July 01, 2005
I Love the Smell of Astroturf in the Morning
If you actual read the Washington Post article I linked in the last post, you may have noticed this throw-away paragraph at the top of the second page:
Rhetoric was just as sharp at a gathering here of conservative activists urging the Senate to confirm U.S. appellate court nominee Henry W. Saad of Michigan. Victoria Toensing of the Committee for Justice accused Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) of waging "a vendetta" against Saad, noting that the nominee is Arab American, as is his advocate, former senator Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.). Asked if she was suggesting that Levin's being Jewish had a role in his actions, Toensing replied: "I don't know. I know these are two Arab Americans, and you'll have to ask that of Senator Levin." Levin had no immediate response.
Vile accusations, to be sure. For a little background on Victoria Toensing, I direct you to Josh Marshall. But what is this Committee for Justice?
CFJ, as they like to be called, are all about promoting strict constitutionalist judicial nominees. If you've read some of my previous work on the subject of Astroturf, you may recognize some of their staff. Specifically the Honorable Jennifer C. Braceras, Senior Fellow at the Independent Women's Forum (who are also Citizens for a Sound Economy and Americans for Properity and Social Security for All). At the bottom of that CFJ staff list, you'll find that Sean Rushton, Executive Director, used to be the communications director at Citizens Against Government Waste. Such a small world!
Small indeed. From a WSJ article on their website:
After hearing from Mr. Rogers, Mr. Gray says, in July 2003 he formed the Committee for Justice, a three-person operation that so far has concentrated on shoring up Republican support for Bush nominees. The committee sometimes coordinates with another group on which Mr. Gray serves as co-chairman, Citizens for a Sound Economy, which usually lobbies on economic issues. The latter group had a 2002 budget of $8 million, but has since spun off part of its operations. The nomination work is only part-time duty for Mr. Gray, who doesn't take a salary from the committee. He is a Washington lawyer and lobbyist for clients such as Citigroup Inc.(emphasis mine)
If we delve a little deeper, we find that Committee for Justice's website is hosted by Campaign Solutions, another astroturf retail group on the model of Democracy Data & Communications. A peek at Campaign Solution's client list reveals they're practically a wholy-owned subsidiary of the GOP.
Expect to hear a lot more from these guys as we start waging the nomination wars over O'Connor's and Rehnquist's replacements. (BONUS: they're quoted on the first page!)
UPDATE [15:07 7/1/2005]: Josh Marshall catches a Media Matters alert stating that Mr. Gray is the Fox News Supreme Court Analyst. Fair, and Balanced!
Posted by ben at July 1, 2005 10:20 AM