Eric O'Keefe (political activist)

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Eric O'Keefe

Eric O’Keefe (Political Activist) is the chairman and CEO of the Sam Adams Alliance.

Under his leadership, the Sam Adams Alliance (SAM) has established some of the most active and respected organizations in the freedom movement. Most recently, SAM set up American Majority to train potential candidates and campaign organizers and the Franklin Center, which helps train and place investigative journalists in non-profit organizations.

The alliance also launched Judgepedia, Ballotpedia, and Sunshine Review, Wikipedia-style websites which have had more than 19 million page views for their 128,000 pages of politically important information. Eric also works closely with grassroots advocates such as Americans for Prosperity and with the State Policy Network to promote transparency and accountability in state and local governments.

He serves on the board of directors of the Institute for Humane Studies, the Center for Competitive Politics, and Wisconsin Club for Growth. He authored the book Who Rules America, which won praise from Milton Friedman, and hosts a new podcast series, Engaging Democracy.

When not promoting political reform, Eric is a private investor residing in rural Wisconsin with his wife Leslie Graves.

Past experience

He is a founding board member of a term limits advocacy group, U.S. Term Limits. He drafted the plan for a term limits sweep across the country in 1992 and 1994. By early 1995, voters in twenty-three states had limited the terms of their U.S. congressional delegations through the ballot initiative process.

In the case of U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, five judges on the Supreme Court nullified the preferences of those voters, asserting that states do not have the right to determine the conditions under which their representatives in Congress will serve. However, term limits governing state legislatures remained in force. Fifteen states now have term limits on their legislative representatives.

Americans for Limited Terms lawsuit

O'Keefe served as president of Americans for Limited Terms (ALT) from 1996 to 2000. In congressional election cycles in 1996 and 1998, Americans for Limited Terms ran issue ads in a number of congressional districts, advising voters about the positions on term limits held by their congressional candidates.

One of these ads generated a lawsuit against ALT (ALT prevailed) claiming that the ad was "express advocacy" rather than an "issue ad".

In 1996, ALT ran a $24,000 radio ad campaign in a Wisconsin race that showcased the opposition of State Assemblyman (D), David Travis to term limits. Travis and the elections board responded by suing Americans for Limited Terms stating that the ads were "express advocacy" instead of "issue ads."

O'Keefe was quoted in an article defending his position,

There's an effort by incumbents to clamp down on issue ads because it's the only area of campaign spending that's tilted against incumbents. In my view it's among the most important campaign spending because it's an outlet for dissenting voices. It's extremely vital in democracy.

Other involvement

bQld0T28RX8|250}} O'Keefe talking about the history of political parties in 2007

O'Keefe serves on the Board of Directors of Wisconsin Club for Growth, The Institute for Humane Studies and Citizens in Charge. Prior to 2007, O'Keefe served on the board of directors of Americans for Limited Government.

In early 2008, O'Keefe argued that a commission recently created in Wisconsin to monitor judicial elections was itself partisan, and therefore unreliable as a judicial watchdog group.

In 2001, O'Keefe assisted in cleaning up a business, Votenet, of which he was a part-owner. Votenet, as court records show, was victimized by two of its employees who were later convicted and imprisoned for their financial fraud. Although an attorney recommended that the company declare bankruptcy in order to step away from the financial destruction caused by the felonious employees, O'Keefe recommended against that course of action, enabling the company's creditors to be repaid and the company ultimately to stay in business.

Publications

O'Keefe wrote a book, Who Rules America: The People versus the Political Class, which focuses on the country’s founding principles to make the case for term limits, and won praise from Milton Friedman. With Aaron Steelman, he co-authored "The End of Representation: How Congress Stifles Electoral Competition".

He has also been published in the Christian Science Monitors and the Sacramento Bee.

External links

• Sam Adams Alliance Profile
• The Sam Adams Project, profile on the New York Times Caucus blog.
• "Who Rules America: The People versus the Political Class" book listing on Amazon
• Independent Groups' Ads Increasingly Steer Campaigns, CNN, May 2, 1998
• History of the Political Parties, YouTube
• Appearance at an Americans for Prosperity meeting
• The Sam Adams Project, the New York Times, July 19, 2008
• O'Keefe's political blog
• O'Keefe radio interview with Tertium Quids
• A Blank Paper on The History of Political Parties
• December 16, 2009 comments on the 2009 Tea Party movement