Sunday, November 06, 2011

In the face of joblessness in the USA, Norquist is a happy man!

...In an Internal Revenue Service filing (click title to entry - thank you) dated Oct. 26, Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform reported receiving $12.39 million in contributions last year. That was three times the amount that Americans for Tax Reform raised in 2009, and more than Norquist's organization reported rising in the three prior years combined.

Why care about Norquist ? He's one of the nation's most influential conservatives. But while his influence rises, the law allows him to shield basic details about his operation.

Now, a year after the 2010 election, Norquist's tax return shows that Americans for Tax Reform's biggest single vendor last year was Mentzer Media Services, a political advertising firm in Maryland. Norquist paid Mentzer $3.6 million to run ads attacking Democrats and supporting Republicans in last year's congressional races.

Mentzer is a go-to firm for conservative politicos, having waged many high-profile campaigns, taking a hand in the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads smearing Sen. John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran.
Mentzer has been involved in several California campaigns, too, among them the California Chamber of Commerce's ad last year that swung wildly at candidate Brown, seeking to tie him to job losses and tax increases over the past 35 years....