U.S. Family Network
Encyclopedia
U.S. Family Network, Inc. (USFN) was founded in 1996 by Ed Buckham
, who also served as the organization's consultant. USFN was a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) corporation founded in Virginia, with its principal offices located in the District of Columbia in the same building as Buckham's consulting firm Alexander Strategy Group
and Tom DeLay
's political action committee
Americans for a Republican Majority
(ARMPAC). USFN received $500,000 from the NRCC and $1 million from lobbyist Jack Abramoff
's Russian clients.
Much of the money went to Buckham and his wife, Alexander Strategy Group, and a 15-year lease on on a Washington Redskins skybox used by Abramoff. The group closed in 2001 while under a Federal Election Commission
probe, distributing several hundred thousands of dollars in remaining assets among people associated with USFN. The townhouse was sold at below market value to U.S. Representative Jim Ryun
(R-KS).
The activities of USFN are under investigation by the Justice Department; a subpoena for USFN documents was issued in February 2006, naming Abramoff, Tony Rudy
and his wife Lisa, Tom DeLay
and his wife Christine, Buckham and his wife Wendy, Ralph Reed
, and Grover Norquist
.
Northern Marianas Islands tycoon Willie Tan, an Abramoff client, gave USFN $650,000.
$364,500 in donations to USFN from firms associated with Abramoff were in turn given to the Alexander Strategy Group
.
"filed a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations
(RICO) lawsuit against DeLay and his fundraising operations. DeLay's operation had begun in 1994 when Newt Gingrich
slashed DeLay's budget as House Whip. DeLay responded by setting up an organization of his own that would extend his power by contributing to the political campaigns of his colleagues. He hired tobacco lobbyist and anti-union activist Karl Gallant
, and induced Enron
's Ken Lay to contribute $500,000 to ARMPAC. Enron also came up with a $750,000 consulting contract for Gallant and DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham. Buckham would later set up his own lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, which boasted DeLay's wife Christine, a retired schoolteacher, on its staff at a $40,000 a year salary.
"Also named in the RICO suit was Robert G. Mills. Prior to running DeLay's 1996 campaign, Mills worked for the Council for Government Reform, from which he reportedly stole $35,000. Before that he had worked for United Conservatives of America, which was investigated by the Federal Election Commission
who believed that UCA's huge debts were being used to hide illegal corporate donations. In 1998 Mills represented an organization called the US Family Network, registered as a 501(c)(4) 'social welfare' organization focused on Christian conservatives
. Also on the staff of US Family Network was Ed Buckham's wife, at a salary of $59,000 a year.
"By 1999 Mills had left US Family Network, but Buckham, an ordained minister remained. The Network made headlines as the recipient of the largest single donation the National Republican Congressional Caucus ever made, $500,000. The check was cut by Virginia Congressman and DeLay crony Tom Davis
, NRCC chair, but was never approved by the executive committee. The RICO suit alleged that US Family Network existed to hide the source and control of donated funds. The Washington journal Roll Call speculated that the group also existed to make statements and take actions on behalf of (or in opposition to) candidates that the NRCC would be embarrassed to do directly.
"The other 'associated organizations' named in the RICO suit were: the Republican Majority Issues Committee
(RMIC), which, like US Family Network, was designed to provide (possibly) legal money laundering
for political contributions, and Americans for Economic Reform. The suit alleged that DeLay and his cohorts were 'extorting' money from people with a stake in federal legislation."
Robert Dreyfuss wrote in the February 4, 2000, Texas Observer
that in Fall 1999, according to Roll Call, the NRCC gave the Network the $500,000 to "turn out conservative Christian voters on election day." http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:_3cnPLkTsygJ:www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp%3FArticleID%3D142+%22U.S.+Family+Network%22&hl=en
Additionally, on April 28, 2000, the Texas Observer reported that the "editors at Roll Call hired a tax accountant and consulted industry and academic authorities. Yet no one could figure why a 'grassroots lobbying' political action committee linked to Tom DeLay has raised $1.3 million from only five donors – then spent the money to buy a D.C. townhouse and a truck (registered at Buckham's home), and to lease a skybox at the Redskins stadium for fifteen years. http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=887
"Roll Call describe[d] U.S. Family Network as one of a 'web of interlocking groups revolving around DeLay and Ed Buckham, his former chief of staff and top political advisor.'"
