Stop Too Big To Fail

Maddow Tackles Anti-Financial Reform Group 'Stop Too Big To Fail' (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | April 22, 2010, 8:53AM

Last night Rachel Maddow took on the anti-financial reform group with a liberal-sounding message, Stop Too Big To Fail, with a special focus on DCI Group, the Washington astroturf specialists who have links to Stop Too Big To Fail.

Maddow notes that DCI used to work for the anti-health reform Coalition to Protect Patients' Rights, and DCI execs' were previously at R.J. Reynolds setting up so-called Smokers' Rights Groups.

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Topics: DCI Group, Rachel Maddow, Simon Johnson, Stop Too Big To Fail

Stop Too Big To Fail

Rent-A-Front: New Group Wages Stealth Battle Against Wall Street Reform

Justin Elliott | April 21, 2010, 2:50PM

In the last few weeks, a new player entered the financial reform fray with a $1.6 million ad buy, a respected economist on board, a blitz of opinion columns on left-leaning websites, and a message, cooked right into the group's name -- Stop Too Big To Fail -- that liberals could love.

But as TPMmuckraker has looked into the group, every indication is that Stop Too Big To Fail is an astroturf operation funded by corporate interests to give the appearance of grassroots opposition to reform.

The group's leader has a long history running a rent-a-front operation: offering up his services to large corporations who are willing to pay top dollar for a "consumers group" that will engage in stealth advocacy on behalf of industry. The group refuses to divulge its funding sources. The respected economist whose support the group touts now says he was deceived. And Stop Too Big To Fail has links to DCI Group, one of Washington's best-known astroturf operators.

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Topics: Astroturf, California Small Business Association, Claire McCaskill, Consumers Voice, Consumers for Cable Choice, Consumers for Competitive Choice, DCI Group, Harry Reid, Jim Conran, League of United Latin American Citizens, Mark Warner, Robert K. Johnson, Sam Zamarripa, Simon Johnson, Stop Too Big To Fail

Goldwater Institute

Group That May Bring Health-Care Lawsuit Is Backed By Big-Name Conservative Funders

Zachary Roth | April 7, 2010, 11:14AM

A conservative think tank that's funded by several prominent backers of right-wing causes may bring a lawsuit over health-care reform on behalf of the governor of Arizona.

The Goldwater Institute has offered to bring the suit for free, and Gov. Jan Brewer is considering the offer, a spokeswoman for the institute told TPMmuckraker.

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Topics: American Enterprise Institute, Americans For Prosperity, Astroturf, Barry Goldwater, Cato Institute, DCI Group, Dan Quayle, Dick Armey, Federalist Society, FreedomWorks, Global Warming, Goldwater Institute, Health Care Reform, Heritage Foundation, Jan Brewer, Koch Industries, Terry Goddard

American Future Fund

Conservative Group Backs Off Effort To Undermine Robo-Call Laws

Zachary Roth | January 13, 2010, 12:32PM

A shadowy conservative group is backing off its effort to undermine state laws restricting robo-calls.

Lawyers for American Future Fund Political Action (AFFPA) informed the FEC yesterday afternoon that they were withdrawing their request for an advisory opinion on whether those state laws were pre-empted by a less restrictive federal law. AFFPA had argued in its request that the state laws were indeed pre-empted, and indicated that it planned a barrage of robo-calls for 2010.

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Topics: American Future Fund, DCI Group, FEC, Robo-calls, Voting

American Future Fund

Shadowy Conservative Group Still Working To Undermine Robocall Laws

Zachary Roth | January 6, 2010, 2:37PM

Despite setbacks, a shadowy conservative group isn't backing off its bid to undermine state restrictions on political robocalls, as it gears up to unleash a barrage of such calls in 2010 races.

In October, as we reported, the American Future Fund Political Action (AFFPA) argued in a brief to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that state laws restricting robocalls are pre-empted by a more lenient federal law. AFFPA informed the FEC that it planned to make such calls in Congressional races this fall.

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Topics: American Future Fund, DCI Group, Jason Torchinsky, Robo-calls