Founded by the Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is an advocacy group that spends tens of millions of dollars to support Mitt Romney and other Republicans in races across the country.
On Monday, an event held at the Westin Harbour Island Hotel in Tampa starred Fox News personality Judge Andrew Napolitano. Attendees were given free green t-shirts with backs that read "Obama's Failing Agenda," followed by a list that included the president's signature health care bill and the increasing national debt. It also included the URL for the website failingagenda.com.
An organizer who addressed the crowd after Napolitano left the stage insisted that AFP is not a partisan group.
"We're a non-partisan organization. We don't get involved in social issues. We don't get involved in foreign policy issues," he said (CL was unable to get his name).
The spokesperson said AFP has 15 field offices in Florida, where participants are phone banking and canvassing with independent and swing voters "about the failed policies of this administration."
As a 501(c)(4) non-profit, such organizations can participate in political campaigns and elections, provided it's not their primary activity, and the spokesman emphasized that's not what AFP is about.
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2012.