"Trust Huckabee" Tied To Huckabee Donors; Faces Legal Questions

Trust Huckabee, the new pro-Mike group that's making persuasion phone calls in Iowa, calls itself a project of Common Sense Issues, which is organized under section 501(c)4 of the tax code.

An extension portion of the TrustHuckabee website is devoted to recruiting, signing up and training precinct captains.

But 504(c)4 groups cannot legally recruit precinct captains for an electoral contest, much less for a specific candidate. It's a soft money operation paying for a basic presidential campaign function, which some campaign finance lawyers might

And it begs the question: if there were no coordination, then the group could very easily duplicate effort and mess up Huckabee's own field efforts. That is -- campaign precinct captains needs to coordinate in order to make sure they're not turning out the same voters. The campaign can't turn over field responsibility to this group, and they can't figure out together where to place people.

The TrustHuckabee operation is extensive.

An internal e-mail obtained by this column from a TrustHuckabee precinct captain states that the group plans to make 695,000 voter identification calls between November 5 and Dec. 5. Beginning today, three phone banks will call all identified Huckabee supporters to recruit captains for all 1,784 precincts.

Next week, the group will send the precinct captains lists of Huckabee supporters in their area. Beginning December 20, the precinct captains will contact the supporters in their precincts and ask them to caucus on Huckabee's behalf.

Who's behind this group?

Well, Common Sense was founded in advance of the 2006 cycle by two Proctor and Gamble executives, Harold "Zeke" Swift and Nathan Estruth.Swift is listed as the consumer product giants' Global Privacy Director.

Swift and Estruth are major Huckabee donors, according to a copy of a fundraising invitiaton obtained by this column. They're listed as members of the host committee for a November 19 fundraiser in Mason, Ohio.

The Politico's Martin reports that Patrick Davis, a former NRSC political director, is running the group. I've called Davis and will pass along any answers to these questions he might provide.

Comments

TrustHuckabee?... that's a funny name with an obvious premise... are their reason's why we wouldn't Trust Huckabee... it appears so... and we're just now starting to find out about why we should trust many of the GOP candidates...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP8dBeywqQM

Posted by FRedStates | December 3, 2007 2:57 PM

"TrustHuckabee?... that's a funny name with an obvious premise..."

Such as a rival trying to perform dirty-tricks against an honest campaign?

Would you put it past Romney's, Thompson's, or Giuliani's campaigns to have set this up?

Posted by Al-Ozarka | December 3, 2007 3:17 PM

Huckabee doesn't need this kind of "help"...and it wouldn't surprise me if Romney wasn't behind some of this crap...still trying to play the victim card.

As long as these videos continue to surface from Romney's past, he won't rally any support in Iowa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IJUkYUbvI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_w9pquznG4&feature=related

Posted by Chris | December 3, 2007 3:33 PM

It's not surprising - or unusual - that opponents of a candidate fund groups intent on making that candidate look bad.

I've done some research on this, and have found that Soros allies (Quasha, Nemazee, et al) have applied money to Romney's campaign (positive press- want him to win, because Hillary can beat him easily), Paul's campaign (funding him for a 3rd party run- spoiling any republican)- that explains the huge money flow to Paul (eg $4.2M in 1 day), who has single digit poll ratings, and now 501C groups that are thinly disguised attempts at discrediting the one candidate that can beat Hillary. If you think I'm blowing smoke- go check the Soros/Quasha/Nemazee network. It's all public. You'll find them, and their partners funding all of these things.

The fact that Huck has no money flow (positive help)says it all - the moneyed elites want him buried. The only money they will throw at him will be with groups that discredit him.

Posted by CAW | December 3, 2007 5:01 PM

Huckabee is a big government Republican. A dinosaur.

Posted by sean | December 3, 2007 5:37 PM

Finally, some of the junk is coming out on Huck.

Stay tuned folks!

Give our own legal American citizens the college education they need, don't give to children of illegals.

Posted by Debrar | December 3, 2007 7:45 PM

Marc, it would serve you well to check out another tie to this story.

It was reported by Politico earlier yesterday that trusthuckabee.com is under a group claiming to be affilliated with a larger 501(c)(4) called "Common Sense Issues."
Groups called "Common Sense Ohio" and "Common Sense 2006" last year spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to attack Democrats in targeted Senate races using similar such automated calls.
The legal architect behind Common Sense Ohio and Common Sense 2006 is Columbus attorney Bill Todd.
Buckeye State Blog tells us Bill Todd is a Giuliani donor, which a search of campaign finance records confirms.
Sounds fishy, huh?

Posted by Jones | December 4, 2007 12:57 AM

I am fully convinced that the base of the Republican party is some of the most illiterate, paranoid goofballs. Oh, Huck, you are so cool. Soros and the big money cats are out to get you. barf.

