2000 election: Throwing the election to one of the two major-party nominees who otherwise would not have won." The group was criticized for failure to fully disclose its funding. The group was originally organized as a political organization and at that time tax documents show that Peter Ackerman, father of the Chief Operating Officer Elliot Ackerman, had contributed $1.55 million. In 2011, it changed its designation to a 501(c)4 social welfare group. Americans Elect claimed that none of its funding came from special interests, lobbyists, corporations or other groups. The group changed its bylaws in 2012 to provide that the wealthy donors who loaned the organization its initial funds would be repaid from donations to the organization. At the conclusion of the campaign, Garrett Quinn of Boston.com wrote, "This $35 million operation was doomed to fail from the beginning. How can you run a serious political organization aimed at winning elections without any kind of guiding ideology or real local organization? You can't. These guys, like so many compassless folks in politics, seriously misread the American electorate and recent third party history. Third parties do not work without a guiding ideology, be it left, right, libertarian, statist, whatever. These guys stood for something a thousand times worse than the bitter hyperpartisanship they whined about: a wish-washy just do something attitude towards governance rooted in the pipe dreams of 'radical centrists.'" At least one candidate was also critical of the long, complex, and unreliable verification process for delegates. References External links AE Transparency blog Political organizations based in the United States Centrist political advocacy groups in the United States 2011 establishments in the United States 2012 United States presidential election 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations