PFA produced two “harshly anti-Kerry
ads that have become the subjects of controversy and debate, especially in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Iowa where they are running frequently,” the Washington Post’s Thomas Edsall wrote.
PFA-VF spent US$14.2 million on ad time for "Ashley’s Story", which ran on cable stations and in nine key states. According to USA Today, the ad was supported by ashleysstory.com, as well as “e-mails, automated phone calls and 2.3 million brochures” mailed to voters.
"Ashley's Story" made Advertising Age columnist Bob Garfield's list of top 10 "Ads I Loved" for 2004. Garfield writes, "We said, 'It might come down to one commercial,' and it may well have. A retelling of candidate Bush's encounter with an Ohio Teenager answered undecideds' doubts. The president wasn't a dry-well-drilling gambler, moron and fool... he's a fearless leader who will hug us."
as a major domestic goal of his second term. He called for partial privatization of the system. PFA "has estimated it will spend US$20 million promoting private accounts. It has run a series of ads on cable television, including a spot that invokes the legacy of Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt, who signed the legislation creating the retirement system", the Houston Chronicle reported in February 2005.
The Chronicle raised the question whether investment firms, "which are trying to keep a low profile in the current debate, will quietly contribute to a number of groups promoting Social Security overhaul because private accounts will increase their business". PFA's McCabe denies "his group would serve as a front for investment firms". But PFA "will be soliciting from donors who have helped the organization in the past". The head of the prominent investment firm Charles Schwab contributed US$50,000 to the group's political arm in 2004. Schwab also gave US$75,000 to the Club for Growth
, which is also lobbying for Social Security privatization.
The advantage of arrangements between corporate donors and groups like PFA, however, is acknowledge. Thomas Edsall wrote in the Washington Post, "For corporations wary of publicity over their involvement in [promoting Social Security privatization, tort reform] and other controversial issues, the US Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform
, the Club for Growth
and Progress for America pointedly offer donors the promise of anonymity."
In late February 2005, the Houston Chronicle reported that Texas A&M University economics professor Thomas R. Saving had joined up with Progress for America as an advisor and spokesman. Saving, however, is serving as one of seven trustees for the Social Security Administration
, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest between his advocacy work at PFA and his role as a Social Security "trustee". Saving is also a fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis
. According to the Chronicle, former US Treasurer Rosario Marin
joined PFA as an advisor as well.
"I'm interested in the issues and I'm working on them and I'll continue to work on them", Saving told the Chronicle. "I already do an awful lot of speeches about Social Security and Medicare."
In June 2005, The Hill reported that PFA intended to "spend at least US$18 million on the expected fight to replace William Rehnquist, chief justice of the US Supreme Court". PFA's campaign would include "national cable-news and broadcast-television ads in targeted states. The group will also coordinate grassroots organizers and public-relations specialists in eighteen states, including states represented by centrist Republican senators such as Arizona, Maine and Oregon" The Hill wrote. The groups will also use phone-bank and direct-mail in its campaign. "Before Senate confirmation of Owen and Brown, PFA claims to have helped generate nearly 80,000 telephone calls supporting their nominations", The Hill reported. PFA will work closely with the Judicial Confirmation Network and the Committee for Justice on the campaign.
On June 22, 2005, PFA issued a press release announcing a US$700,000 campaign in anticipation of a Supreme Court Justice vacancy during the Court's summer break. The campaign included buys on big newspapers' internet websites, and a roll-out of a new website: upordownvote.com.
P.O.Box 19242
Washington, DC 20036
USA
tel:1-888-261-1938
http://www.progressforamerica.org/pfa/
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. PFA was established in 2001 to support George W. Bush's "agenda for America". The PFA Voter Fund, which was set up in 2004, raised US$38 million in support of Bush's 2004 election bid
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
.
History
PFA was registered as a 501(c)(4) group in February 2001 by Tony Feather, a political director of the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign and partner at DCI GroupDCI Group
DCI Group is an American public relations, lobbying and business consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. The company was founded in 1996 as a grassroots consulting firm, and has since expanded its practice to become a public affairs company offering a range of services...
as well as at the affiliated telemarketing and fundraising firm of Feather Larson Synhorst-DCI (FLS-DCI). Feather set up PFA as a “grassroots organization that mobilizes the public to contact their members of Congress about pending legislation and to write local newspapers to publicize the White House’s agenda,” the Center for Public Integrity
Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy and committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the United States and around...
wrote in 2002. During the first part of the Bush Administration, it led campaigns to support tax cuts, conservative judicial appointments and energy legislation.
