Ed Martin's (Forgotten) Partisan Nonprofit

“Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it?” Martin's 2008 ad asked.

Interim US attorney Ed Martin has been sending letters to medical journals and Wikipedia, asking lists of questions about their plans to include “opposing viewpoints.” Martin, who recently spoke at a fundraiser with convicted J6ers, seems to be using his position at the DOJ to target anyone he believes might have a bias against conservatives. In some cases, he appears to be suggesting the organizations are too partisan for their nonprofit status

But in 2008, Martin was the executive director of a partisan nonprofit that ran an attack ad on Barack Obama, implying he was unfit for the presidency due to his alleged friendship with someone who had been involved in an attack on the US Capitol.

Shortly before the 2008 election, American Issues Project ran an ad linking Obama to Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground. For reasons that are unclear, the ad says to pretend 9/11 never happened — but in this alternate history, the 1971 bombing of the Capitol by the Weather Underground still occurred.

“Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it?” the ad asks.

AIP was founded by Tony Feather, a longtime Republican operative from Missouri, and Chris LaCivita, who co-managed Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. The nonprofit was a follow up to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which ran ads questioning John Kerry’s war service in 2004. SBVT was largely driven by LaCivita, and AIP’s sole donor had given $3 million to SBVT.

SBVT’s campaign caught on fast, but AIP never managed to achieve the same level of effectiveness. The Obama campaign quickly worked to debunk the ad, and Bob Bauer, counsel for Obama for America, asked the DOJ to block the ad and launch a criminal investigation. Ultimately, the FEC would investigate and, after the Citizens United decision, find that AIP did not violate the law.

Bauer argued that as a 501(c)(4), AIP was not allowed to operate as a political committee: “strikingly, this group is even soliciting contributions as a political committee would, such as by seeking information from contributors that the Federal Election Campaign Act would normally require.”

After the election, the group briefly focused on the 2009 bailout before dissolving. One ad contextualized the sum of the bailout by saying it was more than a million dollars a day since Jesus was born. The ad landed Martin on the Bill O’Reilly show, though O’Reilly wasn’t particularly complimentary.

Another ad, directed at Schumer, highlighted his remark dismissing the “chattering class” for complaining that so much of the bailout focused on “tiny, porky amendments.”

Very early on at the DOJ, Martin launched Operation Whirlwind. He wrote Schumer a series of letters, questioning Schumer about this March 2020 statement: “I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions” (Schumer had already apologized years prior).

After AIP, Martin made a failed run for Congress against incumbent Russ Carnahan in 2010. Many Republicans saw the district itself as a viable success regardless of who the candidate was, and Martin was flush with cash. Martin brought LaCivita on as campaign manager, and contracted with Rick Reed, the media mogul and firm who produced the Swift Boat ads. Later, Martin would bring on LaCivita for another run, but donations were much smaller, and Martin ultimately dropped out

LaCivita has long been a powerful figure in the Virginia GOP, and SBVT brought him national attention. Shortly after SBVT, LaCivita ran the 2006 campaign for former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, whose office Martin would resign from after firing a whistleblower. In March of last year, LaCivita was appointed as Chief Operating Officer of the Republican National Committee (in May, Martin was given a job helping write the RNC platform). Neither Martin nor LaCivita responded to requests for comment.

Martin’s nomination is a low stakes block for the Democrats, and it seems some Republicans are on board to vote against his confirmation. If he does end up confirmed to the position, he might be the first US attorney to have used a nonprofit to run attack ads on a former president.

Follow me on Twitter, TikTok, Bluesky, Threads, or Instagram. All of my Substack posts are unlocked, but subscriptions or tips/coffee are always appreciated!