Boisclair works for the Society for Truth and Justice, an anti-abortion group whose staffers are running primary challenges around the country in order to exploit a campaign law loophole and get graphic ads aired on broadcast television, as the Minnesota Independent first reported.

In a press release titled, “Christian challenges Muslim for congressional seat,” Boisclair announced that he had launched his first ad.

“We did not pick this fight,” Boisclair said. “Islam’s war against Christianity and human liberty has raged against us for 1,400 years. We are merely responding with the truth.”

“The call to violent acts against Christians and Jews within this ‘holy’ book should alarm every American. The fact that a U.S. Congressman swore an oath on a book that calls for most of us to be persecuted is an outrage.”

The video was deemed offensive by Youtube and promptly pulled from the video hosting service. Ellison praised the move.

“I’d like to thank YouTube for removing the ad because it violated the company’s ‘policy on shocking and disgusting content,’” Ellison wrote in a statement. “The people of Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District elected me to uphold our Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion for every American. I intend to maintain the high level of civility the voters expect and deserve. And, I will continue working with our communities to organize for greater inclusion of people of all faiths and backgrounds.”

Boisclair, who currently works in Washington, DC, for the Society for Truth and Justice is one of several candidates from that organization running in primary challenges against House members in order to force local media outlets to air the candidates’ ads no matter how graphic.

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 says that all candidates for a specific office must have equal access to public airwaves.

Randall Terry, an anti-abortion activist who founded the group, is also running a Democratic primary challenge against President Obama. Earlier this week, Terry began soliciting $100,000 in donations to air graphic anti-abortion ads in the 2012 Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Boisclair told the Hopkins Patch that he doesn’t yet have the money to air his anti-Islam ads, but hopes to in time for the election

Here’s Boisclair’s new ad:

The board’s rulings have come under heightened scrutiny in recent months as the board works to adjust its policies to new laws passed in 2010. The board has been receiving feedback from both anti-gay marriage amendment supporters that want as little disclosure as possible and open government groups that favor full disclosure.

The board rejected a recommendation by campaign finance staff to relax some of the campaign finance guidance that had been considered at the agency’s June and October meetings, but board members also voted to carry forward with more research into the several aspects of ballot campaign disclosure.

Specifically, the board is looking into how to classify expenditures and if only “expressed advocacy” should be counted as an expenditure. For instance, in the 2010 gubernatorial election, the National Organization for Marriage launched more than $700,000 in campaign ads on the amendment and suggested that Republican Tom Emmer was the only candidate that supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. But because the ads did not explicitly tell voters who to support or take a position on whether the amendment should make it to the ballot, the ads were not subject to campaign finance disclosure rules.

The board’s proposed guidance would close that loophole.

“The vote is a temporary victory for disclosure because it is still possible that the board will only require disclosure of political advertisements that expressly advocate the election or defeat of the ballot campaign,” Mike Dean of Common Cause Minnesota told the Minnesota Independent. “This could mean that advertising that does not explicitly state ‘vote for’ or ‘vote against’ the constitutional amendment would not be required to disclose the sources of their campaign contributions.”

Common Cause sent a letter to the board just before the meeting citing statute and case law that supports its position.

The letter asked the board to implement rules to help “steer the debate about what is ‘electioneering’ and what is ‘issue advocacy’ back to a conversation that makes sense to average voters and not just election law lawyers.” It also asked the board to adopt the Federal Elections Commission standards.

“This letter was instrumental in convincing board members to reject the staff recommendations,” Dean said. “The next step is that the staff is going to provide additional language on what is a ballot question expenditure that is not so narrowly defined that it creates a giant loophole. Staff acknowledged during the meeting that if they adopted the guidance as recommended by staff, that it would create a loophole that could allow millions of dollars in undisclosed money to be spent on the ballot question next fall.”

Minnesota for Marriage, composed of the Minnesota Family Council, the National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Catholic Conference, has vigorously opposed any expansion of campaign finance laws that require a greater amount of disclosure.

Crossroads GPS, a conservative policy and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., is targeting Iowa voters with TV ads in the state’s largest media market.

