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March 27, 2008

GOP Group Picks Battles, Makes Impact

By Reid Wilson

Wounded by liberal advocacy groups like MoveOn.org and others they believe hurt their cause in 2006, Republican strategists are increasingly turning to a similar approach in order to help their party's chances in 2008. Freedom's Watch, the most prominent of the new Republican-leaning organizations, has already made an impact running millions of dollars in television advertisements around the country, though the group raised eyebrows by choosing to stay on the sidelines during a recent special election won narrowly by Democrats.

Unlike MoveOn.org and several other left-leaning groups, which were founded by grass-roots organizers and have gradually grown in size over the past decade, Freedom's Watch, funded by some of the wealthiest Republicans in the country, is starting with a serious budget, and is employing hardened political professionals to help influence this year's debate.

This week, the committee hired Carl Forti, formerly the political director for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and a veteran of the National Republican Congressional Committee, as the group's Executive Vice President. Forti joins other prominent former Hill staffers including spokesman Ed Patru, who served as communications director for the House Republican Conference, and Joe Eule, the former chief of staff to ex-Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth, as well as Mike Leavitt, until last July the political director for John McCain's presidential campaign.

A 501(c)(4) organization, Freedom's Watch is bound neither by limits on how much their donors can give nor by disclosure rules forcing them to report who gives them money. No decision about an operating budget has been made,and Patru dismissed earlier reports of budgets within a certain range. "This town is full of rumor and innuendo and speculation. There are a lot of people in this town who think they are privy to strategy," he said. "We made a conscious decision not to broadcast our strategy. It doesn't make any sense to do that. The only thing that you have out there is speculation."

But the group won't be short of checkbooks to tap if funding becomes an issue. Board members include casino baron Sheldon Adelson, the third-richest man in the country, valued at $26 billion according to Forbes Magazine's 2008 list of richest people in the world. Several former Bush Administration ambassadors, including Anthony Gioia, former ambassador to Malta, Mel Sembler, former ambassador to Italy, and Howard Leach, former ambassador to France, are also involved, NBC News and the Washington Post reported in August.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is also on Freedom's Watch's board of directors, as is Matthew Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, and John Templeton, whose foundation tried to establish an answer to left-leaning independent groups during the 2004 campaign.

Status as a 501(c)(4) organization limits the types of ads the organization can run. "We want to be a voice for conservatives," Patru said, noting that a majority of the group's communications must cover the policy arena. Last year, Freedom's Watch ran a national advertisement opposing the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and, in a more political move, ran another spot urging voters in one Ohio district to call the Democratic candidate regarding her position on immigration.

In Ohio, Freedom's Watch's investment paid off. Partly as a result, Republican Bob Latta won the special election to take over for the late Rep. Paul Gillmor. It raised eyebrows, then, that the group decided to sit out a special election in Illinois earlier this year to replace former House Speaker Dennis Hastert in Illinois. "If Freedom's Watch is supposed to be acting as the cavalry, all I can say is the cavalry didn't show up," said one GOP strategist who watched the race closely.

Hastert's chosen successor, businessman Jim Oberweis, lost a closely-fought and very expensive race to Democrat Bill Foster, a political neophyte who nonetheless benefited, to some extent, from running on Barack Obama's coattails. Both national parties poured more than a million dollars into the race, while Foster benefited from outside investments from the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees' union.

Freedom's Watch, said a Washington-based Republican strategist, "have all the potential to be a force to be reckoned with." The strategist noted, though, that the group was "nowhere to be found in the recent Illinois election, and that has left a lot of people scratching their heads."

"We made a strategic decision not to get involved," said Patru, the Freedom's Watch spokesman. Others blamed Oberweis and the NRCC itself, saying Freedom's Watch made the right decision to stay away. "The NRCC went and spent 20% of their cash and lost," one Republican member of Congress observed, asking for anonymity to speak freely. "[Freedom's Watch] showed they're brighter."

"Oberweis was a fundamentally flawed candidate, and the election results validated that for a fourth consecutive time," said one Republican strategist who is familiar with Freedom's Watch's thinking. The member of Congress said the decision gave him more faith in the group. "Maybe they are better at picking races, from the stand point that they're not going to throw good money after bad," the member said.

Republicans face two more upcoming special elections in Louisiana, one of which Democrats could potentially seriously contest. As national Republican campaign organizations lag behind their Democratic counterparts in fundraising, GOP strategists are growing increasingly antsy about Freedom's Watch's timing and ability to effect a race. The Washington-based strategist sounded forlorn: "There's a presidential elect going on, and one would assume that would take up the bulk of their efforts. That leaves one to wonder what role [Freedom's Watch] will play in House and Senate races, if any."

Patru would not comment on whether Freedom's Watch would target that seat, based around Baton Rouge, but would say only that a close race won't get by their radar. "We're always watching the landscape," he said.

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