Background on our Response to A Message from NGP Founder Nathaniel Pearlman

Background on our Response to “A Message from NGP Founder Nathaniel Pearlman”

NGP Chairman Nathaniel Pearlman recently sent out a newsletter “message” purporting to address the questions raised by our false advertising lawsuit against NGP.

The central claim in our lawsuit is that NGP has been making false and deceptive advertising claims about supposedly exclusive devotion to “Democrats and their allies”, and then trading heavily and continuously on that supposed purity for commercial gain.

NGP recently admitted in a public filing that it has a “Reseller Agreement”, which NGP wants to keep entirely secret.

Example: Automotive Free International Trade PAC Expenditure Detail

Contributions from this PAC to federal candidates (14% to Democrats, 86% to Republicans) - $593,500

Recipient Amount Description Date
Capitol Advantage [NGP’s Software**], McLean, VA $6,000 computer software - annual renewal 01/04/08
CHAMBLISS FOR SENATE, ATLANTA, GA $5,000 contribution 11/12/08
CHAMBLISS FOR SENATE, ATLANTA, GA $5,000 contribution 09/11/08
CHAMBLISS FOR SENATE, ATLANTA, GA $5,000 contribution 05/02/07

Public information shows that, under this agreement, NGP’s software is used by political groups that provide significant support to Republicans and GOP interests. Public documents show that some of these groups paid significantly less than what Democrats have been charged by NGP.

The lawsuit has been going for several years now. At the end of the day, many people must be asking: “If what Aristotle says isn’t true, then why is NGP spending so much time and money playing hardball litigation, keeping the facts secret, under seal at the courthouse?” Why doesn’t NGP just come clean about its “Reseller Agreement”, instead of issuing non-denial denials like his newsletter “Message”?

His  message raises far more questions than it answers. It largely attempts to change the subject, and, if you read closely, you’ll see that he never actually denies the main allegation. He just misstates it and pretends not to understand why anyone would question him. We know that most people will be able to see this, but we have provided a detailed, point-by-point rebuttal below for those who wish to follow the case.

The original message appears below with our commentary in italics.

 A message from Founder Nathaniel Pearlman

When I founded NGP Software in 1997, I was determined to run the company in a principled way: to take good care of our clients; to operate honestly and with integrity; and to charge reasonable fees for the products and services we provide.

Actually, Pearlman told the Wall Street Journal that he had formed NGP with a “mission to help only Democrats.” For years, NGP told the same story—that it served “only Democrats and their allies”, that its goal was “Victorious Democrats”, and so on. 

I was convinced that the Democratic campaigns I cared about were not well served by existing software firms. Indeed, I believe that the success of NGP (which now serves almost 80% of the Democrats in Congress) was made possible because a competing software firm was famous for poor customer service, misleading marketing, and nuisance lawsuits.

At one point long ago, NGP made inroads when we made some mistakes. We admit it. But we added well-trained, 24/7 customer service, and we’ll put our increasing customer satisfaction service rates up against NGP’s declining customer service any day.

We’ve also added Complete Campaigns’  top-rated web-based software, which beat NGP in the last two Personal Democracy Forum Surveys on price, performance and service. Try it for one month and you’ll see. As for misleading marketing, and nuisance lawsuits,  Pearlman’s and NGP’s use of deceptive marketing and frivolous lawsuit claims should be part of the  story to follow in the coming months [click here].

That other firm, Aristotle, now serves, for the most part, PACs and Republican campaigns,

Aristotle is and always has been a non-partisan firm.  

(and “adult” web sites with their “Identity” product),

A bit of salacious innuendo from Mr. Pearlman here, as Aristotle’s “Integrity” (not “Identity”) division provides the leading child protection, ID authentication and fraud prevention service in the nation. Integrity prevents children from accessing sites like alcohol, tobacco, and R-rated movie sites.

If you think Mr. Pearlman is suggesting something else, perhaps you should ask him. But he appears desperate to change the subject from the questions concerning his deception about NGP’s supposedly pure Democratic loyalty.

as well as a handful of Democrats.

