Crossroads GPS Spent More On Politics Than It Reported To IRS

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Eric Lach – November 25, 2013, 11:04 AM EST

 

You know what they say: a million here, a million there, pretty soon you're talking real dark money.
ProPublica on Monday documented how the Karl Rove-linked dark money group Crossroads GPS spent about $11 million more on political activities in 2012 than it disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service.
By comparing tax documents, ProPublica's Kim Barker showed how even though Crossroads justified its social welfare non-profit status by pointing to $35 million in grants it made in 2012 to other non-profits, "at least $11.2 million of the grant money given to the group Americans for Tax Reform was spent on political activities expressly advocating for or against candidates."

This means that Crossroads spent at least $85.7 million on political activities, not the $74.5 million the group reported to the IRS on its 2012 tax return. It also means political activities made up about 45 percent of Crossroads' total expenditures.
Here's how ProPublica did the math:

Americans for Tax Reform told the IRS in its tax return, obtained and made public by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), that it raised and spent about $31 million in 2012. Since the group got $26.4 million from Crossroads, only $4.6 million of its revenue came from other donors. At least $11.2 million of Crossroads money had to go toward the political ads reported to the FEC.

That means Americans for Tax Reform spent about 51 percent of its money on political ads reported to the FEC in 2012.
TPM has emailed a spokesperson for Crossroads and will update this post if he responds.

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Paul Ryan To Give 2016 Bid 'A Hard Look' At The End Of His Term

Catherine Thompson – November 13, 2013, 9:10 AM EST

For now, former vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) said he's focused on legislating -- but come 2014, he plans evaluate the odds for another shot at the White House.
“I’ve decided I will consider this later,” Ryan told the Des Moines Register in an interview published Tuesday. “Once I’m through with this term, then I’m going to give a hard look at it.”

This year Ryan has been asked repeatedly whether or not he's considering a run at the top of the Republican ticket in 2016, and he's repeatedly demurred in response.
Ahead of a trip to Iowa this weekend, the Wisconsin Republican told the Register that he is busy working on the federal budget and policy issues like health care and immigration reform, rather than "worrying about my own personal ambitions or career moves." The congressman has indeed been keeping busy, citing budget negotiations as the reason he took a pass on campaigning for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Recent polls have shown Ryan towards the back of the potential 2016 pack, trailing Republican contenders like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

 

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Jon Stewart Mocks '60 Minutes,' Lindsey Graham Over Benghazi Report

 Tom Kludt – November 12, 2013, 7:35 AM EST

Jon Stewart had a field day Monday mocking both "60 Minutes" for airing a discredited report on the attack in Benghazi, Libya and a Republican senator who exploited the segment.
After what initially appeared to be an explosive report turned out to be "total bullsh*t," Stewart took on "60 Minutes," which he said "sort of acknowledged" the error on Sunday.

Stewart found it amusing that the program finally considered the "is it true question" after the Benghazi report aired.
The "Daily Show" host also noted that "60 Minutes" is "not the only victim here." Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) hyped the report, which spurred his vow to block every Obama administration appointee until survivors of the Benghazi attack testify before Congress.
The senator's response to the "60 Minutes" retraction gave Stewart an excuse to employ his finest southern accents.

 

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The Ex-FBI Agent Who Wants To Take Down Ohio's Governor 

Hunter Walker – November 11, 2013, 12:44 PM EST6307

 

 

 

AP Photo / Mark Duncan

During his career as an FBI agent, Ed FitzGerald fought political corruption in the old Chicago mob stronghold of Cicero, Ill. Now, FitzGerald is taking on Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) to battle what he described as "shocking behavior" in the statehouse.
The elected executive of Ohio's Cuyahoga County, FitzGerald said in an interview with TPM last Thursday that he thinks he can continue his track record if elected to the state's top job next year. He was widely credited with cleaning up the county government after a massive corruption scandal.

