Rod Martin

Rod D. Martin is the founder and Chairman of TheVanguard.Org, founded as an organization in March 2006 as a conservative response to the success of MoveOn.org.

Martin has operated TheVanguard.org web address since May 1998. He is a "Syndicated Columnist" and "Commentator" for the Vanguard of the Revolution newsletter, which shares the web address with his Vanguard PAC.

Martin, who now resides in Niceville, Florida, is a former Arkansas attorney and writer from Little Rock, Arkansas; a former special counsel to Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, and subsequently at Thiel's Clarium Capital; and a former policy director to former Arkansas Governor and Republican 2008 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.

Martin is a member of the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy and President of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA). He is a member of the Federalist Society, "holds Life Memberships" in Gun Owners of America and the National Rifle Association, and is a member of the Arlington Group, a leadership group of the Religious Right.

Martin is the editor and co-author with Canadian-raised Muslim Aman Verjee of Thank You President Bush: Reflections on the War on Terror, Defense of the Family, and Revival of the Economy (ISBN 0974670111) published in 2004 by World Ahead Publishing:


 * "The book was heavily promoted as an answer to the many so-called 'Bush-bashing books' released prior to the 2004 Presidential election, and contained chapters by many leading figures in the conservative movement, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly, Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese, supply-side economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and many others."

Vanguard PAC
Vanguard PAC, also founded by Martin, was TheVanguard.Org's predecessor group. It was a "conservative political action committee spearheaded by its chairman Rod Martin that believes society works best when people are free. They support a 'tough on crime' approach: no parole for felons, enhanced mandatory sentencing for crimes committed with guns, absolute victims' rights, the death penalty, and the rights of gun owners," Defending Justice, a publication of Political Research Associates (PRA),  reported in 2005.

Vanguard PAC "disseminat[ed] the intellectual capital necessary to create a better, freer world, by training candidates and promoting policy ideas to reshape America and the globe. Home of Rod D. Martin's column, Vanguard of the Revolution," according to PoliticalUSA.com. 

See the Wikipedia article on the Vanguard party for background information.

Other Affiliations

 * Since 2005, Martin has served as co-chairman of "Jeb's Legacy Project" (former Florida Governor Jeb Bush) with John M. Hallman, president of Hallman and Associates and TheVanguard.Org's Florida State Director.


 * In 2001, Martin was identified as "Director of Development for The Independent Institute, a Fellow of the Kuyper Institute for Political Studies, a Little Rock, Arkansas attorney, and a once-and-future candidate for U.S. House of Representatives."


 * In 2000, Martin ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Arkansas District 02 race. Total campaign contributions were $94,302, with $93,192 spent.


 * In 2000, Martin was National Chairman of Arkansas Against Hillary! ("AAGH!" for short). re Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)


 * In 1999, Martin was the Executive Director of the Eagle Forum of Arkansas.


 * Also see Connections for Rod D. Martin at Political Friendster and profile at Opentopia for Martin's numerous other affiliations.

Contact Information

 * Email: lawyer AT gopwing.com and execvp AT gopwing.com (Website of National Federation of Republican Assemblies.)
 * Website: http://www.rodmartin.org/ (Blog.TheVanguard.Org)
 * Website: http://www.thevanguard.org (Web address dates to May 1998)
 * Webstite: http://www.thevanguard.org/newsletter/ (Vanguard of the Revolution newsletter)
 * Weblog: http://techblog.thevanguard.org/
 * Website: http://archermartin.thevanguard.org/ (Website of Rod Martin's son, Archer Martin)
 * Website: http://davidjeffers.thevanguard.org/ (Salt and Light Blog of David Jeffers, TheVanguard.org political activist and author of "Understanding Evangelicals: A Guide to Jesusland - http://www.understandingevangelicals.com)

Profiles

 * Rod D. Martin, TheVanguard.Org.
 * Author: Rod D. Martin, World Ahead Publishing.
 * Candidate Details for Rod Martin, OurCampaigns.com.
 * Money in Politics Database: Rod D. Martin for 2000 and 2006, C-SPAN's PoliticalMoneyLine.
 * FEC Disclosure Report: Rod Martin for Congress, Inc., Federal Election Commission.

