Leader of Utah Recall Group Exposed

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Back in February, CMD wrote that a little-known Utah group was behind many of the recall campaigns in Wisconsin targeting Democrats. The story about the American Recall Coalition left many Democrats and Republicans in Wisconsin scratching their heads. Now more is being discovered about this mysterious group and its leader Dan Baltes.

The Salt Lake City Deseret News has done an in-depth profile of Baltes. For starters, Dan Baltes isn't his real name. His real name is Daniel Arthur Elliott. The Deseret News says, "He took his third wife's last name after they married about 3 ½ years ago. He said he wanted to distance himself from an ex-girlfriend and an ex-wife."

Baltes became a conservative talking head this past year through his numerous organizations - Americans Against Immigration Amnesty, Restore Our Dreams, American Recall Coalition and Draft Allen West for President 2012 - his talk radio blog show and FOX News appearances. He is apparently well connected and seems to strike a chord with his conservative contemporaries, enough to garner monetary contributions from his supporters.

But the Deseret News found a former employee of Baltes who thinks he has tricked conservatives into thinking he is a credible voice.

Alexandrea Merrell, an author who lives in Arkansas, worked for Baltes for two weeks last month setting up websites and soliciting sponsors for the two-day Beck speaking tour in Las Vegas, San Diego and Phoenix. Baltes, she said, represented himself as a producer for Beck and agreed to pay $1,000 a week. She quit after receiving only the first week's check.

"It just became really quickly apparent that all this was a scam," she said.

Merrell created a blogspot called Conning Conservatives where she lists Baltes' criminal history and alleged schemes.

This may not be out-of-the-ordinary behavior for Baltes, who spent 10 years in the Idaho prison system in the 1980s and 1990s for "grand theft, forgery and writing bad checks." He also had a "domestic violence complaint and protective order issued against him in Colorado a decade ago."

It has finally become apparent to the conservative crowd that Baltes is not on the up-and-up. From a failed Glenn Beck tour, that some ticket buyers still have not been refunded for, to two small illegal-immigration rallies in Texas and Arizona where all the "participants" were paid, the questions keep mounting about the once unknown organizer with little recognition in his own state of Utah.

On his websites, Baltes touts himself as a well-connected political strategist and an authority on illegal immigration. His Restore Our Dreams Productions bills itself as "one of the most recognized 'boutique' political production firms in the country." The only clients listed on the site are his three other organizations.

Baltes said he finds all the speculation, rumor and innuendo about him disconcerting. Shortly after being interviewed by the Deseret News, he emailed supporters an apology for the failed Glenn Beck show, that includes descriptions of an ugly childhood, troubled past marriages and mental health struggles.

Stay tuned for more on this interesting talking head and FOX news source.

Click here to see Baltes on FOX News: Unprecedented Wisconsin Recall Campaign