Group Information

Overview Finances Election Activities Funders Principals & Consultants Selected Affiliates Coalition Partners

Overview:

American Family Voices (AFV) Stated Purpose: Voter registration and voter turn-out, non-partisan issue advocacy, including research, coalition building and advertising. Tax Status: 501(c)(4) Political Orientation: Democratic Profile: September 2004 — American Family Voices (AFV) reportedly received an initial $800,000 contribution from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in 2000.1 But the actual sum may have been nearly twice that reported figure. AFV reported to the IRS that it received only one contribution of as much as $800,000 that year, and that contribution was for nearly $1.5 million.2 (Donors' names are not generally a matter of public record.) AFV spent at least $640,000 on television commercials that benefited Al Gore in his race against George W. Bush in 2000.3 Since then, the group has engaged in sporadic attacks against Bush. An advertisement in 2002 connected the administration to corporate scandals by recalling Bush's controversial sale of more than 212,000 shares of Harken Energy stock in 1990 (two months before the company declared a $23.2 million loss)4 and then-Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt's previous service as a corporate lawyer. A 2004 ad criticized the Bush administration for federal contracts given to Halliburton Corp.5 AFV's principals and consultants include Mike Lux, a former Clinton administration staffer who has worked for a multitude of Democratic campaigns and political groups; former Clinton adviser and Democratic celebrity James Carville; and Phyllis Cuttino, who is in charge of state and local campaigns for AFSCME. The Glover Park Group, which includes Clinton administration alums Joe Lockhart and Carter Eskew, has produced ads for AFV.6 AFV reported to the IRS making zero political expenditures in 2000, 2001 and 2002.7 In effect, the group has represented claimed that none of its communications were intended to influence the outcomes of elections.8 That claim is hardly plausible in certain cases, particularly regarding ads in 2000 that AFV ran in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Missouri to criticize the health care policies of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.9 Bush was in no official position at the time to influence federal health care policies or the health care policies of the states in which the ads ran. AFV's income has risen during election years and declined during non-election years, hitting a peak of nearly $2.3 million in 2000 and a low point of $106,392 in 2001, before modestly rebounding to $455,758 in 2002.10 1   Byron York, "The Group Behind the Attacks on Bush," National Review Online, July 12, 2002. 2   American Family Voices 990 form, 2000. 3   Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG) Reports, 2000. 4   "Bush and Harken Energy," The Guardian, July 10, 2002. 5   Public Citizen's analysis of data contained in the New Stealth PACs database. Data collected from groups' Web sites and annual tax forms, press reports, academic papers on activities of independent political groups and interviews by Public Citizen research staff. 6   Public Citizen's analysis of data contained in the New Stealth PACs database. Data collected from groups' Web sites and annual tax forms, press reports, academic papers on activities of independent political groups and interviews by Public Citizen research staff. 7   American Family Voices 990 forms, 2000-2002. 8   IRS Form 990 Instructions, Line 81, 2003. (Available at www.irs.gov.) 9   Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG) Reports, 2000. 10   American Family Voices 990 forms, 2000-2002.