John Fund was raised in Fair Oaks, California, a suburb of Sacramento. His best friend, Andrew Frankel, said he was extremely nerdy and picked on by other children. Very early in life he became fascinated by politics and power. A story from Andy will later become very much on point, giving you a new perspective on this prominent pundit.
Due to an incident involving another student, a woman, which still caused him to tear up and cry in 1981, Fund dropped out of college, never to return. Tears and protestations of naivete have served John well over the years.
He told friends his first job in politics was working for Edward H. Crane, III to ensure Ed Clark obtained the Libertarian nomination for President in 1979. This was his first work as a political operative.
His involvement in Libertarian politics also included a faux run for office in Sacramento. Justin Raimondo, a columnist for Antiwar.com reported in his article, John Fund vs. the Truth on April 27, 2006 the incident quoted in its entirety below, that Fund, "Back in the late 1970s, before he became the high-and-mighty journalistic fountainhead of neocon orthodoxy, Fund was active in the Libertarian Party, or was at least enough of a fellow traveler to make a 45-minute presentation at a party meeting announcing his decision to run for a school board seat in Sacramento, Calif., where he lived at the time.
Libertarians were treated to subsequent reports of his campaign’s fantastic progress, which was touted by Fund as a model for all libertarians to follow. It was a two-way race, and we were all told how it was even possible that Fund could win – which, for a tiny, albeit enormously ambitious political movement such as the LP at that time, was a Very Big Deal.
At any rate, Election Day came ’round, and my good friend Eric Garris – now the webmaster of Antiwar.com – was writing an article about the LP’s political fortunes and was eager to know the results of Fund’s much-hyped campaign. So he was somewhat puzzled when the registrar of voters in Sacramento told him that, no, he was positive there was no John Fund on the ballot for school board. Yes, it was explained, Fund had taken out papers – but had never actually turned them in.
Eric called Fund and asked him how his campaign had done. Fund’s reply: Oh, fantastic, we got 46 percent of the vote!Oh really? replied Eric. Then how come the registrar says you weren’t even a candidate?Confronted with his lie, Fund tearfully confessed to fabricating the entire story: not that there wasn’t a campaign, but, you see, it was somebody else’s campaign. Fund had merely projected himself onto another person’s candidacy and reported developments as if he had filed his papers and carried through with his intent to run."
This incident took place before Fund was confirmed as state Executive Director for the Libertarian Party of California, and if Eric, who I knew well, had been more forthcoming with the truth, it is likely Fund's political ambitions would have been truncated.
Garris's motives might have been compassion, in this particular instance.
After working for some time as a research analyst for the California Legislature in Sacramento Fund received a grant and relocated to Washington D. C. There, he wrote for the Star News, by his report to me in 1982. In Washington, and interned with Evans and Novak.
This resulted in a recommendation from Robert Novak to the Wall Street Journal where he became a deputy features editor. Two years later he moved onto become an editorial page writer specializing in politics.
Fund received the Warren Brooks award for journalistic excellence from the American Legislative Exchange Council in 1993.
In 1995, he was named a member of the Journal’s editorial board.
While this was his job title, for which he was well compensated, his actual job was as a political operative working for and reporting to Karl Rove, then positioning the Neocon cabal to place George W. Bush in the White House in 2000.
By report to myself, in 2000, he took credit for what is known today as Project Arkansas. Fund, additionally, took pride in having written the editorial which is credited with tipping Clinton Administration official Vince Foster to suicide in 1993. Fund also delighted in his scheme, planned out with Matt Drudge, of the intentional misreporting of domestic violence against Sidney Blumenthal, then newly appointed to the Clinton White House. The charge was entirely bogus but intentionally laid to distract Blumenthal and scatter the efforts of the administration.
Deposition Page - Manuel Klausner, a long time Libertarian attorney who may have had deep roots with the NeoCons, was also deposed.
Having performed tirelessly in this covert role in 1999 Fund expected to be rewarded with a job as a speechwriter for George W. Bush. This did not happen because, by his report, of the scandal over his seduction, impregnation, and mistreatment of a not so young woman named Morgan.
At this point it is important for the reader to understand Morgan was not a nice person. Then in her early 30's, though she looked younger, she was looking for a wealthy husband and, by her report, was responsible for the break-up of the marriage of Eddy Van Halen and Valerie Bertonelli. Through her twenties she had been 'going to college' while taking no documented classes and being supported by her grandparents, who had adopted her when she was 12. She was very self-indulgent and dishonest, traits noted by her siblings which placed severe strains on the family.
By her own report she was spending her time with Van Halen, not in acquiring what most of us consider to be an 'education.'
However, her mother still hoped, like other parents, hoped she would change.
