By now, if you follow political events at all, you know about the Rovian Robo Call strategy. These are intentionally annoying calls pushing Dem candidates, repeatedly, at all hours of the day and night. Some Robo Calls give deceptive information about polling places, issues and candidates. The Republican party pays for these deceptive attacks, which are designed to depress the Democratic vote. No, both sides do not do it.
Josh Marshall has covered the controversy in excellent detail. dr. elsewhere discusses this vile tactic in the post below.
According to TPMmuckraker, the Robo Calls are produced by a firm called Conquest Communications. That firm suddenly took down all pages on their site revealing who these guys are and how to contact them. Why? Because they do not want to give out the phone number for Conquest Communications. Apparently, annoying phone calls are okay for you but not for them.
The phone number for Conquest Communications is 804-358-0560.
The FAX number is 804-213-0797.
The exact street address is 2812 Emerywood Parkway, Suite 103, Richmond, Virginia 23294.If you live anywhere near the capitol of the old Confederacy, consider paying them a visit. Say hi. Be nice.
Who runs Conquest?
The chief partners are Victor A. Gresham (who also runs something called Bold Stroke Associates), and David S. Johnson (also involved with Bold Stroke and -- get this -- a senior warden at the Vestry of Varina Episcopal Church, which is no doubt very proud of his chicanery).
The senior partner is Winfree W. Chewning, Jr. Another senior person would be a fellow named (I kid thee not) Broc Johnson.
Alas, the online directories do not give us any personal contact details for these gentlemen. (Actually, there are seven "David Johnson" listed in Richmond.) Too bad. After all, they call your number, and you no doubt wish that the communication could be two-way.
Bold Stroke and Conquest appear to be two companies so thoroughly intertwined, we might as well consider them one and the same. The names may give you a clue as to the puerile psychology of the founders. Bold Stroke is a "strategic consulting" firm for political campaigns; their slogan is "If you want to win...you've got to be BOLD!" The contact info is the exact same as Conquest's.
Alas, they have taken steps to disguise any info revealing the owner of the domain name.
5 comments:
There can't be that many Chewnings in the phone book. Any phone book.
Though their own page seems to have gone missing, fun facts about these guys can still be found at the ZoomInfo cache of their about-us page. Mostly, they're just local Virginia GOP campainers, but this bit about Victor A. Gresham caught my eye:
In the early years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Gresham served as Political Director for the National Conservative Political Action Committee, NCPAC. In 1984 Gresham left NCPAC to work on President Reagan’s reelection effort, where he planned and managed voter registration and ID/GOTV programs.
NCPAC was, of course, the hangout of such Rove-connected dirty-tricksters as Terry Dolan and Charlie Black. Great pedigree there.
Gresham tied to questionable campaign financing a dozen years ago:
Sen. John Warner claims that rival Jim Miller engaged in an "illegal scheme" to offset "crippling deficits" from Miller's unsuccessful 1994 Senate bid.
Mixed in with the political hyperbole is an element of truth.
While Miller may have done nothing that has not been tried by other Senate candidates in other years, his actions show how easily the spirit of federal campaign-finance laws can be thwarted. . . .
What Miller did, soon after he lost the Republican Senate nomination against Oliver North in 1994, was to form a political-action committee to support GOP candidates for state and local office. As a committee formed under state law, the Commonwealth PAC was free to accept unlimited contributions from individuals, PACs and corporations.
This Miller did. The Commonwealth PAC received $25,000 from Koch Industries, an oil company headquartered in Kansas; $10,000 from Markel Corp., a Richmond insurance company; and $5,000 or more from several businessmen.
The $77,550 raised during the year Commonwealth PAC operated was used to support state GOP candidates. But precious little of the money, about 2 percent, went into direct contributions. Instead, the funds allowed Miller to make dozens of appearances on behalf of candidates and to offer them support staff and advice.
This allowed Miller to appear altruistic while reaping more tangible benefits. Victor Gresham, Miller's campaign manager in 1994 and again this year, had his $34,000 salary paid by the fund last year, for instance. A database of Miller contributors, owned by Miller's Senate committee, was sold to Miller's state committee for $19,800. The proceeds helped Miller whittle a campaign debt from $250,000 to $87,000.
ah, when i'm not voting or blogging tomorrow, i'll be dialing those numbers.
and try this one; i'm sure the church will be so delighted to hear that one of their wardens is involved with such 'holy' efforts:
Varina Episcopal Church (804) 795-5340 2385 Mill Rd Richmond, VA
Interesting, indeed... First, get out and vote!, dammit!
Next, patriotpac.org is registered by a guy, Elias Andrew Fellus, who has some responsibility with/for a hydroelectric dam in New York. Elias A. Fellus, with some fame in the music industry, it appears, finances Matt Tederick. Curious to me, because I have seen a lot of spam, is that Elias' purported email address is @optonline.net.
Elias Felluss gets around... from fine art to woodworking on fine yachts to holistic yoga studios...
Flashlights, please?
Intriguing...
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