"Being an FBI agent has given me -- it certainly gave me an enormous amount of credibility when I ran for county executive because of the corruption scandal, it was directly relevant," FitzGerald said in an interview with TPM Thursday. "But I have to say, some of the things they're doing at the state level with the privatization of the economic development programs there are making it more relevant for this race too."
No other major candidates have so far filed to run in the primary against FitzGerald and he has lined up a slew of endorsements from his fellow local Democrats, making him, as he puts it, the "de facto" Democratic nominee.
There have been encouraging signs for FitzGerald in recent polls, too. An August survey from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found FitzGerald three points ahead of Kasich with 38 percent of the vote. Earlier polls showed Kasich with leads ranging from nine to 14 points.
According to FitzGerald, Kasich's policies are "laying the foundation" for corruption to be a major problem in Ohio.
"What they're doing with economic development out there, I am so opposed to the philosophy that's guiding it right now," said FitzGerald. "Here's what they've done, they've gone from saying government should be run like a business. ... They're running it as a private corporation. ... They took the state's economic development company, they put it into a corporation they claim is private, but the governor appoints all the members of it. They are approving loans to other companies that they have received compensation from and that they have sat on the board of, including some that they currently sit on the board of."
FitzGerald, who also worked as a country prosecutor, described the current situation in Ohio as reminiscent of his experiences in law enforcement
"If you see a public official take public money, say it's private, say it's a secret, say if you want to audit the books, no you're not allowed to do that. ... When I was in the FBI, we would call that a clue. That is a clue," FitzGerald said. "Now, I do stop short of saying they are breaking the law. What they are doing is they are doing things that used to not be legal and they have legalized them."
Kasich's office referred TPM to the state Republican Party for a response to accusations. Party spokesman Chris Schrimpf said in an email on Sunday that the program in question, JobsOhio, has been a success. He pointed to economic signs of progress, including a drop in unemployment, to back it up.
Schrimpf also pointed out that FitzGerald has said he keep JobsOhio if elected.
"The Governor created JobsOhio to spur economic development and job creation in the state," Schrimpf wrote in the email. "He created it so it could respond quickly at the speed of business and help create more jobs. It is also set up as the most transparent private organization in the state."
While FitzGerald has assaulted Kasich's budgeting, his own economic record has come under attack. As FitzGerald was in New York meeting with donors and conducting his interview with TPM, the bond rating agency Standard & Poor's announced it was downgrading Cuyahoga County's credit rating. However, though S&P cited concerns about economic decline driven by population loss, the agency also praised the county's fiscal management.
Beyond his concerns with JobsOhio, FitzGerald said the current governor has balanced the budget "in large part by cutting K-12 education and local government funding." He also said "sales taxes have gone up and local taxes have gone up" while there has been a "massive tax cut for the wealthy."
"The numbers are just indefensible," said FitzGerald.
Even though Kasich in an incumbent, FitzGerald said he's sure the governor is vulnerable.
"He's an elected official that has really never closed the deal with people," said FitzGerald. "He only got 49 percent of the vote in the first place."

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Special Investigation: How Insurers Are Hiding Obamacare Benefits From Customers

Dylan Scott – November 4, 2013, 5:13 AM EST

Donna received the letter canceling her insurance plan on Sept. 16. Her insurance company, LifeWise of Washington, told her that they'd identified a new plan for her. If she did nothing, she'd be covered.
A 56-year-old Seattle resident with a 57-year-old husband and 15-year-old daughter, Donna had been looking forward to the savings that the Affordable Care Act had to offer.
But that's not what she found. Instead, she'd be paying an additional $300 a month for coverage. The letter made no mention of the health insurance marketplace that would soon open in Washington, where she could shop for competitive plans, and only an oblique reference to financial help that she might qualify for, if she made the effort to call and find out.
Otherwise, she'd be automatically rolled over to a new plan -- and, as the letter said, "If you're happy with this plan, do nothing."
If Donna had done nothing, she would have ended up spending about $1,000 more a month for insurance than she will now that she went to the marketplace, picked the best plan for her family and accessed tax credits at the heart of the health care reform law.
"The info that we were sent by LifeWise was totally bogus. Why the heck did they try to screw us?" Donna said. "People who are afraid of the ACA should be much more afraid of the insurance companies who will exploit their fear and end up overcharging them."
Donna is not alone.

