Mayors group sought corporate sponsors

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:50:11 -0400

A mayors group led by Pat McCrory sought out corporate sponsors.

The Republican Mayors and Local Officials 527 advocacy group, which the Republican gubernatorial candidate led from 2000 to 2005, advertised for corporate sponsors on its Web site.

"Wanted: Corporate sponsors," read one page.

"The RMLO hallmark of promoting local governance and partnering with other elected officials at all levels is also extended to those who share RMLO's ideals, including Corporate Sponsors," McCrory wrote in a welcome message on the group's Web site.

Annual sponsorships cost $5,000.

Based on tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the following groups contributed in 2003: the American Trucking Association and the International Council of Shopping Centers each gave $5,000 and the Bond Market Association contributed $10,000.

In 2005, the shopping centers council, the American Petroleum Institute and the Edison Electric Institute each gave $5,000 and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association gave $10,000.

Other corporate sponsors listed on the group's Web site in 2003 include: the American Chemistry Association, AT&T, Anheuser-Busch, DaimlerChrysler, Fannie Mae, Goldman Sachs, the National Rifle Association and Waste Management.

That and other pages are no longer available online, as the group appears to have let its Web site registration expire in September of 2003. The address was then briefly used by an outside company to advertise Internet porn (NSFW) and is now defunct.

They can be viewed on the Wayback Machine, an Internet archive.

What is Republican Mayors and Local Officials?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:02:38 -0400

Answer:

A national advocacy group of Republican elected officials from the city level.

In paperwork submitted to the Internal Revenue Service in 2002, the group described its mission:

To enable Republican officials elected at the municipal level to express, develop and preserve the philosophy of the Republican party in cities and towns across America and to support Republican positions and candidates.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory was elected president of the group in December of 2000. He served in that capacity at least through 2005.

The group claims about 750 members, although tax forms indicate between 61 and 83 dues-paying members in 2001 and 2002.

Aside from $25 annual dues, the group was funded by corporations and PACs that paid $5,000 a year for an annual sponsorship, including the the Bond Market Association, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and the International Council of Shopping Centers and the American Petroleum Institute.

In McCrory's first two years in charge of the group, it overspent, reducing its cash reserves from $101,948 to just $5,790. By 2005, it had built them back up to $23,212.

As president of the group in 2004, he praised President George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention in New York City.

That speech was later cited in a TV ad by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue, who faced McCrory in the 2008 general election.

The group is organized as a 527 political advocacy organization.

Its Employer Identification Number is 52-1976233.

Brief:

A national advocacy group of Republican elected officials from the city level.