Secretary of State Project

Secretary of State Project
Basic facts
Type:	527 group/Political action committee
Affiliation:	Democratic
Founder(s):	Becky Bond, Michael Kieschnick and James Rucker
Year founded:	2006

The Secretary of State Project, also known as the SoS Project, was an independent 527 political organization founded in July 2006 for the purpose of advancing "election protection" measures. Members believed that the only way in which to accomplish such a goal was to devote all efforts and resources toward helping get Democrats elected to the offices of Secretary of State in selected swing, or battleground, states, specifically those whose margin of victory in the 2004 presidential election contest was 120,000 votes or less.

The SoS Project has not been active since 2010. It spent just over $50,000 in 2012 and its website was taken down.

History

The Secretary of State Project originated due to the culmination of frustration, anger, bitterness and overall resentment Democrats felt towards Republicans in the wake of President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004. Still plagued with memories of Katherine Harris and Florida from the 2000 presidential contest, Democrats placed the blame for Senator John Kerry’s loss squarely on the head of former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who ruled that provisional ballots in the state would not be counted if they were submitted in the wrong precinct, a decision upheld by the United States Court of Appeals. Bush’s victory in the state – a relatively slim 118,000+ votes – gave him the necessary electoral votes (twenty) to cross the victory threshold of two hundred and seventy.

Democratic founders of the SoS Project saw conspiracy in Blackwell's decision, insisting that those individuals who were elected on the principle of upholding and enforcing election laws were, in fact, political operatives. But rather then push for reform so that the offices of the Secretaries of State reflected a level of neutrality, perhaps making it so holders of those positions were elected on a nonpartisan basis, they instead sought to implement an aggressive agenda exactly the same in nearly every respect that they had just accused Republicans of performing. Through the strategic process of placing specific candidates, ones that met a certain liberal or progressive criteria set down by the organization, in positions of power that oversaw and administered state elections, the Democratic Party would be "better positioned than in the previous elections to advance traditional Democratic interests," particularly when it came to the administration of election laws.

Founders

Becky Bond

As of May 2017, Bond was the president of the CREDO Super PAC and the political director of CREDO mobile, both part of CREDO, a progressive grassroots activist network, which she first joined in 2000. She was also a member of the board of directors for New Organizing Institute (NOI), an organization that, according to its website, aims to train progressive grassroots organizers.

Michael Kieschnick

In addition to the SoS Project, Kieschnick served as president of Working Assets, also known as Credo Mobile, which provided more than 300,000 customers across the United States with long-distance and wireless telephone services and credit cards. The company also donated nearly $60 million since its founding in 1985 to progressive organizations such as ACORN, the ACLU, Color of Change, Democracy Now!, Greenpeace International, NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, People for the American Way, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Project Vote.

James Rucker

For two years beginning in 2003, Rucker served as Director of Grassroots Mobilization for MoveOn Political Action and MoveOn Civic Action. He ran the Color of Change, online activist organization that aimed to strengthen the voice of blacks in the United States. The organization raised media awareness for the cause in support of the Jena Six and led the charge for a boycott of Glenn Beck's highly rated Fox News Channel program after the conservative personality called President Obama a racist. He co-founded the political group with former green jobs czar and self-proclaimed Communist Anthony "Van" Jones.

Democracy Alliance

George Soros, who donated nearly $10,000 to the Secretary of State Project, declared that the Democracy Alliance had approved the 527 political organization as a grantee at the 2008 Democratic National Convention

The SoS Project stemmed largely from the Democracy Alliance, a self-described 'liberal organization' founded in 2005 "whose long-term objective is to raise $200 million to develop a funding clearinghouse for progressive groups." Rob Stein, former chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Ron Brown under the Clinton administration, conceived of, and later directed, the Democracy Alliance on the belief that liberals could just as easily replicate the conservative movement in their building effective institutions for developing new ideas and promoting public policies.

