Let Freedom Ring, Inc.

Let Freedom Ring, Inc. is an American conservative advocacy organization.

Organization

''Let Freedom Ring, Inc.'' was founded in 2004, using seed funding consisting of a $1-million donation from John Templeton Jr., President of the John Templeton Foundation. It is organized as a 501(c)(4) entity, and in 2014 created a super PAC as well. Let Freedom Ring has employed Timothy Goeglein as a consultant, and has Colin Hanna as its President. Hanna is a former County Commissioner in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and in his role as president has written on issues including a fence on the southern border, work visas, copyright, protest art of the tea party movement, the navy, the Iran deal, recipients of Weyrich Awards, and several Trump'16 campaign issues, in addition to regularly publishing about taxation.

Activities

In terms of political efforts, Let Freedom Ring concentrates on promoting conservative ideals within the Republican party, and on opposing liberal ideals of the Democratic party more broadly.

2004 cycle

Let Freedom Ring has supported several religious causes. It has advocated for a fence along the U.S.–Mexico border, and promoted the neo-conservative agenda led by President George W. Bush, and campaigned actively in favor of keeping troops in Iraq as part of the war on terror political effort.

2008 cycle

Let Freedom Ring ran attack ads against Obama in 2008. It was involved in organizing the nationwide Tea Party movement protests on April 15, 2009, in part by sending out robocalls to potential participants the day before. The organization received some signatures from Senators, on a pledge to give voters an opportunity to read Obamacare, and read it themselves, before voting on the bill. Hanna, its president, said the treatment by the media of the topic of domestic terrorism, in particular renewed coverage of Timothy McVeigh in 2010, was being politicized. As the broader right-wing opposition to the Obama administration unified, the organization supported the election of politicians associated with the Tea Party movement in 2010 and later years. During 2011, it worked with tea-party-affiliated politicians and activists to oppose increasing the debt ceiling.

2012 cycle

During the 2012 election cycle, the organization worked with other groups to get signatures from all major contenders for the Republican nominee in support of a balanced budget amendment, along with a campaign promise to cut federal spending if elected. It signed the '' Mount Vernon statement'' with other conservative activist groups, while continuing to oppose the Obama administration during his second term, and also continued to support religious causes.

The organization worked with Marco Rubio on immigration reform during 2013. During 2013, it opposed the Karl Rove-backed American Crossroads within the context of the Republican party primaries and caucuses, as well as criticized the congressional leadership John Boehner and Steve Scalise over the firing of RSC staffer Paul Teller, despite being initially tentatively supportive of Boehner as speaker. Its president Colin Hanna was interviewed at CPAC in 2014.

2016 cycle

The organization's president Hanna met with Scott Walker in May 2015, to discuss issues important to social conservatives such as abortion. It again hosted a tax day protest in April 2016, with appearances by Grover Norquist as well as Bob Goodlatte, Peter Roskam, Tim Huelskamp, Andy Harris, John Ratcliffe, Dan Newhouse, and Jody Hice. Hanna did not back Trump'16 during the Republican primaries and caucuses; he attended the 2016 Republican National Convention as an alternate.

References

Notes

{{notelist, refs=

{{cite web , url=
https://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-the-united-states-build-a-fence-on-its-southern-border/border-fence-part-of-larger-solution
, title=Border Fence Part of Larger Solution , first=Colin , last=Hanna , date=October 24, 2011 , website= U.S. News & World Report

{{cite web , url=
https://www.usnews.com/debate-club/is-obama-right-to-grant-young-illegal-immigrants-work-permits/president-obamas-immigration-policy-is-unconstitutional , title=President Obama's Immigration Policy Is Unconstitutional , first=Colin , last=Hanna , date=June 19, 2012 , website= U.S. News & World Report

{{cite book
, title=Grandma's Not Shovel Ready!: Signs from 9/12 and the Tea Parties of 2009
, author=Colin A. Hanna
, location=Wilmington, Delaware
, year=2010
, publisher=Let Freedom Ring Publishing
, edition=1st
, url=http://www.marelibri.com/t/main/3309588-anthropology/books/AUTHOR_AZ/20600?l=en
, asin=B004A6KH30
, url-status=bot: unknown
, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126035817/http://www.marelibri.com/t/main/3309588-anthropology/books/AUTHOR_AZ/20600?l=en
, archive-date=2017-01-26

{{cite magazine, author=George ZornickTwitter July 28, 2011 , url=https://www.thenation.com/article/right-wing-nutters-who-are-pushing-country-brink/ , title=The 'Right-Wing Nutters' Who Are Pushing the Country to the Brink , publisher=The Nation , date=2011-07-28 , access-date=2017-08-28

