The lawsuit describes Andy as taking “a ‘special interest’ in Plaintiffs Dean and YCR because he is a secularist and/or atheist and gay activist with a politically left ideology who despises people of faith.” However, Andy’s award-winning coverage of YCR has received wide praise, including the Society of Professional Journalist’s (SPJ) first prize for Best Continuing Coverage. SPJ stated that Andy took “an even-handed approach into a weighty subject sure to provoke controversy from various standpoints.”

We read your comments, tweets, Facebook messages and emails and know you agree that Andy’s coverage along with the rest of the reporting by The American Independent News Network, is excellent. You can help ensure that our work continues by making a donation today to support The American Independent News Network and our Legal Defense Fund.

Make no mistake: This suit is a direct attack not only on us but on the very idea of a free and independent press, as well as an attempt to silence journalists like Andy who expose the views of people like Bradlee Dean. In short, this is a frivolous and blatant attempt to chill free speech. They think that because we are a small, non-profit organization we will be forced to back down; they think by threatening us with a lawsuit, we will stop. They are wrong. We stand behind Andy and our coverage completely, and know you do too.

The American Independent News Network fully intends to fight this suit and to continue our reporting.  You can help us do both by making a donation to our Legal Defense Fund today.

By making a donation you are helping to provide us with the resources to withstand such challenges and to continue our work of advancing and protecting the common good.  Your donation can help take a stand for freedom of the press and against the suppression of dissent through dubious legal means. You can also donate through PayPal.

Hanaa Rifaey is the publisher of The American Independent News Network, the parent organization of The Minnesota Independent.

We’ll be tweaking the new design in the days to come. The site remains a work in progress, so please bear with us. And in the meantime, add a comment below to let us know what you like about the new look, or what you hate about it. We’re listening.

We’re looking for a passionate reporter who can combine the best of traditional journalism with the new paradigms of the Internet and use blogging to develop the narratives of longer-form reporting. A key criterion in measuring success will be the delivery of “impact stories” that inspire public debate and advance the common good.

Successful candidates will be responsible for at least two long-form articles and 15 blog posts per week.

Requirements

At least three years of relevant reporting experience;

Clear understanding of policy, legislation and the workings of state politics;

Familiarity with recent developments in online news;

And a desire to integrate audio and video into reporting, when appropriate.

Salary for this full-time contract position is commensurate with experience.

Please send resume, cover letter and pdfs of at least three recent clips to editor Paul Schmelzer: pschmelzer@minnesotaindependent.com. Subject for email: Minnesota Independent Reporter

Deadline: Nov. 30.

About the Center for Independent Media
The Minnesota Independent is part of a growing online network sponsored by the non-profit and non-partisan Center for Independent Media, which adheres to the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) code of ethics and has received twenty SPJ awards for excellence in the past two years.

The Center for Independent Media investigates and disseminates news that impacts public debate and advances the common good.  To accomplish its mission, the Center operates an independent online news network. An informed citizenry is a fundamental principle of civil society and American democracy; in the words of the Supreme Court in Garrison v. Louisiana: “Speech concerning public affairs is more than self-expression; it is the essence of self government.” Our reporting emphasizes the positive role of democratically elected government in securing the common good and social welfare, and the continuing benefits of our founding culture of egalitarian government by the people, for the people.

The night, part of the Weisman’s recurring WAM Chatter program, is presented in conjunction with its exhibition Au Courant: Robert Rauschenberg’s Currents, on view through October 4.

Nicky Dieter, Flickr

For decades, political campaign advertising had more in common with Menards than Milton Glaser: campaign graphic designers — whose job was to sell candidates often through an expected visual language of flag-toned stars and/or bars — took the back seat, while the well-funded media buyers got the front. Then came Barack Obama. His campaign, lead by design director Scott Thomas, enlisted designer Sol Sender to both create a memorable, appealing identity and advance the lessons of Howard Dean’s web-savvy “netroots” surge of 2004.

We all know what happened next. Obama’s “O” logo became ubiquitous, embraced and modified by supporters so it appeared everywhere: carved into Halloween pumpkins, spray-painted on city concrete, plastered on cars, t-shirts and mugs, reprinted on one of American history’s most recognized political posters, and interpreted by DIYers on murals, baked goods, light-up bike spokes and beyond.

"Change" by Patrick T. Power

Next Tuesday, May 12, Thomas and Sender will be speaking at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center on the development of the Obama campaign in a panel called, “Designing Obama” — and Minnesota Independent editor Paul Schmelzer will be moderating the discussion. He’ll begin the evening by putting the campaign into historical context (how it differs from more traditional patriotic-themed campaigns by candidates like Bush, Gore and Clinton and from Obama’s 2008 challenger, Republican John McCain, whose design motif is reminiscent of a luxury car ad) and geographical context (how it played in the land of Jesse “the Body” ads and Paul Wellstone’s still omipresent green bumperstickers), before highlighting examples of creative re-use of the “O” logo.

In preparation, what would you like to ask Sender and Thomas? Got a critique or kudos for the campaign? Leave your thoughts in comments.

