During the 2010 midterm election, the Center to Protect Patient Rights distributed more than $55 million to 26 GOP-allied groups, tax filings show, funding opaque outfits such as American Future Fund, 60 Plus and Americans for Job Security that were behind a coordinated campaign against Democratic congressional candidates across the country (some pictured below).
Watch the clips below to see a few of the ads the groups ran two years ago.
“A mosque at ground zero”
American Future Fund opposing John Braley
“Home Sweet Home”
American Future Fund opposing John Braley
“Laughably liberal”
Club for Growth opposing Joe Sestak
“We warned John Boccieri”
60 Plus opposing John Boccieri
“Boccieri betrayed us”
60 Plus opposing John Boccieri
“A mosque at ground zero”
American Future Fund, a Des Moines-based group that ran campaigns against two dozen Democrats in the 2010 election cycle, spent $23 million during that period, tax filings show, with nearly $13 million of that coming from the Center to Protect Patient Rights. Its biggest target was Iowa Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley, a rising young leader. Among the ads was one falsely claiming that Braley had supported building a mosque at the site of the former World Trade Center in New York.
“Home Sweet Home”
In all, American Future Fund spent $2 million in an effort to defeat Braley, an attack that included radio ads, robo-calls and nine mailers. After winning his 2008 race by 29 percentage points, Braley squeaked to a 2-percentage-point victory in 2010.
“Laughably liberal”
In the race to fill Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter’s Senate seat in 2010, the Club for Growth spent more than $2.6 million against Rep. Joe Sestak, a Democrat and former Navy admiral. Sestak ultimately lost by 2 percentage points to Pat Toomey, a conservative Republican.
“We warned John Boccieri”
60 Plus spent more than $630,000 against Rep. John Boccieri, an Ohio Democrat. Boccieri had served in active duty in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq while he was in the Ohio Legislature.
“Boccieri betrayed us”
John Boccieri lost the 2010 race to keep Ohio’s 16th Congressional District by a wide margin to his Republican challenger, Jim Renacci.
