Type of organization: Nonprofit
Supports: Conservative
Location: Washington, D.C.
Founded: April 2012
Website: http://www.americancommitment.org/
Social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
Finances: Not available.
990: Not available.
Principals:
- Phil Kerpen (president, founder): Kerpen is the former policy and legislative strategist at Americans for Prosperity and previously worked at Club for Growth. He is the chairman of the Internet Freedom Coalition and a Fox News opinion columnist.
Profile:
American Commitment was founded in April 2012 by former Americans for Prosperity strategist Phil Kerpen. The group’s website says it is dedicated to individual freedom, limited government and economic growth. It supports Republican candidates running for federal office.
Americans for Prosperity is known as a Koch-brothers-backed, politically active nonprofit, but Kerpen denies American Commitment is linked to Americans for Prosperity. When asked by The Washington Post if Charles and David Koch are funding American Commitment, Kerpen would not answer, saying only that he takes the privacy of all American Commitment donors very seriously.
According to Kerpen, the nonprofit has raised $7 million. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, American Commitment is not legally required to disclose its donors. According to The Washington Post, the group has spent a little more than $3 million on ads so far.
Between June 28 and July 10, American Commitment has aired seven different television ads in Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and North Dakota, all opposing Democratic candidates.
A second series of ads opposing the farm bill and its food stamp provisions criticized three House Republicans: Steve King of Iowa, Frank Lucas of Okahoma and Vicky Hartzler of Missouri.
The biggest ad buys have been in Florida, where it spent $1.1 million opposing Sen. Bill Nelson, according to The Orlando Sentinel, and in Ohio, where it spent $1.2 million opposing Sen. Sherrod Brown, according to The Washington Post.
So far, all of American Commitment’s ads have avoided federal disclosure because they do not explicitly advocate for or against a candidate, nor have they aired more than 30 days before a primary and 60 days before the general election.
American Commitment also runs NoMandateTax.com, opposing the Affordable Care Act, KeystoneXLNow.com, supporting the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, and WarOnCoal.com, opposing Obama’s efforts to decrease hazardous emissions from coal-fired plants.
They also run ALECpetition.com, which urges people to “reject anti-ALEC bullying.” ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a partially Koch-backed, unofficial lobbying outfit that is run by mostly Republican state lawmakers and corporations that work together to write and promote “model legislation” that often makes it into the nation’s statehouses.
ALEC’s tax-exempt status has come under scrutiny lately for having written some of the most contentious legislation in the country, including voter ID bills, anti-union bills and stand-your-ground bills. The Center for Public Integrity has been tracking ALEC’s role in state legislative initiatives and the challenges to its tax-exempt status.
American Commitment is off the radar when it comes to official paperwork. The group has not received tax-exempt status from the IRS nor from the District of Columbia, where it is based, according to IRS officials and the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue. It has not incorporated, registered to pay taxes, nor applied for a business license to solicit donations in the District, all of which are legal requirements for operation as a nonprofit in the District, said representatives from the Office of Tax and Revenue and the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ corporations division.
American Commitment did not respond to requests for comment.
Advertisements:
- “Alexander Joins Obama's War on Coal" criticizes Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee for supporting the Utility MACT rule, which would place additional regulations on coal emissions.
- "Cheating” criticizes Rep. Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin, for voting for the economic stimulus plan and the Affordable Care Act.
- “Fading Away” criticizes Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Nevada, for voting for the Affordable Care Act and contributing to the “fading away” of the American dream.
- “Cheering” says Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in North Dakota Heidi Heitkamp “cheered” for more taxes by supporting the Affordable Care Act.
- “Fix the Farm Bill” features a drawling narrator scoffing at the farm bill and its food stamp provisions. Versions of the ad are running in Missouri, Oklahoma and Iowa. They urge voters to contact their congressmen: Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla. and Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.
For more ads from American Commitment, see its YouTube page.
Last updated: Aug. 2, 2012