Meet Some (of the Menagery of) Right-Wing Attack Groups

To Better the Know Right-Wing Groups Trying to Buy the Election

A small number of right-wing billionaires are trying to buy this election. And they’re doing it using a variety of right-wing attack groups that have unleashed avalanche of negative ads attacking the president and Democratic Senate and House candidate. These groups may spend as much as $1 BILLION before everything is said and done.

Here’s the rundown on three of these groups: Crossroads GPS, American Crossroads, and Americans for Prosperity.

Crossroads GPS

Created in 2010, Crossroads GPS is a tax-exempt501(c)(4) organization co-founded by former George W. Bush campaign architect Karl Rove and Mitt Romney campaign adviser and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. Ironically, Gillespie in 2007 blasted the growing role of similar outside political groups, telling the Center for Public Integrity that independent spenders now “run wild, unfettered, unregulated, not subject to the same rules and regulations as the national parties. And I think that’s been incredibly unhealthy.”

As a 501(c)(4), the group is not legally required to identify its donors — unlike its affiliated Super PAC, American Crossroads. Crossroads GPS notes on its website that its policy is “to not provide the names of its donors to the general public.” It has spent millions of dollars running attack ads against Democrats, including a $25 million blitz against President Obama announced last month.



<MORE>