Articles by Rod Martin

 * Rod D. Martin Archive at Blog.TheVanguard.org.
 * Rod D. Martin articles at Vanguard of the Revolution.
 * Rod D. Martin articles at Human Events Online.
 * Rod D. Martin's ArriveNet Editorials.
 * Rod D. Martin articles at RenewAmerica.
 * Rod D. Martin articles at The Christian Statesman / National Reform Association.
 * "Winning," EnterStageRight.com, April 1999.
 * "Reformed Fortune-Tellers: Judgment, America and the Prophets of Doom," The Chalcedon Foundation, January 3, 2002.
 * "GOP left holds right hostage - fair comment - Senate control," Insight on the News (FindArticles.com), October 1, 2002.
 * "FDR Proposed Personal Accounts," TheRealityCheck.org, August 19, 2005.
 * "D-Day for the death tax," Enter Stage Right, September 5, 2005.
 * "The AMT must be destroyed," Enter Stage Right, December 12, 2005.
 * "Iraq's WMDs: The Russian Connection," Intellectual Conservative, June 30, 2006.

Articles about Rod Martin

 * Suzi Parker, "Shootout among Arkansas Republicans," Salon, July 16, 1999.
 * Tom Squitieri, "Three states hold primaries Tuesday," USA TODAY, May 23, 2000.
 * "Myshka, Thomas win GOP primaries for Congress," Associated Press (USA TODAY), May 24, 2000.
 * Seth Blomeley, Election 2000: "Districts 1, 2, 4 roundup," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 24, 2000. See "Campaign Contributors".
 * Paul Bedard, "The thank-you note to Bush," Washington Whispers/U.S. News & World Report, July 15, 2004.
 * Al Cronkite, "Hypocrisy. The Log in the Eye," Ether Zone, September 20, 2004.
 * "A Strange Request," Chronicles Magazine, September 29, 2004.
 * "Muslim from Canada Raises Eyebrows with Pro-Bush Book," PRWeb.com, October 29, 2004.
 * "When Southern Baptists Lie," Growing Sense Blogspot, February 6, 2006.
 * Sarah Posner, "Immigration and coincidences," The Gadflyer, May 16, 2006. Scroll down to entry on Martin's views on reverse immigration.
 * Eric Jackson, "An Interview With Rod D. Martin," WorldAhead.com, August 28, 2006.
 * Stephanie Dube, "The Next MoveOn.org?: Another PayPal Alumnus Makes His Move. If His Peers Are Any Indication, It Could Be a Big One", Human Events, January 18, 2007.
 * Richard Poe, "A Conservative MoveOn.org", POE.com, January 22, 2007.
 * "Peter Thiel's misfits," Valleywag, January 22, 2007.
 * Bill Berkowitz, "Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouse: Fueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director", Media Transparency, February 5, 2007.
 * Proud Conservative, "'Hate Crimes'=Thought Crimes...," Arkansas Family Coalition Blogspot, February 16, 2007. See comments.
 * Proud Conservative, "WOW! Rod Martin still an embarrassment to Arkansas," Arkansas Family Coalition Blogspot, February 17, 2007.
 * Proud Conservative, "Rod Martin: A Choirboy???" Arkansas Family Coalition Blogspot, February 20, 2007.
 * Supreme Court of Arkansas. No. 07-137. In re: Rod D. Martin, Arkansas Bar No. 98218, Opinion Delivered February 22, 2007. Petition for Voluntary Surrender of Law License Petition Granted.
 * Josh Harkinson, "Masters of Their Domain" Mother Jones, June 20, 2007.
 * Matt Greenop, "Facebook - the CIA conspiracy" The New Zealand Herald, August 8, 2007.
 * George Roberts, "FaceBook, the intelligence community and right-wing PACs" rWorld, October 13, 2007.