A look at the group behind the bigoted anti-Rahall ad

by: heath_harrison

Mon Oct 04, 2010 at 17:23:56 PM EDT

WVCF, the group behind the ad, is a classified as a 501(c)(4) by the Internal Revenue Service, meaning it's a non-profit that can raise unlimited amounts of money without ever disclosing its donors. It's also allowed to run ads in the run-up to an election as long as they're not explicitly devoted to politics. These types of groups are proliferating this election season -- especially on the right -- and in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, are even more powerful with restrictions eased on corporate contributions.

WVCF's latest ad buy amounts to $227,800. The group was founded by West Virginia attorney Mike Stuart, who is now chairman of the state's Republican Party and received the backing of Massey CEO Don Blankenship in his earlier run for the state legislature. Until Oct. 3, Stuart's official bio on the West Virginia GOP website listed him as "President and founder" of WVCF:

However, when The Huffington Post reached out to Stuart and asked him about his involvement, he said he stepped down from WVCF as soon as he took over as GOP chairman. "I was elected on July 24 and resigned at that time," he wrote in an e-mail. "Since July 24, I have been totally focused on winning elections on November 2." Later in the day, his bio on the WV GOP website also removed any mention to WVCF. He repeatedly stressed that he is no involved with the group.

Looks like Stuart knows his little group screwed up and is trying to hide from the story.

And look who else surfaces in this one:

Little is known about WVCF. It appears to be tied to the state's powerful coal industry, sponsoring a "pro-coal rally" in October 2009. But its website lists no staff names. The site's blog hasn't been updated since January, and its Facebook page had been dormant since Stuart stepped down in July but began updating again in the past few weeks. The site lists no phone number and no physical address (just a post office box). The Huffington Post sent an e-mail through the form on the site, but it went to the inbox of Roman Stauffer, who said that he no longer works there.