Across the country, insurance companies have sent misleading letters to consumers, trying to lock them into the companies' own, sometimes more expensive health insurance plans rather than let them shop for insurance and tax credits on the Obamacare marketplaces -- which could lead to people like Donna spending thousands more for insurance than the law intended. In some cases, mentions of the marketplace in those letters are relegated to a mere footnote, which can be easily overlooked.
The extreme lengths to which some insurance companies are going to hold on to existing customers at higher price, as the Affordable Care Act fundamentally re-orders the individual insurance market, has caught the attention of state insurance regulators.
The insurance companies argue that it's simply capitalism at work. But regulators don't see it that way. By warning customers that their health insurance plans are being canceled as a result of Obamacare and urging them to secure new insurance plans before the Obamacare launched on Oct. 1, these insurers put their customers at risk of enrolling in plans that were not as good or as affordable as what they could buy on the marketplaces.
TPM has confirmed two specific examples where companies contacted their customers prior to the marketplace's Oct. 1 opening and pushed them to renew their health coverage at a higher price than they would pay through the marketplace. State regulators identified the schemes, but they weren't necessarily able to stop them.
It's not yet clear how widespread this practice became in the months leading up to the marketplace's opening -- or how many Americans will end up paying more than they should be for health coverage. But misleading letters have been sent out in at least four states across the country, and one offending carrier, Humana, is a company with a national reach.
"If you're an insurance company, you're trying to hang onto the consumers you have at the highest price you can get them," Laura Etherton, a health policy analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, told TPM. "You can take advantage of the confusion about what people get to have now. It's a new world. It's disappointing that insurance companies are sending confusing letters to consumers to take advantage of that confusion. The reality is that this could do real harm."
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Before Obamacare, Donna paid a $724 monthly premium for $10,000 deductible, catastrophic health coverage from LifeWise, a subsidiary of the state's Blue Cross/Blue Shield affiliate. She asked that TPM withhold her last name because she was disclosing personal financial information.
The Sept. 16 letter from LifeWise told her that her existing plan was being canceled to comply with the new requirements of Obamacare and that she would automatically be rolled over into a new plan that was the "closest match" to her old plan. "If we don't hear from you, we'll automatically move you to this plan and you'll be covered starting January 1, 2014," the notice read.
Under the new LifeWise plan, Donna would have to pay more than $1,000 a month, a nearly $300 per month increase and a huge hit for a family with an income around $40,000. It was bare-bones coverage by ACA standards, with a $6,350 deductible.
The letter, which you can read here, made no mention of the insurance marketplace that was about to open, where she could shop around for other options. It did mention that she might qualify for financial help in the form of a tax credit but the onus was on Donna to call the insurer for more information.
Fast forward a month, and Donna was able to log onto Washington's marketplace and shop for insurance. And what did she find? Options. A LifeWise plan with the same deductible they offered her outside the exchange was a little cheaper. Plans with a lower deductible had the same or lower premiums as the LifeWise plan. What she ended up buying was a plan through Community Health Plan of Washington with a $250 deductible.
And crucially, she also discovered she would qualify for a federal tax subsidy that would knock her monthly premium to $80. Her daughter could enroll in Medicaid, at no cost to the family.
So here's the bottom line: If Donna had taken the default option that LifeWise offered outside of the marketplace, she would have paid nearly $1,000 more per month for a worse plan than she was able to obtain on the marketplace.
A LifeWise spokesman told TPM that the Washington marketplace had done plenty of its own advertising and the company assumes that customers know they have other options. He also noted that more information was available on the company's website.
"Our experience is that our customers are already aware that they have other options in the market and that we've never had to tell them in the past that we have competitors," Eric Earling, director of corporate communications at Premera Blue Cross/Blue Shield, said. "We knew that (the marketplace) would have a robust marketing campaign for themselves and knew they didn't need any additional help from us."
As a result of the letter LifeWise sent to Donna and other customers, state regulators in Washington issued a consumer alert on Sept. 19, warning residents about the misleading information. "Don't just take what your insurance company says, make sure you shop around. You have the right to buy any plan inside the new exchange or in the outside market," Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said in the alert.
But the agency doesn't have the statutory authority to stop LifeWise from sending the misleading letters, a spokeswoman told TPM. The company controls one-third of the state's 300,000-person individual health insurance market -- leaving a lot of people at risk of being duped.
"Yes, that's possible," Stephanie Marquis, the spokeswoman, said when asked if some Washingtonians could be paying much more for insurance than they could if they went on the exchange because of LifeWise's actions.
"One of our concerns has been that people don't know they have these new rights," Marquis said. "The insurance companies can manipulate or withhold that information to increase their market share. It's just really disingenuous."
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Donna's experience isn't an isolated incident, however. And the wider spread the issue is, the likelier it becomes that some people have been manipulated into spending more for insurance than they should.
Kentucky fined Louisville-based Humana for sending out letters with similarly misleading information to customers in that state. They received complaints about an Aug. 21 letter that pressed customers to renew their policy now or risk increased rates under Obamacare.
But like LifeWise, Humana downplayed the fact that people could search the marketplace for other insurance options or that they might qualify for Obamacare's financial assistance, state insurance commissioner Sharon Clark, pictured, told TPM in an interview. A footnote referenced the "open enrollment period" that started Oct. 1, but didn't name the state's marketplace or the ACA's financial assistance directly.
After receiving the letter, which you can read here, some customers were badgered through phone calls to make a decision, Clark said. Of the 6,500 people who received a letter, 2,200 actually responded and gave the company their answer before they had a chance to look at what the Kentucky marketplace had to offer.
But Clark's office soon stepped in. They fined Humana $65,000 for the "misleading" information, and the 2,200 respondents were released from their obligation to Humana and freed to shop for insurance through the Obamacare marketplace starting Oct. 1.
The most troubling part of the Humana case is that the company was pushing customers into a Humana insurance plan that was more expensive than the plan Humana was selling on the Obamacare marketplace, without the financial help available under Obamcare.
Clark gave the example of a single mother with children who was urged to sign up for a Humana plan with a monthly premium of $719.86. That price is higher than any comparable plan for sale on the state's insurance marketplace, Clark said -- not to mention that the mother might have qualified for tax subsidies to help pay for it if she went through the marketplace, as Donna did.
"People don't think about insurance every day," Clark said, "and in an environment with so many changes, this has been a period of confusion and uncertainty for people."
Colorado regulators also received complaints about a similar Humana letter, dated Aug. 28 on a copy obtained by TPM, that went out to 3,400 customers in their state.
It only mentioned the Obamacare marketplace and financial help in, again, a footnote. The company wasn't fined as it was in Kentucky, but state officials forced Humana to send out an apology and a corrected letter that met the state's standards.
"The letter appeared threatening," Vincent Plymell, a spokesman for the state insurance department, told TPM. "You've got to let people know their options. You can't make it seem like they have to stick with your company."
State officials in Missouri also told TPM that they have received complaints about misleading letters from Humana and were in the process of investigating them.
Asked by TPM about the Kentucky letter that resulted in a fine, Humana senior vice president for corporate communications Tom Noland offered the following statement via email, but declined to comment further.
"In retrospect, the letter could have been more consumer-friendly and we've rewritten it with that in mind. We are continuing to work closely with the Department of Insurance to ensure our messaging is clear and not adding confusion to consumers during this period of adjustment and transition."
Clark, the Kentucky insurance commissioner, told TPM that Humana executives had told state officials that there had been "a major disconnect" between the marketing and government compliance arms of the company.
"That was the excuse they gave us," she said. "That was the rationale."
"This is a great example of the kind of consumer abuses that are typical of the insurance industry, and they're supposed to stop under the ACA," Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care For America Now, a pro-Obamacare advocacy group, told TPM. "In this case, they're trying to get in just one more abuse."

