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The 'Nonpartisan' Scam

By Lee Russ

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 10:50 AM

In an era when every subject and every institution has been corrupted by partisanship, newspeak and general sleaze, one of the most egregious examples is the designation "nonpartisan" for some nonprofit. The first thing that any self-respecting partisan wants, of course, is to be seen as nonpartisan, so very, very few of the current bumper crop of "nonpartisan" nonprofits actually is.

Take, for example, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracieswhich bills itself as "the only nonpartisan" group working against international terrorism. Here's the Board of Advisers::
Gary Bauer
President
American Values

Hon. Richard D. Lamm
Fmr. Governor
Colorado

Rep. Eric Cantor
Chairman (R-VA)
Task Force on Terrorism

Sen. Zell Miller
(D-GA)
Former U.S. Senator

Frank Gaffney
President
Center for Security Policy

Richard Perle
Former Chair of the Defense Policy Board and FDD Advisor

Charles Jacobs
President
American Anti-Slavery Group

Steven Pomerant
Former Assistant Director
FBI

General P.X. Kelley
USMC (RET)

Oliver "Buck" Revell
Former Associate Deputy Director
FBI

Charles Krauthammer
Syndicated Columnist

Frances Townsend
Fmr. Chair of the White House Homeland Security Council

Bill Kristol
Editor
Weekly Standard

And here's the Board of "Distinguished" Advisers:
Judge Louis J. Freeh
Fmr. Director of the FBI

Sen. Joseph Lieberman
(D-CT)
U.S. Senate

Newt Gingrich
Fmr. Speaker of the House

R. James Woolsey
Fmr. Director of the CIA

Max M. Kampelman
Fmr. Ambassador

And who is the President of this select group of nonpartisans? Clifford D. May:
From 1997 to 2001, he served as the Director of Communications for the Republican National Committee. In that role, he was the Republican Party's staff spokesman, and appeared frequently on national television and radio programs. In addition, he managed all RNC communications activities, including long-range strategic planning; press, radio and television services; online services; TV and radio coaching; speech writing; advertising and marketing. He also served as the Editor of the official Republican magazine, Rising Tide.
In fact, according to Source Watch, this is the resume for Mr. May from 1997 to date:
President of Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger's Policy Committee
Co Director for the Alliance for Research and National Security
...
2001-? - Weber Shandwick (PR firm), Senior Managing Director in the Washington, D.C office
2001? - Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton, spokesperson
1997-00 - Republican National Committee, Director of Communications
May was** also a Vice Chairman of "The Republican Jewish Coalition," which:
For 20 years, the Republican Jewish Coalition (formerly the National Jewish Coalition) has been the voice for Jewish Republicans. The RJC was founded in 1985 to be a permanent Jewish presence in the Republican community and a credible Republican presence in the Jewish community.

As the unique bridge between the Jewish community and Republican leaders, the RJC earned the trust of the Reagan and Bush administration officials, national and state legislators, and party leaders.

The RJC works to sensitize Republican decision makers in government and the party to the concerns of the Jewish community, while at the same time articulating Republican ideas and policies in the Jewish community.

The Republican Jewish Coalition is the most important voice on Republican issues in the Jewish community and the most trusted and sought-out Jewish advisor to Republican leaders.....

**His bio seems to have disappeared even from the archived versions of that group's web pages.
Yessirreeee Bobbbyyy, that's one nonpartisan group. Nothing Republican about it. Former Republican House Speaker, former RNC head of communications, Little Bill Kristol, Charlie Krauthammer, Richard Perle....What, me partisan? Just because I'm run by a guy who signed the PNAC craziness?

I'm sure they'd claim that they're still nonpartisan, despite the obvious far right glare that reflects off this list, simply because they only care about the ISSUE of Islamic terrorism, and democrats are welcome to join if they agree on the ISSUE. In fact, Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller are Dems, right?

Gosh, do you think that these people would consider it nonpartisan to promote economic fairness, to call for minimum levels of living for all citizens, to advocate for universal health care, to reform the criminal laws so less than 10% of young adult black males was incarcerated, and to seriously tighten up regulation of mega businesses?? After all, such a group would be open to all, even far far right conservatives. All they would have to do is believe in these issues. Which are anathema to far far right conservatives. But hey, they could join if they only wanted to.