A new super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain wanted to call itself “Americans for Herman Cain.” One problem: that name would be illegal. Their solution: call themselves the “9-9-9 Fund” instead.
In an Oct. 18 letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), treasurer Scott Mackenzie wrote that the 9-9-9 Fund “intends to make independent expenditures, and consistent with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision in SpeechNow v. FEC, it therefore intends to raise funds in unlimited amounts. This committee will not use those, funds to make contributions, whether direct, in-kind, or via coordinated communications, to federal candidates or committees.”
Their website calls Americans for Herman Cain a “project” of the 9-9-9 Fund. The Arlington, VA address listed on their FEC form directs to a UPS mail store.
Mackenzie, as it turns out, is also a consultant and treasurer who frequently works with BMW Direct — now Base Connect — which had the honor of being named one of TPM’s scammiest conservative direct mail shops. Check out all of our reporting on BMW here.
[Clarification: Mackenzie frequently works with Base Connect and his firm is listed on their website as a strategic partner, but he has not served as treasurer for the organization itself.
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