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National Republican Trust PAC: Is Joe Mercurio an extreme right winger?Looks like Joe Mercurio, the oft-quoted NY political consultant, was the one who carried out the National Republican Trust PAC's drive-by hit on Obama late in the campaign. FactCheck.org accused the National Republican Trust PAC of producing "one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign." That would be the "Obama Hearts Mohammed Atta" one. The NRT PAC's other ads were just as despicable. The NRT PAC, registered with the FEC on 9/29/08, paid the Philipse Brook Group at least $5.3 million between 10/15 and 11/4 for media buys. Joe Mercurio and the Philipse Brook Group share the same address in Garrison NY and Mercurio recently mentioned making a media buy the day before the NRT PAC filed a 24-Hour Notice with the FEC re a media buy. I suspect the decision to generate a steady stream of inflammatory, racist anti-Obama crap on television during the last month of the campaign wasn't made on the spur of the moment. The Philipse Brook Group was registered in NY on 8/19/08 which would indicate it was set up specifically handle the NRT PAC's ads. Joe Mercurio can take money from whomever he wants to. What I am interested in is whether he is an right wing extremist like the other people associated with the NRT PAC. I am curious as to how someone like Mercurio can go from consulting for Joe Biden's primary campaign to convincing national networks to broadcast the "Reverend Wright Hates America" ad continuously two days before Election Day. More importantly, I'd like to know whether the NRT PAC paid $5.3 million in cash out of its own bank account for the media buys. As of 10/15, the NRT PAC had approximately $205k in cash and raising $5 million in less than three weeks seems like a daunting task. If someone guaranteed payment or extended a loan for the ads, that fact has to be disclosed. Since the NRT PAC only came into existence on 9/29/08, I would think a lender would be hardpressed to claim the PAC was creditworthy. If anyone can shed some light on this issue, I'd very much appreciate hearing from you.National Republican Trust Pac
It's simple: he works both sides of the street. This is not necessarily unusual in the political consultancy business.
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I wasn't asking about Mercurio's personal convictions or his professional standards. I want to know how the deal went down. Given that Mercurio registered the Philipse Brook Group on 8/19, it appears that plans for the National Republican Trust PAC were made well before 9/1, the date of the Republican National Convention. Timing was critical to the NRT PAC project. The registration for the NRT PAC was dated 9/26 and hand delivered to the FEC on 9/29. Thus, the NRT PAC was obligated to report financial data for the third quarter which consisted of a $300 contribution from the executive director, Scott L. Wheeler, and a $700 loan from Maelstrom Technology Solutions, the Wisconsin consulting firm that processes the NRT PAC's credit card contributions. In its Pre-General report covering the two-week period between 10/1 and 10/15, the NRT PAC reported $463k in contributions and $379k in disbursements, $120k of which was in the form of vendor debt. That left the NRT PAC with about $205k of cash on hand at 10/15. The plan to run the very controversial ads in the last month of the campaign had been put in place weeks or even months earlier but we are supposed to believe its success hinged on the NRT PAC's ability to raise $5 million in contributions in less than three weeks and obtain approval within a day or so from network attorneys to run the inflammatory Wright ad. Scott Wheeler and Peter M. Leitner, NRT PAC treasurer, are very experienced Republican operatives and they would not have left anything to chance during a presidential campaign. I don't know why but Joe Mercurio was selected to play a big role in Operation Obama Smear. I'd like to hear what he knows about it. Get a grip on reality. It's the liberal supporters of the Obama administration that are ruining the country. There's a good reason why the majority of administrations are Republicans, it's because the Democrats want to use the country's wealth to spend, spend, spend, and reward the lazy, irresponsible and uninformed population.
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