A coalition of unions has coordinated with FieldWorks, a Washington-based consulting firm, to provide ground support for President Obama and liberal Colorado candidates. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), AFL-CIO and the Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable have retained FieldWorks, an organization with many similarities to the now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), according to documents uncovered by Media Trackers.
FOX News is now reporting that Ohio officials are reviewing “roughly 200 voter registrations that election officials say were flagged as possibly fraudulent, forged, or duplicated by the group that collected them, FieldWorks, a private Washington, D.C. based firm.”
FieldWorks is registered as a business with the Colorado Secretary of State and was paid nearly $2.5 million by various liberal issue committees between 2008 and 2010. FieldWorks offers services ranging from general consulting services to voter contact operations. Colorado League of Responsible Voters and Protect Colorado’s Future account for the majority of money paid to FieldWorks between 2008 and 2010.
While state campaign finance reports show no expenditures to FieldWorks since the end of the 2010 election cycle, the FEC campaign finance portal details expenditures to FieldWorks from SEIU for canvassing operations in Colorado.
According to FEC reports, in October alone FieldWorks was paid nearly $48,000 for canvassing operations in support of Joe Miklosi and Ed Perlmutter in Colorado. SEIU also paid FieldWorks over $46,000 for canvassing in support of President Obama in Colorado.
FieldWorks has been listed on 48 different FEC expenditure reports in the month of October as a provider of canvassing operations. While SEIU paid for the operations specific to Colorado, Worker’s Voice, an AFL-CIO PAC, is listed as paying FieldWorks for its services in such states as Virginia.
Examination of the FEC expenditure reports also provide a strong correlation between the dollar figures SEIU paid to FieldWorks and the “in kind staff” being reported by Colorado WINS, AFSCME, the UFCW, the Letter Carries Union, and the AFL-CIO. Where FieldWorks was paid $23,417.96 by the SEIU for canvassing operations in Colorado, the coalition of unions reported provided $19,679.99 in “in kind staff.”
Sources within FieldWorks claim all the paychecks come from FieldWorks and no in-kind staff exists beyond those paid through FieldWorks.
People’s Voice, which the Civic Engagement Roundtable registered on October 1 with the SoS’s office, has also retained FieldWorks for voter contact and canvassing. FieldWorks canvassing and call scripts obtained by Media Trackers instruct FieldWorks canvassers to identify themselves as working for People’s Voice while making contacts in Joe Miklosi’s district. Additional forms, such as the SEIU Batch Form for canvassing Congressional District 6 and 7, were also provided to FieldWorks staffers working on the People’s Voice Campaign.
FieldWorks is registered with the secretary of state as one of the many authorized Voter Registration organizations in Colorado. Ben Prochazka, FieldWorks Vice President, currently lives in Fort Collins and was most recently a lobbyist for the Colorado Environmental Coalition according to his biography on the FieldWorks site.
While FieldWorks casts itself as a “turn key” operation which handles “all of the administrative tasks associated with running the canvass, including payroll processing, taxes, filing and workers’ compensation,” reports available at the secretary of state’s website bear some warning flags. FieldWorks fell into delinquency within its first year of operation in Colorado when it failed to file its required annual report.
According to public records, FieldWorks came back into compliance with the secretary of state after four months of delinquency.
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