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Another incidence of political discrimination is the aforementioned treatment of anti-war protesters who were described as "communists".
Another incidence of political discrimination is the aforementioned treatment of anti-war protesters who were described as "communists".


Move America Forward's hardline leader Melanie Morgan and her supporters regularly dismiss those who challenge them as "communists" or "far-left". She also regularly preaches [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|free speech and free press]]—despite her organisation's stated aim of "restrict[ing] liberal and activist media".<ref>{{cite web
Move America Forward's leader Melanie Morgan and her supporters regularly characterize those who challenge them as "communists" or "far-left". She also regularly preaches [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|free speech and free press]]—despite her organisation's stated aim of "restrict[ing] liberal and activist media".<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55298
|url=http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55298
|title=Shooting at the truth
|title=Shooting at the truth

Revision as of 23:32, 29 January 2009

Move America Forward is a controversial conservative[1][2][3] non profit political action group based in California in the United States. Through media-saturation campaigns that include television and radio commercials;[4] lobbying politicians at the local, state, and federal levels; and by encouraging grass-roots activism, Move America Forward has sought to advance a conservative agenda that includes the removal of the United Nations headquarters from the United States, the recalling of state governors it deems too "liberal," restricting what it terms "liberal" or "activist" media, the closing of the U.S.-Mexico border and the deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin, opposition of what it deems "liberal" political candidates and political action groups, and advocacy for conservative political candidates and appointees. Move America Forward vocally supports and advocates the policies of the Bush Administration. [4]

History

Move America Forward was established in May 2004 by political consultant Sal Russo, former Republican assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and Melanie Morgan, a talk show host at Disney-owned KSFO 560 AM, both of whom now serve as Move America Forward's co-chairmen. Both Russo and Kaloogian served in key roles in the successful Recall Gray Davis Committee that prompted the California's 2003 gubernatorial California recall election—Kaloogian as chairman of the recall campaign, Russo as chief strategist.[5] In November 2003, one month after the recall election, Russo told the Los Angeles Daily News of the 120,000 recall supporters in his database. "We took on the political establishment and won, and they feel empowered, ... They want to be involved. ... We'll change the name to something like 'Move America Forward,'" and go national, he predicted. A week later, the domain name MoveAmericaForward.com was registered to Russo's public relations firm, Russo Marsh & Rogers.[6] Both Kaloogian and Russo continued on with Move America Forward in essentially the same roles as in the Recall Gray Davis Committee.[7]

Russo Marsh & Rogers is Sacramento-based political public relations firm, with strong ties to the Republican Party. Russo, a principal in Russo Marsh & Rogers, worked on the political campaigns of Ronald Reagan, Alfonse M. D'Amato, George Pataki, Jack Kemp, and Orrin Hatch.

Prominent Move America Forward campaigns have included the closing of the US-Mexico border (the MAF's "Secure Our Borders" campaign) and the ending of amnesty programs to illegal immigrants (through nomoreamnesty.com), support of John R. Bolton—an outspoken critic of the United Nations—to serve as the US representative to the United Nations, and restricting the distribution of the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 911. In August 2005, Move America Forward sponsored a You don't speak for me, Cindy! tour to counter Cindy Sheehan's protest at President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch (and the vigils in support of Sheehan that were held around the country).

Malcolm Maclachlan wrote in the Capitol Weekly that Move America Forward "has been criticized for running such advocacy ads while maintaining a 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax status. However, several political watchdogs noted that the group adheres to the letter of the law. For instance, the group does not give to candidates or directly call for people to vote for anyone."[4]

Controversy

Though Move American Forward describes itself as "...a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization committed to supporting America’s efforts to defeat terrorism and supporting the brave men and women of our Armed Forces" [7], its actions have been almost wholly partisan and hence restricted to the political arena.[8]

In 2004, whatreallyhappened.com published an online exposé revealing the ties of Move America Forward to Russo Marsh & Rogers, information obtained using a domain name look-up service, showing that Russo Marsh & Rogers established the Move America Forward website. Siobhan Guiney, Executive Director of Move America Forward, admitted that Russo Marsh & Rogers did register the site for them and that the two groups shared a building and a phone receptionist [9]. Not long after the exposé Move America Forward purged all references to Russo Marsh & Rogers from its domain registration, going to so far as to list a Sacramento bar as its registrant phone number at one point. [10] Sourcewatch describes Move America Forward as "part of a pro-war lobby."[1]

When asked about the seeming disparity between Move America Forward's mission of supporting the troops in America's war on terror and its history of advocating for the conservative policies and agenda set forth by the Bush Administration, Siobhan Guiney, Executive Director of MAF, stated: "He's our Commander in Chief. It's his policies in place (sic) [and we] have to support those policies." [9]

Additional controversy erupted in August 2005 centered around Move America Forward's "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!" campaign countering the protest of Cindy Sheehan. Observers and the press have noted that some pro-Bush activists in the MAF entourage were aggressively confrontational and verbally abusive, calling the anti-war protesters "communists", and saying they are "aiding and abetting the enemy".[11]

In April 2006 controversy erupted again when Kaloogian's campaign website posted a picture on his website that he claimed depicted a peaceful Baghdad neighborhood, and the claims that the Iraq conflict was going well. Quickly, however, internet watchdogs correctly identified the picture as coming from Istanbul, Turkey, and the picture was removed. Kaloogian later said using the photo was "a stupid mistake".[12]

