Rich focuses his advocacy mostly on local issues like term limits, not on national campaigns, and doesn't see himself as leaning right or left.
[5] He is an effective advocate; National Public Radio identified Rich as a leader behind the independent groups with potential to influence elections.
"[10] Rich explained his mission was to "advance individual freedom and create an atmosphere where we restore the Founders' concepts of property rights and free markets."
[1] He has supported referendum measures that would limit government spending, curb the seizure of land, and scholarship tax credits.
Rich explained: "Working with the state legislators is a fool's errand" and added "Most of them are RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) who water things down to nothing.
The organization has also criticized former president Bush for "egregious federal power-grabs" regarding the USA Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind and Medicare.
He criticized political connections between political contributors and government contractors and wrote: "When government contracts are being handed out, all qualified companies should have a fair chance at getting public business, not just companies that donate to the re-election campaigns of entrenched politicians or hold cocktail parties at expensive restaurants in their honor."
He wrote: "The longer politicians are in office, the more likely they are to rip us off for their own benefit – rewarding the donors who funded their campaigns and the special interests who keep them in power rather than the people they should be serving."
[5] In USA Today, he wrote in an editorial that American voters "overwhelmingly support term limits" and that "citizens value fresh ideas, new perspectives and more competitive elections more than the so-called institutional knowledge of the political ruling class.
[16] In 2008, a senior senator of the legislature of Nebraska blamed Rich and term limits for his "forced retirement," but Rich responded in a letter to the editor of The New York Times that "term limits have never been aimed at any one individual, but rather at an underlying culture of abuse that invariably tends to place the voracious appetites of government institutions over the best interests of the people they are there to serve.
Rich helped engineer and encourage a number of ballot initiatives in state elections in 2006 to rein in such takings.
Rich supported a ballot initiative in California called Proposition 90 which prohibited cities from "using their condemnation powers to transfer property from one owner to the other.
[19] A second estimate was that Rich gave US$2.75 million via the Fund for Democracy and Americans for Limited Government to foster advocacy of eminent domain initiatives in California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
[7] Sometimes the group paid people as much as US$4 to sign a petition to put the initiatives on the ballot, according to one report from the San Francisco Chronicle which ran editorials opposing the referendum.
"[18] A reporter for USA Today suggested the referendums might "gut local and state abilities to enact or enforce virtually any regulations affecting private land use and development.
In 2006, Americans for Limited Government and other groups spent millions trying to get property rights ballot initiatives in western states such as California, Washington, Idaho, and Arizona.
[23] In 2006, three of Rich's budget-trimming "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" proposals failed, but nine of his twelve eminent domain relief referendums passed overwhelmingly including states such as Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina.
[1] Rich criticized American schools for being "monopolistic" and a "millstone around our children's necks" and wrote that "America consistently (was) lagging behind its industrialized peers in academic achievement."
[5] In 2001 Rich acquired the web-based voting software and systems firm, Votenet Solutions during the Dot-com bubble.
Following the acquisition, federal investigators charged the company's CEO and CFO with embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from nonprofit clients and employee's 401(k).
One reporter for the National Review wrote, "'Howie Rich from New York City' has become the Left's latest whipping boy."
"[7] A news report from National Public Radio (NPR) on the show NOW on PBS accused Rich and his organizations of "secretly providing major funding for ballot measures".
Rich was accused of using his political advocacy as a means to "shield his portfolio from sticky-fingered bureaucrats" but he countered "It's a crock" and said "I own no real estate in any of the 12 states where we had property-rights initiatives on the ballot."
The San Francisco Chronicle wrote "real estate mogul Howie Rich … makes no secret of his desire to rein in the power of government.
"[2][7][18] In 2004, advocacy groups such as right-wing Swift Boat Veterans For Truth and left-wing MoveOn.org played a role in the presidential election contest of 2004.
[citation needed] Questions about donations to these groups led to the Federal Election Commission sending subpoenas to donors requesting further information.
According to a newspaper account afterwards, the letters from both sides tried to discourage donors to so-called 527 groups which is "lightly regulated money" that "swamped the 2004 election.
"[5] Both liberals left-wing groups such as Accountable America and advocates such as Rich were criticized for "trying to chill free speech" with efforts to intimidate donors to political causes.
If every proposal that I have favored over the last 20 years got enacted, whether it's term limits or school choice or property rights or any area – I get no personal benefit out of it.