Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Who is Howard Rich? pt. 3

So 73 Spring Street, New York, NY is ground zero for Missourians in Charge….hey, makes sense to me. But last night, as I was in my recliner perusing the Kansas City Star, I remembered that I’d seen this Big Apple address once or twice before.

According to The State’s online database, in 2004, $43k of the $44k contributed to SC lawmakers from the voucher lobby was from out-of-state. The majority of it came from three entities: 123 LaSalle, Bradford Management, and 4220 Broadway.

Anyway -- and this is like the mother of all coincidences -- according to the SC Ethics Commission, the address for “123 LaSalle” is 73 Spring Street, New York, NY.

And the address for “Bradford Management?” That’s 73 Spring Street, New York, NY.

I know what you’re thinking… What’s the address for “4220 Broadway?” It’s 4220 Broadway, you moron! Just kidding -- it’s 73 Spring Street, New York, NY.

They’re all the same address as Fund for Democracy, which pays 99.7% of the bills for Missourians in Charge -- the tax group with fake “Show-Me State” grass roots, which is unlike anything that exists in contemporary SC politics.

Four totally different companies doling out money from the same building. If you’re wondering whether they play each other in softball, I’ll let you in on a little secret:

"Happy Endings" on Two Notch Road ain’t just a massage parlor, and these "companies" aren't run by different people. But that’s tomorrow.

For now, let’s just take comfort that no one’s trying to bankroll a bogus grass-roots group with a deceptively native-sounding name here in our state.

go to next Rich-related post

11 comments:

____________ said...

Excellent work, look forward to the rest of it.

Anonymous said...

This is the best build-up in SC politics. Great posts!

Anonymous said...

You have me sitting on the edge of my couch made out of Lizard's Thicket take-out boxes.

Sure, it makes a lot of noise when you sit down on it, and there isn't a lot of back support -- but it smells like macaroni and cheese and fried catfish...

...sorta like Howard Rich I suppose.

Anonymous said...

SC's own telenovela, everyday a new cliff hanger! WOW!

Anonymous said...

Damn good piece of investigative reporting. I haven't seen a piece like this in the modern media since, hmmm Iran Contra?

Anonymous said...

Oh, by the way, 73 Spring St. is in this list as well.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/excel/per072905.xls

(requires excel to view)

This thing gives 73 Spring St as the address for "470 West 166 LLC", and as the home address of Howard Rich. Wonder if he got started at www.homebiz75.com like on those radio commercials?

And it is listed as the address for his wife's bookstore, Laissaz Faire Books. Yes, cackalacky, Andrea is his wife.

http://www.nyc.com/yellow_pages/Laissez_Faire_Books.95046/editorial.aspx

The Cackalacky Candidate said...

So, does Mickey Mouse really hate public schools?

How far past John Stossel's nose does his moustache grow? Into the ABC Newsroom?

Anonymous said...

you won't find this on the S.C.(Floyd) Hotline.

Anonymous said...

I think you should request a paycheck from the State for doing their job for them. Seems like if you can dig up this much information on such a hot topic in SC politics in your free time, a newspaper that pays people to do research all day should have run across this a long time ago.

Anonymous said...

Howard Rich and Joshua Gross.

Separated at Birth.

Anonymous said...

This is great work. Wish the "mainstream" media would do their job and report on where the out of state groups are getting their money. Noticed that McMaster declined to help defend the SCRG federal lawsuit against the Ethics Commission...huge surprise!