Howard Rich Speaks

Introduction

Howard Rich, who heads three organizations that are underwriting the multimillion-dollar drive to pass takings initiatives — Americans for Limited Government, the Fund for Democracy, and the Club for Growth State Action — may be best known as the founder and president of U.S. Term Limits. Rich rarely talks with the news media and has not yet responded to the Center for Public Integrity’s requests for an interview. But Ray Ring, the Northern Rockies editor of High Country News, a nonprofit newspaper that says it “reports on the West’s natural resources, public lands, and changing communities,” managed to catch up with Rich for a conversation.

In his story, Ring recounts the challenge of landing the interview:

Rich was not easy to find. He has an unlisted phone number, and his Fund for Democracy has no Web site and is not listed as a business entity in the New York secretary of state’s database. When I found him and explained that I’d tracked all his donations to the campaign, he said, “You’ve done your homework.”

Listen to Ring’s interview with Rich, Rich, reproduced here with the permission of High Country News.