Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission in support of a PAC in Missouri formed to oppose ethics reform (including redistricting reform) petitions which became the CLEAN Missouri initiative (Proposition 1) on the November ballot:
C180099 08/30/2018 Advance Missouri Missouri Republican Party 514 E High Street Suite 31 Jefferson City MO 65101 8/30/2018 $12,000.00
[emphasis added]
Why are we not surprised?
In the past:
C180099 04/30/2018 Advance Missouri Liberty Alliance 7509 NW Tiffany Spring Parkway Ste 300 Kansas City MO 64153 4/30/2018 $12,201.09
C180099 06/01/2018 Advance Missouri Fair Lines America Inc. 2308 Mount Vernon Ave Ste 716 Alexandria VA 22301 6/1/2018 $50,000.00
[emphasis added]
Fair Lines America? What’s that:
[….]On the surface, not much is known about Fair Lines America. The group hosted a workshop on redistricting at the December 2017 conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative, corporate lobbying group with a history advocating anti-voter legislation and strong ties to industrialists Charles and David Koch and their political network. Fair Lines America’s connection to ALEC gives it credentials within the conservative movement, but ALEC’s description of the workshop did not give any details on who they are.
A bit more digging reveals that the Alexandria, VA mailing address Fair Lines America listed on Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution’s campaign finance report, P.O. BOX 26141, matches the address used by several super PACs that paid for attack ads directed at Donald Trump in the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. The PO Box and the ads were an issue in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and the super PACs were found to be affiliated with Trump foes Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina.
The PO Box also is connected to Christopher Marston, a Republican attorney, and his campaign finance compliance firm, Election CFO. Among the firm’s listed clients are several Republican members of Congress and political committees.
Fair Lines America also has Twitter account (@FairLinesUSA), although it has never tweeted. At this writing, the Twitter account has exactly one follower: the National Republican Redistricting Trust. This is a group set up by Republican officials to help the GOP in the 2021 redistricting process. According to a Politico article that announced the groups’ formation, the organization “will focus on data and legal efforts” to challenge Democrat-drawn districts. To completely conceal its donors, the National Republican Redistricting Trust is registered as a legal trust instead of a nonprofit or political action committee.[….]
The twitter account:
Fair Lines America @FairLinesUSA A non-partisan, non-profit supporting fair and legal redistricting through education, demography, data analysis, litigation, and reform.
Joined April 2018
You think they wrote that description with a straight face? Just asking.
Some of the (present) seventeen followers of that Twitter account:
Chris Young @ChrisYoungNV Secure Nevada’s Future | @GOP National Field Director ’16 | @GOP LA State Director ’14 | Team Nevada ’12 | @BobbyJindal ’07 & ’11 | Organizer |
Bobby Jindal, eh? That inspires great confidence.
Stephanie Bell @stephaniesbell Wife. Mom. Community Builder. Advocate. Lawyer. Conservative. ISTJ. #SoBoCo
Fair Districts La @fairdistrictsla Fair Districts Louisiana is a grass-roots, non-partisan alliance of citizens advocating for redistricting reform.
Riiiiight.
Trey Trainor @txelectionlaw Husband, father of six, Catholic, conservative. Advise elected officials, political organizations, and candidates on state and federal election regulations.
StLCountyRepublicans @StLCountyRepub St. Louis County Republicans. Happenings and More. Retweet if you like. Grassroots. News and information. You decide.
Alrighty then.
NRRT @TheNRRT The National Republican Redistricting Trust
They could form a right wingnut infinite feedback loop. Oh, wait, the Faux New Channel already exists.
