Some TPMm readers have written in to ask whether Grover Norquist limited his laundering activity to his buddies Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed. No, it turns out.
Norquist’s group Americans for Tax Reform almost got in some serious trouble in 2002 for helping his Oregonian mini-me, Bill Sizemore of Oregon Taxpayers United.
Fearing political consequences, some of Sizemore’s supporters wanted to keep their donations to his organization hush-hush. So they wrote checks to Norquist’s ATR, who forwarded the money to Sizemore’s group.
From The Oregonian, back in December of 2002:
Canceled checks and other records obtained by The Oregonian show how, since mid-1996, significant Oregon donors sent money to Americans for Tax Reform, which then contributed nearly $1 million to Sizemore and his Oregon Taxpayers United political action committee — more than any other contributor.
As a result, only Americans for Tax Reform was named as a donor, and the original contributors were never revealed publicly. State attorneys say this violates Oregon’s full disclosure law. An Oregon Department of Justice brief describes the arrangement as “a laundering scheme” to conceal the identity of donors supporting Sizemore’s organization.
Unlike many states, Oregon does not limit political contributions. Instead, state law insists on publicly naming donors, how much they give and declaring how the money is spent. Violation is a Class C felony….
Despite their findings, state attorneys recently decided not to pursue their own case against Americans for Tax Reform and Norquist, and instead handed their information to the Internal Revenue Service for investigation.
Becky Miller, Sizemore’s former second-in-command, testified that Sizemore collected Oregonians’ checks written to Norquist’s organization, sent the checks to Washington and then Americans for Tax Reform wrote its own checks to Sizemore’s group. She said the Oregon donors wanted to hide their support of Sizemore’s controversial ballot measures for fear of reprisals….
Thanks for TPMm Reader RE for the tip.
