The American Conservative Union: Fake Conservatives
I happen to have a personal understanding of the work that the American Conservative Union does. I worked there over one summer as an intern, answering the phone and filing donor information.
On Friday, it was revealed by Politico on Friday that the American Conservative Union recently offered their services to Fedex in return for $2 million. Fedex turned the ACU down and subsequently, the ACU was a signatory on a letter disparaging Fedex’s efforts to oppose UPS’s position on union legislation. That letter included a number of conservative organizations, as well as the logo of each organization - including the ACU’s logo.
The revelation showed that the ACU offers relatively useless services (support from David Keene in his column in The Hill newspaper) for large sums of money, and if they do not receive it, then they oppose organizations that they ostensibly agree with. It is no wonder that Fedex turned them down - no one reads David Keene’s column in The Hill. No one cares about their mass emails.
The ACU’s Executive Vice President responded by denying the obvious: that David Keene was acting as the president of the ACU when he signed the anti-Fedex letter. The ACU logo obviously appears in the letter and Keene’s signature includes his designation as the president of the ACU.
So, a conservative movement that could not be any more marginalized is being injured by the unethical tactics of an organization that calls itself “conservative.” But, how conservative is the ACU?
When I worked at the ACU, I became frustrated by how lukewarm their conservative values were. I worked there during the summer of amnesty in 2007, and I remember receiving angry calls and letters from donors about illegal immigration. The ACU would send their donors (who are mostly very old people) letters about illegal immigration. These folks would send $100 in response, but it was not immediately clear where that money was going. “To fight for conservative values”…right…
Their donors really cared about stopping amnesty. But when I came to work, all I would hear about is cutting taxes, opposing unions, and helping out big oil. Small government. Ronald Reagan. Blah blah blah…
Admittedly, I had a very unimportant position at the ACU. But I was a fly on the wall.
I tabled at a Young Republicans event with a staffer from the ACU. At the event, a young pro-life girl came up to our table and asked us what our position was on abortion. The ACU staffer replied by “himming and hawwing” and saying that we don’t really take a position on abortion - an attempt to avoid a potentially divisive issue.
But the ACU does take a position on abortion - their ratings of congress clearly reward points to congressmen that oppose abortion.
I learned that these staffers, the ones who probably had a hand in writing the Fedex letter, have a major impact on perceptions of the conservative movement. And they have the power to destroy it by inviting scandal to formerly credible organizations.
While I was at the ACU, I saw the staffers prepare letters like the letter that opposed Fedex. I have no idea who produced the Fedex letter, but one thing is certain:
The ACU is not a credible conservative organization and serious conservatives should actively oppose it. The most visible way to oppose the ACU is not to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The newest generation of the Right needs to take the reins now. The entrenched organizations need to die out so we can replace them with active, effective, and ethical substitutes.
User Comments
JFK
July, 2009
BINGO. David Keene confirms my suspicions regarding the ACU staff’s writing of the letter:
“ACU staff had been working to defeat the amendment even before preparing a funding request after learning that such a request might well be favorably received. That proposal was prepared by the ACU staff and sent to FedEx on June 30, 2009. While I knew a proposal was being prepared, I wasn’t personally familiar with its contents and didn’t even know until recently when or even if it had actually gone to FedEx.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/20/david-keene-responds-to-acu-controversy/
I said:
“I learned that these staffers, the ones who probably had a hand in writing the Fedex letter, have a major impact on perceptions of the conservative movement. And they have the power to destroy it by inviting scandal to formerly credible organizations.
While I was at the ACU, I saw the staffers prepare letters like the letter that opposed Fedex.”
JFK
July, 2009
Keene is attempting to distance himself from the letter as much as possible by saying that the staff wrote it.
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Furthermore, the letter that slammed FedEX explicitly said that it was delivered by UPS IN THE LETTER. They were making a point to FedEX by using a pro-union competitor to deliver their letter.
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Furthermore, Keene’s response says nothing of the ACU Executive Vice President’s claim that Keene’s letter to FedEX was not ACU-related (though it was).
JFK
July, 2009
Keene’s main premise is this:
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FedEX could not possibly have received the funding request and then received the “anti-bailout letter” and responded in one day.
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Methinks he assumes too much.
JFK
July, 2009
This is an excellent summary of the situation from VDARE.com:
http://vdare.com/misc/090719_lodge.htm