Feather told the Washington Post in August 2002 that PFA was simply a vehicle for building grassroots support for Bush Administration policies. However others said it was intended to accept soft money donations which political parties were barred from accepting starting in 2002. Feather left PFA in 2003 after receiving a legal opinion that his involvement with it and the Bush-Cheney campaign could violate regulations barring coordination between the entities.
Progress for America Voter Fund
On July 21, 2004, complaints were filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by Democracy 21, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Center for Responsive Politics. The Complaints charged that Progress for America Voter Fund (PFA-VF) was illegally raising and spending soft money to influence the 2004 presidential elections.On February 28, 2007 the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
(FEC) reached a settlement with Progress for America related to its activities in 2004. In the 2004 election cycle, the Fund had raised US$45 million. Under the terms of the settlement, PFA-VF did not admit to any wrong doing, and agreed to pay US$750,000 and to register as a political committee if it undertakes any activities similar to those in 2004. The FEC stated: "Over US$41 million of those funds consisted of excessive contributions from individuals, while over US$2 million came from sources prohibited from making contributions . . . ."
Ashley and friends
In the last three weeks leading up to the November 2, 2004, election, Progress for America Voter Fund (PFA-VF) outspent the next largest spending Democratic 527 group three-to-one on political ads. It bought US$16.8 million worth of television and radio ad time. According to Federal Election Commission data, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth came in second with US$6.3 million in ad spending. In third place was Democrat Harold IckesHarold Ickes
Harold Ickes may refer to:*Harold L. Ickes , U.S. Secretary of the Interior in Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration*Harold M. Ickes , son of the U.S. Interior Secretary, deputy White House Chief of Staff during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton...
’ Media Fund
Media Fund
The Media Fund is a 527 group, active in U.S. politics, which supported Democrat John Kerry's campaign for President. It was formed in 2002, and is led by Harold M. Ickes, a former aide to President Bill Clinton. Its chief fundraiser is Ellen Malcolm, a former fundraiser for EMILY's List. ...
, which spent US$5 million.
PFA produced two “harshly anti-Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
ads that have become the subjects of controversy and debate, especially in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Iowa where they are running frequently,” the Washington Post’s Thomas Edsall wrote.
PFA-VF spent US$14.2 million on ad time for "Ashley’s Story", which ran on cable stations and in nine key states. According to USA Today, the ad was supported by ashleysstory.com, as well as “e-mails, automated phone calls and 2.3 million brochures” mailed to voters.
"Ashley's Story" made Advertising Age columnist Bob Garfield's list of top 10 "Ads I Loved" for 2004. Garfield writes, "We said, 'It might come down to one commercial,' and it may well have. A retelling of candidate Bush's encounter with an Ohio Teenager answered undecideds' doubts. The president wasn't a dry-well-drilling gambler, moron and fool... he's a fearless leader who will hug us."
The push for privatized Social Security
After winning re-election in 2004, Bush emphasized changes in Social SecuritySocial Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
as a major domestic goal of his second term. He called for partial privatization of the system. PFA "has estimated it will spend US$20 million promoting private accounts. It has run a series of ads on cable television, including a spot that invokes the legacy of Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt, who signed the legislation creating the retirement system", the Houston Chronicle reported in February 2005.
The Chronicle raised the question whether investment firms, "which are trying to keep a low profile in the current debate, will quietly contribute to a number of groups promoting Social Security overhaul because private accounts will increase their business". PFA's McCabe denies "his group would serve as a front for investment firms". But PFA "will be soliciting from donors who have helped the organization in the past". The head of the prominent investment firm Charles Schwab contributed US$50,000 to the group's political arm in 2004. Schwab also gave US$75,000 to the Club for Growth
Club for Growth
The Club for Growth is a politically conservative 527 organization active in the United States of America, with an agenda focussed on taxation and other economic issues, and with an affiliated political action committee . The Club advocates lower taxes, limited government, less government spending,...
, which is also lobbying for Social Security privatization.