{{cite web, author=The Nation July 28, 2011, 2:55 PM , url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-right-wing-is-pushing-the-us-to-the-brink/ , title=How the right-wing is pushing the U.S. to the brink , publisher=CBS News , date=2011-07-28 , access-date=2017-08-28

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/05/mega-donors-bankrolling-religious-right_n_1735337.html The Faith and Freedom Coalition... part of a much broader attempt to reactivate millions of socially conservative voters to not only defeat Obama but help some favorite conservative congressional candidates. Concerned Women for America... The Pennsylvania-based Let Freedom Ring quietly cobbled together a nonpartisan 2,000-member pastor network to spur voter registration efforts and is planning a multi-million dollar ad drive this fall focused on social, economic and foreign policy issues, according to Colin Hanna, president of the organization. Propping up this trio of right-leaning organizations are several of the country’s wealthiest conservatives. Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus and John Templeton Jr., who runs a family foundation, are offering financial support, as are organization that receive funding from the billionaire Koch brothers, according to two GOP fundraisers familiar with the separate operations of the three groups. The ramped-up involvement of these groups is the clearest sign to date that cultural debates long thought to be a side topic in the 2012 election, may still play a role. The Faith and Freedom Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Let Freedom Ring and other allies plan to focus heavily on a few hot-button social and economic issues, including the president’s support for same-sex marriage, to fire up their base. ...can be especially important in determining the next president in swing states... ater..On another social conservative front in Pennsylvania, Let Freedom Ring is planning to mount its seven-figure, issue-ad blitz this October, in hopes of defeating Obama in the critical swing state, where the president is leading. Hanna, the organization’s president, promised a voter-registration and education drive to spur evangelicals, Catholics and other social conservatives, saying Pennsylvania is “more in jeopardy for Obama than recent polls suggest.” To defeat Obama in the state, Let Freedom Ring also is counting on a big hand from Sam Rohrer, an 18-year veteran of the state legislature and a former head of the Pennsylvania chapter of Americans for Prosperity. Rohrer told Huffington Post that since joining the group last month he’s been “building the network and encouraging pastors to be more bold.” “As a nation we’re in trouble and until we reach out to God rather than government we’ll be in trouble,” he said. Like Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, Let Freedom Ring is a nonprofit advocacy group that can legally withhold donors’ names. Prominent GOP fundraisers who are familiar with the group’s operations said it’s been helped substantially by John Templeton Jr., a wealthy Philadelphia patron of conservative causes and head of the John Templeton Foundation. Hanna declined to comment when asked about Templeton funding.

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/09/20/new-ad-implies-obama-is-cozy-with-muslim-brotherhood The conservative advocacy group Let Freedom Ring released an ad Thursday to run in key swing states depicting President Barack Obama as a Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer. The group was planning on airing the ads next month, but shifted course after Muslims attacked the Egyptian embassy and killed four Americans in Libya, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi, belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, considered a terrorist organization by some. The Brotherhood denies such claims. Let Freedom Ring President Colin Hanna says Obama's response to the incidents illustrated his naïvete´ on foreign affairs. "After our embassies were stormed, President Obama's administration offered apologies while the Muslim Brotherhood stood by as we were attacked," Hanna says. "Instead of confronting our enemies such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Obama kowtows to them." The one-minute ad is part of a $7 million online campaign, which is being launched in Wisconsin, Virginia, and Pennsylvania... attacks Obama for inviting the Muslim Brotherhood to the White House and supporting it financially. It blames Obama for the rise of anti-American riots across the Middle East, and also blasts the Obama administration for giving Egypt $1.5 billion in foreign aid. The ad, which is filled with images of rioters, questions why Obama would reach out to Egypt's leaders when they "sought to renew long-severed ties with Iran" and destroy Israel. "The Muslim Brotherhood's top leaders even write about taking over America," the ad's narrator says ...The ad buy comes just two months before the election... Hanna says he hopes the ads will give voters pause on casting a ballot for Obama. "One of our convictions is that the perception of weakness is actually provocative and invites attacks," Hanna says. "Obama isn't keeping us safe."

{{cite web, url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/17/our-forgotten-constitutional-right-intellectual-property-protection.html , title=Our forgotten Constitutional right – intellectual property protection , publisher=Fox News , date=2012-09-17 , access-date=2017-08-28

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2013/07/23/congress-must-reform-copyright-law-for-the-digital-age "...Congress needs to establish what Colin Hanna, the president of Let Freedom Ring – where I am a senior fellow – likes to call new rules for the road. The Internet must not operate as a sort of "Wild West" where the law is whatever the fella' with the most guns says it is at any given time. There needs to be a protocol that protects the commercial rights of U.S. IP producers and allows the government to take meaningful steps to shut down the activities of those who do not pay heed to those rights. ..."

