OK, So Maybe I Wasn't Wrong About PoliticsXX
by Chris Bowers, Wed Apr 05, 2006 at 01:01:08 PM EST
Update: I have received an email from another credible source that insists that Jordan Lieberman was never an Associate at Alexander Strategy Group, and that it was a typo made by the American Association of Political Consultants once, in 2004. Also, Lieberman resigned from the Publius Group January 2002. The source further claims that that at that time there were no partners in the group, although some claim otherwise--Chris
Last summer,
I wrongly accused PoliticsPA and all PoliticsXX sites of being funded by the Claremont Institute, a major arm of the right-wing noise machine. When it came out that I was wrong, I think I was listed as the "loser of the week" on PoliticsPA three out of four weeks in the late summer. It was a little embarrassing, but not really that embarrassing, because the entire incident did result in nearly every local progressive blogger to stop linking to, and even reading, PoliticsPA. That caused a very real downturn in their traffic at the time. I'll gladly exchange that for a personal loss of credibility within the Pennsylvania political establishment.
Even though I was wrong, the incident was revealing to me on a number of fronts. First, it brought the insider / outsider dynamic within politics to the forefront of my attention, an idea that eventually led to what I think is my useful
activist class war formulation. It served as an object lesson that made it patently clear to me how severely those individuals well-ensconsed in the power structure of any political establishment, be it national, state, or local, would guard their power when faced with the rising tide of grassroots, outsider, reformer activism. In time, that has become even more clear to me, given
the struggles to replace the ward leaders we have faced in my neighborhood,
the legal challenges to people running for committee person we have faced in the city,
the Philadelphia Democratic Party organizing "to battle the bloggers on their own turf", and a whole list of other, uglier crap that I'm not going to go into here (
here is the tip of the iceberg, read
Young Philly Politics regularly for more).
Second, the incident also revealed to me the total market failure for local news in America, especially local political news. During the incident, I talked with a number of people who worked in local and state politics, and they indicated that while they thought something odd may or may not be taking place with the funders of the Publius Group, it didn't really matter to them. PoliticsPA was the only news outlet that provided the sort of up to date, detailed information on Pennsylvania politics, and so they were going to keep reading it until another outlet came along to do the same thing. In short, even if the right-wing noise machine was behind these local sites, it was still providing a unique service invaluable to local political activists and operatives. It thus also became obvious to me that any properly done vast left wing conspiracy was going to need to match and surpass these efforts in order to do real damage. In a total market failure for local news, progressives could step in and create active, solid local blogospheres to fill the void and counter the Republican Noise Machine at a local level.
So even if I was wrong, the experience was extremely useful to me. However,
new information from commenter NJprole has appeared that suggests
I may not have been that wrong after all
Jordan S. Lieberman, a Republican political consultant, runs the Publius Group, which operates the anonymous websites PoliticsNJ.com, PoliticsPA.com, and PoliticsNH.com. Lieberman's partner in the Publius operation is a registered New Jersey lobbyist with major health care and insurance industry clients
Lieberman was recently named publisher of Campaigns & Elections magazine. It was recently acquired by a company with close ties to the pharmaceutical industry -- Political World Communications -- a New Jersey corporation formed to manage C&E and other assets.
According to C&E's annual roster (2004) of the American Association of Political Consultants, Jordan Lieberman was employed by the Alexander Strategy Group, where he worked with characters like Ed Buckham, the former DeLay aide who founded the company, DeLay aide Tony Rudy, and Christine DeLay, the Congressman's wife. ASG recently closed its doors because of its ties to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff
After being burned by this last summer, I was a little timid about publishing this on the front page. However, doing just a little research on the subject seems to suggest that this is all true. First, here is
a February 15th press release from Political World Communications on acquiring Campaigns and Elections:
Jordan S. Lieberman, a political consultant who served as the President and Director of Marketing for the Publius Group, has been named Publisher. "The campaign world is changing so rapidly - readers need 'Campaigns & Elections' now more than ever to stay ahead of the curve," explained Lieberman. "We will expand resources for our subscribers while maximizing opportunities for our advertisers."
And here is information on
the Alexander Strategy Group
The Alexander Strategy Group (ASG), a Republican Party-associated lobbying and political strategy firm with offices in Washington, DC, and Hong Kong, was founded in 1998 by Ed Buckham, Thomas D. DeLay's former Chief of Staff, "with a huge initial contract that DeLay secured from Enron. (The group also paid DeLay's wife a salary for several years.)"
[1] (http://www.theocracywatch.org/delay_tea
m_new_republic_june20_05.htm)
On its website AG boasts that "Unlike traditional lobbying firms, Alexander Strategy Group offers an integrated suite of advocacy services that includes government affairs, strategic consulting, public relations, grassroots development, creative media, international representation, coalition building, business development and corporate/crisis communications."
[2] (http://www.alexanderstrategy.com/asg/co
mpany.asp)
ASG has "worked extensively with the Executive and Legislative branches of government, been involved in numerous Presidential and Congressional campaigns, forged alliances with numerous conservative advocacy groups and worked at the highest levels of the international arena," according to a press release.
[3] (http://www.swidlaw.com/news.cfm?publica
tion_id=267)
On January 9, 2006, ASG announced it would be closing shop due to being "fatally damaged by publicity about the ongoing federal investigation into the affairs of" and "its ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House majority leader Tom DeLay."
Assuming the Campaigns and Elections source in the original comment by NJprole was correct and Jordan Lieberman was in fact employed by the Alexander Strategy Group, that pretty much looks like case closed to me. PoliticsXX sites are indeed being funded by the Republican Noise Machine, or at least by sympathizers to that noise machine.
Of course, that still doesn't change the insider / outsider dynamic at play here, nor does it change the need for progressives to create active, influential local blogospheres. It also doesn't change that there is no other outlet in Pennsylvania besides PoliticsPA that provides the sort of rapid, insider information on the local and statewide political scene. It is, however, a level of personal validation. A lot of people lot I was crazy for believing that these sites were set up by the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Maybe I wasn't so crazy after all.
Tags: media, blogosphere, silent revolution, activist class war, VRWC, VLWC, personal vendettas (all tags)
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