The Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR), the secretive Arizona dark money group tied to the movement of millions of dollars between political nonprofits, gave almost $15 million in 2011 to a number of groups that spent heavily on political ads in 2012, according to IRS documents obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The CPPR, run by former congressional aide Sean Noble, spent $23.2 million in 2011, with $14.8 million given in grants to 19 other nonprofits. Bloomberg has previously reported that the CPPR contributed $55.4 million to other nonprofit political groups in 2009 and 2010.
Among the recipients of the CPPR’s largesse in 2011 were the American Future Fund, Concerned Women for America, 60 Plus Association, Free Enterprise America, American Commitment, and the Coalition to Protect Patient Rights (not to be confused with the CPPR itself.) Each of these groups received over $1 million from the CPPR.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, one of the above groups, Free Enterprise America, received $3.6 million from the CPPR, but little is known about Free Enterprise America beyond that fact that it shares an address in Phoenix with the consulting firm DC London, which is run by Noble. Another group, American Commitment, received $1.6 million from CPPR in 2011. In 2012, American Commitment dropped about $1.9 million in outside spending, much of it in support of Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) during his ultimately successful Senate run. American Commitment shares an address in Washington, D.C. with DC London.
Furthermore, the documents obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics show that DC London, along with another Noble consulting firm called Noble & Associates, received $3.1 million from the CPPR in 2011.
TPM readers might be familiar with the CPPR from its role in an $11 million dark money donation in California that was ultimately unmasked by the state’s campaign finance watchdog. In early November, California’s Fair Political Practices Commission said the money for the donation made by a little-known Arizona group called Americans for Responsible Leadership came from Americans for Job Security, and had been funneled through the CPPR.
Read the Center for Responsive Politics’ whole report here.
