The American Action Network, a Washington, D.C.-based 501 (c)(4) โsocial welfare organization,โ is running a television ad in Tampa and the panhandle targeting Gov. Charlie Crist for changing positions on various policies. The ad features a man getting Cristโs positions tattooed on his body and having to endure the pain of changing them repeatedly. The punchline is, โYou canโt trust Charlie Crist to fight for jobs, unless itโs his own job.โ
The American Action Network calls itself an โโaction tankโ that will create, encourage and promote center-right policies based on the principles of freedom, limited government, American exceptionalism, and strong national security.โ The group has run ads in the PA-12 special election and now has an ad targeting Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
AAN is run by former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) and former chief of staff to House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Rob Collins. Its chairman of the board is Fred Malek, the former campaign manager of George H.W. Bushโs 1992 campaign, something of a Washington adviser to Sarah Palin, and who infamously, as special assistant to President Richard Nixon, drew up a list of Jews in the Bureau of Labor Statistics and then demoted at least four with Jewish-sounding surnames.