Tickets can be purchased here, or watch the event’s webcast live at the Walker Channel.

Earlier: Design with a big O: On developing Obama’s campaign identity

UPDATE: MnIndy wins four first place Page One awards, four others

A list of winners and categories:

Newsroom Staff
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16A: Best Web site [Online - News Web Sites]

Paul Demko
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16B: Best single news story [Online - News Web Sites]

Abdi Aynte
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16B: Best single news story [Online - News Web Sites]

Chris Steller
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16B: Best single news story [Online - News Web Sites]

Steve Perry
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16C: Best continuing coverage [Online - News Web Sites]

Paul Schmelzer
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16F: Best use of video [Online - News Web Sites]

Newsroom Staff
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16E: Best use of multimedia [Online - News Web Sites]

Newsroom Staff
Minnesota Independent
Independent Web site    16H: Best independent news blog [Online - News Web Sites]

In 2007, MnIndy (then Minnesota Monitor) became the first online-only news operation in Minnesota history to win a Page One award. At last year’s banquet, the site won three honors, including a first place for best single news story by an independent site. This year, more than 420 entries were received.

An experimental geographer based at the University of California – Berkeley, Paglen has long tried to peer into the murk of the U.S. government’s “black” world, which makes up around $30 billion of the annual budget. He looks at where these secret projects interface with the so-called “white” world, using public documents (including some that expose front companies created by the CIA to aid its “extraordinary rendition” flights), views beyond the fences at sites like Area 51 through high-powered camera lenses, and the identifying shoulder patches worn by personnel at black ops. His views are rarely clear, as you’d expect. One patch Paglen found (above) speaks directly to the secrecy. Worn by personnel that ran nighttime flights between aerospace contractors and secret sites, its embroidered acronym reads: “NOYFB”—None of Your Fucking Business.

Read Schmelzer’s piece.

A network of Iowa Republicans is playing a leading role in a secretive group advocating nationally on behalf of “conservative and free market ideals” in congressional races around the country. Among the group’s leaders are two media consultants who played key roles in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads in 2004 and the Willie Horton ad in 1988, both of which helped defeat Democratic presidential candidates.

The American Future Fund (AFF), operating out of Des Moines, is sponsoring advocacy advertisements in closely contested congressional races from New York to Louisiana to Minnesota and Colorado. It is one of the most ambitious conservative independent expenditure groups to emerge in 2008. Most observers expect AFF to begin increasing its role in elections around the country, stoking speculation that it will spend heavily to prop up lightly funded Republican campaign committees.

Because of the way the group is organized under Internal Revenue Service guidelines for nonprofit organizations it does not have to disclose its donors and is not governed by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

But an Iowa Independent investigation has found the group has deep roots in state Republican politics. And, unlike MoveOn.org, a similar group advocating liberal causes, it’s hard to determine who is actually behind the AFF. The key players include:

Nicole Schlinger, the group’s president, the former executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa.

Tim Albrecht, a former spokesman for Republicans in the Iowa House who worked for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and spent a short time this year working for the Republican Party of Iowa, is the group’s communications director.

David Kochel, another former state GOP executive director and a senior adviser to the Romney campaign, who has served as spokesman for AFF, although Albrecht said he is no longer associated with the group.

The Washington Post reported in March – and Albrecht confirmed to Iowa Independent — thatBen Ginsberg, of the high-powered D.C. law firm Patton Boggs, is the group’s legal counsel. Ginsberg resigned as chief outside counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign in August 2004 when it was revealed that he was also providing advice to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that sponsored error-laden attacks on the military service record of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

Larry McCarthy, president of D.C.-based media firm McCarthy Marcus Hennings, is AFF’s media strategist. In 1988, McCarthy produced the infamous, racially tinged Willie Horton television adthat helped then-Vice President George H.W. Bush bury Michael Dukakis under charges that he was soft on crime.

Public records show the AFF also has connections to Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter, who is widely believed to be considering a run for governor in 2010. Rastetter is a regular donor to the Republican Party and founder of Hawkeye Renewables, the fourth largest ethanol producer in the nation. Eric Peterson, business manager at Summit Farms, another of Rastetter’s companies, is listed on documents filed with the Iowa Secretary of State’s office as president, secretary and director of Iowa Future Fund, a conservative nonprofit that essentially morphed into American Future Fund.

The address listed on an AFF ad buy in Minnesota is a post office box used by Nick Ryan, a Des Moines lobbyist who works primarily for Rastetter’s companies and who served as campaign manager for 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle. In February, Ryan was acting as spokesman for Hawkeye Renewables when 29,000 gallons of ethanol was accidentally spilled at the company’s Iowa Falls plant.

The many faces of AFF

The Iowa Future Fund, technically the first incarnation of AFF, gained public attention in March when it ran a series of television and radio ads accusing Gov. Chet Culver of increasing spending by 20 percent over the past two years and raising taxes and fees by $100 million.

“Culver raises taxes and spends more money and wants to use your tax dollars to benefit Microsoft,” the ad’s narrator said, referring to a tax package that Culver backed and that the legislature passed geared to lure companies like Microsoft Corp. and Google to the state.