The advantage of arrangements between corporate donors and groups like PFA, however, is acknowledge. Thomas Edsall wrote in the Washington Post, "For corporations wary of publicity over their involvement in [promoting Social Security privatization, tort reform] and other controversial issues, the US Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform
Institute for Legal Reform
The US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform is an advocacy group founded in 1998 by the United States Chamber of Commerce, with a focus on what it calls "tort reform."- Stances on Issues :...
, the Club for Growth
Club for Growth
The Club for Growth is a politically conservative 527 organization active in the United States of America, with an agenda focussed on taxation and other economic issues, and with an affiliated political action committee . The Club advocates lower taxes, limited government, less government spending,...
and Progress for America pointedly offer donors the promise of anonymity."
In late February 2005, the Houston Chronicle reported that Texas A&M University economics professor Thomas R. Saving had joined up with Progress for America as an advisor and spokesman. Saving, however, is serving as one of seven trustees for the Social Security Administration
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...
, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest between his advocacy work at PFA and his role as a Social Security "trustee". Saving is also a fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis
National Center for Policy Analysis
The National Center for Policy Analysis is a non-profit American conservative think tank whose goals are to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control...
. According to the Chronicle, former US Treasurer Rosario Marin
Rosario Marin
Rosario Marin , was the 41st Treasurer of the United States from August 16, 2001 to June 30, 2003 serving under President George W. Bush. She is the first person to assume the post since William Clark who was not born a United States citizen . She is the only U...
joined PFA as an advisor as well.
"I'm interested in the issues and I'm working on them and I'll continue to work on them", Saving told the Chronicle. "I already do an awful lot of speeches about Social Security and Medicare."
Federal judicial battles
In May 2005, PFA began running ads targeted at pressuring Republicans Senators into supporting a ban on Senate filibusters for judicial nominations. Associated Press reported that PFA would spend US$350,000 on "radio ads on Christian stations" and US$1.5 million on television ads to be run in Alaska, Arkansas, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska and Rhode Island as well as nationally.In June 2005, The Hill reported that PFA intended to "spend at least US$18 million on the expected fight to replace William Rehnquist, chief justice of the US Supreme Court". PFA's campaign would include "national cable-news and broadcast-television ads in targeted states. The group will also coordinate grassroots organizers and public-relations specialists in eighteen states, including states represented by centrist Republican senators such as Arizona, Maine and Oregon" The Hill wrote. The groups will also use phone-bank and direct-mail in its campaign. "Before Senate confirmation of Owen and Brown, PFA claims to have helped generate nearly 80,000 telephone calls supporting their nominations", The Hill reported. PFA will work closely with the Judicial Confirmation Network and the Committee for Justice on the campaign.
On June 22, 2005, PFA issued a press release announcing a US$700,000 campaign in anticipation of a Supreme Court Justice vacancy during the Court's summer break. The campaign included buys on big newspapers' internet websites, and a roll-out of a new website: upordownvote.com.
Iraq War advertising campaign
Starting in 2006, Progress for America began an ad campaign in support of the Iraq War, with a US$1 million ad campaign in Minnesota. Progress for America spokesman Stuart Roy said the group purchased "a saturation buy" in Minnesota and said that bolstering support for the war now "will be a major focus, if not the major focus of Progress for America". These ads often feature war veterans speaking in support for the war and for then president Bush.Contact
Progress for AmericaP.O.Box 19242
Washington, DC 20036
USA
tel:1-888-261-1938
http://www.progressforamerica.org/pfa/
External links
- "Progress for America", OpenSecrets.org.
- Nicholas Confessore, "Bush's Secret Stash," Washington Monthly, May 1, 2004.
- Glen Justice and Jim Rutenberg, "Advocacy Groups Step Up Costly Battle of Political Ads", The New York Times, September 25, 2004, A10.
- Glen Justice, "New Pet Cause for the Very Rich: Swaying the Election", The New York Times, September 25, 2004, A10.
- Thomas Edsall, "After Late Start, Republican Groups Jump Into the Lead", Washington Post, October 17, 2004, page A17.
- Laura Miller, "The Fix Behind Fixing Social Security," PR Watch, 2005 (Vol. 12, No. 1).
- Glen Justice, "Social Security Fight Begins, Over a Bill Still Nonexistent," New York Times, February 17, 2005.