Dreamweaver
05-02-2003, 10:40 AM
Hi
This is my first post and like the rest of you I'm excited about the upcoming special with Tim Allen. I have a question that is related to the cast, but kind of off topic from the show. I am a public studies major and one of the things I do is research the history of money in political campaigns. That means rummaging through a lot of old government reports. A couple of weeks ago I cam across something really strange that appears to involve the cast of HI and I'm curious if anyone knows anything about it.
Back in 1995-96 there was a political organization known as Club 96 that was registered with the Federal government, and I believe still appears in the database. The treasurers listed for this "PAC" were Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Zachery Ty Bryan. Taran Noah Smith was listed as the chairman of the finance committee. This committee had come to my attention for reasons that orginally had nothing to do with the HI cast, but I was stunned to see their assocation. I mean JTT and Zach would have been about 14 at the time and Taran something around 12. It's not normal to see that kind of activity from preteens and teens.
Over a very short period of time this committee claims to have rasied a couple of million dollars and lists over two-thousand contributors from across the US. As part of the official record there are numerous communications signed by Zachery addressing concerns about some of the ethics or procedures they were using. This committee claims to have given money to several political campagins, including a couple that were in violation of the election law at the time.
I have talked to several people who are listed as either donors or receiptents of funds from Club 96 and they all claim no knowledge of such an organization. Maybe that is understandable as seven years have passed. This group appears to be very covert and vanished almost as fast as they came into existence. The Feds say only that they have been inactive for several years and there is no active invesigation into their activity. Probably too much time has passed for them to really care. However I am curious to say the leat. It is not often you see this kind activity and I'd like more info.
I have done some more digging and I understand that there was one or two articles written about this group, though I have not purchased the archived articles. One of the better was in a political rag people called Roll Call. If anyone saw that, it would have been March 1996, I would love to know more, for a variety of reasons. I also felt these kids were talented, but it appears they were either more talented than I thought, or somone was using them for all they good get and is now covering it up. Curious as to which it was/is.
P.S.- I mentioned earlier that I came across this as part of a wider research effort. I'm not looking to cause trouble, but this really does raise a lot of questions. I just got off the phone with someone who says one of the key people in this group was someone by the name of Anthony Clinton Brown. This name has come up before. Mr. Brown evidently had close connections with at least one of the 3 families (Zachery, Taran or JTT). Thus far Mr. Brown has been elusive but I'd love to visit with him and find out more about this very strange group. I've heard stories about strange stuff assoicated with sitcoms, but this one might take the cake!
:wave:
This is my first post and like the rest of you I'm excited about the upcoming special with Tim Allen. I have a question that is related to the cast, but kind of off topic from the show. I am a public studies major and one of the things I do is research the history of money in political campaigns. That means rummaging through a lot of old government reports. A couple of weeks ago I cam across something really strange that appears to involve the cast of HI and I'm curious if anyone knows anything about it.
Back in 1995-96 there was a political organization known as Club 96 that was registered with the Federal government, and I believe still appears in the database. The treasurers listed for this "PAC" were Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Zachery Ty Bryan. Taran Noah Smith was listed as the chairman of the finance committee. This committee had come to my attention for reasons that orginally had nothing to do with the HI cast, but I was stunned to see their assocation. I mean JTT and Zach would have been about 14 at the time and Taran something around 12. It's not normal to see that kind of activity from preteens and teens.
Over a very short period of time this committee claims to have rasied a couple of million dollars and lists over two-thousand contributors from across the US. As part of the official record there are numerous communications signed by Zachery addressing concerns about some of the ethics or procedures they were using. This committee claims to have given money to several political campagins, including a couple that were in violation of the election law at the time.
I have talked to several people who are listed as either donors or receiptents of funds from Club 96 and they all claim no knowledge of such an organization. Maybe that is understandable as seven years have passed. This group appears to be very covert and vanished almost as fast as they came into existence. The Feds say only that they have been inactive for several years and there is no active invesigation into their activity. Probably too much time has passed for them to really care. However I am curious to say the leat. It is not often you see this kind activity and I'd like more info.
I have done some more digging and I understand that there was one or two articles written about this group, though I have not purchased the archived articles. One of the better was in a political rag people called Roll Call. If anyone saw that, it would have been March 1996, I would love to know more, for a variety of reasons. I also felt these kids were talented, but it appears they were either more talented than I thought, or somone was using them for all they good get and is now covering it up. Curious as to which it was/is.
P.S.- I mentioned earlier that I came across this as part of a wider research effort. I'm not looking to cause trouble, but this really does raise a lot of questions. I just got off the phone with someone who says one of the key people in this group was someone by the name of Anthony Clinton Brown. This name has come up before. Mr. Brown evidently had close connections with at least one of the 3 families (Zachery, Taran or JTT). Thus far Mr. Brown has been elusive but I'd love to visit with him and find out more about this very strange group. I've heard stories about strange stuff assoicated with sitcoms, but this one might take the cake!
:wave: