Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D) Missouri constituents are getting mail from a right wingnut committee:

“Paid for by Right Way Initiative, P.O. Box 27, Alexndria, VA 22313”

It’s the usual right wingnut drivel in support of Donald Trump (r).

Right Way Initiative?

At the Federal Election Commission [pdf]:

CURRENT COMMITTEE INFORMATION
C90015801
Name: RIGHT WAY INITIATIVE INC.
Address: PO BOX 27, ALEXANDRIA, VA 22313
Treasurer Name:
Type: I – INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE – PERSON OR GROUP NOT A COMMITTEE
Designation: U – UNAUTHORIZED
Party:

It’s the same address as the mailing.

They sent a letter in response to a request for additional information from the Federal Election Commission on August of 2016:

August 2, 2016

Jessica Grainger
Campaign Finance Analyst
Reports Analysis Division
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20463

Identification Number: C90015801

Reference: APRIL QUARTERLY REPORT (01/01/2016 – 03/31/2016), FILED 4/15/2016

Dear Ms. Grainger:

This response pertains to the Reports Analysis Division’s (“RAD”) Request for Additional Information (“RFAI”) dated June 28, 2016, concerning Right Way Initiative, Inc.’s April quarterly report filed on April 15, 2016.

The RFAI asserts that itemization is required for “each contributor who made a donation in excess of $200 used to fund the independent expenditure(s).” The cited regulation, however, requires the reporting of “[t]he identification of each person who made a contribution in excess of $200 to the person filing such report, which contribution was made for the purpose of furthering the reported independent expenditure.” 11 CFR section 109.10(e)(1)(vi). No contributions or donations accepted by Right Way Initiative, Inc. were solicited or received for the purpose of furthering the reported independent expenditures. Accordingly, no contributions or donations were required to be reported under the regulations cited in the RFAI.

With respect to 11 CFR section 114.10(f), that regulation applies only to “qualified nonprofit corporations.” Right Way Initiative, Inc. is not a “qualified nonprofit corporation.” Thus, the regulation is, by its own terms, inapplicable to Right Way Initiative, Inc.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions concerning this matter.

Sincerely,

Daniel Flynn
President

“….No contributions or donations accepted by Right Way Initiative, Inc. were solicited or received for the purpose of furthering the reported independent expenditures. Accordingly, no contributions or donations were required to be reported under the regulations cited….”

Alrighty then. We’re not going to find out who contributed money.

Right Way Initiative spent a chunk of change in support of or against some republican politicians in Ohio, including opposing the one who eventually won the special election for John Boehner’s vacated seat in Congress.

From the Federal Election Commission – reported on April 15, 2016:

SCHEDULE 5-E
ITEMIZED INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES
FILING FEC-1063185

Committee: RIGHT WAY INITIATIVE INC.
To Address Expenditure Description Date of Public Distribution/Dissemination Support/Opposed Amount Extended Calendar YTD Per Election for Office Sought
ADVANTAGE INC 2300 CLARENDON BLVD SUITE 303 ARLINGTON, Virginia 22201 PHONE CALLS 03/11/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 6926.00 640363.50
ADVANTAGE INC 2300 CLARENDON BLVD SUITE 303 ARLINGTON, Virginia 22201 PHONE CALLS 03/12/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 9561.36 649924.86
ADVANTAGE INC 2300 CLARENDON BLVD SUITE 303 ARLINGTON, Virginia 22201 PHONE CALLS 03/12/2016 In OPPOSITION to WARREN DAVIDSON 6374.24 656299.10
ADVANTAGE INC 2300 CLARENDON BLVD SUITE 303 ARLINGTON, Virginia 22201 PHONE CALLS 03/13/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 9658.56 665957.66
ADVANTAGE INC 2300 CLARENDON BLVD SUITE 303 ARLINGTON, Virginia 22201 PHONE CALLS 03/13/2016 In OPPOSITION to WARREN DAVIDSON 6439.04 672396.70
ADVANTAGE INC 2300 CLARENDON BLVD SUITE 303 ARLINGTON, Virginia 22201 PHONE CALLS 03/15/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 21594.40 703491.10
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 PRINTING / POSTAGE 02/26/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 17544.00 245910.00
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 PRINTING / POSTAGE
02/29/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 17544.00 263454.00
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 MECIA PRODUCTION / MEDIA PLACEMENT 02/29/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 14375.00 277829.00
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 PRINTING / POSTAGE 03/02/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 17544.00 295373.00
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 PRINTING / POSTAGE 03/04/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 17544.00 312917.00
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 MEDIA PLACEMENT 03/06/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 10937.50 323854.50
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 PRINTING / POSTAGE 03/08/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 38689.00 362543.50
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 PRINTING / POSTAGE 03/09/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 50010.00 412553.50
AXIOM STRATEGIES 1251 NW BRIARCLIFF PARKWAY SUITE 85 KANSAS CITY, Missouri 64116 MEDIA PLACEMENT 03/13/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 9500.00 681896.70
DEL CIELO MEDIA LLC 1427 LESLIE AVENUE SUITE 102 ALEXANDRIA, Virginia 22301 MEDIA PLACEMENT 02/24/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 215866.00 215866.00
DEL CIELO MEDIA LLC 1427 LESLIE AVENUE SUITE 102 ALEXANDRIA, Virginia 22301 MEDIA PLACEMENT 03/11/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 220339.00 632892.50
FOUR CARD LLC 3788 RICHMOND AVENUE #1274 HOUSTON, Texas 77046 MEDIA PRODUCTION 02/24/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 12500.00 228366.00
FOUR CARD LLC 3788 RICHMOND AVENUE #1274 HOUSTON, Texas 77046 MEDIA PRODUCTION 03/11/2016 In SUPPORT of TIMOTHY DERICKSON 545.00 633437.50
Total of Itemized Independent Expenditures = 703491.12

[emphasis added]

Axiom Strategies. Heh.

$703,491.12. That’s a lot of money in support of the guy who lost the republican primary. And we have no idea where the money came from.

We’ll need to wait until January 15th to see what they spent in mail against Claire.

Today, via Twitter:

VirginiaYoung ‏@VirginiaYoung

The only Christmas cheer in my office comes from @AxiomStrategies Christmas card, which was addressed to @tonymess but I opened anyway. 11:38 AM – 19 Dec 13

Tony Messenger ‏@tonymess

@VirginiaYoung @AxiomStrategies Always stealing my cards! 11:39 AM – 19 Dec 13

VirginiaYoung ‏@VirginiaYoung

@tonymess For a crack political consultant, @AxiomStrategies is sure slow in learning your new address. What’s it been, 3 yrs? 4:03 PM – 19 Dec 13

Oh, they knew.

Uh, if your client’s budget allows carpet bombing multiple direct mail pieces to every voter, damn the households, does it matter?

I generally like Tony Messenger, formerly of the Springfield News-Leader and now with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He’s a strong writer unafraid to call BS on an argument in no uncertain terms (such as today.) But in an item yesterday, Messenger slipped into a mode that’s all too comfortable for reporters and pundits alike – finding some “equivalent” negative item against the other side to show balance.

Messenger debunks Jeff Roe’s phony argument that Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee is not a qualified voter in Saint Joseph. Almost as an aside at the end, he brings up Montee’s supposedly false charges that Sam Graves failed to pay property tax on two planes he owns. According to Graves, they’re “salvage planes” (planes only used for spare parts), and therefore he doesn’t have to pay taxes on them. What’s more, the county assessor (a Democrat even!) agrees with him that they are “salvage planes”.

But by her own admission, the county assessor didn’t even take a look at the planes, even though they are registered with the FAA. I’d love to be able to own two big houses and call them “ramshackle barns” for tax purposes without fear of inspection.

Going beyond this silly argument, it’s rather amusing that Sam Graves likes to think of himself as a small businessman and farmer, yet is quibbling over how many airplanes he owns. How many small businessmen do you know with two planes used purely for spare parts to service his other airplanes?

In a column in yesterday’s KC Star, Barbara Shelly starts off well in her headline, “Wouldn’t it be great to a have Republican Party that embraced the center?” Gee, Barbara, that would be great. She finishes strong too:

Still, it’s been a good week. So good that I find myself imagining that, just maybe, the Kansas Legislature will spend more time in its next session discussing energy policy than late-term abortion …

… and that Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt will stop trying to roil his conservative base by inventing fears about “activist” judges…

… and that Missouri lawmakers will cease obsessing over potential embryos in lab dishes and start fixing the state’s fraying public universities…

… and that Jeff Roe, the local master of base-driven politics, will join Karl Rove on an extended hunting trip.

Freeze those visions as a delectable reminder of what could be.

Yes!!! I’m right there with you, Barbara. It’s what you wrote in between that scares me. More below the flip.

After an auspicious start with the headline, Shelly takes a hard right turn.

Goodbye Karl Rove.
Hello Rudy Giuliani.

Freeze this moment. The national Republican Party is suddenly looking good to me.

Rove is leaving Washington for Texas, having abandoned his bold dream of a permanent Republican majority anchored by its conservative base.

Giuliani, a centrist candidate, is sitting atop the party’s nationwide opinion polls.

Rudy Giuliani is a centrist? It’s a testament to how far right the conservative noise machine has moved the discourse in this country that Giuliani could be considered a centrist. Let’s forget his incompetence, typified by locating his emergency response HQ in a well-known terrorist target, the World Trade Center. Let’s also set aside his personal troubles, such as letting his wife know about their divorce from an interview in the New York Times. Let’s look at his actual policy positions.

On Iraq, Giuliani says that invading Iraq was “absolutely the right thing to do.” He could also support a further escalation in Iraq above and beyond the additional troops that Bush already sent in. On torture, he says, “Whatever methods they can think of.” On foreign policy, Giuliani submits a vision called “Toward a Realistic Peace” that is neither realistic nor peaceful. Even on abortion, where Giuliani is supposedly moderate, he supports the Hyde Amendment and would appoint the right kind of activist judges.

Barbara, when you say that you wish you that the legislature would pay more attention to the state’s well-being than to the whims of religious conservatives, I’m right there with you. But when you call a man a centrist who proclaimed proudly, “Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do,” I fear for our country.