The firm Liberty Consulting, owned by Tony Rudy
's wife Lisa, was paid $15,600 by the U.S. Family Network in 1999 and $10,400 in 2000.
"Hill also questioned the amount of money U.S. Family spent on fundraising: $665,863 in expenses in 1998, with 60 percent of it going to fundraising and consulting. In 1998 Buckham told Roll Call that he held the fundraising contract and raised money all over the country for U.S. Family. But fundraising in 1998 should not have been so labor-intensive and costly. One donor gave the group $1 million, and other large contributions included a $150,000, a $100,000, and two gifts of $50,000 – not the sort of contributions that require a big investment in mass mail and phone banks. 'They’re not mailing,' Hill said. 'They are going to the skybox. And one assumes that ordinary citizens are not going there.' (The PAC withholds the names of its donors.) The PAC’s mission statement on its tax return is the 'Promotion of social welfare for American Families' and funding projects to 'promote sound family values legislation.' The skybox, according to Thomas Susman, a lobbying law expert consulted by Roll Call, 'wouldn’t be grassroots.'"
Ed Buckham
Edwin A. Buckham is a former congressional staffer and lobbyist, who presently is under investigation in various scandals surrounding high-profile lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Congressman Tom DeLay...
, who also served as the organization's consultant. USFN was a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) corporation founded in Virginia, with its principal offices located in the District of Columbia in the same building as Buckham's consulting firm Alexander Strategy Group
Alexander Strategy Group
Alexander Strategy Group was an American lobbying firm involved in the K Street Project, founded by Ed Buckham and his wife Wendy. Buckham is a former chief of staff of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the firm openly promoted its access to DeLay. Its chief lobbyist was Paul Behrends.In...
and Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
's political action committee
Political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
Americans for a Republican Majority
Americans for a Republican Majority
Americans for a Republican Majority was a political action committee formed by former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and directed by Karl Gallant. On July 7, 2006 ARMPAC reached an agreement with the Federal Election Commission to pay a fine of $115,000 for various violations and to...
(ARMPAC). USFN received $500,000 from the NRCC and $1 million from lobbyist Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff is an American former lobbyist and businessman. Convicted in 2006 of mail fraud and conspiracy, he was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to the conviction of White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine...
's Russian clients.
Much of the money went to Buckham and his wife, Alexander Strategy Group, and a 15-year lease on on a Washington Redskins skybox used by Abramoff. The group closed in 2001 while under a Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
probe, distributing several hundred thousands of dollars in remaining assets among people associated with USFN. The townhouse was sold at below market value to U.S. Representative Jim Ryun
Jim Ryun
James Ronald Ryun is an American former track athlete and politician, who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, representing the 2nd District in Kansas. In the 2006 election, Ryun was defeated by Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda...
(R-KS).
The activities of USFN are under investigation by the Justice Department; a subpoena for USFN documents was issued in February 2006, naming Abramoff, Tony Rudy
Tony Rudy
Tony Charles Rudy , an American lobbyist and an associate of Jack Abramoff. After serving as a staffer in the office of U. S. Representative Tom DeLay from approximately 1995 to 2001, and rising to deputy chief of staff, Rudy joined "Team Abramoff" at Greenberg Traurig. Rudy was implicated in the...
and his wife Lisa, Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
and his wife Christine, Buckham and his wife Wendy, Ralph Reed
Ralph E. Reed, Jr.
