Martin Misusing SaveAB.com Email List & Website To Promote Congressional Bid

Friday, David Lieb of The Associated Press reported on Ed Martin's use of the SaveAB.com website and email database to direct people to his congressional campaign website. 

In 2008, Martin created the "SaveAB.com for America" website and nonprofit corporation to oppose the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev. That effort came and went (as many Ed Martin adventures do), and Martin voluntarily dissolved the "SaveAB.com for America" nonprofit corporation in December 2008.  However, Martin has since relaunched the SaveAB.com website, and last week emailed "about 40,000" SaveAB.com petition signers to tell them about his latest adventure -- his campaign for Congress.    

Before launching his campaign [for Congress], Martin said, the SaveAB website was taken down.

But the website recently went live again with a message bemoaning layoffs and cuts by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, thanking various supporters and noting that Martin is running for Congress. The revived SaveAB.com provides a link to Martin's campaign website for those "interested in finding out more or joining Ed Martin."

Earlier this week, a SaveAB e-mail account was used to send an identical message to about 40,000 people who had provided their e-mail addresses to the group...

"My intention was not to use the list for the campaign or to promote me over Russ Carnahan or anything, it was to close the loop on the questions," Martin said.

So Martin just republished the website and emailed 40,000 of his closest friends to "close the loop on the questions," and not to promote his campaign for Congress?  Right.

If Martin was just giving people a quick update for what's he's doing, then why hasn't he given campaign supporters an update on any of the (approximately) 300 other projects and campaigns he's spearheaded in the past year?  And if he's just 'closing the loop on questions,' then why is there a special landing page on his federal campaign website to receive SaveAB.com visitors -- a page that accuses Carnahan of voting "for all of what is going wrong in America" and asking for campaign donations?

Paul Ryan, associate legal counsel and FEC program director for The Campaign Legal Center, was interviewed by Lieb for Friday's article, and expresses similar doubts about Martin's explanation. "The revived SaveAB Web site and e-mail 'appears to be express advocacy' for Martin," he said, which is prohibited by federal election laws. 

Ryan also states that FEC regulations regarding the "express advocacy" by the nonprofit corporation may now be moot because Martin dissolved the "SaveAB.com for America" corporation in March. I'm not so sure Martin hasn't skirted the relevant rules, however: 

• When Martin created the SaveAB.com for America nonprofit corporation, he stated that all of the corporation's assets would be distributed to "charity" when the corporation was dissolved. (See below.)
• An email list with 40,000+ names and addresses is most certainly an asset of significant value.
• If Martin did give the corporation's assets (including the email list) to charity as promised, he should not have access to the email list to "close the loop on the question" with 40,000 SaveAB supporters.
• Yet Martin clearly does have access to the email list. The messages are from "The Founders of AB.com" -- and Martin is obviously the most prominent and shamelessly self-promoting Founder.

Therefore, it would seem that Martin has either (1) used a defunct nonprofit corporation to promote his bid for Congress or (2) used the assets of a separate "charity" to benefit his Congressional campaign.

I suppose it's also possible Martin rented or bought the email list from his defunct corporation or unspecified charity to use for federal campaign purposes, but that seems very unlikely, given his statement to the AP that he wasn't actually to support his candidacy. 

Finally, it's worth noting that Martin and the other SaveAB.com organizers promised not to use the names and personal information of petition signers for anything other than the SaveAB sale.  The original petition and email signup is actually still online at www.SaveAB.com/register.php. It reads (emphasis added):

With my signature, I hereby commit to joining the effort to keep Anheuser-Busch owned and operated right here in America. I agree to let my name and address be used only for this purpose and not for any other purpose.

Fields outlined in red are required. While e-mail address is not required, please enter it below if you would like to be notified of news and upcoming rallies to save Anheuser-Busch.

Here's a screenshot: 

Not a lot of ambiguity in this petition message. The SaveAB.com website promises that personal data collected by the nonprofit corporation would not be used "for any other purpose" -- but Martin has clearly done just that.

Given all of these facts, I think Ed Martin has some 'splaining to do.

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For background, here are a number of relevant documents.

A screenshot of the email sent to approximately 40,000 SaveAB.com petition signers:

The EdMartinForCongress.com landing page, obviously set up to coordinate with the email and website messages from Martin (in his capacity as a "Founder" of SaveAB.com)

SaveAB.com for America - Articles of Incorporation