Hidden Money




Howie Rich from New York City likes to filter his money through a confusing maze of organizations. The most prominent of these is a group known as Americans for Limited Government, or ALG. Howie Rich is the Chairman of the ALG Board of Directors.

ALG's recent fundraising history is like a riddle that goes something like this: How does an organization take in $800,000 (large PDF) one year, then spend approximately $11,000,000 just one year later? (And that's just the amount that can be traced.) Where did that $10,000,000+ come from? And why can't anyone find out where it came from?

LINK: TABOR Funding Tracking Sheet (PDF)

Read the chart below, and you'll start to scratch of the Howie Rich shell game. Then read on to get a sense of Rich's organizational priorities. There is a lot the public doesn't know about where Howie's money is moving, or how Howie's money could end up changing state laws all over the country. It's time to demand answers.

Click on image to download a full-size PDF file of this chart.


Links to State Campaign Finance Documentation
Nebraska, Missouri, Maine, Oklahoma, Nevada, Oregon (click "search by committee number," enter "5050," and click "campaign finance"). Montana's campaign finance reports are not available online. Please contact the Montana Secretary of State's office.



The Organizations

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) is the coordinator of the network of national TABOR supporters. ALG had combined 501(C)3 and 501(C)4 revenues of $800,000 in 2004.

The chairman of the ALG board is Howie Rich, a New York real estate investor.

Campaign finance reports show that ALG, through a layer of shell organizations, spent approximately $11 million to attempt to qualify TABOR and regulatory takings measures in 12 states.

These groups, which may best be described as arms of a single entity, are led by a set of wealthy Libertarian Party activists with ties to Ed Crane, founder and president of the CATO Institute. These groups transfer funds to each other, share staff, have overlapping boards of directors and fund the same campaigns. One way to describe this web would be by following the strands emanating from each member of the ALG board of directors. The pattern suggests they are working as one unit.

The most prominent of these groups are:

National Alliance for Workers and Employers Rights or NAWER. A "right to work" group. In 2004, it was funded entirely by a $650,000 grant from Americans for Tax Reform. Address in corporate filing is Fairfax, Virginia.

Social Security Choice. The social security privatization project of the Club for Growth. Ohio TABOR sponsor Ken Blackwell is co-chair. The group spent $260,000 in 2002. Address in corporate filing is the same Fairfax, Virginia address as NAWER.

US Term Limits. The hub of the term limits movement. Sponsored state level term limit initiatives and federal term limit effort in 1990s. Still raises funds and works to defend term limit provisions. They have at least one related PAC and ancillary organization. Address is the same as Americans for Limited Government.

Legislative Education Action Drive (LEAD) / Parents in Charge Foundation. A pro-voucher advocacy group funded by the Bradley, Walton and Friedman Foundations. LEAD is at the core of an effort by the ALG network to pass vouchers in South Carolina. LEAD has also been active in Arizona and Colorado. In 2005, LEAD made a $50,000 contribution to Oklahoma's TABOR campaign. In 2004, it made a $50,000 direct expenditure in support of Pat Toomey's challenge of Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania GOP primary in 2004. Toomey is now the head of the Club for Growth. LEAD's address is at the same Virginia location as NAWER and US Term Limits.

Club for Growth State Action. The umbrella organization for Club for Growth state affiliates. Colorado Club for Growth was the main committee opposing recent changes to the state's TABOR referendum. CFGSA's address is in Illinois.

Fund for Democracy. This committee is funding the eminent domain signature gathering efforts in Idaho ($230,000) and California ($1.5 million), as well as the TABOR signature gathering in Missouri. Fund for Democracy, according to Howie Rich himself, is "just a fund" he set up (listen to Rich describe his work). The address on the campaign finance filing (for ID and CA on takings) is the same address (73 Spring Street, NY) of ALG and US Term Limits.

America at Its Best. This committee, incorporated in Virginia, funded signature gathering efforts for TABOR in MO and NE, as well as eminent domain initiatives in other states. Laird Maxwell, the head of Idahoans for Tax Reform is an officer, as is former New Mexico Legislator Duncan Scott, now a Montana resident.

These are the entities that appear to be the largest and most relevant to the TABOR issue. But ALG has connections to many other groups, from Arizona At Its Best (a state Club for Growth-type operation with the same address in Illinois as) to Citizens in Charge (a group advocating for the initiative process).

ALG's network has deep connections to the national Club for Growth and there are numerous connections from this network to Americans for Tax Reform, led by Grover Norquist.