Laffer Lawsuit

Russo was successfully sued by Arthur Laffer over a $200,000 campaign in favor of a flat tax. Laffer successfully argued to the court that Russo was in breach of contract and was required to pay $20,000 to Laffer and return $20,000 to donors.[13]

Laffer also claimed that Russo was responsible for the hiring of a convicted drug dealer, Paul Edward Hindelang, to the campaign Russo ran for Bill Simon.[13]

Nonprofit status

On September 9, 2006 the Sacramento Bee ran an article detailing a number of issues with Move American Forward's activities that might affect its nonprofit status.[8] Chief among these were concerns public donations to MAF may be indirectly or directly subsidizing partisan activity prohibited nonprofit organizations by law. Milbourn cited as evidence the statement by Melanie Morgan that the Bush administration is running "one of the most inept communications departments I've seen. ... That's one of the reasons we started Move America Forward ... This administration is unable to articulate clearly why we went to Iraq, why we are there and why we're winning the war."[8] He also noted that Move America Forward shares its office with Russo's PR firm, that one of Russo's private clients is the government of Kurdistan in northern Iraq and that his firm is running a campaign encouraging investment there. Milbourn says the Center for Media and Democracy has questioned whether the contract poses a conflict for Russo, given Move America Forward's promotion of the war.[8]

The Guardian reporter dispute

There are several claims on right wing websites that a Guardian newspaper reporter named Damien Benson contacted Move America Forward requesting information. It seems that when the organisation told the reporter its views on the British sailors' arrest in Iran, he refused to give them publicity for moral reasons. What followed was a war of words where Move America Forward's leader Melanie Morgan accused one of the United Kingdom's most respected newspapers of being "far left".

A section of Move America Forward's statement was as follows: [14]

"The message was very informative although I don't think it would be the best idea to quote your comments on the sailors' capture – it's an extremely delicate situation here," Benson said. I think Benson is confused. We are not interested in a biased left-wing reporter cherry-picking parts of our message that are in line with his liberal political beliefs. He wanted the opinion of the other side and he got it.

As the publicity of this dispute increases, rumours are circulating that Damien Benson is in fact some kind of hoax on the part of Move America Forward.[15] Indeed, the only search results on Google for the words "Damien Benson", "Guardian" and "Reporter" are from Morgan's own online columns. In addition the extreme nature of "Benson's" comments published by KSFO talk radio, plus the fact that these comments seem completely out of sync with the Guardian's normal stance could suggest an elaborate ploy.[16]

National and political antagonism

Move America Forward frequently describes Nancy Pelosi, the current house speaker in the United States as a "cheese-eating surrender monkey". This was demonstrated in a Move America Forward rally—the organization later stated that the term was also intended as an insult to France.[17]

Another incidence of political discrimination is the aforementioned treatment of anti-war protesters who were described as "communists".

Move America Forward's leader Melanie Morgan and her supporters regularly characterize those who challenge them as "communists" or "far-left". She also regularly preaches free speech and free press—despite her organisation's stated aim of "restrict[ing] liberal and activist media".[18] In addition, Morgan has been permanently banned from appearing on PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer for her constant attacks on debating opponents.[19].

Funding

Move America Forward has raised about $1.2 million, mostly from small, undisclosed donors, according to Russo. Most of the money, $693,456, has been spent on television and radio spots and rallies, tax records show. About $113,000 funded programs directly benefiting soldiers, such as mailing them cookies, coffee and beef jerky.[8]

References

  1. ^ Human Event Conservative Spotlight
  2. ^ News Review
  3. ^ NPR
  4. ^ a b c Maclachlan, Malcolm (2006-04-06). "Kaloogian rides Move America Forward into the public eye". Capitol Weekly. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  5. ^ "Calif. Gov. Davis Faces Recall Effort". CNN. 2003-06-17. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  6. ^ Marsetta, Diane (2004). "Moving America One Step Forward And Two Steps Back". PR Watch.com – Center for Media and Democracy. Retrieved 2008-02-28. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  7. ^ a b "About Us". Move America Forward. Retrieved 2008-02-28. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  8. ^ a b c d e Milbourn, Todd (2006-09-09). "Iraq war backers proudly pugnacious". Sacramento Bee. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  9. ^ a b The, Natasha (2004-06-16). ""RM+R and Move America Forward"". Pacific Views. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  10. ^ What Really Happened.com
  11. ^ Bennett, William (2005-08-24). "War protesters face off with war supporters". North County Times/The Californian. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  12. ^ Marinucci, Carla (2006-03-30). "Candidate admits 'stupid' Web error". San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  13. ^ a b Bradley, Bill (2002-08-14). "The Fictional Candidate". LA Weekly. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  14. ^ Morgan, Melanie (2007-05-18). "Your thoughts are prohibited". WorldNetDaily. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  15. ^ "Rumours circulate of Guardian reporter hoax". Forumosa.com. 2007-05-20. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  16. ^ "Mel's Column and Guardian's Response ("Benson's" comments from KSFO)". Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  17. ^ "'Surrender monkeys' protest Pelosi, Reid (Move America Forward ridicules Pelosi)". 2007-05-18.
  18. ^ Morgan, Melanie (2007-05-20). "Shooting at the truth".
  19. ^ Murphy, Logan (2007-05-18). "Melanie Morgan Permanently Banned From "The News Hour"". Crooks and Liars. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
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