Among its founding members and donators were billionaire George Soros, Peter B. Lewis, Susie Tompkins Buell, trial lawyer Guy Saperstein, trial lawyer Fred Baron, movie director Rob Reiner, Norman Lear, Drummond Pike, Rob McKay, Rutt Bridges, Patricia Stryker, Rob Glaser, Rob Johnson, Anne Bartley, Jonathan Heller, Charles Rodgers, Gail Furman, Davidi Gilo, Rachel Pritzker Hunter and the Service Employees International Union.

Financially well off individuals who were approached about donating to the Democracy Alliance-endorsed think tanks and political advocacy groups were required to make an initial pledge of $200,000 per year for five years. Recipients of these donations were sworn to secrecy not to disclose from whom these donations came from, or how much. Progressive political organizations that were known to have received financial assistance from the Democracy Alliance include ACORN, Media Matters for America, EMILY's List, and the Center for American Progress, among others.

Soros and Peter Lewis, at a panel discussion held during the Democratic National Committee's 2008 convention in Denver, Colorado, declared that the Democracy Alliance had approved the Secretary of State Project as a grantee of the political organization.

Donations

A number of Democracy Alliance Partners contributed to the SoS Project, including Gail Furman ($20,000), Daniel Berger ($10,000), George Soros ($10,000), Susie T. Buell ($5,000), Drummond Pike ($5,000) and Ashindi Maxton ($300).

As a 527 political organization, the Secretary of State Project "can accept unlimited financial contributions and doesn't have to disclose them publicly until well after the election." Click on the tables below to view donations made to the organization for the 2006 and 2008 election cycles.

2008 Election cycle

Amount	Donor	Organization	City, State	Date
$15,000	Paul Rudd	Adaptive Analytics LLC	San Francisco CA	09/30/08
$10,000	Scott Wallace	Linowes & Blocher	Bethesda MD	09/30/08
$4,000	Steven des Jardins	Retired	Washington DC	09/30/08
$25,000	Judith Avery	Retired	San Francisco CA	09/30/08
$25,000	Blair Hull	Matlock Capital LLC	Chicago IL	09/30/08
$3,000	John Cawley	Pacific Gourmet	San Francisco CA	07/13/08
$500	Catherine Coates	Retired	Oakland CA	09/30/08
$10,000	George Soros	Soros Fund Management	Katonah, NY	09/30/08
$333	LawrenceLitvak	Lawrencelitvak	Mill Valley CA	09/21/08
$31	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	02/04/07
$24	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	05/28/07
$1	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	06/03/07
$1	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	05/06/07
$10	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	01/07/07
$5	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	03/11/07
$58	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	04/01/07
$7	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	02/19/07
$250	George Miller	Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett	New York NY	10/20/08
$200	John Gilbert	Habsel	Brookline MA	10/07/08
$200	Katherine Brady	Immigrant Legal Resource Center	Berkeley CA	10/23/08
$800	Celia Gilbert	Unemployed	Cambridge MA	10/09/08
$300	Yoko Ax	Musician	New York NY	10/11/08
$200	James Murphy	Group Health Cooperative	Seattle WA	10/29/08
$200	Irene Weigel	Partners Healthcare	Lincoln MA	10/11/08
$200	James Daley	Retired	Richmond, CA	10/11/08
$5,000	Megan Hull	Consultant	Washington DC	10/30/08
$200	Robert Southwood	Fulcrum Microsystems Inc	Chatsworth, CA	10/11/08
$200	Barbara Grasseschi	Puma Springs Vineyards	Healdsburg, CA	10/28/08
$2	Aggregate below threshold	Aggregate Below Threshold	San Francisco, CA	12/31/07
$5,625	Aggregate below threshold	Aggregate Below Threshold	San Francisco, CA	09/30/08
$400	Nancy Kurtz	Homemaker	South Dartmouth, MA	09/30/08
$400	Jane Jervis	Retired	San Rafael, CA	09/30/08
$25,000	Chirs Findlatter	Entrepreneur	Cheyenne, WY	09/30/08
$222	Michael Brightwood	Therapist	San Diego, CA	09/30/08
$25,000	Robert Bowditch	MB Management	Brookline, MA	09/30/08
$500	Conference Management Group	Conference Management Group	Washington DC	09/30/08
$10,000	Scott Wallace	Linowes & Blocher	Bethesda, MD	09/30/08
$10,000	Lee Fikes	Bonanza Oil	Dallas, TX	09/30/08
$5,000	Albert Dwoskin	Aj Dwoskin & Assoc	Fairfax VA	09/30/08
$300	Ashindi Maxton	Democracy Alliance	Washington DC	09/30/08
$1,000	Robert Stein	Retired	Washington DC	09/30/08
$24	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge, MA	04/29/07
$6	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge, MA	03/04/07
$2	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge, MA	01/15/07
$4,620	SoS Project - Ohio	SoS Project-Ohio	San Francisco, CA	01/29/07
$483	ActBlue	ActBlue	Cambridge, MA	05/20/07
$2,500	Steve Phillips	Attorney	San Francisco, CA	10/30/08
$200	James Mullins	University of Washington Medicine	Seattle, WA	10/23/08
$200	Stefan Frembgen	Ingmar Medical	Pittsburgh, PA	10/11/08
$40	Aggregate below threshold	Aggregate Below Threshold	San Francisco, CA	12/31/08
$10,000	EMILY's List	EMILY's List	Washington DC	10/30/08
$5,000	Drummond Pike	Tides LLC	Mill Valley, CA	10/30/08
$250	Maria McVarish	Architect	San Francisco, CA	10/30/08
$25,000	Rob McKay	Sacramento Street Partners	San Francisco, CA	10/30/08
$10,000	Michael Kieschnick	Working Assets Long Distance	Palo Alto, CA	10/24/08
$10,372	Aggregate below threshold	Aggregate Below Threshold	San Francisco CA	11/24/08
$25,000	Alida Messinger	Philanthropist	Minneapolis MN	10/30/08
$2,500	Christine Uribe	Consultant	San Francisco CA	10/30/08

