Does the pro-TPP "Progressive Coalition for American Jobs" Exist as an Organization?
by Gaius Publius
I wrote this as a second-half to this piece below, but it deserves to be its own post. Click here and here for the context.
Bottom line: It appears that the pro-TPP, Obama alumni–led "270 Strategies" media shop is running a fake pro-TPP organization and branding it a "Progressive Coalition for American Jobs." This is more than "astroturfing." It appears to be sock-puppetry. Does this organization exist? Let's look. (If 270 Strategies wants to set me straight, I'll be glad to print what they send as a reply.)
I've had it in mind to talk with the officers of the pro-TPP organization "Progressive Coalition for American Jobs." They are, it seems, a client of 270 Strategies. Here's their website, but I can't find much else about them. They have "offices" in a building on 15th and K Street (yes, that K Street) in DC. But so do a lot of others. Notice, if you click, that all of these organizations are listed for one suite in that building — not separate suites; one suite. (Who rents that suite?)
Dave Johnson has been asking, "Who's in this 'Coalition'?" — i.e., what organizations are affiliated with them? I have a different question: "Who is this 'Coalition'?" — who answers their mail, who keeps their books? Do they even have books, or employees? Or mail? Do they even exist?
Here's the WhoIs info on the PCAJ.org website. Set up in mid-February 2015, set to expire in a year (unless renewed), and identity-protected by an apparently anonymizing Canadian registrant (my bolding for readability):
<name>
Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0139377831</name>
<organization>
Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0139377831</organization>
<street1>
96 Mowat Ave</street1>
<city>
Toronto</city>
<state>
ON</state>
<postalCode>
M6K 3M1</postalCode>
<country>
CANADA</country>
<email>
pcaj.org@contactprivacy.com</email>
<telephone>
14165385457</telephone>
I'm sure the email and telephone listed above are anonymizing as well. And note, nothing shows that K Street address.
So the questions — If PCAJ exists, who are they? If they don't exist, where's the money for the website and left-washing PR campaign coming from? One can guess, of course — my guess is the (also fictional) "Neoliberal Coalition for CEO Compensation & Enrichment" (NCCCE) — but it would be nice to know for sure.
Is there a Jimmy Olsen in the house, or a Clark Kent? This is as far as I can take it for now.
GP
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