PAC profile: Endorse Liberty

Introduction

Type of organization: Super PAC

Supports candidate: Ron Paul

Founded: Dec. 20, 2011

Website: endorseliberty.com

Social media: YouTube channel, Facebook page

Principals:

• Abraham D. Niederhauser (treasurer): marketing manager at Orabrush.
• Jeffrey Harmon: chief marketing officer at Orabrush.
• Ladd Christensen: CEO of Whitehall Corporation.
• Stephen Oskoui: founder of the internet advertising firm Smiley Media.
• Dan Backer (assistant treasurer and counsel): principal attorney at DB Capitol Strategies

Profile:

This Ron Paul-supporting super PAC was started by three young businessmen and one seasoned corporate veteran. Abe Niederhauser and Jeffrey Harmon both work in the marketing department at the bad-breath-combating company Orabrush, and they took the company’s bold, youthful marketing strategy and applied it to their endorsements of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Ladd Christensen, who, like Niederhauser and Harmon, is a Utah resident, has ties to the Huntsman Corp., which was founded by Jon M. Huntsman, Sr., father of Jon Huntsman Jr. The younger Huntsman dropped out of the GOP presidential race after a disappointing third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary.

The majority of Endorse Liberty’s expenditures went toward ads on websites such as Google, Facebook and StumbleUpon.com, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The PAC also created parody videos of other Republican presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

Unlike other super PACs supporting presidential candidates, Endorse Liberty has no apparent connection to the Paul campaign.

On April 1, 2012, conservative attorney Dan Backer of DB Capitol Strategies — whose legal career has included spearheading the campaign finance case Carey v. Federal Election Commission that granted most PACs the ability to create super PAC arms — joined Endorse Liberty as the group’s assistant treasurer and counsel. In these roles, he provides legal and compliance services.

See more data on Endorse Liberty at OpenSecrets.org.

Advertisements:

• Parody videos on YouTube
• The group spent more than $1.4 million on a Google ad buy on Jan. 13.

Last updated: Jan. 17, 2013