Our satisfied Democratic customers will provide excellent references, and this is a discussion we’d love to have with you   

Having lost scores of Democratic clients to NGP, they are frustrated and have returned with a vengeance to the misleading advertising and litigious behavior that damaged them in the past.

The frustration appears to be all Mr. Pearlman’s. Having been caught in a lengthy campaign of deception, Pearlman now blames Aristotle for catching him and suing NGP for misrepresenting its Democratic purity. And again, NGP’s deceptive marketing and frivolous lawsuit claims should be part of the  story to follow in the coming months [click here].

Their strategy, if it can be called a strategy, is to send mailings that claim that NGP is not a Democratic firm, and to sue us because we advertise that we are one.

These are not Aristotle’s claims, as Mr. Pearlman well knows. His obvious mischaracterization should raise even more questions about what he’s hiding.

I can honestly tell you that I do not understand their logic, respect their tactics, or admire the way they do business. 

Given what he’s been doing, it’s ironic that Pearlman would lecture on the kind of tactics and business dealings he respects and admires. And he understands exactly what our logic is, which is why he is fighting so hard to keep the entire Reseller Agreement a secret. Otherwise, what has he been hiding for the several years this lawsuit has been going on?

What sort of firm is NGP? Proudly Democratic.

NGP’s conduct — not its pride — is the issue. We’re just asking why a firm that claims to be exclusively serving Democratic interests would enter this reseller agreement. What has pride got to do it?

Here are the facts: by any measure, NGP is a Democratic firm. Our software has been used by thousands of Democratic campaigns and exactly zero Republican campaigns.

The “facts” are that NGP is a firm claiming to serve only Democratic interests,  but that  has been secretly providing its software to groups that support mostly Republicans., . Again, the question is who’s being honest about the extent of their non-partisanship.

We are pleased to serve many important Democratic entities like the Obama and Clinton campaigns, the DSCC, and the DCCC. NGP is proud to sponsor events, like the upcoming RootsCamp, which build the progressive movement.

Again, proudly Democratic in its marketing, while quietly taking money by selling its software through a third party to numerous groups that mainly support Republicans.

Our customers also include Democratic leadership PACs and party committees, and progressive non-profits.

And some others that mainly support Republicans—a fact that he has left out again.

In addition, a small number of non-partisan PACs use a version of our software. Aristotle has focused on this handful of non-partisan PACs, which they conveniently neglect to mention gave a majority of their contributions to Democrats this past cycle, in order to pretend outrage about what Aristotle claims is NGP’s impurity.

Aristotle is not pretending anything. NGP is providing its software to groups that mostly support Republicans, and NGP is pretending to be serving only Democratic interests. We’ve just been asking for them to come clean.

We have filed a counter-suit against Aristotle, on which we hope to prevail, for their false and misleading advertising,

NGP’s “countersuit” over several old, unconnected Aristotle ads has nothing to do with the false claims of NGP that are at the heart of this issue. The “countersuit” is nothing more than a dilatory tactic and distraction, and we expect the court to dismiss such claims even before trial.

and we believe that we will prevail in the lawsuit that they filed against us (some of the original claims have already been dropped).

Several claims, and the document requests of both parties, were dropped by mutual consent in order to streamline the case to the most important issues concerning NGP’s Democratic purity claims. That claim remains and at trial we will prove NGP’s claims to be false.

We can make this promise: that we will continue to operate according to our principles

And these principles include concealing the aid NGP gives to those substantially supporting Republicans

and that we will continue to strive to provide you with the best software and services possible.

For the best software, service and price, we challenge NGP to beat our Complete Campaigns web-based product, which has been rated higher than NGP in all surveys we have seen where they both appear. Also, note that NGP does not promise to provide the best price, at least not to its Democratic customers.

We appreciate all the kind notes and support we have received on this matter.

But NGP probably does not appreciate any requests for refunds or discounts they have received as a result of Aristotle informing the public about what NGP is up to. We understand that NGP offered one congressional campaign a substantial discount as soon as that campaign raised the issue of Aristotle and its recent mailings concerning the NGP lawsuit.

If you have any questions, please feel free to either contact me or NGP’s President Stu Trevelyan directly.

Thanks, Nathaniel.

We’ve all heard NGP’s spin. Now we would appreciate the truth.