Ralph Eugene Reed, Jr., is a conservative American political activist, best known as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition during the early 1990s. He sought the Republican nomination for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Georgia but lost the primary election on July 18, 2006,...
, and Grover Norquist
Grover Norquist
Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...
.
Financial connections with Jack Abramoff
The U.S. Family Network was largely funded by clients of embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Payments to the group of up to $1 million coincided with votes and other actions taken by Tom DeLay in Congress in favor of the "donors."Northern Marianas Islands tycoon Willie Tan, an Abramoff client, gave USFN $650,000.
$364,500 in donations to USFN from firms associated with Abramoff were in turn given to the Alexander Strategy Group
Alexander Strategy Group
Alexander Strategy Group was an American lobbying firm involved in the K Street Project, founded by Ed Buckham and his wife Wendy. Buckham is a former chief of staff of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the firm openly promoted its access to DeLay. Its chief lobbyist was Paul Behrends.In...
.
DeLay's financial connections
The Dubya Report reported April 20, 2005 (updated December 29, 2005), that in 1998, the Democratic Congressional Campaign CommitteeDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. They play a critical role in recruiting candidates, raising funds, and organizing races in districts that are expected to yield...
"filed a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO) lawsuit against DeLay and his fundraising operations. DeLay's operation had begun in 1994 when Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
slashed DeLay's budget as House Whip. DeLay responded by setting up an organization of his own that would extend his power by contributing to the political campaigns of his colleagues. He hired tobacco lobbyist and anti-union activist Karl Gallant
Karl Gallant
Karl M. Gallant, a former staffer for United States House Majority Leader Thomas D. DeLay, former director of DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee , and DeLay fundraiser, ran and served as the registered agent for Ed Buckham's Republican Majority Issues Committee...
, and induced Enron
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...
's Ken Lay to contribute $500,000 to ARMPAC. Enron also came up with a $750,000 consulting contract for Gallant and DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham. Buckham would later set up his own lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, which boasted DeLay's wife Christine, a retired schoolteacher, on its staff at a $40,000 a year salary.
"Also named in the RICO suit was Robert G. Mills. Prior to running DeLay's 1996 campaign, Mills worked for the Council for Government Reform, from which he reportedly stole $35,000. Before that he had worked for United Conservatives of America, which was investigated by the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
who believed that UCA's huge debts were being used to hide illegal corporate donations. In 1998 Mills represented an organization called the US Family Network, registered as a 501(c)(4) 'social welfare' organization focused on Christian conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
. Also on the staff of US Family Network was Ed Buckham's wife, at a salary of $59,000 a year.
"By 1999 Mills had left US Family Network, but Buckham, an ordained minister remained. The Network made headlines as the recipient of the largest single donation the National Republican Congressional Caucus ever made, $500,000. The check was cut by Virginia Congressman and DeLay crony Tom Davis
Thomas M. Davis
Thomas Milburn "Tom" Davis III was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Virginia's 11th congressional district in Northern Virginia. Davis was considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by five-term incumbent and fellow Republican John...
, NRCC chair, but was never approved by the executive committee. The RICO suit alleged that US Family Network existed to hide the source and control of donated funds. The Washington journal Roll Call speculated that the group also existed to make statements and take actions on behalf of (or in opposition to) candidates that the NRCC would be embarrassed to do directly.
"The other 'associated organizations' named in the RICO suit were: the Republican Majority Issues Committee
Republican Majority Issues Committee
The Republican Majority Issues Committee , a tax-exempt 527 committee, organized as a corporation under the laws of Virginia with its principal office located in Virginia, was created by and through the fundraising efforts of Ed Buckham, the founder of Alexander Strategy Group...
(RMIC), which, like US Family Network, was designed to provide (possibly) legal money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
for political contributions, and Americans for Economic Reform. The suit alleged that DeLay and his cohorts were 'extorting' money from people with a stake in federal legislation."