She and her mother had stopped talking in the spring of 1998, partially because her mother discovered her estranged husband was paying her to slander her to friends and political associates, assisting him in defrauding her during the course of the divorce he initiated after his wife saved him from the IRS. [You're Not Paranoid - The IRS is out to get you, This April 15th Remember the Sad Saga of Craig Franklin]
John Fund met Morgan's mother while they were both active in the Libertarian Party. They had a cordial personal relationship. When Morgan's mother married John asked the kids to call him, "Uncle John."
She doubted the truth of the rumor knowing the impropriety would be striking. Deciding not to leave the matter to doubt she immediately called John at the Wall Street Journal. He categorically denied the charge, not even a smidgin of guilt or anxiety in his voice. She believed him.
So when she received a call from Morgan, now broke and jobless in New York, asking for help because she said, John had impregnated her and then forced her to have an abortion she was more than skeptical. As they were arguing about the matter Morgan put her mother on hold to pick up an incoming call.
The Weaselsearch Tape and Sex, Lies, and the Tape by John Connolly, published online in 2001, was the eventual result.
Furious at having been lied to, Morgan's mother called Fund, confronting him with his deceit. He hung up on her. She called back. He refused to take her calls and blocked her emails. Within five minutes of the hang up this letter hit the fax machine at the Wall Street Journal. From experience, she knew the WSJ faxes were handled at one central receiving point and did not doubt the letter would be read by other eyes than John's.
We'll never know how many times it was copied before arriving on John's desk, but service was rapid. John, bitterly, cited this as the reason he was left with the consolation prize of a book deal instead of the golden ring of speechwriter for George W. At that point Morgan's mother was still active in the National Federation of Republican Women as a Regent and would be for some years yet. Read Tea At the White House with Laura Bush
Sadly, Morgan's mother learned John Fund was neither a real journalist or the middle-level political hack she had thought.
In the world of covert politics political operatives who are correctly placed and do the job are more valuable than presidential candidates, who we see today, are a dime a dozen. No candidate seriously allowed by the interconnected collation of corporate interests representing banking, oil, big pharma, big media, big energy, and the military-industrial complex, better described by the appellation of 'Greedville,' would be permitted serious consideration.
John expressed his dissatisfaction with the book deal over dinner after Morgan's mother moved to New York in early 2000. They had met for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, El Parador, the down the street from her apartment at the Rivergate a few days before to talk through recent events. He told her of his 'profound love' for her daughter, who he intended to marry. By this point she was relieved Morgan seemed to be settling in to what, it could be hoped, would be an adult life of children and a home since she, clearly, was not interested in education or a career.
The book was to be on stealing elections. Surprise was expressed. This was not the kind of topic which seemed would have much appeal to John, too many numbers too many minute and boring details. But it was the book when needed writing. What was not yet known was the neocon machinery, then in motion, which would change the face of electoral process.
Tremendous commentary, research and investigation has taken place on the outcomes of the 2000 and 2004 elections. Voting machines, projected percentages likely to change the outcome of elections in states and districts, along with other factors would be identified and analyzed.
Karl Rove, entirely lacking any ethical or moral boundaries, had identified these well in advance and also extrapolated what could be done to ensure the desired outcome. This was, clearly, the technique common to every move made by Rove. By 2000 the behavior of those we know as 'neocons' had begun to trouble everyone greatly.
If one intends to steal elections it becomes essential to muddy the waters of potential future inquiry. A thorough and well thought out plan implies experts who have written books and positioned themselves in advance of the action. Stealing Elections, written by John Fund, was, likely, conceived and executed with this goal in mind.
The book injects, according to this review from Media Matters, published October 31, 2004 "distortions and half-truths to impugn Democrats who, he states in his introduction, "figure prominently in the vast majority of examples of election fraud described in this [Fund's] book."
Today, the issue of electoral fraud is better understood. When American computer programmer Clinton Eugene Curtis testified under oath in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Members in Ohio his words conveyed several messages simultaneously. His testimony revealed the ease with which elections could be hacked. The technology was generally available, writable by competent programmers. And it was possible, if officials wanted, to know when an election had been hacked. Yet in the ensuring years these facts were vigorously rejected and defamed.
Attempts by such activists as Bev Harris of Black Box Voting to stop the hacking would not have been necessary without the tacit or active cooperation of those holding power.
Actually, neocons routinely use distortions, half-truths, character assassination among a list of other techniques in dealing with all of those who impede their progress toward their goals. One's political affiliation is entirely irrelevant.
In 2000 Morgan's mother spent little time at the apartment in New York because of the needs of her two sons, one in school in Vermont, the other still struggling with his brain injuries. When Arthur, then in his early 20s, was not with her he was staying with a Christian family who cared for the disabled.
John was often living part time at her apartment with Morgan, she later learned. While there he evidently developed the habit of sneaking into her unused room late at night to use her phone to call 'other women.' Other women became a continuing theme in the John-Morgan relationship. One of these 'other women' was Wisconsin judge, Diane Sykes. This came to light when her mother asked Morgan about the many long distance calls appearing on her phone when she was out of town.
