Herman Cain aide Mark Block’s checkered past, abridged edition

rise Mark Block started his career in 1974, becoming, at age 18, the youngest elected official in Wisconsin’s history. He spent much of the 1980s coordinating Republican political campaigns in the state.
fall In 1997, Block was blocked from Wisconsin politics for a few years for allegedly doing some sketchy stuff with a special interest group. During this time, he worked at Target and his personal life unraveled.
recovery In 2005, Block got his mojo back by getting hired as Americans for Prosperity’s director in Wisconsin. He then met a young whippersnapper named Herman Cain, and the rest is chain-smoking history. source

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Cain allegedly has deep ties to the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. The currently-soaring presidential candidate has built up his base with GOP voters through an image that he’s a non-politician who’s not beholden to anyone (and makes a good pizza). But Cain has a history with the controversy-laden Koch brothers that he does not promote very heavily — at least not as heavily as his business career. The Associated Press’s article on Cain’s deep ties to Americans for Prosperity found some fairly surprising things:

surface Cain has a campaign manager, as well as a number of campaign aides, who once worked for Americans for Prosperity.
deeper Rich Lowrie, the apparent Sim City player behind Cain’s easy-to-follow 999 plan, served on AFP’s board of advisors from 2005 to 2008.
deepest Cain himself built up AFP in 2005 and 2006, collaborating with Mark Block to build local chapters throughout the country. source

» Ties that still stand: While Cain no longer gets paid for his appearances with AFP (he used to, before he started running for president), he is still active with the group. For example, Cain will speak at an AFP event in DC on November 4, despite the fact that most of the other presidential candidates will be at a dinner in Iowa. The caucus is in Iowa; what’s this guy doing in Washington? Wait a second! (photo by Flickr user Gage Skidmore)

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» Anyone have a tinfoil hat we can borrow? The multi-day conference, put on by billionaire Tea Party-backing brothers David and Charles Koch, is loaded with people with lots of money and lots of influence. We bet Hank Scorpio was there, personally throwing cans of tear gas at the lefty protesters, who were mostly peaceful, but found themselves in trouble after a couple got a tiny bit too close to the shindig and ran into riot police. Supervillans need backup.

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I made an exception getting involved in 2004. And since I didn’t succeed in 2004, I remained engaged in 2006 and 2008. But I’m basically not a party man. I’d just been forced into that situation by what I considered the excesses of the Bush administration.
Democratic party super-donor George Soros • Explaining why he got so involved in those elections – and why he’s sitting this one out. This time, he’s choosing to push groups that support his causes – health care and the environment – and letting the election fall where it may. Isn’t he concerned the GOP might win both Houses? He is, he says, “but I’m not in a position to stop it. I don’t believe in standing in the way of an avalanche.” Well, that’s promising for November, lefties. It’s OK – we can just complain about the Koch Brothers. source

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As a follow-up to last night’s post, it’s probably good to point out that when you’re building propaganda pieces, the tone is everything. So, showing images of supporters of socialism at a Democratic Party rally doesn’t seem so bad on its own. But when you add the Russian National Anthem like our friends at the Koch-brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity, it takes a sinister tone. We’d say “disagree with socialism, don’t demonize it,” but we know that Americans for Prosperity receive so much money that they can pretty much do whatever they want. Oh wait, according to the rules on 501(c)(3) nonprofits, they shouldn’t be making videos like this at all. source

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Who are the Koch brothers? In what has to be one of the best senses of timing ever, The New Yorker just put up a lengthy article about Charles and David Koch, multi-billionaires, the owners of Koch Industries, and two long-time libertarian leaners who back the Americans for Prosperity organization, which has been something of a root backer of the Modern Tea Party movement. And thanks to a just-filed IRS complaint regarding the ad series above, we’ll be hearing more about the Koch Brothers in the next couple of weeks.

longtime libertariansThe brothers have deep roots in the libertarian movement, and David Koch actually ran for vice-president 30 years ago. The brothers found the process wasteful, and decided to work behind the scenes instead. So they ended up underwriting the libertarian movement. Then the Tea Party came along.
Very hands-offUnlike other big financial backers of political leaders like George Soros, they go out of their way to be hands-off from what their money does, and instead let the money do the work. While they’re very active in the philanthropy community, their Americans for Prosperity work does not bear their signature.
Tax-exempt statusAmericans for Prosperity is in a bit of trouble right now because they’ve been running ads that are inherently political in possible violation of their tax-exempt status, which says their work has to be nonpartisan. The organization says that their work is protected by the first amendment. source

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28 Oct 2011 11:04