On this morning's Good Morning America, Shipman [or shall we call her 'DC Slim'?] narrated a segment spotlighting WVWV's efforts to get single women voters to the polls. Since it is obvious that single women lean heavily Dem, voting for Democrats by a more than 2/3 margin as Dem pollster Celinda Lake acknowledged, my BS-detector started screeching when I saw a straight-faced Shipman slip in her claim that WVWB is "non-partisan."
I went to WVWV web site, and checked the bios of its key members.
WVWV kept things cagey when it came to describing the background of its Founder and President, Page S. Gardner. We're told that she has "twenty years experience as a political and communications manager and strategist, Ms. Gardner has worked at senior levels for the most competitive presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, and congressional campaigns in all parts of the country. Ms. Gardner also has managed some of the most hotly debated national public policy issue campaigns, including those related to reproductive rights, civil rights, national budget priorities, technology and trade."
Any doubt that those campaigns were Democratic ones, and that she was on the liberal side of "reproductive rights" and other issues were erased in reading the bios of other board members.
Executive Director Joe Goode comes directly from Dem Stanley Greenberg's polling and political consulting firm, and formerly worked for Dem Congressman David Price of NC.
VP Anna Greenberg [Stan's daughter] also comes from the Greenberg firm and has a history of working for leftist groups including NARAL and the Economic Policy Institute.
Board member Ruth Ferguson worked for the Dem speaker of the Massachusetts House of Reprentatives and worked to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
Every other officer or board member has similar deep Dem roots.
The clincher? WVWV is a project of The Tides Foundation [see #14], the organization founded to promote a variety of leftist causes whose driving financial force is . . . Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Some further digging reveals that WVWV is directly promoting leftist politics. On its FAQ page, WVWV suggests that people who want to get involved "download the National Council of Women's Organizations voter's guide." I did, and found a predictable compendium of leftist position-mongering on everything from affirmative action to abortion. Query whether promoting a partisan voter's guide bring's WVWV's non-partisan tax-exempt status into question.
GMA focused on a series of provocative PSAs in which single celebrity women describe "their first time." You might think they're talking about their first experience with sex, but no, it's their first time in the ballot box they have in mind. Ha-ha.
But speaking of advertising, how about a little truth-in-advertising from ABC when it comes to the groups whose efforts it promotes?
UPDATE: Rush read from this column during his broadcast of today. Also, note that WVWV's misrepresentation of itself as non-partisan is blameworthy in at least two ways. As a supposedly 'non-partisan' group, WVWV is claiming that contributions to it are tax-deductible, effectively forcing the American taxpayer to subsidize its partisan activities. Second, WVWV is putting out a series of PSAs, meaning that it will be getting free advertising for a highly partisan cause. Perhaps some devious GOP thinkers will start a similar group: GVGV - Golfers' Voices, Golfers Vote, seeking to increase turnout among that ignored niche - country club members ;-)
Finkelstein lives in the liberal haven of Ithaca, NY. Webcasts and podcasts of Mark's award-winning TV show 'Right Angle' here. Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