In early 2001 Morgan returned to NY. The apartment had been closed and her mother was now living in California. Morgan was determined, she said, to find a job. She did find work, but she also accepted the offer of John Fund to live together in advance of what Morgan believed would be marriage.
Cleaning the apartment of John Fund in Jersey City and his office at the Wall Street Journal proved to be a horrifying task on the same lines as the Aegean Stables.
John offered to pay her. He had been embarrassed and discommoded because there were several feet of garbage on the floor, the sink crusted and dried with food, dishes and crawling things. The bath tub did not work, the toilet a thing of horrors shows, and the refrigerator's weak light revealed desiccated and abandoned items. This was far better than the freezer, which was crawling with maggots.
John's continued preoccupation with other women also reared its head at nearly the same time the article, Sex, Lies, and the Tape, by John Connolly, became available on the Internet. Morgan was strongly cautioned not to give the tape to Connolly, but she ignored the advice.
Cleaning the apartment took several weeks. John did not mind as he left the morning after introducing her to this bower of love for a protracted tour of speaking engagements out of town. Morgan kept track of the hours spent and other costs, presenting him with the tab, which he stalled on paying. But he did tell her she could keep the uncashed checks, many of them several years old, she had found. Later, she learned he believed they could not be cashed.
Morgan kept her mother apprised on a day to day basis as to her progress at the apartment. After John's return John began taking Morgan to his office at the Wall Street Journal in the quiet Sunday hours. It was also embarrassingly filthy, Morgan reported. This is the office containing the desk under which John had recently hidden, warding off the outraged attentions of John McCain when confronted there in the aftermath of McCain's discovery he, John, was the source of the rumored Black love-child which cost him the South Carolina Primary in 2000 and so a chance at the nomination for president. [The Brown Badge of Courage]
Morgan reported locking John out of the WSJ briefly and watching him gesticulate through the glass until Paul Gigot came by, allowing him to reenter the building. Gigot could be asked about this point. Morgan, always a collector (her Breyer horse collection numbered over 1,000, had begun collecting interesting papers, many of these appearing to have been print outs of briefing sessions from the White House office of Karl Rove. She later occupied herself by scanning these onto DVDs.
Connolly later said he had arranged publication in Tina Brown's Talk Magazine. Brown's office had received the ugly attentions of attorneys dispatched, Connolly averred, by Fund, demanding the article not run. Brown caved. Annoyed, Connolly found another venue. John paid his attorney for services rendered.
It is always true that into every life a little rain must fall.
The downward spiral between Fund and Morgan began. The personal near death experience of 9/11 briefly interrupted this trend but by November Morgan had filed her first police report for domestic violence. Fund had begun leaving the evidence of his infidelity printed out on the floor of the apartment. It would take far too long to catalog all of these here along with the emails and photos. During this period, after Morgan's mother called the police in New Jersey, having heard John battering Morgan, John asked her to help them come to a resolution. This deposition LINK attempts to characterize this as extortion.
The downward spiral between Fund and Morgan began. The personal near death experience of 9/11 briefly interrupted this trend but by November Morgan had filed her first police report for domestic violence. Fund had begun leaving the evidence of his infidelity printed out on the floor of the apartment. It would take far too long to catalog all of these here along with the emails and photos.
During this period, after Morgan's mother called the police in New Jersey, having heard John battering Morgan, John asked me to help them come to a resolution. This deposition LINK attempts to characterize this as extortion.
In December 2001 John and Morgan decided to marry. This took place after Morgan reported him for domestic violence.
Morgan's mother grudgingly agreed to host a wedding. Cheaply - in Santa Barbara.
John again battered Morgan.
Announcement The wedding is cancelled.
John found assistance from Gail Heriot, an unmarried professor of law from San Diego.
January 18, 2002 - Gail's Email to John
Morgan moved out to an apartment, paid for by her mother in New York. John hunted her down and moved in with her. Morgan's mother was on the way to the apartment from Santa Barbara, in a taxi cab, when she called Morgan to be told John was there with her. When she arrived he was gone and she was injured and bloodied.
The whole story includes Fund's use of men and women in media who were compensated for assisting him in a disinformation campaign carried out against Morgan and her mother.
Years later, Morgan's mother was contacted by an early Libertarian acquaintance of Fund's, who provided interesting insights on him and others in the Movement. LETTER
Fund Job Program for Indigent and Morally Bankrupt Journalists
Exhibit 1 - Letter to Elle Magazine, June 11, 2004
Exhibit 2 - Lloyd Grove on misuse of photo
Exhibit 5 - Email response from Alterman July 4, 2002
Exhibit 6 - Christine Reis Hall and Jule Currie
Exhibits documenting the Case of Morgan Pillsbury, John Fund, Gail Heriot and others.
Exhibit 1 -Letter faxed to the WSJ, 1999
Exhibit 4 - Dec. 2000 Pillsbury-Foster NY Phone Bill
More on John, and his friends, the NeoCon Cabal who brought us the War on Iraq at: John Fund
