Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

… Americans for Job Security, a conservative, pro-business national group, is the true source of the $11 million last-minute infusion of campaign cash into a California political committee that supports an antiunion ballot measure and opposes Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax proposition, state campaign finance regulators announced early Monday.

The group, created in 1997, has mostly focused on promoting conservative congressional candidates in the past, but also funded ads opposing President Obama’s reelection in swing states this year.

Those with experience in California elections know that the REAL trick to elections is to get through the deceptive language and read the fine print at the bottom of the ad page to find out who the SUPPORTERS are! The chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Ann Ravel, said that the $11 million donation was funneled first through the Center to Protect Patients Rights but ultimately came from Americans for Job Security. Ravel called the donation “the largest contribution ever disclosed as campaign money laundering in California history.”

Ravel hailed the disclosure as “a significant and lasting victory for transparency in the political process,” but said it also demonstrates the need for “reform to make sure true donors are disclosed and can’t hide behind innocent committee names.”

The state has been fighting for an intermediary group, the Arizona-based Americans for Responsible Leadership, to reveal the source of its funding since it made a donation Oct. 15 to a California committee that opposes Proposition 30, Brown’s tax measure, and supports Proposition 32, which would severely curb union’s political power. After the group refused to name its founders, the FPPC took them to court.

The FPPC said that the $11 million may have been the largest anonymous campaign contribution in California history! The California Supreme Court, on Sunday, ordered the group to turn over its records to state regulators by 4 p.m. Sunday. The Arizona group said that it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but changed its mind late Sunday. According to SFGate.com:

Under federal election law, nonprofits do not have to reveal the source of their funding. But California requires all groups that donate money with a specific political purpose in mind to disclose their donors.

California campaign finance regulators released the names Monday morning, very soon after Americans for Responsible Leadership turned them over to the state!

-Bill at

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