Gravis Marketing Exposed - The Financial Side of America's "Greatest" Pollster

[NorCen_CT]

Last edited Wed Oct 17, 2012, 09:54 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021568200

I know I haven't been a poster here very long. Please do not let that get in the way of the information I am about to introduce about America's "Greatest" Pollster, Douglas J Kaplan (dba Gravis Marketing). How did this individual (with no national, state, nor local prominence) finance this amazing run (quantity wise) of polls, as well as getting those same polls referenced in (sometimes) higher regard than PPP, Quinnipiac, Marist and all of the others? Hopefully I, along with the "Gravis working group" can help to answer those questions.

(First off, I want to thank grantcart for all of the work that he has already put into all of this. Without it, I, nor others would be posting anything about Gravis Marketing, trying to expose it for the fraud it (surely seems) is.)

Building up a business, any business, from the ground up is no simple feat. There are a multitude of start-up costs, ranging from office space, employees, and as this election reminds us, taxes. I'd like to tackle those, in reverse order, beginning with taxes.

In order to get a clearer picture of just who Doug Kaplan is, let's start by looking at finances and taxes. I am still actively searching county by county, throughout the state of Florida for any/all records pertaining to Doug Kaplan. So far, solely in Seminole County (home to Gravis Marketing "HQ" ), I have unearthed a mountain of liens, judgments and more. Keep in mind, Mr. Kaplan has stated that he does not bring in one cent for his presidential (national and statewide) polls, nor for any Senate/Congressional polls. Let's start off with some links:

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=2160767&file_num=2000-536476&doc_status=V ($28,500 IRS lien)

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=2225436&file_num=2000-600763&doc_status=V ($7,500 IRS lien)

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=3307654&file_num=2003027122&doc_status=V ($34,000 IRS lien)

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=4636994&file_num=2009144619&doc_status=V ($8,500 IRS lien)

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=4605150&file_num=2009112966&doc_status=V ($28,000 IRS lien)

and finally:

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=2203091&file_num=2000-578558&doc_status=V (this one is extremely hard to make out, but its just good enough to get the pertinent info: $260,000 in unpaid taxes).

Again, I have a feeling there is more liens from the IRS out there, and I will update as I come across them. If you add these 6 IRS notices up, it comes to about a tad more than $338,000. But wait, there's more:

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=4887561&file_num=2011096376&doc_status=V

and:

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/details.asp?doc_id=3094473&file_num=2002816307&doc_status=V

So, not only is there documented proof of $338,000 (and counting) in federal tax liens that have been levied against Mr. Kaplan, but not 6 months prior to his flooding the political landscape with polls (from a firm that was on no one's radar) was Mr. Kaplan notified of foreclosure proceedings, as well as another foreclosure in 2002.

Where are the operating expenses coming from? Especially in this election, secretive/shadow money is much, much easier to come by, much more of the money is out there, and there is absolutely no disclosure necessary.

How can someone who is so far underwater financially be able to rent office space ( http://casselberrycommercevillage.com/ccv1_005.htm , only location of Gravis Marketing, I highly doubt this many polls can be completed this fast, and at the amount they are coming out in, in a single, 620 sq foot office, about the size of an average 3-4 star hotel room), hire staff, buy voter data, hire a statistician to run the numbers, and deal with the IRS, who is almost certainly garnishing any income Mr Kaplan takes in.

In my opinion, there is something, something much more than we see behind America's greatest pollster; Gravis Marketing. Someone, I believe, is either A) bankrolling Gravis (impossibly huge conflict of interest, especially with no disclaimer), B) the poll numbers are entirely made up, and the cross tabs are made up/added up to deliver to narrative wanted, C)a combination of the above, or finally, D) none of the above.

One final piece of information (for now, still much, much more to come, not only on Mr. Kaplan, but his associates as well) is Doug Kaplan's Linkedin page.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/douglaskaplan

Look under the "Groups and Associations" area of the account. Notice anything that sticks out for a "non-partisan" pollster? How about:

Current and Former Capitol Hill Staffers

Does Doug Kaplan have some scrubbing to do?


What's your take?

EDIT: Adding court record search links for those who would like to keep digging along side.

*Kaplan's current (perhaps past, if foreclosure went through) home location & Gravis HQ is in Seminole County:

http://officialrecords.seminoleclerk.org/NV_Records/or_sch_1.asp

Rest of Florida:

http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/fgils/coclerks.html

[grantcart]

1. Thanks so much for this

May I add a little to your fine work

http://www.angrybearblog.com/2012/09/gravis-marketing-polls-and-reporting-ii.html

Douglas Kaplan in his own words:

You are the one talking about me Trust me I'm far from a republican operative or taking marching orders from Rush. I do wish the GOP would hire us because this is allot of abuse for putting out polls on my own dime.

and a little bit later

These are self funded, we believe the we have an non-partisan perspective that is not out there. The truth is, we don't care who wins, probably an Obama victory would be better for business, because then we will have an open primary in 2016.

To add to the confusion we have tape of Kaplan discussing with the Russian English Language station in January where he lists all of the polls he already has conducted.

They were never released publicly.

So if you are doing polls in January and no one else is paying you for it then why not post them. Obviously the man is a lying machine.

He has deep financial troubles and cannot afford to be "putting out polls on my own dime".

Kaplan being self funded is like Romney's solution to the immigration problem with self deportation.

Again thanks

[speedoo]

2. k&r nt

[NMDemDist2]

3. wow, good work!!

thanks for it and a belated welcome to DU!!

[NorCen_CT]

5. Thank you.

Appreciate the kind words. However, as stated in the post, this first post of mine only scratches the surface on things that I have uncovered (in addition to the rest of the group), over a span of about 48 hours. Kaplan/Gravis need to have there legitimacy (never earned) taken away, and laughed out of politics for good.

[grantcart]

12. People are getting overwhelmed by all of the information.

This is a very important part of the big picture.

[NorCen_CT]

13. Exactly

There is so much information to work with. There are so many different people involved, so many ever-changing LLC and corporate names (sometimes changing after judgements, sometimes after FTC investigations/notices) that it's hard to post, knowing the rabbit hole continues down ever further.

[myrna minx]

4. Very interesting. Thanks for your work. I'm bookmarking for further exploration.

K&R

[MadrasT]

6. Fascinating.

I am following all this with great interest.

Welcome to DU.

[ohheckyeah]

7. Great job!

Thanks.

[grantcart]

8. kick

[MuhkRahker]

9. Kaplan is going down!

Great stuff, I'm new here too, mainly keeping my eye on this scandal.

[grantcart]

10. For those that are staying up late

the biggest bombshell is being prepared now.

[grantcart]

11. kick

[Whovian]

14. K&R