{"id":1764145,"date":"2022-12-06T07:32:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T12:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1764145"},"modified":"2022-12-06T07:48:36","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T12:48:36","slug":"dems-love-to-complain-about-dark-money-but-it-bankrolled-their-2022-state-secretary-of-state-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-love-to-complain-about-dark-money-but-it-bankrolled-their-2022-state-secretary-of-state-campaigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems Love to Complain About Dark Money, But It Bankrolled Their 2022 State Secretary of State Campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdems-love-to-complain-about-dark-money-but-it-bankrolled-their-2022-state-secretary-of-state-campaigns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1764145&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/dark-money-roll-of-100s.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Left loves to complain about \u201cdark money,\u201d or money given anonymously to political action committees (PACs) by 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. Democratic senators such as <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Sheldon_Whitehouse\">Sheldon Whitehouse<\/a> (D-RI) have recently pushed legislation to overturn Supreme Court precedent and force 501(c)(4)\u2019s to disclose their donors\u2019 private information. And earlier this year, President Joe Biden has even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/09\/20\/biden-disclose-new-york-fundraiser\/\">argued<\/a> that \u201cdark money erodes public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the <em>New York Times<\/em> has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/29\/us\/politics\/democrats-dark-money-donors.html\">reported<\/a> that Democrats used <em>more <\/em>\u201cdark money\u201d than Republicans in 2020, while <em>Politico<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/west-wing-playbook\/2022\/11\/17\/who-won-the-biden-dark-money-lottery-00069303\">more recently exposed<\/a> that \u201cThe White House-blessed \u201cdark money\u201d group Building Back Together brought in about $41 million last year and spent about $28 million of it on advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evidently, \u201cdark money\u201d is selectively corrosive, damaging the public trust only when Republicans use it.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, though, Democrats were <em>so<\/em> willing to use these \u201ccorrosive\u201d funds that their bloated \u201cdark money\u201d coffers spilled over from the usual House and Senate campaigns to leak an unprecedented $8 million into state secretary of state campaigns as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Shell Game<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Safe Accessible Fair Elections (SAFE) is a PAC created by the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS). The name sounds innocent enough, and according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/phoenix\/2022\/09\/29\/national-democrats-spend-big-arizona-support-adrian-fontes\">reports<\/a> it was to be the host of the \u201cfirst round . . . of an $11 million campaign in Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada\u201d by the DASS.<\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, that $11 million wasn\u2019t going to come from the DASS at all.<\/p>\n<p>Behind the scenes, and unreported by the media, over 80 percent of SAFE\u2019s funding ($8 million) came from the \u201cdark money\u201d organization Every Eligible American (EEA). IRS records <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/12\/SAFE-Filing.pdf\">show<\/a> SAFE receiving millions from Every Eligible American, which happens to share the exact same address in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, SAFE, DASS, and EEA all list the same political compliance firm as their address, and even though EEA has not made information on its finances and structure public, the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.irs.gov\/app\/eos\/detailsPage?ein=863619093&#038;name=EVERY%20ELIGIBLE%20AMERICAN&#038;city=WASHINGTON&#038;state=DC&#038;countryAbbr=US&#038;dba=&#038;type=EPOSTCARD&#038;orgTags=EPOSTCARD\">IRS database<\/a> lists Kim Rogers, <a href=\"https:\/\/demsofstate.org\/news\/democratic-association-of-secretaries-of-state-announces-best-fundraising-year-ever-nearly-doubles-2020-contributions\/\">executive director of the DASS<\/a>, as EEA\u2019s principal officer.<\/p>\n<p>This means that the DASS went out of its way to create an internally controlled \u201cdark money\u201d slush fund that could accept huge donations and funnel the cash into an unassuming in-house PAC, which could then finance candidate\u2019s campaigns while hiding the original source of the money.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s about as dark as \u201cdark money\u201d gets.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How Do You Do, Fellow Gen Zers?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Using the three step cleaning process, the DASS used EEA to bankroll <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ads\/library\/?active_status=all&#038;ad_type=political_and_issue_ads&#038;country=US&#038;q=Safe%20Accessible%20Fair%20Elections&#038;sort_data%5bdirection%5d=desc&#038;sort_data%5bmode%5d=relevancy_monthly_grouped&#038;search_type=keyword_unordered&#038;media_type=all\">hundreds<\/a> of SAFE Facebook and Instagram ads backing <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Steve_Simon\">Steve Simon<\/a> (D-MN) and <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Jocelyn_Benson\">Jocelyn Benson<\/a> (D-MI) that received millions of combined views. Meanwhile, Every Eligible American was spending big on Facebook ads as well. District of Columbia corporation records reveal EEA created <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ads\/library\/?active_status=all&#038;ad_type=political_and_issue_ads&#038;country=US&#038;disclaimer_texts%5b0%5d=Every%20Eligible%20American&#038;q=Every%20Eligible%20American&#038;sort_data%5bdirection%5d=desc&#038;sort_data%5bmode%5d=relevancy_monthly_grouped&#038;search_type=keyword_unordered&#038;media_type=all\"><em>another<\/em> front group<\/a> called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.godownfordemocracy.org\/\">Go Down for Democracy<\/a> to give the anonymous \u201cdark money\u201d slush fund a youthful face that could appeal to Gen Z voters.