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, which has ties to former White House deputy chief Karl Rove, has spent $85,125 so far at KCCI, the local CBS affiliate in Des Moines and the state’s largest network TV station. The group has run ads since late June, and recently spent $13,472 for ads running between Oct. 25 and Nov. 3. At least a portion of the ads being run in Iowa target Democratic U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell.

According to OpenSecrets.org, the 501(c)(4) “outside spending” group spent $15.1 million against Democrats in the 2009-10 cycle and $479,619 for Republicans. It spent another $1.1 million on electioneering communications. The group doesn’t disclose its donors.

American Crossroads, a related “super PAC,” raised $26.5 million in 2010 and spent $21.5 million. It raised and spent the most out of any independent expenditure-only committees in 2010.

The super PAC, which must disclose its donors, has raised $6.6 million so far this cycle.

Crossroads GPS focuses on seven issues, according to its website: lower taxes, less government spending, building the private sector, reducing government worker pay, shutting down the borders, reworking health care reform, pushing for American energy development.

The group’s latest offering against Boswell was uploaded to YouTube Monday and is embedded below.

Boisclair is the latest member of the Society for Truth and Justice (STJ) to launch a primary challenge. David Lewis, a lobbyist for the Washington, D.C.-based STJ, announced in late-September that he is challenging House Speaker Jon Boehner in Ohio for the Republican primary. Lewis doesn’t live in the district and says he will move there if elected.

And Lewis is making abortion the sole issue of his campaign, as is anti-abortion activist Angela Michael who is running for Congress in the Chicago area.

Boisclair is running against Ellison in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District on the abortion issue as well.

STJ’s founder, Randall Terry, explained the strategy to Catholic Online.

“By running campaign ads in the top 25 media markets, we can reach 1/3 of the nation with a message about the truth and horror of abortion,” he said.

Boisclair is the latest of the STJ staffers to launch a campaign. His campaign website features graphic images of fetuses, and is virtually identical to Lewis’ and Michael’s. In fact, when the Minnesota Independent attempted to contact Boisclair, the email address on his website went to Lewis for Congress instead of Boisclair’s campaign email address.

In a document from Randall Terry posted on Boisclair’s website, Randall Terry lays out his campaign strategy (capitalization theirs):

WE WILL NEVER SAVE OUR ECONOMY, or CURE THESE OTHER ILLS, until we stop killing our children, BECAUSE THE HAND OF GOD WILL BE AGAINST US. Hence, our goal is to create a crisis of conscience for America, by showing the public the gruesome reality of “safe, legal, abortion;” pictures of murdered babies in TV ads. Federal Law Requires that TV Stations Run the Ads of Federal Candidates; Even Ads That Show Babies Murdered By Abortion! Every true pro-lifer in America needs to know this, and embrace this incredible chance to be a witness…a prophetic voice…for the babies. Every pro-lifer in America needs to catch the vision of ENDING THIS HOLOCAUST. “But Randall…” some will say, “surely they will find a way to get around the law; surely they will not run the ads.” WRONG!!! Federal Law
requires that TV stations run the ads that they are given, even if the ad shows aborted babies.

Despite the connections to Randall Terry and the push to get anti-abortion ads aired, Boisclair’s press release announcing his campaign tells a different story.

“I intend to defeat Mr. Ellison soundly in this primary, based upon the issues at hand. Congressman Keith Ellison has failed to represent the ethics and beliefs of this district,” he wrote. “At the onset of his tenure, Ellison took his Oath of office with his hand on a Quaran—a book which mandates violence against Jews and Christians. Ellison consistently legislates for socialist programs, which in effect make us the slave labor force of the federal government. Under his agenda, we are enslaved to heavy taxation, crushing debt, runaway inflation, and we are forced to ‘give’ our hard earned money to his favorite ‘entitlements.’”

Boisclair said Ellison’s track record is “even more nefarious.”

“Mr. Ellison has voted repeatedly to fund Planned Parenthood, a racist organization with a long history of discrimination against minorities, which has consistently targeted black and Hispanic minorities for the abortion of their children. Planned Parenthood is a racist, criminal syndicate, which covers up the crimes of pedophiles, rapists and sex traffickers; it slaughters nearly 1,000 unborn babies every day, and Keith Ellison is their brazen champion, as he hypocritically parades his Progressive Caucus motto, ‘Liberty and Justice for ALL.’”

