Harris Comes Forward As "Director and Adviser" For Adam Smith Foundation

In a brand new Riverfront Times Story, GOP operative James Harris is identified as a "director and adviser" for the shadowy Adam Smith Foundation.  To my knowledge, this is the first time Harris has spoken on the record as someone with intimate knowledge of the organization's dealings -- or referred to the foundation's donors as "our donors." Given the recent stories from here on Fired Up! and the Star -- and the contradictory press statements from the organization's purported president -- it's not surprising that Harris stepped out of the shadows.

An excerpt from Melissa Meinzer's story:

"Craziness out in California will have an impact here in Missouri," insists James Harris, a director and adviser of the Jefferson City-based Adam Smith Foundation, a con servative nonprofit. [...]

Democratic leadership in California has asked the attorney general to investigate the legality of the donation--all $498,000 of it--from the Missouri foundation, in a move the foundation's Harris characterizes as coming from  "just a bunch of crazy folks." [...]

"This completely falls under the purview of what a (c)(4) can do," says Harris, who isn't concerned with the investigation: "I think it's just some squabbling, whiny liberals out west."

So who are the presumably non-whiny donors? Where did the foundation get all that cash? "We really don't talk too much about our donors but I can tell you most are individuals or other right-of-center organizations," Harris says.

Emphasis added.  Harris' description of the $500k the group funneled to California is somewhat different than the description provided by alleged President John Elliott.  Speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle this weekend, Elliott said the money came from

about 10 individuals and described them as "an alliance of like-minded individuals who had this issue as an interest." He said the money did not come from a corporation or an industry group.

As you can see, there was no mention washing cash for "other right-of-center organizations" in Elliott's statement.