<\/p>\n<p>Their website, featuring an over-chromatic art style and convincingly rebellious slogans like \u201cOUR GENERATION IS GETTING F**CKED\u201d presented a facade that did a good job hiding the \u201cdark money\u201d puppet masters underneath.<\/p>\n<p>Go Down for Democracy also seems to have been connected to the similarly named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2rND0BZWAes\">Get Down for Democracy<\/a> virtual music festival hosted in October that raised funds for the DASS and used a very similar art style and message in promotional materials. The festival featured <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChuckRossDC\/status\/1585818241578172417\">appearances by high-profile guests<\/a> including Amy Schumer, John Fetterman, Stacey Abrams, Journee Smollett (hate-crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett\u2019s sister), and Arizona Secretary of State Candidate Adrian Fontes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where Did the Money Come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SAFE, EEA, and Go Down for Democracy spent over $8 million in \u201cdark money\u201d among themselves to get out the vote for Democratic secretary of state candidates in key swing states during 2020. Where could this money have come from, and why did the DASS want it concealed?<\/p>\n<p>Because EEA is a new organization, it does not yet have any Form 990s available, and IRS rules don\u2019t require financial disclosures for 2022 to be available for several more years. As a result, very little information is available to even make a guess.<\/p>\n<p>The District of Columbia corporate registry, which lists EEA\u2019s owners, might give some clues. EEA\u2019s owners include Kim Rogers of the DASS; <a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/www.sierraclub.org\/other\/authors\/ariel-hayes__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!1cWQqaQrvdafCxipJrE_eyRYLV6xjQUECkXMsQ6CxPZ-KAvhWk5Rw8WqwMRUyGacVBXp67ZGKphcr1bdfwl8x_xzuHw$\">Ariel Hays<\/a>, National Political Director of the Sierra Club; <a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/whitneyrporter__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!1cWQqaQrvdafCxipJrE_eyRYLV6xjQUECkXMsQ6CxPZ-KAvhWk5Rw8WqwMRUyGacVBXp67ZGKphcr1bdfwl8csJsfaM$\">Whitney Porter<\/a>, seemingly from an organization called Jews for Justice; Sarah Edwards, whose name is too common to determine a possible affiliation; and Judith Zamore, a legal compliance consultant.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the Sierra Club, Jews for Justice, an affiliate of the mysterious Sarah Edwards, or a combination of all three is behind the $8 million in \u201cdark money.\u201d But until more information becomes available nothing can be said for sure.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also possible that the money came from none of the above, as there are several other possible sources of cash. For example, possibilities include the omnipresent funding of George Soros. Soros\u2019s Democracy PAC II <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?committee_id=C00786624&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2022&#038;data_type=processed\">contributed $1 million<\/a> to the DASS this cycle. Soros is no stranger to using \u201cdark money\u201d organizations, so it\u2019s plausible that Soros supported the DASS\u2019s complimentary \u201cdark money\u201d fund. Other possible donors include billionaires such as Michael Bloomberg, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/12\/SAFE-Filing.pdf\">donated $2 million<\/a> to the DASS this year, and big labor unions like the Communications Workers of America, which gave the DASS $250,000.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Left Is Not Serious About \u201cDark Money\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Left\u2019s \u201cdark money\u201d habit, which used to be restrained to just the top-spot races, has developed into a full-blown addiction that has spread gradually down the ballot. Left-wing complaints about \u201cdark money\u201d in elections simply can\u2019t be taken seriously until the DASS and EEA are made to offer an explanation.<\/p>\n<p>If \u201cdark money\u201d truly \u201cerodes public trust\u201d and has no place in our elections, then Democrats will need to grapple with the fact that their own candidates <em>who actually run the elections <\/em>are benefitting from millions of dollars in \u201cdark money\u201d contributions themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Left loves to complain about \u201cdark money,\u201d or money given anonymously to political action committees (PACs) by 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. Democratic senators such as Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1764148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1764145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1764145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1764148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1764145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1764145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1764145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}