Trailhead Group may well be a money laundering operation for illegal campaign funds. By now the liberal/progressive blogosphere is a-buzz over Jason Bane’s investigative expose (a work still in progress) that appeared at Colorado Confidential.
Someone’s got to investigate this fishy organization; local newspapers aren’t really, the national news is asleep at the word processor, and good citizens of Colorado are frustrated in their attempts.
In spite of citizens’ petition to the Colorado State AG requesting him to investigate Trailhead, he refused. Of course, the State AG is an appointee of the Republican former governor of CO, Bill Owens, AKA the initial founder of Trailhead Group.
The sub rosa purpose behind Trailhead Group appears to be the promotion of unfettered capitalism and the destruction of all those who stand in the way of that purpose.
Witness their attack on Rep. Buffie McFadyen who opposes privatized corporate operation of prisons. The operators of the prisons are major contributors to Trailhead Group and want to continue receiving lucrative private contracts to operate more prisons, natch. They are us. We are them.
Allied organizations to Trailhead Group in terms of philosphical ideology are the training and action arms. The first is called Leadership Program of the Rockies (LPF), a rightwing agendized Republican grooming machine for lockstep capitalistic — in the mold of Ayn Rand — political candidates and “leaders.” The second is a faux newspaper funded by them called Common Sense that is the organ of attack against opponents to the Coors/Owens/Benson (Benson Mineral Group) idea of Corporate Colorado.
The leading financial contributor and sometimes authorial contributor to Common Sense and to the LPF is Denver oilman, Alex Cranberg, President and Chairman of Aspect Management Corporation and Aspect Energy, LLC and the founder of the Alliance for Choice in Education, an organization behind the school charter/voucher movement in Colorado.
Cranberg loves his LLC. He has five of them, and uses them to make hefty campaign donations that otherwise would be illegal if coming from a private individual. He claims he uses a “loophole” in the law that allows people like him to counterbalance the otherwise too powerful labor union campaign contributions.
To add to the smarminess, Trailhead Group is also philosophically allied with the front group called the Economic Freedom Fund. It’s big contributor ($5M) is Robert J. Perry, bosom buddy of Turd Blossom and the guy who financed the Swiftboaters of Kerry. Other players include
Charles Bell, of the Sacramento, California law firm Bell, Mcandrews & Hiltachk. Charles Bell is general counsel to the California Republican Party, is Vice Chairman of The Federalist Society’s free speech and election law practice group, and is active in the Republican National Lawyers Association. SMirking ChimP
Here’s what the EFF (I refuse to provide the link) says about its purpose:
The specific purposes of this corporation are to
educate the public concerning issues related to the
preservation of economic freedom, the promotion
of economic growth and prosperity for the people
of the United States of America, which purposes
are consistent with Section 527 of the Internal
Revenue Code.
Bell, Mcandrews & Hiltachk’s clients include the California Tribal Business Alliance – an “Indian Gaming” organization.
Notice a theme? Does that close the loop of corruption? Remind anyone of Jack Abramoff’s and Tom DeLay’s preferred clients and lickspittles?
But this is just the tip of the iceberg in Colorado.
Another diary needs to be written (by someone) about Colorado Sec’y. of State, Gigi Dennis, who, according to Colorado Media Matters:
approved new campaign finance rules designed to make it harder for mostly Democratic small-donor committees to function.”
<snip>
[Changes]. . .requested by lawyers** for the Republican Party, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez’s campaign, and the Republican-backed Trailhead Group.
**The lawyers are Scott Gessler — he’s a successful alum of the Leadership Program of the Rockies and John Zakhem, who counsels both the GOP’s Trailhead Group political committee and the state Republican Party.