The Incestuous Bleeding of the Republican Party

If money is the root of all evil, for the Republican Party evil is located on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA 22314.Strip away the candidate and coalition and it is on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza where the seeds of Mitt Romney’s ruin and the RNC’s get out the vote (GOTV) effort collapsed — bled to death by charlatan consultants making millions off the party, its donors, and the grassroots.66 Canal Center Plaza is also why Jeff Larson, the Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee, should not be put in charge of the autopsy of the GOP’s defeat. Multiple sources confirm to me that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has already put Larson in charge of the so called autopsy.This is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. The fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza reveals a tangled web of incestuous relationships among Republican consultants who have made millions all while the GOP went down the tubes. Here the top party consultants waged war with conservative activists and here they waged war with the Democrats. On both fronts, they raked in millions along the way with a more fractured, minority party in their wake. And they show no signs of recognizing just how much a part of the problem they are.According to a Lexis business search, the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza houses the following groups:

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  • Crossroads Media
  • Black Rock Group
  • WWP Strategies
  • Restore Our Future
  • Targeted Victory
  • DDC Advocacy/Blue Front Strategies
  • Target Point Consulting
  • Digital Franking
  • Americans for Job Security

Suite 555

Suite 555 alone houses Black Rock Group, Crossroads Media, WWP Strategies, TargetPoint Consulting, and Americans for Job Security.TargetPoint Consulting and WWP Strategies, two groups connected to Alexander and Katie Packer Gage, both received money from the Romney Campaign wherein Katie Packer Gage served as deputy campaign manager while also serving as a partner at WWP Strategies.Katie Packer Gage’s husband, Alexander, is the CEO and founder of TargetPoint Consulting, which got money both from the Romney campaign and also from Restore Our Future, the Romney Super PAC. Also getting money from the Romney Super PAC was the Black Rock Group. Carl Forti is a partner at the Black Rock Group, the political director of American Crossroads, and a senior strategist for Restore Our Future. He also has ties to the Romney campaign itself, having served as Political Director for Campaign 2008. Restore our Future not only gave money to TargetPoint Consulting, but also to the Black Rock Group. Carl Forti is also involved with Americans for Job Security and Crossroads Media does ad placement for that group too.Karl Rove’s American Crossroads gave money to the Blackrock Group and to Crossroads Media. Michael Dubke is a partner of both.But supposedly there was a great firewall, no inappropriate coordination, and we should all presume everything was kosher between Black Rock Group, TargetPoint Consulting, WWP Strategies, and Crossroads Media all sharing Suite 555.The New York Times has a great graphic on these relationships.Go down the hall to suite 501 and it becomes more problematic and gets to the heart of the problem with Jeff Larson. Suite 501 contains the offices of Targeted Victory.Zac Moffatt, Mitt Romney’s Digital Director, is or was a part of Targeted Victory.

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Down the Rabbit Hole

To understand the problems, we need to go back in time. Michael Beach is a co-founder of Targeted Victory, LLC, as is Zac Moffatt. Before that, he was the National Victory Director for the Republican Party during the 2008 campaign.Targeted Victory, LLC operates from suite 501 of 66 Canal Center Plaza in Alexandria as a foreign limited liability company. Targeted Victory, LLC is actually a Minnesota limited liability company. In Virginia, its co-founder Michael Beach, is listed as its registered agent by the Virginia Secretary of State. It was formed on February 5, 2009, around the time Michael Beach left the RNC.Targeted Victory, LLC’s registered office is 7300 Hudson Blvd, Suite 270, St. Paul, MN 55128. It’s manager, who is the person who controls the day to day operations of an LLC on behalf of its members, is Tony Feather.Drum roll please — Tony Feather happens to also be the F in FLS Connect, LLC, which made millions off both the Romney campaign and the RNC.The “L” in FLS Connect is Jeff Larson, the present Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee.Curiously, the Virginia Secretary of State notes that FLS Connect, LLC uses a registered agent in Virginia Beach, VA, but is a foreign limited liability company just like Targeted Victory, LLC. More curious, its principal office is the same office in St. Paul, MN as Targeted Victory, LLC, but FLS Connect is actually an Arizona limited liability company.Interestingly enough, the Virginia Secretary of State shows that FLS Connect, LLC registered in Virginia on August 13, 2009, and subsequently had its registration cancelled.A search of the Arizona Corporation Commission shows that FLS Connect, LLC is a limited liability company in good standing located in Glendale, AZ. The Arizona Corporation Commission also lists two members: Tony Feather of St. Paul, MN, and, at the same address, Jeff Larson.FLS Connect changed from Feather Hodges Larson & Synhorst, L.L.C. to FLS-DCI, L.L.C. on January 2, 2001, then to FLS, LLC on January 19, 2005, and finally to FLS Connect, LLC in May of 2006.

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The Tangled Web of FLS Connect

Few want to talk about FLS Connect. One person I talked to said the group is commonly referred to as the “FLS Mafia.”FLS Connect seems to control the RNC and controlled Team Romney to a degree.FLS Connect was the phone vendor for Bush 2000, Bush-Cheney 2000, Bush-Cheney 2004, and McCain-Palin 2008. In 2008, the NRCC also sent a hefty chunk of money to FLS Connect.During the Bush era, the Republican National Committee developed Voter Vault, a database used to identify and mobilize voters to the polls. At some point a parter at FLS Connect, Rich Beeson, went to work at the RNC as Political Director. Also, the RNC sold its Voter Vault data to FLS Connect and then leased that data back from FLS Connect. By the end of 2008 activists and others were complaining that the voter vault data was no longer very good.Likewise, according to friends at the RNC at the time, Rich Beeson gave the RNC’s phone vendor contract to FLS Connect without bidding to others. The rate was not out of line, but it was a multi-million dollar contract to Rich Beeson’s former firm, FLS Connect.Fast forward to 2012.Rich Beeson moved from the RNC to the Romney Campaign as its Political Director. Jeff Larson moved from FLS Connect to the RNC.FLS Connect continued to get business from the RNC and also got business from Team Romney. But now Targeted Victory enters the picture.Targeted Victory, LLC’s principal office is the same office in St. Paul, MN that FLS Connect, LLC lists as its own principle office. Targeted Victory’s manager is Tony Feather, who is the F in FLS Connect.Rich Beeson, who used to work for FLS Connect, is now with Team Romney and Team Romney awards a contract to Targeted Victory, LLC for its digital work with Zac Moffatt as Digital Director of the campaign.Targeted Victory, LLC and FLS Connect, LLC rake in millions in commissions. The central component to Rich Beeson’s get out the vote operation is Project ORCA, which is headed by Zac Moffatt of Targeted Victory, LLC, whose principal office in Minnesota is shared by FLS Connect, LLC. As of October 26, 2012, Targeted Victory had been paid $64 million by Team Romney and FLS Connect had been paid $16.5 million.And now the “L” in FLS Connect, Jeff Larson, will perform the autopsy on why Election Day and its related operations collapsed.I bet I know which companies won’t be blamed.

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