American Crossroads, which initially struggled to raise money, is incorporated under section 527 of the tax code, enabling it to accept unlimited contributions, but requiring it to publically disclosure its donors’ identities.
Meanwhile, section 501(c)4 of the code, under which Crossroads GPS is incorporated, allows groups to shield their donors’ identities, but requires them to spend a majority of their cash on apolitical purposes – an obligation Democratic critics say Crossroads GPS and other right-leaning groups flaunted during the campaign, when they bombarded Democratic candidates with bitingly critical ads.
“Disclosure was very important to us, which is why the 527 was created,” Forti said. “But some donors didn’t want to be disclosed and, therefore, a (c)4 was created,” Forti explained, referring to Crossroads GPS.
Forti’s frank explanation differs from that previously offered by the Crossroads team, which had asserted that they always intended to create a 501(c)4 because it was better suited to facilitate issue-based advocacy.
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“We are in the process of determining what we will be doing in 2011 and then worrying about 2012,” Forti said. “We’re not looking forward all the way right to the presidential race,” he said, though he did add “it’s difficult to imagine we would ever be involved in a Republican primary."
Crossroads GPS—the conservative group that carpet-bombed Democrats with a wave of attack ads during the 2010 midterm election—is about to launch its first offensive of the 2012 election cycle.
The organization is rolling out a $400,000 radio ad campaign this week in the districts of 12 House Democrats who won reelection by the slimmest of margins.
The ad campaign, which urges the Democrats to support a vote this week on the tax cut package, marks one of the first major advocacy efforts by an outside group since the Nov. 2 elections and provides a clear signal as to which incumbent Democrats are viewed as vulnerable by GOP strategists in 2012.
Among the Crossroads targets are five Democrats who barely survived the GOP wave in November– New York Rep. Tim Bishop, California Rep. Jim Costa, Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and Kentucky Rep. Ben Chandler– all of whom were engaged in races so close that the outcome wasn’t know for days, and in some cases weeks, after Election Day.
