TheEconomic Freedom Fund (EFF) is a527 group started in 2006 byBob J. Perry, with a $5 million donation. Only one person is officially associated with the group: Charles H. Bell Jr.,[1] a lawyer fromCalifornia, who is the general counsel for theCalifornia Republican Party,[2] and the Republican National Lawyers Association's vice president for the election education advisory council.[3]
The $5 million initial donation makes the EFF one of the top ten527 groups in the2006 election cycle in terms of receipts.[4]
EFF says its aim is to "educate the public concerning issues related to the preservation ofeconomic freedom, the promotion of economic growth and prosperity for the people of the United States of America."[5]
All of EFF's campaign ads to date attackDemocratic candidates.[6] So far the attacks have been on:
In September 2006, the group may have violated a 1988Indiana law that bars companies from placing a prerecorded, automated call to a person unless a real person, in a live conversation, first speaks and gets permission to play the recorded portion of the call. The calls were in support of incumbent RepresentativeMike Sodrel,[9] and were a classicpush poll, designed to smear Sodrel's opponent,Baron Hill, while appearing to be a legitimatesurvey.[10] After at least seven complaints were made to the state attorney general's office, the campaign notified the office that they had halted the calls. The Indiana law allows for a penalty of up to $5,000 per violation (per call made, not per complaint).[11]
In late September, FreeEats.com, the northern Virginia company that makes automated political phone calls, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Indianapolis, asking that the court direct the Indiana attorney general to stop enforcing the state law. The company argued that the state law violated free speech rights under the United States and Indiana constitutions, and that the ban was an unconstitutional restraint on interstate commerce.
Indiana attorney generalSteve Carter sued the EFF earlier in September, inBrown County Circuit Court after receiving 12 consumer complaints about the calls. The state's lawsuit seeks injunctions to stop them and fines of $5,000 for each violation. A hearing in the case is set for September 27.[12]
The group apparently used the same "push poll" approach in races inIowa andGeorgia in September 2006.[10]