The Iowa Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board to determine whether the ads constituted political advertising, which would require disclosure of the group’s donors.

Charlie Smithson, executive director of the Iowa Ethics Campaign and Disclosure Board, said the complaint has not yet been fully settled.

“It is still under investigation,” he said. “The determination was made that it did not violate the state campaign laws because it did not ‘expressly advocate’ for or against Gov. Culver or a clearly identified candidate for office. The issue the Board is now looking at is whether any of the state lobbying laws were triggered.”

The next Ethics Board meeting is Aug. 28.

In April, Iowa Future Fund effectively split into two groups: AFF, which focuses on federal races around the country, and the Iowa Progress Project, which puts its resources toward state issues.

Albrecht said AFF and Iowa Future Fund “are completely unrelated.” But they share an organizational history. AFF and IFF were incorporated on the same day by the same Virginia law firm. David Kochel served for a time as spokesman for IFF and AFF before becoming president of Iowa Progress Project.

In March, an ad run by AFF in the race between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat caused the state’s Democratic-Farmer-LaborParty to file a formal complaint with the FEC alleging that the group violated federal election law and that its ads constitute blatant electoral advocacy.

“The American Future Fund is a shadowy nonprofit organization,” the complaint said. “It purports to be exempt from tax under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. But its notion of ‘promoting the social welfare’ is to send valentines to electorally troubled Republican Senate candidates. The Commission should take immediate steps to enforce the law and expose this group’s secret financing to light of day.”

Under federal election law, the organization is prohibited from engaging solely in “express advocacy,” which would include asking voters to vote for or against a certain candidate. But so long as the ad hasn’t been coordinated with a campaign and doesn’t outright say “vote for” or “vote against,” it is not considered express advocacy, according to Paul S. Ryan, FEC program director for the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C.-based organization.

“An organization that is careful about how it writes the script of its ad can fly under the radar or stay outside of the net of campaign finance activity,” he said.

The ad in question didn’t ask voters to vote for Coleman, but rather asked voters to “call Norm Coleman and thank him for his agenda for Minnesota.”

In 2004, several groups filed complaints against so-called independent expenditure committees saying they ignored campaign finance law. It took the FEC two years to rule on the complaints. In the end, the groups had to pay less than 2 percent of the fund they illegally raised and spent.

Brad Smith, a former chairman of the FEC and currently a professor of law at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, said that if a group’s “major purpose” is not trying to affect elections, “they are not regulated by the FEC.” But Smith added the definition of “major purpose” is not clear, which could open the door for some nonprofit groups to face a challenge on their tax status.

“I think there would be an opening for someone who wanted to prosecute a group who is spending millions of dollars on advertising,” said Smith, a Republican who has been a vocal critic of campaign finance reform.

Albrecht said there is no validity to claims that AFF is anything but an issues-focused organization.

“We are an issues organization,” he said. “That is evident by the things that are prominently displayed on our Web site and in our work.”

Ads without expenditures

Since running the Coleman ad in Minnesota, AFF has been busy.

In July, ran radio ads in Nevada, asking voters to “call [Democratic] Sen. Harry Reid and tell him to allow a vote” on expanded domestic oil drilling.

Also in July, it ran radio ads asking Colorado voters to call U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, and “tell him to stop delaying energy exploration.” Last week, AFF launched a television ad critical of Udall’s stance on domestic oil exploration.

The group also released a series of three Web ads, asking voters to call U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., to tell them they “shouldn’t get sweetheart deals,” referring to accusations that they profited from the mortgage crisis.

In May, AFF officially filed a statement of organization for its own political action committee, called American Future Fund Political Action. Ryan said this is a standard procedure for many nonprofits as it allows them to solicit donations for exclusively “express advocacy” work.

The AFF PAC has used YouTube to distribute a series of ads against Franken in Minnesota (in May), Senate Majority Leader Reid in Nevada (in June), U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana (in May and July), and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (in May).

However, according to reports filed with the FEC on July 13, the group has raised no money and has had no expenditures, a fact that Ryan called “odd.”

Albrecht said AFF is simply a reaction to liberal groups like MoveOn.org who have dominated this realm of politics for years.

“For far too long the left has been on the field with no opposition,” he said. “American Future Fund has said it’s time to play ball. We’re not going to sit on the sidelines any longer. It’s important for free market, conservative principles to be highlighted in public, and that’s what we intend to do.”

The difference is that MoveOn.org, a decade-old liberal group, identifies its leadership on its Web site, boasts more than a million members and never shies away from the spotlight as a means for amplifying its message. AFF is decidedly lower-profile, disclosing nothing about its leaders, history or membership on its Web site, and it makes little or no effort on public appearances, press conferences and media bookings.

The potential impact that groups like AFF could have on this year’s elections will be difficult to gauge until the votes are in on Election Day. In 2006, independent expenditure committees for both parties spent about $430 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Despite objections to such groups from both major parties’ presumptive nominees for president, many experts expect that number to be higher this year.

To view selected ads from the American Future Fund, click here.