Boisclair says his campaign will issue three ads on Monday.

Boisclair has long been involved with Terry’s STJ as well as another of Terry’s anti-abortion groups, Operation Rescue. He was arrested in front of Boehner’s office in March. He also protested Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana this spring.

“Michael Pence did a great service for the babies by introducing an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood,” Boisclair said in a press statement at the time. “As a matter of duty to God, the babies, and his constituents, Mr. Pence must be willing to ‘die on this hill’ even if it means standing against the GOP leadership – and a government shut-down – to insure that this ‘criminal syndicate’ does not receive any more of our money.”

He wore a chicken suit at a protest during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan in 2010.

And in 2010, he wrote a letter to Catholic bishops urging them to deny communion to politicians that disagree with his stance on abortion.

Your Excellency:

We thank you for your service to us and to all the Church, and, in particular, for all that you have done for the unborn.

We humbly beg you to warn any Catholic Senator or House Member within your See or within your state: “If you vote for child-killing in ‘Health Care Reform,’ you will be denied Holy Communion.”

Is this not a bishop’s pastoral duty of mercy?

Jesus’ witness to the truth (Jn 18) cost him his life. Following Christ’s example many bishops have been martyred, including St. Timothy, St. Ignatius of Antioch, Pope St. Clement, and St. John Fisher.

STANDING UP FOR THE BABIES AND THE EUCHARIST IN THIS HOUR WILL SURELY NOT COST YOU YOUR LIFE!

Be of good courage and let your voice be heard!

Sincerely in Christ,

Diana Roccograndi, Gary Boisclair, Andrew Beacham

Late last year, the group crashed a holiday party hosted by NARAL.

At the time he said that the “people at NARAL and DC Abortion Fund have celebrated their selfish, deceptive, wicked ideas and called it a holiday party. We at Insurrecta Nex love them too much to fail to tell them the truth.

Boisclair is also running Randall Terry’s campaign for president in 2012. Terry announced earlier this year that he would challenge President Obama in the Democratic primaries in order to exploit the federal elections law that says media outlets cannot refuse to run a candidate’s advertising. Terry plans national anti-abortion ads in 2012, particularly during the Super Bowl.

“[Terry] wants to bring America face to face with the victims of abortion,” Boisclair said of the campaign. “He wants to be able to pummel Obama’s policies.”

Although he’s no longer in the race, the presidential campaign of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty disclosed that it’s still mired deep in debt this week.

The debts reported on the campaign’s quarterly disclosure officially sit at $453,841, with the quarter closing at the end of September. The candidate, who ran on a platform of fiscal conservatism as a “Sam’s Club Republican,” has only a little more than $20,000 cash on hand. Much of Pawlenty’s debt was accrued by political and financial consultants like Marriott Group and St. Paul’s Roosevelt Group.

The campaign also owes Sarah Huckabee, daughter of former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, $1,651 for travel. Other notable expenditures include almost $5,000 to former campaign manager Nick Ayers for travel and $1,730 for equipment rental to Koch Brothers Inc. in Iowa City, whose owners have heavily invested in GOP campaigns.

There was earlier speculation that Pawlenty, who has endorsed Mitt Romney for president, would receive financial help from Romney, who is the top GOP fundraiser. It’s not uncommon for candidates to pay off their campaign debts for years.

Pawlenty has recently said that he regrets dropping out so early, citing money as a factor. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has yet to drop out of the race despite a more than $1 million debt.

On the bright side, Pawlenty got a job. He’s been appointed to serve on the board of RedPrairie Corporation, according to a news release posted on Business Wire.

The privately-held company is based in Georgia. It works with other companies across a number of industries to make transportation, workforce management and product inventory more efficient. The press release cites Pawlenty’s financial experience managing Minnesota’s budget.

“Tim’s combination of experience in the public and private sectors makes him an exceptional addition to RedPrairie’s Board of Directors,” said RedPrairie CEO and fellow board member Mike Mayoras. “Tim and RedPrairie share a track-record of strong financial performance, a passion for innovation, and commitment to advancing the interests of those we serve.”

