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Overview:

Americans for Job Security (AJS) Stated Purpose: Educating the public on economic issues with a pro-market, pro-paycheck message. Tax Status: 501(c)(6) Political Orientation: Republican Profile: September 2004 — Americans for Job Security (AJS) spun off in the late 1990s from a group called The Coalition: Americans Working for Real Change, a group that had been formed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to counteract the extensive soft money spending by the AFL-CIO starting in the 1996 elections.1 AJS has stated to the IRS that its purpose is "educating the public on economic issues with a pro-market, pro-paycheck message."2 The group, in reality, does not appear tied to any unifying ideological mission other than helping the electoral pursuits of favored candidates, who have exclusively been Republicans throughout the organization's history. AJS's ads in 2002, for instance, attacked Democratic candidates for such disparate offenses as breaking a promise not to run for a third term, taking money from special interests, being soft on crime, being anti-senior citizen, getting “too comfortable in Washington," and voting against converting Nevada’s Yucca Mountain into a nuclear waste storage site. AJS praised Republican candidates for obtaining aid for ranchers, helping to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and championing legislation to remove disruptive kids from classrooms.3 AJS typically spends nearly all of its budget on political commercials, which the group terms "grassroots lobbying," and most of those commercials are broadcast during the political campaign season.4 In 2002, 100 percent of the group's 2,172 television commercials were aired within the two months leading up to Election Day.5 Reviewers at the Wisconsin Advertising Project, the foremost academic research program assessing the political content of television ads, concluded that 100 percent of AJS's 2000 and 2002 television ads consisted of electioneering communications, not issue advocacy.6 7 AJS's roster of officers and consultants is a team of Republican Party alumni. One consultant served as director of political affairs for President George H.W. Bush and as national field director for his 1992 campaign. The group's president worked on George H.W. Bush's 1992 campaign, and the group's lawyer, Benjamin Ginsberg, has served as national counsel to George W. Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004, the Republican National Committee and a multitude of Republican candidates and organizations.8 Since early revelations that AJS was seeded with $1 million each from the American Forest and Paper Association and the American Insurance Association, the group has jealously guarded its list of funders.9 10 11 The National Journal reported in December 2003 that about 500 corporations and individuals ante up contributions "as high as $100,000" to AJS.12 AJS claimed zero political expenditures in its filings with the IRS that covered calendar years 2000 to 2002.13 In effect, the group claimed that none of its advocacy communications were intended to influence the outcomes of elections.14 But if the IRS were to agree with the findings of the academic reviewers at the Wisconsin Advertising Project that 100 percent of AJS's commercials have been intended to influence the outcomes of elections, as opposed to issue ads, AJS would potentially be in violation of the terms of its 501(c) status. Electioneering activities may not constitute a 501(c) group's primary purpose.15 If AJS were classified as a 527 organization, the status reserved for political organizations, the group would be required to disclose its sources of funding. 1   Jim VandeHei, "Republicans Divided On Issue Advocacy," Roll Call, April 15, 1998. 2   Americans for Job Security 990 form, 2001. 3   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. 4   Nicholas Confessore, "Bush's Secret Stash," Washington Monthly, May 2004. 5   Ken Goldstein and Joel Rivlin, "Political Advertising in the 2002 Elections," Wisconsin Advertising Project, Oct. 29, 2003. 6   "2002 Spending By Groups Which Had 527s," Wisconsin Advertising Project, June 23, 2004. 7   Nicholas Confessore, "Bush's Secret Stash," Washington Monthly, May 2004. 8   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. 9   Michael Isikoff, "The Secret Money Chase," Newsweek, June 5, 2000 10   Peter H. Stone, "A Catalog of Key Groups," National Journal, Dec. 20, 2003. 11   Eric Black and Greg Gordon, "Group Buying Anti-Wellstone Ads Targets States With Close Races," Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Oct. 24, 2002. 12   Peter H. Stone, "A Catalog of Key Groups," National Journal, Dec. 20, 2003. 13   Americans for Job Security 990 forms, 1999-2001. 14   IRS Form 990 Instructions, Line 81, 2003. (Available at www.irs.gov.) 15   John Francis Reilly and Barbara A. Braig Allen, "Political Campaign and Lobbying Activities of IRC 501(c)(4), (c)(5), and (c)(6) Organizations," Exempt Organizations-Technical Instruction Program for FY 2003, p. L-3.