Robert Dreyfuss wrote in the February 4, 2000, Texas Observer
The Texas Observer
The Texas Observer is an American political newsmagazine published bi-weekly and based in Downtown Austin, Texas. The non-profit magazine is nonpartisan, but the publication has historically been an advocate for liberal politics...
that in Fall 1999, according to Roll Call, the NRCC gave the Network the $500,000 to "turn out conservative Christian voters on election day." http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:_3cnPLkTsygJ:www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp%3FArticleID%3D142+%22U.S.+Family+Network%22&hl=en
Additionally, on April 28, 2000, the Texas Observer reported that the "editors at Roll Call hired a tax accountant and consulted industry and academic authorities. Yet no one could figure why a 'grassroots lobbying' political action committee linked to Tom DeLay has raised $1.3 million from only five donors – then spent the money to buy a D.C. townhouse and a truck (registered at Buckham's home), and to lease a skybox at the Redskins stadium for fifteen years. http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=887
"Roll Call describe[d] U.S. Family Network as one of a 'web of interlocking groups revolving around DeLay and Ed Buckham, his former chief of staff and top political advisor.'"
The firm Liberty Consulting, owned by Tony Rudy
Tony Rudy
Tony Charles Rudy , an American lobbyist and an associate of Jack Abramoff. After serving as a staffer in the office of U. S. Representative Tom DeLay from approximately 1995 to 2001, and rising to deputy chief of staff, Rudy joined "Team Abramoff" at Greenberg Traurig. Rudy was implicated in the...
's wife Lisa, was paid $15,600 by the U.S. Family Network in 1999 and $10,400 in 2000.
Nature of organization
"The fifteen-year lease on the skybox suggests that the group is doing a different kind of grassroots lobbying. Frances Hill, a University of Pennsylvania professor, who studies the political activities of tax-exempt groups, seemed bewildered by the group’s lobbying. 'What I can’t figure out is what type of lobbying they are doing,' Hill said. 'Usually a (c)4 is going to do expertise-type lobbying, which includes studies, reports and press conferences and publicly disseminating information. . . . They may have invented a way to turn lobbying into an entertainment activity, rather than an information activity. Have they really found a way to make direct lobbying a means to maintain what looks like a slush fund?'"Hill also questioned the amount of money U.S. Family spent on fundraising: $665,863 in expenses in 1998, with 60 percent of it going to fundraising and consulting. In 1998 Buckham told Roll Call that he held the fundraising contract and raised money all over the country for U.S. Family. But fundraising in 1998 should not have been so labor-intensive and costly. One donor gave the group $1 million, and other large contributions included a $150,000, a $100,000, and two gifts of $50,000 – not the sort of contributions that require a big investment in mass mail and phone banks. 'They’re not mailing,' Hill said. 'They are going to the skybox. And one assumes that ordinary citizens are not going there.' (The PAC withholds the names of its donors.) The PAC’s mission statement on its tax return is the 'Promotion of social welfare for American Families' and funding projects to 'promote sound family values legislation.' The skybox, according to Thomas Susman, a lobbying law expert consulted by Roll Call, 'wouldn’t be grassroots.'"
Registered lobbyists
- U.S. Family Network, Inc. holds lobbyist ID Number 34945000 in the U.S. House of Representatives. http://clerk.house.gov/pd/houseID.html?reg_id=34945
- On July 27, 2001 the State of Pennsylvania issued a cease and desist order against the US Family Network, which was listed among those organizations that could not "legally solicit contributions in Pennsylvania until they register[ed] with the bureau or provide[d] the bureau with evidence that they are excluded or exempt from the law." http://www.dos.state.pa.us/char/cwp/view.asp?a=1092&Q=431406&charNav=%7C
1997
- "Religious Freedom Amendment," concentric.net, undated. U.S. Family Network was one of a number of groups sponsoring the 1997 Religious Freedom Amendment, which was defeated June 1998 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1999
- George Loper, "Elections 2000: National Republican Congressional Committee Funds National Right to Life Committee and U.S. Family Network," Loper.org, December 1999.
