Why is the "American Future Fund?" it taking over Youtube?

[Alcibiades]

Just about every time I click on a video I want to watch on Youtube, I get another video from the "American Future Fund." Most of them are silly, but this one takes the cake:

&list=UU89Dm7igru3ebOTRmCVTV4w&index=4&feature=plcp

So we are supposed to believe Mitt Romney, vampire squid that he is, is not going to staff his economic team with Wall Streeter, and is going to start the prosecutions? Riiiight.

Of coure, it's an idependent 501(c). It's not actually independent, of course: its former president, Nicole Schlinger, now works for Romney.

As for the donors, we have no idea who they are. None.

Thanks, Supreme Court, for handing unlimited power to influence elections over to anonymous donors.

[HiPointDem]

1. republican...

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/10/american-future-fund/

Spending target: $20 million to $25 million

American Future Fund was founded in 2007 by Nick Ryan, a longtime political adviser to former Iowa congressman Jim Nussle, a Republican....Nicole Schlinger, a former finance director of the Republican Party of Iowa, was American Future Fund's first president. Schlinger is the founder of Capital Resources, a fundraising consultancy and management firm. She also served as the director of Mitt Romney’s Ames, Iowa, straw poll campaign in 2007. On her company website, she claims to be “the most prolific political fundraiser in Iowa Republican history with over $50 million raised for candidates from city council to governor.” In 2008, Sandra Greiner replaced Schlinger as president of American Future Fund. Greiner served as an Iowa state legislator from 1992 to 2004 and is now a GOP candidate for state Senate.

American Future Fund is registered as a 501(c)(4), which means it can receive unlimited donations and does not have to disclose its donors. In its most recent IRS filing from 2008, the group reported receiving $7.5 million in donations and spending approximately $6.3 million.

Although the group has not publicly disclosed its donors, Hawkeye Energy Holding CEO Bruce Rastetter acknowledged to the New York Times that he donated an undisclosed amount in 2007 to help get the group started. In an Oct. 11 story, the Times described Hawkeye as "one of the nation's larger ethanol companies," and noted that most of the incumbent congressmen targeted for defeat by American Future Fund "have seats on a handful of legislative committees with a direct say in the ethanol industry." Ryan sits on the board of the Rastetter Foundation and was chairman of a state political action committee "financed largely" by Rastetter. Daniel Stockdale, Rastetter's attorney, told the Times that his client has no "decision-making authority" at American Future Fund.

According to its website, American Future Fund works “to provide Americans with a conservative and free market viewpoint.” While it is not identified with any specific policy issues, the group released several ads against the health care bill last year, including some we found to be misleading.

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/10/american-future-fund/

[Alcibiades]

2. Did not know about the ethanol link

It was curious that every figure in the organization comes from the Iowa GOP. That explains a lot: when you're essentially a single-issue group who cares mainly about continuing to get government money, you're not bound by the normal rules, such as the practice that criticizing Wall Street is equivalent to criticizing free enterprise.