Rachel Maddow: ‘Veterans’ group’ fundraising off Trump speech is really one guy in S. Dakota

[think]

I thought this would garner more news but apparently scandalous behavior isn't that shocking anymore:

Rachel Maddow: ‘Veterans’ group’ fundraising off Trump speech is really one guy in S. Dakota

By ARTURO GARCIA - 15 SEP 2015 AT 23:44 ET

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow exposed the “veterans group” using an appearance by Donald Trump as a fundraiser on Tuesday as an apparent one-man organization.

Trump’s appearance aboard the USS Iowa, she explained, was an event benefiting Veterans for a Strong America, with tickets ranging between $100 and $1,000.

However, Maddow said, the Federal Election Commission filings for the group’s PAC reveal that, besides having only $30 cash in hand and $318 in debts, the organization’s only member is founder Joel Arends.

“Donald Trump was not in the military, but he did use a pretty military backdrop tonight to raise money for a non-existent veterans’ group, which endorsed him formally as part of his introduction — and he said they have hundreds of thousands of members,” she said. “And they don’t. And so the whole thing is fake.”

According to Heavy.com, Arends endorsed the real estate mogul, citing his “exceptional positions on national security and veterans issues.”...

Full article:
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/rachel-maddow-veterans-group-fundraising-off-trump-speech-is-really-one-guy-in-s-dakota/

Video with more background on the past "shady" dealings of the man behind this Veteran's group:

More information on Veterans for a Stronger America:

http://heavy.com/news/2015/09/veterans-for-a-strong-america-endorses-donald-trump-endorsement-pac-maddow-joel-arends-charity-donations-members-battleship-video-uss-iowa/

A little more info:

How Political Consultants Took a Texas Oilman on a Wild Ride

ROBERT FATURECHI MAR 25, 2015

~Snip~

At least three of the outside companies Davis recommended to Vote2ReduceDebt were run by one of his business associates, Joel Arends, an attorney and political operative based in South Dakota. Davis and Arends have known each other for two decades through various Republican campaigns. Most recently, they had worked together on the South Dakota primary in which their candidate got indicted and blamed Arends for the allegedly falsified filings.

Hill said that one proposal from Patrick Davis involved a cross-country bus tour using a company linked to Arends that was so obscure it didn’t have a website. On another occasion, Davis pushed for the PAC’s printing services to be handled by Arends. Davis said through his lawyer that he felt Arends would be faster and cheaper than other options.

Vote2ReduceDebt didn’t go with Patrick Davis’ suggestions on either of those jobs, but did heed his advice when choosing who to hire for a $200,000 contract to produce voter rallies. Davis again picked Arends, who ran a company called Red State Productions. Davis’s lawyer said in a statement that Red State “is a skilled political campaign services provider with years of experience and excellent results over many campaigns.”

While Arends had worked with campaigns in the past, Red State’s website, which displays photos of big political rallies featuring Republican stars such as Representative Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich, was created a couple of days before Red State pitched the $200,000 deal to Vote2ReduceDebt, domain registration records show. The company was incorporated in South Dakota a few days after the pitch.

Red State’s events, according to the website, “are widely attended, photographed and reported.” A search of online databases turned up no previous record of payments to Red State Productions by a candidate or political committee. The D.C. number for the company has since been disconnected. The address listed on its website is for a service on Washington’s K Street lobbying corridor that provides mail drops and temporary office space...

~Snip~

Full article:
http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/how-political-consultants-took-a-texas-oilman-on-a-wild-ride

What Everyone Should Know About The Secretive Group Trying To Swift Boat Barack Obama

BY JUDD LEGUM & ADAM PECK MAY 6, 2012 11:22AM

A secretive right-wing group, Veterans For A Strong America, is attempting to do to President Obama what the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth did to Sen. John Kerry in 2004. And they aren’t shy about it. The group’s leader and sole employee, Joel Arends, told Mother Jones, “Yes, it’s the swift boating of the president.”

Arends said his goal is to take “what’s perceived to be [Obama’s] greatest strength” — the successful raid on Osama Bin Laden’s Pakistani compound — and make it “his greatest weakness.” The effort started this week with a web video attacking Obama for taking too much credit.

