Following Mahoney's Money Part I - Granite Grok

Following Mahoney’s Money Part I

The recent polling done by CrossTarget for Americans For Prosperity (AFP) has too many links to Mahoney to be taken seriously as an outside poll.   And while trying to research the poll and the people connected to it, I discovered an almost incestuous collaboration of professional political consultants, and insiders to the Mahoney for congress checkbook that all circle around Americans For Job Security.

CrossTarget, the polling organization, was created by Stephen DeMaura and Patrick Hynes, both connected political insiders.  DeMaura is no fan of Guinta, and Hynes works for Mahoney.   So why would AFP choose CrossTarget for a poll given these obvious questions of conflict?  I have no idea why, but it was a bad call by Lewandowski and it questions AFP’s neutrality on the race if there even is one.

As for Hynes and DeMaura, they have connections to a more complex relationship with current and former members of AJS (maybe there’s no such thing a a former member of AJS) that conveniently lead repeatedly back to Sean Mahoney’s campaign expense report.


DeMaura I know little about, other than that I have him (indirectly) and Bob DeMaura to thank for letting me blog at New Hampshire Insider, and the connection to Hynes and Cross Target.

Hynes on the other hand seems willing to do anything to win.  This is admirable for a consultant except where it is unethical.  Hynes communications has so far received at least $32,000.00 dollars in fees from the Mahoney campaign and Patrick has himself personally donated $500.00 dollars to Sean Mahoney for Congress. This of course suggests things about his connection to the poll, but that was not the only source of concern.

In researching Hynes it has become increasingly clear that deception trumps disclosure when he thinks he can get away with it. On at least two occasions in the recent past Patrick Hynes has been called out on disclosure issues.  Back in 2006 (here) on issues of cable TV advocacy and again not long after for using his skills to support McCain while questioning the viability of Romney without disclosing his relationship to the McCain campaign.

A third potential incident, and I’m not implying there are not more, comes to us from Shawn Millerick and NowHampshire.  NowHampshire, apparently under Millerick’s watchful eye, has attacked Mahoney’s strongest challenger without (as far as I can tell) letting visitors know that Hynes Communications created and owns NowHampshire.  And Cross Target Polling has done at least two polls exclusively for Now Hampshire if that in any way clarifies Hynes NowHampshire/CrossTarget relationship. (Millerick is an Ayotte donor by the way so don’t count on him for any context on the "outsider" label either)

If Millerick is taking money from Hynes communications for his services then larger questions of editorial integrity as well as serious disclosure issues abound, but as we can see, disclosure is optional with Hynes. My larger point is that there is and continues to be evidence that Hynes is not above ignoring disclosure as a political tool where he is willing to risk the potential fiscal impact later for any immediate political gain for the candidates he represents. 

Mahoney has either bought into this (in a big way considering he has loaned over $900,000.00 to his own campaign, a fresh $100k quite recently) or is simply allowing it to happen.  People should understand that these are the kind of hard ball insider tactics played by the deep pocketed ruling class, not some ‘outsider.’  And it makes Mahoney look like rich guy who will do anything to buy a seat in congress.  If Hynes gets fined, whose to say Mahoney doesn’t "hire him" to cover the cost if he wins the seat as a result?

Mahoney also has and continues to run negative advertising which brings us closer to a related problem given Mahoney’s choice of Hynes and this serial contempt for disclosure; who else is he connected to and does this finger the Mahoney Campaign for the phone scam in which Guinta is smeared and Ashooh is blamed?  

AJS (oddly enough) has a history of receiving fines for disclosure issues on this matter, and Mahoney for Congress money has poured into the pockets of individuals who also happen to be donors to his actual campaign.  Some of them are so-called "experts" at micro targeting and smear campaigns where the money trail is impossible to follow, and they all have links back to Americans for Job Security.

Like I said, there are plenty of interesting connections to go around, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the rest of it.

 

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