Posted by jimrob | December 4, 2007 6:47 AM

If you've got the fundraising invitation, can you put it up, or a scanned image of it? Inquiring minds like to have the source material :)

Posted by Ray | December 4, 2007 7:09 AM

Another interesting twist though-- Patrick Davis is a Fred Thompson donor:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?city=COLORADO+SPRINGS++&st=CO&last=Davis&first=Patrick

I'm not saying that Fred's behind this-- I'm just a little confused as to why a Fred Thompson donor would run a pro-Huckabee group.

Posted by Chris M | December 4, 2007 9:08 AM

Huckabee’s recent surge is simply created by the media. The media wants another corporate owned neocon in office at any cost so they have latched onto Huckabee. The former Arkansas gov.is just another smooth talking hukster that panders to the sheeple (people + sheep = sheeple). He is not a a true conservative and never will be. Huckabee allowed illegas to flood his state and just look at his tax record in Arkansas. The only true conservative and real Republican is Ron Paul. I discovered him via the first Republican debate. Paul is for border security and against amnesty for illegals and he has never voted for a tax increase, voted against the war, never voted for an unbalanced budget, never voted to raise congressional pay, never taken a government-paid junket, never voted to increase the power of the executive branch, and has not participated in the congressional pension program.

Posted by mary ellen | December 5, 2007 9:27 AM

Hi Mary Ellen,

Huckabee is far from a "corporate owned neocon"-- this can be evidenced by the notable lack of support for Huckabee from most of Wall Street. I've met Mr. Huckabee and found him to truly be a man of the people.

I honestly don't know if "illegals flooded his state", as you say, but if so, that points more to the failure of the federal government than the state governor. Huckabee supports building a wall, opposes amnesty, and opposed drivers licenses for illegal immigrants as governor.

You suggest that others "just look at his tax record in Arkansas." I would suggest the very same. Don't just read the editorials-- check out the actual facts. I'd suggest you also compare Arkansas with the other 49 states during that period of time. Huckabee's support for the Fair Tax is also worth mentioning, as is the fact that he signed the pledge to oppose any and all tax increases.

I would argue that Ron Paul is not a true Republican-- he is more of a libertarian. That being said, he does have some strong points, as you suggest. I'm glad you found a candidate you like. So have I (it's just not Ron Paul).

I'd recommend anyone who is not familiar with Huckabee surf on over to his web site, find out his views, and choose for yourself.

Posted by Chris M | December 5, 2007 4:02 PM

15 minutes ago nobody outside of Arkansas ever heard of Huckabee. Now, suddenly, he is "doubling" the supposed support of the frontrunner in Iowa. If there's anyone out there who thinks that things like this just 'happen', I have a bridge I'd like to sell them. The man is an obvious stooge of somebody(s) with a lot of money and power. Just exactly how many times must we be fooled before we start using our heads? Does anyone think it's just coincidental that Huckabee allowed illegal immigration in his state to flourish and that he is now suddenly a national power, no matter what lies he is now willing to spout about immigration? George W. told those exact same lies when HE was pulling the wool over our eyes. Picking a trustworthy Republican is very difficult this year. Our best bet is probably the guy who doesn't need the money that the corporate power structure has used to buy our government: Romney. Being "unbought" may be the finest and rarest quality we can ask of a candidate.

Posted by Doug W | December 8, 2007 8:36 AM

Doug W, don't under-estimate the power of the evangelicals. From what I've read, the evangelicals couldn't stand for a Catholic or Mormon to be the Republican nominee. One article attributed evangelical networking and mass emailing. The next thing you know, every minister and every bible study is a buzz about "one of their own" running for president. It reminds me of 1976--Jimmy Carter. None of these evangelicals have studied anything about Huckabee's past. The Democratic candidate would rip him to shreds. My only hope is that the media stays on top of the Huckabee dirt that's just now coming out. I also hope the heart of the republican party, including good christian evangelicals, will reject the ugly religious bigotry that's taking place (those that deny it must have somehow missed the thousands of blog entries by these bigots; also the studies and reports where 25% of evangelicals won't vote for a mormon). I'd be fine with Rudy, Mitt, or Fred. I will not support Mike. I think is crooked eye is perfectly representative of his character.

Posted by Bigot Slayer | December 9, 2007 12:44 AM

ChrisM,
You're obviously a big government "conservative" like Huckaphony. The federal government has not done a thing about illegal immigration, nor does it appear they want to do anything about it. Illegal immigration is not a federal problem at this point, it is a state problem. When the feds fail, as they have, it is up to each individual state to take care of the problem. Huck did not do this and advocated for college scholarships for children of illegals. Thanks to him, we now have a Mexican consulate office in Little Rock for which the Mexican government pays $1 a year. Don't even get me started on his tax increases in Arkansas (gas tax, used car sales tax, etc.). You really need to do your research on this idiot before you start talking like you know what you're talking about.....because you don't. I live in Arkansas and I can tell you exactly what the Huckster did and didn't do.

Posted by HuckSucks | January 30, 2008 6:22 PM