In an interview with ThinkProgress, Arends refused to discuss any information regarding how the group was financed or its leadership. Arends also declined to provide legal forms he claims to have filed with the IRS. A representative from the IRS told ThinkProgress that the agency does not have any forms from Arends’ group on file.
Here’s what we do know about Arends and Veterans For A Strong America:

1. In four days, the first ad by Veterans For A Strong America garnered almost 1 million views on Youtube. It has also been played frequently on TV news shows. [YouTube, 5/1/12]

~Snip~

3. Arends also tried to Swift Boat Obama in 2008. Arends, under the auspices of a similar group called “Vets for Freedom,” ran an ad accusing Obama of refusing to meet with wounded soldiers from Illinois. [NPR, 7/5/08]

4. Arends worked as a consultant for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity. “Though he doesn’t list it on his public resume, around 2006 Arends went to work for Craig Dewey, the state director of Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy outfit that’s Astroturfed everything from the tea party and the Wisconsin union fight to public-school segregation.” The Koch Brothers and their allies have pledged to spend $100 million to defeat Obama. [Mother Jones, 5/4/12; HuffingtonPost, 2/3/12]...

Full article:
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/05/06/478820/obama-swift-boat-veterans-for-a-strong-america/

Meet the Astroturfer Planning to Swift Boat Obama

—By Adam Weinstein | Fri May 4, 2012 6:00 AM EDT

Joel Arends, Veterans for a Strong America's founder, chairman, and sole staffer, tells me he's proud of his organization's viral video, even if it's characterized as swift boating. "Yes, it's the swift boating of the president, in the sense of using what's perceived to be his greatest strength and making it his greatest weakness."

~Snip~

In 2007, Arends became the executive director of Veterans for Freedom (VFF), whose members fought Obama's Supreme Court nominations, coordinated campaigns for right-wing candidates like Florida Rep. Allen West, and freaked out about the prospect of Islamic law being implemented in America. Arends' job included recruiting vets and flying them, expenses-paid, to Washington, DC, to attend events like the "Vets Take the Hill" rally with Republican members of Congress and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in April 2008.

As an "independent" nonprofit, VFF tried to downplay its ties to the Bush-Cheney and McCain-Palin campaign teams. It also had ties to the Donatelli Group, the conservative fundraisers who'd seeded Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. Arends and most of VFF's leadership have since moved on to lucrative or influential positions in the conservative establishment. "Everybody left VFF happy," he says

~Snip~

Who's funding Vets for a Strong America, and how does it spend its money? There's no way to know. The group is registered as a 501(c)4—a "social welfare" group that can engage in political activities without disclosing its donors. So far, VFSA hasn't released any financial information, and Arends is coy about his group's backers. "We know we have supporters out there," he says. "People like what we're saying, and we're going to continue on, being very vocal with that message."

Full article:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/05/swift-boat-obama-bin-laden-video

[annabanana]

1. I know.. I suspect that the rest of the media has been warned off the story. .

No other explanation makes any sense to me.

[Hortensis]

2. May take time to investigate, let the story build on line a bit to

provide a protective screen for the GOP and media conglomerates to hide behind. Maybe let the story mature by waiting and seeing how much money is gathered in the name of our vets and just what this shyster does with it.

My guess would be that right-wing donors looking for ammo to take him out will be all over this juicy bit, too. Political ads also take time, but talk radio may get on it faster.

Rachel's often out front, but in this case I'm a little sorry the story was broken so soon. Being taken for a sucker by a small-time operator doesn't quite fit the way Trump likes to be seen.

[bullwinkle428]

3. Now THIS is a real story - not showing every campaign speech he makes, repeating

the same shit over and over again.

[Fast Walker 52]

4. it's freaking insane! How fucked up is the M$M???

Here's another link:
http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/09/corp-media-covers-trumps-fake-veterans-speech-and-endorsement-doesnt-realize-it-was-a-fraud/

[ecstatic]

5. Excellent reporting by Maddow

I always learn something when I watch her show.

[0rganism]

6. "he said they have hundreds of thousands of members"

they will
oh, they will

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

7. Good ammunition for Trump's opponents for the debate tonight.

If they have the guts to use it.