{{cite web, url=http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/199570-obama-naval-doctrine-anchors-away , title=Obama Naval Doctrine: Anchors Away? , publisher=TheHill , date= 3 March 2014, access-date=2017-08-28

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2012/05/10/kill-the-law-of-the-sea-treaty ...The aw of the Seatreaty may again see the light of day in the Senate, perhaps as early as next week. And this doesn't sit well with some people. "One of the primary missions of the United States Navy for over two centuries has been to maintain freedom of the seas for all. As a Navy veteran, I am offended to think that the Senate and the Chief of Naval Operations would even consider ceding any part of that mission to the United Nations," said Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring—a nonpartisan organization where I am a senior fellow. In reality the Law of the Sea Treaty is one more step towards a system of global governance under which U.S. sovereignty would be subordinated to an international system managed by an unelected, self-perpetuating form of bureaucratic aristocracy that cares little for democratic traditions. Which, Hanna suggests, is one of a series of reasons the Senate should continue to vote down efforts to ratify it. ..."

https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-donors-behind-some-super-pacs-funneling-millions-into-midterms "In the final weeks ctober/November 2014before this year's elections, a super PAC called Key Questions, Key Answers started buying TV ads across Pennsylvania attacking Tom Wolf, the Democratic candidate for governor. ...told the Federal Election Commission it had just one onor a social welfare nonprofit called Let Freedom Ring... hicharen't required to identify their donors, husit's impossible to say who's really behind Key Questions' last-minute ad blitz... into 2014 races. ...It's not illegal for super PACs to be funded entirely by dark money unless a nonprofit is effectively acting as a straw donor... Nonetheless, Ann Ravel, an FEC commissioner and the former chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said she saw such maneuvers as troubling end runs around disclosure requirements for super PACs. ...Let Freedom Ring's president, Colin Hanna, is also the chairman of Key Questions. JC Callahan, another Let Freedom Ring staffer, is Key Questions' treasurer. Both groups are run out of the same office in Hanna's home in West Chester, Pa. The ads funded by Let Freedom Ring's $200,000 donation started airing earlier this month in the Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets. Hanna said he came up with the commercials to help counter the millions that Wolf has poured into his own campaign against Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. Wolf has been leading Corbett in the polls. "I felt the prevailing wisdom that Tom Wolf had the race sewed up was suspect," Hanna said. Let Freedom Ring was one of the earliest dark money groups ka 501(c)(4)'sto spend heavily on political ads. Hanna started the group back in 2004 with the help of a $1 million donation from John M. Templeton Jr., a surgeon whose father was a wealthy philanthropist and investor. Let Freedom Ring spent millions on ads attacking Barack Obama in 2008, two years before the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision helped spur a massive rise in political spending by social welfare nonprofits. Hanna decided to create Key Questions this year 014in addition to the dark money group on the advice of his lawyer, he said. ...Hanna referred questions about the tax forms to the group's lawyer, Cleta Mitchell. ...Hanna said the ey Questionssuper PAC had received contributions from another contributor since filing its most recent FEC report... hich was to be revealed in a subsequent FEC report circa December 2014

{{cite web, url=http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/191508-john-kerry-latter-day-neville-chamberlain , title=John Kerry – latter day Neville Chamberlain? , publisher=TheHill , date=2013-11-27 , access-date=2017-08-28

http://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/312869-tearing-apart-iran-deal-isnt-the-only-way-to-make-iranian "...A group of conservative leaders released a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) on Thursday, commending him for a resolution he introduced in the final days of the last Congress on the restitution of or compensation for property wrongly confiscated by the Islamic Republic of Iran. ...Signatories to the letter include Colin A. Hanna, President of Let Freedom Ring; Admiral James “Ace” Lyons, Jr, former Pacific Fleet commander; Frank Gaffney, President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy; Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation; Amy Ridenour, Chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research; Ellen Sauerbrey, former Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration; and myself. enneth R. Timmerman, chair, Foundation for Democracy in Iran

{{cite web
, title=Pro-growth tax reform and e-fairness
, author= A. B. Laffer and D. Arduin
, publisher= Laffer Associates and Let Freedom Ring, Inc.
, date=July 2013

{{cite web, url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433995/tax-code-reform-deadline-congress-needs-deadline-incentive-move-taxes , title=Tax Code Reform Deadline: Congress Needs a Deadline Incentive to Move on Taxes , publisher=National Review , date=2016-04-13 , access-date=2017-08-28

{{cite web, url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/02/25/time-for-do-over-let-sunset-tax-code-america-and-start-fresh.html , title=Time for a do-over: Let's 'sunset' the tax code, America, and start fresh , publisher=Fox News , date= May 2015, access-date=2017-08-28

{{cite web, author=Colin Hanna Published 6:18 p.m. ET March 5, 2015 , url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/03/05/tax-code-reform-sunset-irs-column/24274113/ , title=Dawn of the tax code sunset: Column , publisher=Usatoday.com , date=2015-03-05 , access-date=2017-08-28

