qpq Wrote:
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>
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Albert_J._Dwo
> skin
> "Albert Dwoskin is President and Chief Executive
> Officer and director of A.J. Dwoskin & Associates,
> Inc. (AJD). Since its founding, in 1967, AJD's
> operations have been primarily associated with
> development and management of retail and
> residential rental properties which are owned by
> partnerships in which AJD or Albert J. Dwoskin is
> a partial owner or general partner. Mr. Dwoskin is
> also active in community and charitable activities
> that currently include serving as Chairman of the
> George Mason University Foundation Board of
> Managers. In past years, he has served in a large
> number of public and private sector directorships,
> advisory boards and committees, and public task
> forces." [1]
>
> Board of Managers, Catalist
> Treasurer, September Fund
> Director, Democracy Alliance
>
>
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Catalist
> CATALIST "(formerly known as Data Warehouse, LLC)
> offers your progressive organization low-cost,
> subscription-based access to a unique,
> comprehensive database of voting-age Americans.
> Combining standard demographic and high-quality
> political information with commercial data will
> allow you to get your message, ideas and requests
> to either large groups or targeted individuals
> with unprecedented precision and effectiveness. We
> also offer the software tools and in-house
> expertise your organization will need to use this
> data effectively." [1]
> Has received funding from the Democracy Alliance.
>
>
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/September_Fun
> d
> The September Fund was established September 9,
> 2006, as a 527 committee, according to the
> organization's filing (EIN 20-5509497) with the
> Internal Revenue Service.
>
> "A group of Democratic strategists has tried to
> raise about $20 million for an October advertising
> blitz. The effort, called the September Fund, is
> being led by Harold Ickes, a former aide to
> President Clinton and an adviser to Sen. Hillary
> Clinton, D-N.Y.," Associated Press reporter Jim
> Kuhnhenn reported October 1, 2006. "In a letter
> circulated to potential donors this month, the
> organizers said: 'While we have achieved
> unprecedented unity, it is only meaningful if we
> can mobilize the power of progressive donors to
> ensure sufficient financial resources are
> available.'"
>
> "Leaders of the September Fund include Karen
> Ackerman, the political director of the AFL-CIO;
> retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, a 2004 Democratic
> presidential candidate; and Nick Baldick, who
> managed the presidential campaign of former
> Senator John Edwards," NewsMax reported September
> 14, 2006.
>
>
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Democracy_All
> iance
> Democracy Alliance was founded by former Clinton
> Treasury official Rob Stein, Erica Payne and
> various donors in 2005. The Muckety website
> maintains a relationship map on some of the major
> financial donors to the Democracy Alliance.
> "At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to
> contribute $1 million or more apiece to fund a
> network of think tanks and advocacy groups to
> compete with the potent conservative
> infrastructure built up over the past three
> decades," The Washington Post reported in August,
> 2005. [1]
>
> Rob Stein's PowerPoint presentation on how the
> Right built a strong infrastructure of think
> tanks, non-profits, non-profit groups, scholarship
> recipients, academics, lobbyists, right wing
> activists and the media led to the founding of the
> Democracy Alliance, and also a separate
> organization, the New Progressive Coalition
> founded by entrepreneurs Andy and Deborah
> Rappaport.
>
> The Democracy Alliance tries to keep a low profile
> and its wealthy donors prefer anonymity. According
> to published reports, organizations funded by
> Democracy Alliance are asked not to reveal the
> funding.
>
> In 2006 a San Francisco, CA, office was
> established by the Democracy Alliance at the
> Presidio in the Tides Center, where Alliance
> member Drummond Pike has his offce.
>
> Rob McKay of the McKay Foundation and Anna Burger
> of SEIU are the elected chair and vice chair of
> the board of directors of the Democracy Alliance.
> [2]
>
> "Members of the Democracy Alliance include
> billionaires like George Soros and his son
> Jonathan Soros, former Rockefeller Family Fund
> president Anne Bartley, San Francisco Bay Area
> donors Susie Tompkins Buell and Mark Buell,
> Hollywood director Rob Reiner, Taco Bell heir Rob
> McKay ... as well as New York financiers like
> Steven Gluckstern." [3]
>
> In October 2006, an article in The Nation magazine
> reported "the Alliance's 100 donors have
> distributed more than $50 million to center-left
> organizations and activists--a lot of money, yet
> still largely symbolic given the deep pockets of
> its members. Even as the donors pour millions into
> a new political infrastructure, however, problems
> have emerged that mirror many of the problems of
> the Democratic Party today and the progressive
> movement in general. The first is determining
> what, exactly, the group stands for and wants to
> accomplish. ... Rob Johnson, an early board
> member, says the tension in the Alliance is
> between 'party subsidizers' and 'climate
> changers'--those who want to fund organizations
> that work toward more effectively electing
> candidates versus those who aspire to change the
> fundamental nature of political debate with a
> stronger set of governing principles. ... Since
> its inception, the Alliance has been unabashedly
> elitist, while also poorly run. ... To stabilize
> the organization internally after almost a year of
> early stumbles, the partners chose as its managing
> director Judy Wade, a member of the elite firm
> McKinsey & Company, consultants to multinational
> corporations." [4]