“Despite this week’s vote in the Senate, millions of Americans are still out of work, the middle class is still under attack, and the corporate-backed politicians don’t have a plan to create jobs,” AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said in a statement on Thursday. “Americans are reclaiming their voice in a Main Street Movement that spans from Madison to Columbus to New York to cities across the nation. Washington can help them by passing the American Jobs Act now.”

Cravaack has said he opposes the jobs bill, but is facing pressure in the district to support President Obama’s proposal. Earlier this week, residents held a “jobs vigil” to convince Cravaack to vote for the jobs bill.

Here’s the AFSCME ad targeting Cravaack:

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman will head a new Super PAC called the Congressional Leadership Fund that will be able to accept unlimited donations from corporations and other private interests.

The Congressional Leadership Fund plans to “counter efforts on the left including the House Majority PAC, unions and the ACORN style groups. This is an independent expenditure fund focused solely and exclusively on maintaining and expanding the Center Right Congressional majority,” according to its website.

Coleman currently heads the American Action Network (AAN), a conservative non-profit that spent at least $18 million for Republican candidates or positions in the last election cycle, according to Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW).

The group’s board includes other members of the American Action Network like former Minnesota U.S. Rep. Vin Weber and AAN President Brian Walsh Politico reports.  Last year, CREW asked the IRS to reconsider the American Action Network’s non-profit status due to its political activity.

The new organization is planning a fundraising event featuring Republican leaders from both houses of Congress on Nov. 2, according to CBS.

A ruling by the Federal Elections Commission this summer allows federal candidates to directly raise funds of up to $5,000 for Super PACs. Democratic congressional leaders have already adopted a Super PAC, the Majority PAC.

Due to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, Super PACs are unburdened can accept unlimited donations. The groups are increasingly influential in the political system, having already spent $2.5 million in this young election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Source: Zroberts, Flickr

Minnesota for Marriage, a coalition working to convince Minnesotans to vote for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, has hit the media saying that their group are “underdogs” in the marriage amendment battle and that they will be greatly outspent.

But according to public records, members of the pro-amendment coalition, including the Minnesota Family Council and the Minnesota Catholic Conference, have greatly outspent LGBT groups in the five years of lobbying for the amendment.

Minnesota for Marriage claims fundraising disadvantage
Each member of the coalition supporting the amendment has claimed underdog status in recent months.

Chuck Darrell, communications director for Minnesota for Marriage, told the St. Cloud Times earlier this month that coalition members “expect to be outspent.”

Darrell elaborated in an August interview with Pastor Brad Brandon on KKMS.

“One of the problems we see is that the other side through Hollywood connections and everything else under the sun are going to raise a ton of money. I don’t think we can outraise them,” Darrell said. ”It’s absolutely important that people get involved because the only way to counter the money that is going to be spent on the other side.”

John Helmberger, CEO of the Minnesota Family Council and chair of Minnesota for Marriage sent an email to supporters several weeks ago warning that “Hollywood” and “centers of popular culture” would be outspending the pro-amendment campaign.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), another member of the Minnesota for Marriage coalition, also warned that they would be outspent.

“Will the campaign be easy? No. We will be vastly outspent and there will be many cultural forces working against us,” the group wrote on its blog. ”They will try to make us think that we are swimming against the tide of history. They will call us names for defending the important institution of marriage. But, we must stand together.”

Amendment supporters spent three times as much through PACs
In the previous five years, groups pushing for the marriage amendment spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect sympathetic legislators. 

According to documents filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, Minnesota for Marriage spent $341,928 from its political action committee (PAC) promoting the ballot measure in Minnesota since 2005.

OutFront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization, spent $95,574 from its PAC on LGBT issues, including opposition to the amendment since 2005. Project 515, which has lobbied to change the 515 Minnesota laws that discriminate against same-sex couples spent $17,850 from its PAC since they were founded in 2008.

The pro-LGBT groups together spent just $115,424, or about one-third of what Minnesota for Marriage spent.