2006 Election cycle

Amount	Donor	Organization	City, State	Date
$1,304	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	09/10/06
$14,440	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	11/05/06
$20,664	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	11/01/06
$7,722	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	10/22/06
$10,000	Gerald Leeds	Institute for Student Achievement	Boston MA	10/31/06
$164	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	11/07/06
$10,306	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	10/29/06
$20,000	Secretary of State Project - Ohio	Secretary of State Project - Ohio	San Francisco CA	11/01/06
$5,000	Arts PAC- Non Federal	Arts PAC	New York NY	10/25/06
$3,448	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	09/17/06
$5,523	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	10/01/06
$2,974	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	10/15/06
$5,235	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	10/08/06
$500	Rebecca Bond	Working Assets Long Distance	San Francisco CA	07/31/06
$302	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	09/04/06
$10	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	08/27/06
$32,000	Michael Kieschnick	Working Assets Long Distance	Palo Alto CA	08/06/06
$1,010	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	09/24/06
$20,000	Gail Furman	Consultant	New York NY	11/09/06
$5,000	Susie T Buell	Retired	San Francisco CA	10/26/06
$8,031	ActBlue Non-Federal	ActBlue	Cambridge MA	10/25/06
$10,000	Lilo Leeds	Institute for Student Achievement	Boston MA	10/31/06
$10,000	Daniel Berger	Berger & Montague	Philadelphia PA	11/03/06
$25,350	Arthur Lipson	Western Investment	Salt Lake City, UT	10/11/06

Contributions

Open the table below to view candidate contributions made by the Secretary of State Project in 2006 and 2008:

State	Election Year	Candidate	Contribution	Margin of Victory
Ohio	2006	Jennifer Brunner	$167,000	14.6%
Missouri	2008	Robin Carnahan	$13,736	26.2%
Nevada	2006	Ross Miller	$33,825	8.1%
West Virginia	2008	Natalie Tennant	$12,653	30%
Iowa	2006	Michael Mauro	$23,538	7.4%
Minnesota	2006	Mark Ritchie	$23,042	4.9%
Oregon	2008	Kate Brown	$65,000	5.2%
New Mexico	2006	Mary Herrera	$50,000	8.4%
Montana	2008	Linda McCulloch	$19,407	1.1%

See also

• America Coming Together
• George Soros

External links

• Democracy Alliance