 

Dylan Scott

Dylan Scott is a reporter for Talking Points Memo. He previously reported for Governing magazine in Washington, D.C., and the Las Vegas Sun. His work has been recognized with a 2013 American Society of Business Publication Editors award for Best Feature Series and a 2010 Associated Press Society of Ohio award for Best Investigative Reporting. He can be reached at dylan@talkingpointsmemo.com.

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Texas To Tea Party: No, The Alamo Won't Fall Under U.N. Control

Caitlin MacNeal – October 31, 2013, 4:37 PM EDT

 

AP Photo / Eric Gay

The Alamo will not fall under United Nations control if it is named a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Texas Land commission assured Texans on Wednesday, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

In a statement Wednesday Jerry Patterson, the Texas land commissioner, called rumors that the U.N. might manage the Alamo and other Spanish missions in Texas "horse hockey."
"The people of Texas own the Alamo now and in the future. Nothing is going to change that," Patterson said at a gun rights rally at the Alamo on Oct. 19.
George Rodriguez, former president of the San Antonio Tea Party, stirred up rumors in a piece titled 'The New Battle of the Alamo.'
Rodriguez said Wednesday that he never stated that the U.N. would take control, but that he merely provided a "cautionary tale."
“I'm just constantly saying 'may' or 'might,'" he explained. "I'm never once saying that this is going to happen. We need to be aware."

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