NRCC Sinking Big Bucks Into Rove-Connected Negative Phone Banking Nationwide, Including NM-01

According to a post yesterday on TPM Cafe:

The Natiional Republican Congressional Committee today sank $320,851.50 into House races in over a dozen states. Much of the cash went to negative phone-banking and mailers -- see a detailed breakdown of the spending here.

There are two references in the FEC report to a company called Feather Larson & Synhorst DCI of Phoenix, AZ, which was paid some $6,000 on October 9, 2006 by the NRCC to conduct phone banks opposing Democrat challenger Patricia Madrid's campaign against Republican incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson.

As reported by the Center for Media & Democracy's Sourcewatch (must read), FLS DCI is closely associated with Karl Rove. It's known for its phone banking on behalf of phony front groups created to try and convince voters there's more support for the positions of its clients than there really is. For instance, they've been involved in creating bogus groups that put up ads that advocate abandoning net neutrality under names like "Hands Off the Internet." They've created synthetic "grassroots" groups on behalf of telecommunications, pharmaceutical and computer industries, among others.

The three primary partners in FLS DCI are all long-time Republican strategists and consultants who are close to Rove and other right-wing insiders known for dirty campaigning. One of them, Thomas J. Synhorst, is known as the Johnny Appleseed of "astro-turf," a term used for grassroots groups or coalitions that are actually fake and often created by corporations or or PR firms. According to Sourcewatch,

The Associated Press reported in June 2001 that Synhorst "has been linked to South Carolina 'push polls' in the 2000 Republican primary that attacked candidate John McCain as 'a cheat, a liar and a fraud,' according to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee."

I can only imagine what kind of negative distortions and nasty push-polling the telemarketing company will create to try and undermine Madrid's growing momentum in a climate of tanking poll numbers for Bush and Republican candidates around the nation. Republican leaders are growing increasingly panicked in the face of the Foley scandal, the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent failure of the Bush administration to negotiate effectively with North Korea. Who knows how low they will go in attacking Dem candidates and spreading their sleaze in an effort to pump up their numbers. Deception is their most important product.

Madrid-related expenditures in the referenced FEC report:

FEATHER LARSON & SYNHORST DCI
2401 W. BEHREND DRIVE SUITE 7
PHOENIX, Arizona 85027
Purpose of Expenditure: Phone Banks
This Committee OPPOSES The Following Candidate: MADRID FOR CONGRESS
Office Sought: House of Representatives
State is New Mexico in District 01
Date Expended = 10/09/2006
Person Completing Form: CHRISTOPHER J. WARD
Date Signed = 10/09/2006
Amount Expended = $4061.04

FEATHER LARSON & SYNHORST DCI
2401 W. BEHREND DRIVE SUITE 7
PHOENIX, Arizona 85027
Purpose of Expenditure: Phone Banks
This Committee OPPOSES The Following Candidate: MADRID FOR CONGRESS
Office Sought: House of Representatives
State is New Mexico in District 01
Date Expended = 10/09/2006
Person Completing Form: CHRISTOPHER J. WARD
Date Signed = 10/09/2006
Amount Expended = $2616.12