Carl Forti (born June 29, 1972) is an American Republican Party strategist who is the political director of Karl Rove's

American Crossroads American Crossroads is a US Super PAC that raises funds from donors to advocate for certain candidates of the Republican Party. It has pioneered many of the new methods of fundraising opened up by the Supreme Court's ruling in ''Citizens United ...

Super PAC. He was political director for

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...

in 2008. Prior to joining American Crossroads, Forti has co-founded the Black Rock Group and has been instrumental in the formation of Republican 527's and Super PACs. He has been referred to as "Karl Rove's Karl Rove", "one of the smartest people in politics you've never heard of," and "the Alexander the Great of the Republican independent expenditure world."

Political activities

Forti has long been active raising funds and strategy for the Republican Party. He got his start in the mid 1990s, working at a small ad firm run by GOP consultant, Paul Wilson and steadily moved through the ranks. While working at the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

during the 2006 elections, Forti managed their largest ever independent expenditure campaign, totaling $82 million. In 2008, Forti joined Mitt Romney's Presidential Campaign. As his political director, Forti played a key role behind Romney's 11 primary and caucus victories. After Romney dropped out, Forti joined

Freedom Watch ''Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano'' is a television show hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano, on Fox Business Network. The show aired from 2009 to 2012, focusing mainly on libertarian issues and perspectives. The show ''Freedom Watch'' was c ...

, a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...

run by

Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (; August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns th ...

with the goal of spending over $200 million for conservative causes. During the campaign, Freedom's Watch challenged

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

(FEC) requirements to disclose their donors and ultimately won when the FEC ruled that outside spending groups didn't have to reveal their sources unless contributions were earmarked for specific ads. In 2010, Forti attempted to circumvent FEC guidelines by using his firm, Black Rock Strategies to coordinate with campaigns and advise donors where to contribute. Ultimately the FEC rejected this approach. During the 2010 Elections, Black Rock Group worked on Joe DioGuardi's Senate Campaign while also doing work for

. In 2011, Forti helped establish the Romney supporting super-PAC,

Restore Our Future Restore Our Future is a political action committee (PAC) created to support Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. A so-called Super PAC, Restore Our Future is permitted to raise and spend unlimited amounts of corporate, union, and ...

, raising over $12 million in the first half of 2011 before joining American Crossroads as its political director.

Conflict of interest criticism

American Crossroads was accused of having conflicts of interest over the role of Carl Forti. American Crossroads defended Forti, telling

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

, “Carl is a contract employee with American Crossroads. He has other clients. We knew that he had other clients. But clearly, none of us are gonna be involved personally in the presidential campaign.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forti, Carl 1972 births American political consultants Living people Mitt Romney People associated with the 2008 United States presidential election Washington, D.C., Republicans George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs alumni