Mother Jones: Sarah Palin's Mystery Research Firm

[marmar]

In recent months, Sarah Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, has paid thousands of dollars to a mysterious company that's gone to significant lengths to mask its ownership. Addresses linked to the firm lead to mail drops. It has no website. No phone number. Not even the California lawyer who incorporated the company knew who was behind it. But a Mother Jones investigation has found that this firm is run by an unlikely foreign political operative.

Federal Election Commission filings show that SarahPAC has paid the company, Paideia Research LLC, at least $16,000 for its services. The payments to Paideia—which takes its name from the ancient Greek word meaning "education" or "instruction"—are the only research-related expenditures listed on the PAC's latest disclosures.

Managed by a shell company, and incorporated in a state with favorable tax laws and scant disclosure requirements, Paideia's corporate structure virtually assured anonymity. But interviews and a review of domestic and international business records led to the identity of Paideia's owner—which presented yet another mystery: Why is Palin's political action committee employing a Dutch right-wing journalist named Joshua Livestro, who is known for incendiary rhetoric?

Two recent federal filings for SarahPAC list a Sheridan, Wyoming, address for Paideia Research. When one local blogger visited the address, he found a low-slung, non-descript building that's home to Sheridan Answering and Secretarial Services, a company that handles phone calls and mail for customers. (Other bloggers soon started asking questions about Palin's mystery research firm.) When asked by Mother Jones about Paideia, Sheridan Answering's owner, Ginger Horton, replied, "I have no idea who they are." ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/sarah-palin-pac-joshua-livestro

[Old and In the Way]

1. from the ancient Greek word meaning "education" or "instruction"...

or, more likely, "paid media".