Rove urges GOP money to outside attack groups

EXCLUSIVE:

Political strategist Karl Rove, freed of his White House role, is encouraging major Republican donors to give their money to organizations that operate independently of the Republican Party and are poised to spend upwards of $100 million trying to elect conservatives this fall.

Mr. Rove, the architect of President Bush’s election victories, has been telling Republican benefactors across the country that giving to official Republican Party fundraising committees will not be enough this year, according to people familiar with his pitch over the past few months.

They said Mr. Rove has regularly expressed concern that Democrat-leaning organizations such as MoveOn.org and labor unions could swamp the Republican Party’s money machine and overwhelm the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican.

To counter that wave, Mr. Rove has been asking elite Republican fundraisers to pour their millions of dollars into nonparty groups like Freedom’s Watch, which is gearing up to spend tens of millions of dollars to help elect conservatives - primarily Republicans - to Congress and the White House.

Freedom’s Watch has purchased advertisements that help Republican candidates by emphasizing issues rather than the candidates and do so without coordinating with the Republican Party.

Independent groups such as Freedom’s Watch on the right and MoveOn.org Political Action on the left will fuel much of the on-air and on-the-ground skirmishing this fall between Democratic and Republican candidates. Well-heeled donors often prefer using these organizations as conduits for their contributions because they often can remain anonymous and because the groups’ expenditures are not disclosed until after they are made, if at all.

Mr. Rove declined to comment about his discussions with Republican fundraisers.

But his spokesman, Mark Corallo, acknowledged that Mr. Rove, when asked, has encouraged people to fill the coffers of groups that in effect act as adjuncts to the Republican Party.

The message, Mr. Corallo said, was: “Conservatives, when interested, ought to contribute generously to groups that advocate their goals.”

Mr. Rove has pushed Freedom’s Watch in particular, said several people who have heard him make the case. He has told donors that he trusts the two longtime Republican operatives running the organization.

One is Executive Vice President Carl Forti, who is the former political director of the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney and the former communications director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. The other is Executive Vice President Tony Feather, who was political director for Mr. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign and is a founding partner in FLS-DCI, a consulting firm for corporations and political candidates.

Mr. Rove is not paid by Freedom’s Watch, but nonetheless has spoken highly of its efforts when asked by Republican moneymen where they should put their contributions this fall, said people close to the former White House strategist.

The result has been an uptick in contributions to Freedom’s Watch.

“It has raised our profile, and his confidence in the operation has helped legitimize it in the minds of potential donors,” a Freedom’s Watch official said.

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