Americans for Limited Government: Just The Latest Scam From Carter Clews
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When I was reading about this latest flap between NBC News and “Americans For Limited Government”, a name stuck out to me:
Carter Clews, Director of Communications for Americans for Limited Government, has issued a statement following Capus’ interview with POLITICO.
Carter Clews is like one of those comic book names. It sticks out. The reason I remembered it is because Clews was behind a conservative e-mail list called “Laptop Lobbyist”. It was one of the efforts from the right to have their own version of MoveOn, but it was mostly a way for people like Clews to get the most gullible of right-wing activists to pay money (about $20)to send a “blast fax” on the hot issue of the day. Nice racket if you can get it.
Like much of the right, Clews isn’t grassroots by a long shot:
In 1984, Clews set up an office in Madrid, Spain, for Gray and Company, a large, Washington-based public relations and lobbying firm with close ties to the Reagan administration. Clews, who was a senior vice president at Gray and Company, came under scrutiny in a 1985 investigation which suggested that the firm had been involved in bribing a Spanish politician.
…
In 1985, Clews set up his own PR firm, Clews and Co., and was hired to work on behalf of the Nicaraguan contras, organizing events such as a fundraising dinner for the Nicaraguan Refugee Fund. The dinner included a staged photograph of Ronald Reagan kissing 8-year-old Patricia Guerra, who was introduced as a “Nicaraguan refugee.” (It was later disclosed that Patricia was born in the United States, lived in Washington, and that her parents had been in the United States for more than 15 years.)
…
In 1988, Clews worked for the Howard Phillips’s Conservative Caucus. Later that year he became an aide to the Federal Trade Commission but was fired after sending out a letters to newspaper editorial boards and radio talk shows criticizing Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis. AdWeek reported that “Clews’ actions may have violated the Hatch Act, a federal statute that forbids government employees from using their office to influence an election.”
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In 2003, Clews teamed up with Christopher Carmouche and his wife, Christine Carmouche, to set up Laptoplobbyist.com, an advocacy website allied with the Christian Coalition. It developed a money-raising scheme called the “Insta-Fax.” The site features angry right-wing polemics aimed at stirring up visitors to send fax messages to a list of politicians that it has selected. It charges visitors $20 to send the fax. Campaigns in which it has participated include a push for federal passage of a law banning so-called “partial birth abortions”; opposition to gay marriage; an “F-word campaign” aimed at the Federal Communications Commission; lobbying to block the morning-after pill, and a campaign of harassment against a humorous “Jesus Dress Up” website. In February 2004, the company worked for Democratic opponents of legalized slot machine gambling in the state of Baltimore but was embarrassed when state Republican Party officials, who supported legalized slots, said that Laptoplobbyist had previously approached them seeking $100,000 to lobby on the other side of the issue. “I would consider it basically blackmail,” said state Republican Party Executive Director Eric Sutton. “They showed us their plan for an anti-slots campaign and threatened retaliation, saying if we didn’t buy into their scheme, they would help the other side launch their own campaign.
18 Responses to “Americans for Limited Government: Just The Latest Scam From Carter Clews”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
From this to Peter Thiel funding James O’Keefe. They’re all cubic zirconia all the time
Your “background investigation” would do ‘Tail Gunner Joe’ proud, Oliver!
Fuck you, Frank.
another burst of wisdom from Mr. Science Man!
another burst of wisdom from Mr. Science Man!
What I said wasn’t non-scientific. And I don’t think that I was trying to impart any wisdom, either. Idiot.
Stop drinking. Think of your children, Frank. They want you to stop drinking too. You’re such a violent and stupid drunk, and it hurts them to see you this way.
Your “background investigation” would do ‘Tail Gunner Joe’ proud, Oliver!
Are you asserting that these things never happened? If he has a history of using lobbying groups to commit fraud, then shouldn’t we naturally be suspicious of his new group?
“It was one of the efforts from the right to have their own version of MoveOn, but it was mostly a way for people like Clews to get the most gullible of right-wing activists to pay money (about $20)to send a “blast fax” on the hot issue of the day. Nice racket if you can get it.”
I caught a birther infomercial on TV the other night that had “fax scam” written all over it. Basically, all they pay for is a server and air time — it’s nearly pure profit off stupid people.
mambochicken: Now you’re just being an ass. I don’t drink, I haven’t had a drink in 23 years, and you are just an angry, malevolent fool.
You do yourself, your generation, and your fellow liberals a disservice by engaging such vile behavior. Were you capable of shame, you should be ashamed of yourself.
By the way, countdown to pretending — once again — that you have not involved my children in your juvenile, tawdry comments, begins now.
3 …
2 …
1 …
Are you asserting that these things never happened?
No, I am not.
Go cry to someone who cares, Frank. Good luck finding someone who fits that bill, you sad, pathetic old man.
mambochicken, there is no doubt in my mind that there is no more self-centered person on this earth than you. I doubt seriously you care about anything more important, or abstract, than your next meal.
I would pity you , but you are so relentlessly vicious, I can’t bring myself to pity you. Perhaps someone closer to sainthood could , but not I. You waste your gift of humanity, and contribute nothing to the world around you.
So keep on doing what you are doing, and we’ll see who goes our smiling, you pompous, self-absorbed ass.
No, I am not.
Well at least we cleared that up. Now, how is stating facts about a person a partisan witch hunt?
there is no doubt in my mind that there is no more self-centered person on this earth than you.
A bit hyperbolic, don’t ya think?
I doubt seriously you care about anything more important, or abstract, than your next meal.
I care about lots of things, Frank. I certainly don’t care about you, so if you wanted to extrapolate from that one data point, then sure… I guess I don’t care about anything.
You waste your gift of humanity, and contribute nothing to the world around you.
False. I contribute a great deal. Being a legit member of the scientific community allows for wonderful contributions, Frank. I’ve had three published articles in the past year in peer-reviewed journals. Of course, I know your opinion on science (i.e., it’s a “fairy tale”), so I’m not surprised that you don’t think that this is a contribution on my part.
Like I said before: Fuck you, Frank. You’re a sad, pathetic old fool.
Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda… S S D D
Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda… S S D D
Again demonstrating your amazing lack of self-awareness. Literally every post you make is idiotic.
You know, Mambo, you need to take a day off from stalking me, just to get an inkling of what it feels like to participate in a blog, instead of a daily flamefest. Am I the only one who notices that something near 99% of your “contribution” here is insulting me.
Talk about awareness: You would have to be sociopathic to be as unaware as you pretend to be of your own condescending, patronizing attitude.
Either you are sociopathic, or you are a poseur.
You would have to be sociopathic to be as unaware as you pretend to be of your own condescending, patronizing attitude.
Are you a psychologist now, Frank?
If I condescend to you (and I believe I do) it’s because you are beneath me. You’re scum, Frank, and I never tire to explaining that simple fact to you. Kill yourself.
I thank you for that repulsive insight into your psyche. I suppose you are a sociopath. Do you recall torturing and killing small animals as a child?