On May 8, 2013, True the Vote is a facilitator and presenter at a meeting where Ginni Thomas and others are key players. TTV presents their plan to attack "the left" for daring to register voters. They're committed to stopping them from challenging any and all efforts to disenfranchise voters. Or as they describe it, securing the vote. Others might call it democracy corrupted.

On May 9, 2013 the IRS "scandal" breaks after Lois Lerner plants a question in a conference Q&A about IRS "targeting."

On May 21, 2013, True the Vote, represented by ActRight Legal Foundation, sues the IRS for not granting their tax-exempt status and targeting them for their beliefs. ActRight Legal Foundation uses Cleta Mitchell as one of their consulting attorneys. Mitchell is a well-known and very high profile litigator on behalf of conservative causes. There are very few conservative nonprofits that don't have Mitchell's fingerprints all over them.

True the Vote goes all over conservative media with their tale of woe. Their message: The IRS was used as a tool by the liberal president to target conservatives and suppress their free speech rights. Until True the Vote was a victim of the terrible IRS, they were under Congressional investigation for voter suppression, by the way.

At 3:45, Jerry Boykin advises the group of the meetings he and Frank Gaffney had with Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Darrell Issa concerning Benghazi on the evening of May 7th about how the Benghazi investigation is progressing. This was the night before the last Congressional Oversight Committee hearing was held on Benghazi, where the so-called whistleblowers were to testify.

In the late-night meeting with Gaffney and Boykin, Boehner advised both that they needed to allow the regular order of committee meetings to play out before he would push for a select committee. Issa told him the same thing.

But let’s get real: While the people involved in this organization probably think that Corn has exposed a vast right-wing conspiracy, what he really exposed is the silliest corner of the vast right-wing conspiracy.

On May 29, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), posted the second video in his "Victims of Government" Youtube series. This video focused on one such "victim" from Texas who "has been waiting for nearly 3 years to receive 501©(4) approval from the IRS." The 'victim' in the video? Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote and Groundswell.

What role did Groundswell have in coordinating propaganda with Sen. Johnson's office? What role did Groundswell and Engelbrecht play in getting Johnson to use tax dollars to fund these videos in the first place?

Senator Ron Johnson (WI), Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight, announced the release of the second video in his 'Victims of Government’ series. The video details the story of Catherine Engelbrecht, of Harris County, Texas.

Catherine is a wife, mother, community volunteer and a small businesswoman. Three years ago, Catherine applied for tax-exempt status for two organizations, a group to work for election integrity and a tea party organization. After three years, she still has not received approval from the IRS. But in the interim, she has been visited by the FBI six times, received hundreds of questions and document requests from the IRS, had her personal and business taxes audited, and had her business visited and inspected by OSHA, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and others.

Be very very aware of every meme and talking point out there. It's important because of stories like this.

Did Daily Caller pay to frame Menendez?

Some background: The Daily Caller on Nov. 1 reported that Dominican women, interviewed via web-video link, alleged that Menendez had paid them for sex. That story cited Figueroa by name as the lawyer representing the women. Though the women told the Daily Caller that they were promised $500 for their services and received only $100, the story failed to provide a compelling explanation as to why they’d testify to the alleged encounter with Menendez

. The Daily Caller later recanted the story -- after real journalism occurred but not before the damage to Menendez was done. It's no coincidence to me that Ginni Thomas - a prominent member of Groundswell - is also a columnist for the Daily Caller.

The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas recently spoke with (Dr. Sebastian) Gorka about President Obama’s muddled foreign policy choices, the threat political correctness poses to our national security, the threats to our constitutional order from forces both outside and inside our borders, myths of conventional thinking on national security matters and much more.

The Administration has adopted the position that it can work with Islamists—those who advocate a prominent political and legal role for Islam. This decision is having far-reaching consequences at home and abroad. Islamists have been brought into the innermost circles of America’s national security institutions; counter-terrorism training has been drastically curtailed in order to remove all mention of religion; and abroad the United States is supporting fundamentalist parties and ignoring those who are persecuted or who suffer as a result. This half-day conference will examine in detail the United States’ increasing cooperation with Islamists at home and abroad and will make the case why America’s freedom is threatened by this dangerous embrace.

This recording indicates Groundswell's mission extends beyond message coordination to scandal-stoking. (snip)

Gaffney, a birther who has been booted out of several conservative outfits for his fiercely anti-Islam views and who has accused Obama of "submission to Islam," added, "I'm somewhat encouraged that they're taking this thing very much to heart and we really impressed upon [Boehner] that there's a lot of restiveness on the part of folks like us, and some of their donors as a matter of fact, about what's happening here." In other words, Boykin and Gaffney were issuing something of a warning to Boehner and Issa: Go hard on Benghazi or risk losing financial and grassroots support.

This is the first of a two-part series. Tomorrow, I'll look more closely at Ginni Thomas' involvement to see whether Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas engaged in unethical conduct or colluded with his wife and her associates.