Former Bush Admin. Spox Launches Non-Profit To Combat 'Over-Spending'
Zachary Roth | March 3, 2010, 10:00AM
A former Bush administration PR specialist has launched a new non-profit designed to raise the alarm about what it sees as "over-spending" in Washington -- but is staying mum on how the group is being funded.
Public Notice launched late last month with a column on the website of US News and World Report, in which executive director Gretchen Hamel argued that "{b}ackroom deals, trillion-dollar deficits, pork-laden spending bills, and multibillion-dollar bailouts have left many Americans wondering if Washington can be trusted with their money." The group's sophisticated-looking website, Bankrupting America, adds that "unprecedented government spending and debt, corporate welfare, higher taxes, and poorly designed bureaucratic red tape are undermining economic progress," and contends that the stimulus bill has been a failure.
Public Notice's funding source remains obscure. In an interview with TPMmuckraker, Hamel -- who served as the Bush administration's top spokesperson on trade issues, and as press secretary for the House Republican Conference -- said Public Notice had "dozens of donors across the U.S.," but declined to identify them. "We will not be disclosing our donors," she said. "We want to protect the anonymity of our donors," she added, noting that other organizations of all political stripes take a similar stance. more...
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/former_bush_admin_spox_launches_non-profit_to_comb.php?ref=fpblg********************************************
Why The Big Secret?
David Kurtz | March 3, 2010, 11:43AM
One of the truly galling Republican political maneuvers over the last 10 years is to go from squandering a huge budget surplus, racking up trillions in debt, ballooning the deficit, and leaving the next Democratic administration with an economy in shambles -- then as soon as the Democrats are in charge refashioning themselves as budget hawks. You might even think they're setting the Democrats up to fail. I know, hard to believe.
Why Republicans aren't simply laughed off the stage at this point when they try to argue against budget deficits says a lot about Democratic ineptness, media collusion, and short political memories. But I still find it amazing.
Here's an example of the maneuvering and how -- as should be abundantly clear by now -- it's a concerted, well-planned, Republican effort to hamstring Democratic policy objectives: A former Bush administration flack launches what seems to be a very well-funded not-for-profit dedicated to warning of the perils of excessive government spending, and refuses to divulge who is funding the outfit.http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/03/why_the_big_secret.php