Meet Harold Simmons: the sole Obama-Ayers attack ad contributor
Submitted by AmyW on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 2:33pm.
Analysis
Although a mistrial was ultimately declared and they reached a settlement before a retrial, "The six jurors unanimously agreed that Mr. Simmons had breached his financial duty as a guardian of their inheritance."
One of his daughters, Andrea Swanson, saw her father's attempt at dissolving the trust for tax purposes as a scheme to reduce her and her sisters' inheritances:
"I thought it was right to sign the names because it would help the Helms campaign. It was a mistake, wrong and bad judgement," he testified.
Simmons doesn't just try to cheat his daughters, he frequently attempts and often succeeds at extorting the American taxpayer. Texans for Public Justice outlined how Simmons makes a profit:
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
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A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Amy Weiss
Harold Simmons, the billionaire funding the Obama-Ayers ad, forged his daughters' signatures to make political donations they didn't agree with (including to Jesse Helms), tried to dodge $80 million in taxes, added lead to paint his company distributed, and expanded the dumping of dangerous nuclear waste for profit.
Simmons was one of three principal contributors to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth effort against John Kerry in 2004. Earlier this month he donated almost $3 million to the American Issues Project, the group running the Ayers ad. (The "independent" group was founded by a man who worked for the McCain campaign in 2007.)
Simmons's hometown paper, The Dallas Morning News, details his questionable donation history:
Mr. Simmons, an investor who heads the corporate holding company Contran, is one of the most prolific political donors in the country. He was among President Bush's largest campaign contributors and has given millions of dollars to candidates and groups aligned with the GOP.Two of Simmons' daughters sued him for violating the law by using a trust set up for them against their wishes. They objected to "donations to conservative Republican political candidates they loathed, the purchase of luxury homes for his use, jewelry for his third wife, and distribution of millions of dollars into charitable foundations that made gifts in his name."
He and two other Texans, Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Dallas oilman T. Boone Pickens, were primary backers in 2004 of Swift Boat Veterans, which challenged Mr. Kerry's military service. Many of the group's charges were subsequently discredited, but its ad campaign proved politically devastating.
Mr. Simmons is a major benefactor of Texas politicians. He has given more than $500,000 to Gov. Rick Perry and more than $300,000 to both Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Mr. Simmons is the major owner of Waste Control Specialists, which is seeking state approval to expand its radioactive waste operations in West Texas to include a higher level of nuclear material. The state's environmental commissioners are appointed by Mr. Perry.
Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit group that monitors campaign contributions, said, "Texas is a breeding ground for this type of dirty politics."
Although a mistrial was ultimately declared and they reached a settlement before a retrial, "The six jurors unanimously agreed that Mr. Simmons had breached his financial duty as a guardian of their inheritance."
One of his daughters, Andrea Swanson, saw her father's attempt at dissolving the trust for tax purposes as a scheme to reduce her and her sisters' inheritances:
Their strained relationship collapsed when his single-minded pursuit of the financial juggling led him to insist on serving legal papers related to the proposed changes quickly on all affected descendants. That required dropping them in the crib of her son, Ryan Swanson, who had recently been born three months prematurely and was vulnerable to infection.Simmons admitted to forging his daughters' signatures to contribute above the maximum amount to the campaign of Senator Jesse Helms:
"I thought it was right to sign the names because it would help the Helms campaign. It was a mistake, wrong and bad judgement," he testified.
Simmons doesn't just try to cheat his daughters, he frequently attempts and often succeeds at extorting the American taxpayer. Texans for Public Justice outlined how Simmons makes a profit:
With 2000 sales exceeding $1 billion, Simmons' empire depends on friendly government policies. Taxpayers subsidize Simmons' sugar prices, bankroll military purchases of his aerospace metals and ultimately pay for the limits that government officials place on his tax and pollution liabilities. Then-President Clinton used the line-item veto to narrowly avert a 1997 loophole for Simmons to dodge $80 million in taxes.A 1997 New York Times article titled "Billionaire Feels Sting of Line-Item Veto" said:
In using one of his first three line item vetoes, President Clinton today dashed a Texas billionaire's plan to preserve a capital gains tax break while renegotiating the sale of one of his businesses. And in doing so, Mr. Clinton highlighted the sort of special benefits that have long found their way into the nation's tax laws, often to the benefit of only a handful of wealthy or influential people.The Obama campaign believes Simmons' ad is illegal because it violates election law for this type of group because it advocates Obama's defeat and there is no policy in question. The Politico reported:
The project is "a knowing and willful attempt to violate the strictures of federal election law," Obama general counsel Bob Bauer wrote to Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Keeney last week in a letter provided to Politico. Bauer argued that by advocating Obama's defeat, the ad should be subject to the contribution limits of federal campaign law, not the anything-goes regime of issue advocacy.So while the Obama campaign is setting records for the numbers of contributors, many of them first-timers making modest contributions, McCain's campaign depends on guys like Simmons who smear their opponents while breaking laws and misusing millions to ensure the election of those who will help them expand their fortunes.
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
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