Not Afraid of the Dark: Shining Some Light on the Midwest Enterprise Group
October 19, 2008 9 Comments
It time for a little update on the situation that arose in Iowa Senate District 22 between Democratic candidate Steve Sodders and Republican candidate Jarret Heil. As those of you that are regular readers of this blog, I was highly offended that this 527 group, Midwest Enterprise Group (MEG) took information from our sister site and used it out of context against Jarret Heil. And now I have been informed that Midwest Enterprise Group has once again attacked Heil while misrepresenting facts and statements made by Mr. Heil. I have not received the latest issue of this ongoing attack series so I can not definitively say what MEG has saw fit to include in this latest negative campaign ad, I can however say that I have it on good authority that the ad is just a rehash of the previous two. This update however will focus on this shadowy 527 group operating in Iowa and attacking Iowa politicians.
Midwest Enterprise Group is a shadow group in that it is impossible to find out who it is that leads it. Are they Democratic operatives, concerned citizens, members of a watchdog group? We don’t know. They won’t say. They don’t have a website. The group’s only contact with the outside world is a woman by the name of Melissa Peterson. As near as I can figure, Ms. Peterson is a lobbyist employed by the firm of Eide & Heisinger, a lobbyist firm from Des Moines. According to Ms. Peterson’s biography on the firms website she attended school at the University of Northern Iowa where she achieved a Masters of Arts in Rhetoric and Argument. Doesn’t that sound like a great title for a lobbyist? Anyhow, after she receives this degree she works for the Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Mike Gronstal, and for the Iowa Senate Democrat Campaign for two years (2004-06). This is the profile of the contact person for the Midwest Enterprise Group.
It is virtually impossible to find out who it is that comprises this exclusive group. We don’t know who chairs it, or even who is a member of the group. What we do know however is who has donated to this group’s war chest. Some of the names on this list are going to be very familiar to many of you. There were a few that I had to look up to see what it is that they do. Now let’s shine some light into the shadows of the Midwest Enterprise Group.
First Quarter
- Island of Capri Casinos; 600 Emerson Road; Suite 300; St. Louis, MO 63141 $15,000.
- Sygenta Crop Protection; PO Box; Greensboro, NC, 27419 $3,500.
Second Quarter
- Anheuser Busch Cos, Inc.; 1 Busch Place; St. Louis, MO; 63118 $5,000.
Third Quarter
- 3M Company; 3M Center; St. Paul, MN 55144 $5,000.
- Qwest, 5325 Zuni Street Room 728;Denver, CO $10,000.
- UST Public Affairs Inc; 6 High Ridge Park, Building A; Stamford, CT 06905-1323 $10,000.
- Isle of Capri Casinos; 600 Emerson Road; Suite 300; St. Louis, MO 63141 $12,500.
- Anheuser Busch; 1 Busch Place; St. Louis, MO 63118 $10,000.
As you can see it isn’t individuals that are donating to MEG, it is corporations that are donating to MEG. It is corporations that are attempting to influence a political race within the State of Iowa. This list is by no means all of the donations that have been received by Midwest Enterprise Group. They are instead just a few of the out of state donors to this 527 group. Some other groups that have donated to this attack dog are Iowa Healthcare Association who have donated at least $60,000; Iowa Health System who donated $25,000; and Mid American Energy who donated at least $25,000.
I find it interesting that this 527 group is attacking a Republican candidate. After all supposedly Republicans are the party of big business. However, as this case illustrates, that is not the case. Instead it is the Democrat that is being backed by corporate lobbyists. I just have to wonder what the people of Senate District 22 will have to say about the Midwest Enterprise Group. I would really like to hear from people on this. Do you care that corporations from outside the state are trying to influence local races? Are you going to let this front for corporate lobbyists pick the candidate that is going to represent you in the Iowa State Legislature? We will find out on November 4th.
Documents:
Looks like the Dems are getting desperate. Go Heil!
I received the most recent mailing. It referenced the following http://iowabrigade.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/jarret-heil-sets-the-record-straight/
as the first “fact check” for the mailing. Then it referenced some government websites and then the annenberg funded factcheck.org website.
Again, I had a good little chuckle over the mailing with all the money being spent on a state senator. I’m really surprised by that. The sad thing is a woman in my small group totally fell for it. Pretty sad that there are people out there that misinformed and easily mislead.
My guess is that corporate lobbyist don’t care about party, they just care about who has power and would like to keep the status quo and not have to buy out new senators.
Well Taco, perhaps you should send her to this site. After all you know that we have the truth. Or perhaps you could show her all the outside corporate money that is being donated to MEG in an effort to influence Iowa elections.
Thanks for exposing this group – we need citizen journalists to do this since the regular media isn’t.
Abregar, it would be nice if people would like to be that involved. Sadly, they would rather just stay ignorant and not think or would simply rather watch ‘American Idol’. It is like being informed has become the ‘wrong’ thing to do.
Well, that is the modern indoctrination, oops, I mean education centers for you. They would rather keep the population stupid and ignorant so that they can remain in power.
yuppers
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The MEG sent a mailer out against the Republican in District 9. But the Democrats do NOT consider this group a friend of theirs. The Democrat in District 9 prides himself on running a clean, upstanding campaign. As a volunteer, I can tell you that we are sick about this as it reflects poorly on our candidate. If this Melissa Peterson’s aim is to help Dems, which I doubt, I wish she would ask for permission from the candidate before she dispenses her lousy ads. It is illegal for the candidates to contact these people. So much for free speech. We need campaign reform now.