Minnesota for Marriage groups spent $1.12 million on lobbying
All sides of the debate have spent big money lobbying the legislature as well. While the campaign finance board’s lobbying summaries don’t list the amounts of money spent on specific issues, they do provide annual estimates of lobbying expenditures.

Outfront spent $496,658 since 2005 on a range of issues including anti-bullying laws and domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples, but also in opposition to the amendment. In addition, Project 515 lobbied for bills that would equalize Minnesota laws for same-sex couples including end of life matters and hospital visitation. Together the two group spent a sizable amount of money: $616,658.

Since 2005, the Minnesota Family Council has spent $194,000 on lobbying. The group has lobbied heavily in favor of the amendment but also has lobbied in opposition to anti-bullying laws, gambling, medical marijuana, Sunday alcohol sales and abortion rights.

Minnesota for Marriage, an organization exclusively dedicated to the marriage amendment, spent $296,411. Focus on the Family came to Minnesota to lobby for the amendment as well and spent $32,538.

Between the three groups, spending was $522,949. When you add in the lobbying of the Minnesota Catholic Conference ($600,000 since 2005), that number rises to $1,122,949.

Catholic Church and National Organization for Marriage flexed ad muscle
In the advertising game, Minnesota for Marriage and the Catholic church blew LGBT groups out of the water.

During the 2010 elections, the D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage in conjunction with the Minnesota Family Council spent $709,000 on ads urging Minnesotans to support gubernatorial candidates that support the amendment banning same-sex marriage. And the Catholic Church in Minnesota spent $1.6 million on a DVD campaign just before the 2010 election that urged Catholic voters to support candidates that oppose same-sex marriage.

That 2010 ad total, $2.3 million, out-paced LGBT equality groups who spent $0 on ad campaigns during the 2010 election.

All told, the pro-amendment forces have spent $3.7 million over the last 5 years according to publicly available records. Those forces that oppose the amendment spent $740,000.

Amid a furor over its recent redesign, and with privacy concerns tailing its every move, Facebook has filed paperwork to start its own political action committee.

PAC’s are used to distribute money to individual candidates, and observers see it as a sign that social media companies have an increasing stake in the political landscape,reported The Hill.

“FB PAC will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy,” a spokesman said, “while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”

Legislative debates about patents, monopolies and privacy have been been the main preserve of Microsoft and Google, two large tech companies that both have PACs.

Facebook has four registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., and spent $550,000 in lobbying fees in fiscal year 2011. This is a big jump from the $350,000 it spent in 2010. In fact, in the second quarter this year, Facebook spent more than it ever has before on lobbying.

According to Open Secrets, the majority of Facebook’s money is directed at copyright, patent and trademark issues and media information and publishing sectors, but it also has a stake in natural resources and trade.

Most recently, it lobbied on the America Invests Act, which enacted the most significant change to U.S. patent law since 1952, changing it from a “first to invent” to a “first to file” system.

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan group that focuses on privacy issues, told The New York Times that he was not surprised  Facebook is looking to step up its lobbying efforts.

“Facebook is monetizing its platform,” Court said. “This is all about how much it is going to be able to push the envelope with consumers and not have the government require it to change.”

Keep Conservatives United, a super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, is airing ads in Iowa attacking Rick Perry for signing an executive order mandating HPV vaccines in that state. The ad buy mirrors Bachmann’s own stance on the issue—she has stated that HPV vaccines are dangerous despite scientific consensus to the contrary.

“Governor Perry says his vaccine mandate on eleven year old girls was just about cancer,” KCU founder Bob Harris said in a news release about the ad. “Then why did Governor Perry ignore doctors who opposed his order because they were concerned about both parental rights and vaccine safety? And if Rick Perry was just fighting cancer, then what were the lobbyists doing and why was the Governor grabbing the money?”

Perry issued an executive order in 2007 that mandated that girls entering sixth grade take the cancer-preventing vaccine. The order also contained a provision allowing parents to opt-out if they objected to the vaccine.

Bachmann hit Perry on the vaccine at the most recent debate, but took it further when she asserted that the vaccine may cause mental retardation, a claim she has since backed away from.

The group is purchasing ads in the Cedar Rapids media market. Here’s the ad: