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GOP IN NYC
Elephants at the trough
BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN

Right smack in the middle of the Republican National Convention, the Bush/Cheney ’04 re-election campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to force the Federal Election Commission to shut down political organizations known as "527s." Actually, these entities are better known as "shadowy 527s," the phrase repeatedly used to describe them by Bush and other Republicans. In addition to filing the lawsuit, George W. Bush called for anti-527 legislation last week, on the grounds that the organizations are "bad for the system."

We can only hope the president’s words didn’t spoil the appetite of the GOP delegates and bigwigs who were munching on free food at events all week hosted by — you guessed it — 527 organizations.

Take the "shadowy" Republican Governors Association, which hosted so many events that its own Web site dubbed it the "RGA Convention Experience." The group’s festivities included a reception at the New York Palace Hotel on Sunday; a reception at Noche on Monday afternoon; the Governors Golf Tournament and luncheon on Tuesday; a state fair on Wednesday afternoon; and, on Thursday, a party featuring Blues Traveler.

The RGA took in nearly $8 million in unlimited contributions in the first half of this year, and while Bush condemns all 527s as "shadowy," they actually must reveal who gave them what. Thus we know that the vast majority of RGA’s funding comes from corporations, including $100,000 each from Anheuser-Busch, Target, BellSouth, Mass Mutual, and Verizon.

Of course, that’s peanuts compared with the sums raised to date by anti-Bush 527s, many of which will be spending ferociously on more than finger food in these next two months — unless Bush succeeds in stopping them (see "The $50 Million Dems," News and Features, July 23). That’s why he has used the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth controversy to call on John Kerry to shut down all 527 spending — an impossible request, since by law Kerry can neither require nor advise those independent groups to do anything at all.

All Republican legal challenges to 527s failed this spring, but last week, Bush relaunched the effort. Meanwhile, the RNC convention-week 527 spend-a-thon continued apace. GOPAC, a Republican fundraiser that has been around since the early 1980s, hosted a national prayer breakfast, a hospitality suite, and other gatherings. The 12-year-old Wish List held a "Red, White & Blue Breakfast" at the Sheraton New York Hotel. Friends of Big Sky PAC hosted a reception at the University Club. The National Federation of Republican Women hosted its Regents Reception. The Republican Attorneys General Association held a brunch at Loft Eleven. The Republican State Leadership Committee held a hospitality event at Mustang Sally’s. The College Republicans National Committee gave a reception at the Windfall Lounge and Grill. The Young Republican National Federation hosted a reception, dinner, and convention party at Tuscan Square. All these groups are either 527s or have created 527 subsidiaries to raise money through unlimited donations.

True believers included members of the Republican National Lawyers Association, who coughed up for a Monday reception "honoring Republican lawyers," and then had to listen to lawyer-bashing on the convention floor all week. But at least one state’s convention delegation was smart enough to set up its own 527 to help pay for the trip. The California Republican National Convention Delegation 2004 Account gathered a minimum of $400,000.

There may have been many more 527s hosting events at the RNC, but some of these groups really are shadowy. As the campaign-finance watchdog group Political Money Line has reported, a number of Republican-leaning 527s listed in the FEC’s electioneering-communications disclosures have not filed paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service, which maintains the official records and databases for these groups.


Issue Date: September 10 - 16, 2004
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