Republican Dirty Tricks

Just how close is dirty trickster Nathan Sproul to the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign?

AlterNet has learned that Sproul, the former Arizona Republican Party and Christian Coalition director, has cozy ties to a group of consultants working on the Bush/Cheney campaign. According to a Democratic source well-placed in Arizona political circles, Sproul's firm, Sproul and Associates, operates next door to the office of Gordon C. James Public Relations (GCJPR) in Phoenix, a Republican PR company which is coordinating various Bush/Cheney campaign events nationwide and has provided PR services for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Last spring, one of GCJPR's executives, who is an advisory board member of Bush's re-election campaign, served as the chair of a ballot campaign Sproul was quarterbacking, while, according to the source, Sproul collaborated with a GCJPR employee who is a White House consultant on a scheme to get independent candidate Ralph Nader on the Arizona ballot. In both instances, Sproul's company, Voter Outreach of America, was involved in gathering signatures.

In Nevada, Voter Outreach of America is accused by former employees of shredding the registration forms of thousands of Democrats; in West Virginia, Voter Outreach of America employees say they were instructed to mislead voters into registering Republican and voting for Bush; in Oregon, yet another swing state, the state attorney general has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Sproul's firm, which is Voter Outreach of America's parent company, was involved in intentionally destroying or discarding voter registration forms signed by Democrats. According to OpenSecrets.org, Sproul's firm received $125,000 this year from the Republican National Committee for voter registration and another $500,000 for "political consulting."

The cozy ties between Sproul and Bush operatives should raise a serious question: Is Sproul simply an overzealous lone wolf, or are his activities part of a concerted effort by the Bush/Cheney campaign to subvert the democratic process?

Gordon C. James, the founder and director of GCJPR, is a longtime Bush apparatchik. According to his bio on GCJPR's website, James helped handle media relations for President George H.W. Bush as the White House "lead advance representative." During George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, James' firm handled PR and event management for Bush's Iowa Caucus campaign, all three debates against Al Gore, two campaign train trips and his election night festivities in Austin, Texas. Recently, GCJPR organized a Bush mega-rally in Phoenix and an appearance by Laura Bush at another campaign rally in Minneapolis. James also worked for five months as L. Paul Bremer's spinmeister in Baghdad.

James said all of his firm's activities on behalf of the Bush/Cheney campaign were performed "on a volunteer basis," though GCJPR has received funding this year from the Republican National Committee. And James maintained that though he knows Sproul, they don't work together. "Nathan works more on the political side," James stated. "We're a PR firm."

Sproul did not respond to requests for an interview.

James did not mention that one of GCJPR's executives, George W. Bush for President advisory board member Lisa James, served as chairwoman of an Arizona ballot initiative that Sproul spearheaded last spring called "No Taxpayer Money For Politicians." The ballot measure, which was soundly defeated, was a right-wing, corporate-funded effort to ban candidates for state office from receiving public money for their campaigns. Sproul's Voter Outreach of America spearheaded the measure's petition drive. In her capacity as chairwoman, Lisa James operated directly out of Sproul's office.