{{cite news, last=Hanna , first=Colin , url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/14/colin-hanna-phase-out-curren-tax-code/ , title=COLIN HANNA: Phase out curren tax code , work=Washington Times , date= , access-date=2017-08-28

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/27/christians-cringe-at-donald-trump-s-sexy-past.html "...There may be a reason Evangelicals aren’t up in arms about his appearance on the cover of a magazine layboy Magazinefamous for nude pics. “I would hope that many of them wouldn’t know a thing like that, except secondhand,” said Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring USA. “Why wouldn’t it come up in a debate, come up as a news item, and let him be called to task for it with 20 million people watching,” Hanna continued, of Trump’s infidelities. “It gets at the very matter of character, of sin, of forgiveness. A mature conservative Evangelical Christian should not hold confessed sin against someone, but unconfessed sin should be a problem—a theological problem. And unadmitted sin is sort of a step beyond unconfessed sin, isn’t it?” Trump has even indicated that he thinks the fact that he cheated on his first wife, Ivanka, is fair game for his opponents. But so far, none have bitten."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/03/trump-s-planned-parenthood-pivot.html "...For many pro-lifers, comments like this one y Trumpare a deal-breaker. ...“I think he is an unpredictably dangerous candidate,” said Colin Hanna, who heads the conservative group Let Freedom Ring. “And at some point the electorate’s going to wake up to that. I just can’t believe that this deceptive bluster is going to carry the day.” “I don’t think you’re going to find pro-lifers enthusiastically setting their beliefs aside and voting for Mr. Trump,” he added. Thus far, pro-lifers’ efforts to slow Trump have had precious little success. In the lead-up to the South Carolina primary..."

{{cite web, url=http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/09/10/clinton-yeah-im-sorry-i-said-that-half-of-trump-supporters-were-deplorablesort-of-n2216111 , title=Clinton: Yeah, I'm Sorry I Said That Half Of Trump Supporters Were Deplorable...Sort Of – Matt Vespa , publisher=Townhall.com , date=2016-09-10 , access-date=2017-08-28

{{cite web , url=https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/christian-leaders-alarmed-by-overt-anti-christian-bigotry-within-the-clinto , title=Christian Leaders Alarmed by Overt Anti-Christian Bigotry within the Clinton Campaign | Donald J Trump for President , access-date=2017-01-24 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202022708/https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/christian-leaders-alarmed-by-overt-anti-christian-bigotry-within-the-clinto , archive-date=2017-02-02

{{cite web, url=http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/defense/315097-russias-jv-level-hacking-is-nothing-compared-to-china , title=Russia's JV-level hacking is nothing compared to China's , publisher=TheHill , date=2017-01-19 , access-date=2017-08-28

{{cite web , url=http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20161121_Commentary__A_modest_tweak_to_reform_the_Electoral_College.html , title=Commentary: A modest tweak to reform the Electoral College , access-date=2017-01-24 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202015150/http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20161121_Commentary__A_modest_tweak_to_reform_the_Electoral_College.html , archive-date=2017-02-02

http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-a-great-place-to-get-going-more-millennials-are/article_48689ea6-946a-502f-92d3-9200373c85bb.html "...some commentators suggest a change in the Electoral College. ...among those who want to elect the president differently, the Nebraska-Maine method increasingly is mentioned — distributing electoral votes partly by congressional district. Among the backers of that plan, in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece this week, are Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring and a former county commissioner; and Cleta Mitchell, an “elections and political law partner” in the Washington, D.C., office of Foley & Lardner. The current system has flaws, they wrote, “the worst of which is the disproportionate influence of so-called swing states.” Under the Nebraska-Maine method, the pair noted, George W. Bush still would have won the 2000 election, but more decisively — 288-250 over Al Gore rather than 271-266. In 2004, Bush would have defeated John Kerry 321-217 instead of the actual 286-251. In 2008, Barack Obama would have won 301–237 over John McCain rather than by the real count, 365-173. But in 2012, the result would have been reversed — Mitt Romney would have won 276–262 instead of losing to Obama 332-206. “The Electoral College is a brilliant gift from our Founding Fathers that can be made more fair by tweaking the allocation, rather than abolishing it altogether,” Hanna and Mitchell wrote. “A truly national campaign would result, one where every state and all votes and voters matter.” So what about this year’s election? Hanna told me by email he’s unaware of any data compiling service that routinely totals a hypothetical Nebraska-Maine national outcome, and it will take a while to determine. “What Cleta and I have proposed,” he said, “is the best and fairest system. But since there are so many gerrymandered districts, there’s a lot of interest in gerrymander reform first.” "

External links

Let Freedom Ring USA websiteWe Need a Fence

Political and economic think tanks in the United States