2000
- Robert Dreyfuss, "DeLay, Incorporated," The Texas ObserverThe Texas ObserverThe Texas Observer is an American political newsmagazine published bi-weekly and based in Downtown Austin, Texas. The non-profit magazine is nonpartisan, but the publication has historically been an advocate for liberal politics...
, February 4, 2000. - RICO Law Suit: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Inc. vs Tom DeLay, U.S. Family Network, Inc. (William J. Olson), Republican Majority Issues Committee, Inc. (Karl Gallant), Americans for Economic Growth, Inc. (Jim EllisJim Ellis (politics)James W. Ellis, is an American Republican political activist.He is the former executive director of Thomas D. DeLay's political action committee Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee , and is one of the two political associates who were with DeLay on September 28, 2005,...
), and Does 1-20, filed in United States District Court for the District of Columbia, May 3, 2000. - Jim Burns, "Democrats File RICO Suit Against DeLay," USConservatives, May 3, 2000.
- Kathryn Jean Lopez, "Karl Gallant Says... 'They clearly see that they’re not going to win the elections at the ballot box, and what they want to do is take it out of the ballot box'," National Review, May 5, 2000.
- Ramesh Ponnuru and John J. Miller, "Gallant Effort. When liberals can't pass a law, they get the courts to do the dirty work," National Review, May 5, 2000.
- "De Lay: More Religion Necessary to Fight 'Cultural Coup'," atheists.org, May 6, 2000.
2001
- Robert Dreyfuss, "Bush's Hammer," The Nation, January 4, 2001.
2002
- Stephen Pizzo, "DeLay's Miscellaneous Machinations," AlterNet, May 16, 2002.
2004
- New Release: "Party Misuse of Soft Money to Pay for Issue Ads Results in $280,000 Civil Penalty," Federal Election Commission, April 9, 2004.
- "GOP group pays $280,000 campaign fine," Associated Press (MSNBC), April 9, 2004.
- jesselee, "NRCC fined $280,000 for Campaign Finance Law Violation," The Stakeholder, April 9, 2004.
- Gail Russell Chaddock and Kris Axtman, "The controversial 'Hammer' on the Hill. An ethics complaint could sidetrack Tom DeLay, regarded as an exceptionally effective majority leader," Christian Science Monitor, June 24, 2004.
- Todd J. Gilman and Christy Hoppe, "DMN: As DeLay raises cash, critics raise questions. '98 affidavit alleges he told businessman how to skirt limits; GOP leader calls claims partisan," Texans for Public Justice, July 16, 2004.
2005
- John B. Judis, "Meet Team DeLay. Tammany Fall," National Review, June 10, 2005.
- Roy Temple, "DeLay, Blunt, Abramoff Are Becoming Anchors For The House GOP," Fired Up America, September 9, 2005.
- John B. Judis, "PAC Man. What Roy Blunt Did for Tom DeLay (and vice versa)," National Review, October 8, 2005.
- R. Jeffrey Smith, "The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail. Nonprofit Group Linked to Lawmaker Was Funded Mostly by Clients of Lobbyist," Washington Post, December 31, 2005; also posted on MSNBC website, December 31, 2005.
2006
- "Records on nonprofit tied to DeLay sought," Associated Press (Mercury News), January 5, 2006.
- "Subpoena Issued For Records Of Group Linked To DeLay," KWTX Austin, Texas, January 6, 2006.
- R. Jeffrey Smith, "Prosecutor Broadens DeLay Inquiry. Data on GOP Donation to U.S. Family Network Demanded," Washington Post, January 6, 2006.
- Janet Elliott, "Earle seeks money record. DeLay-linked group funded by Abramoff clients," Houston Chronicle, January 6, 2006.
- R. Jeffrey Smith, "Former DeLay Aide Enriched By Nonprofit." Washington Post, March 26, 2006