{"id":1886850,"date":"2023-03-14T13:56:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T17:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leftist-groups-tapping-1-billion-to-vastly-expand-the-private-financing-of-public-elections\/"},"modified":"2023-03-14T14:21:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T18:21:29","slug":"leftist-groups-tapping-1-billion-to-vastly-expand-the-private-financing-of-public-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leftist-groups-tapping-1-billion-to-vastly-expand-the-private-financing-of-public-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Leftist Groups Tapping $1 Billion to Vastly Expand the Private Financing of Public Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/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%2Fleftist-groups-tapping-1-billion-to-vastly-expand-the-private-financing-of-public-elections%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=1886850&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-->\n<div>\n<p>Democrats and their progressive allies have been expanding their unprecedented efforts to use the private sector to influence and run elections.<\/p>\n<p>According to public records, these partisan organizations are supported by groups with more that $1 billion in their possession. They work with state and local boards, to influence functions that were long the province of government or political parties.<\/p>\n<p>Registering and turning out voters\u2014once handled primarily by political parties\u2014and design of election office websites and mail-in ballots are being handed over to those same nonprofits, which are staffed by progressive activists that include former Democratic Party advocates, organized labor adherents, and community organizers.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans opposed these efforts and passed legislation in 24 states that has stopped the private funding of elections since 2020. The GOP doesn&#8217;t have a similar, hands-on effort to influence workers and election boards, and some states have not been able to implement the private-funding bans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is a cottage industry of 501c3s in public policy and in the political arena, trying to shape the future of immigration or education or any other topic,&#8221; said\u00a0Kimberly Fiorello, a former Republican state representative in Connecticut. &#8220;Increasingly they are about elections, election administration, election technology, ballot design, and all with big funding. These groups seem innocuous, but they aren&#8217;t innocuous because they are funded by one political side.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Many progressive groups trying to influence elections are linked to Arabella Advisors. This Washington-based for-profit consulting firm was founded by Eric Kessler.\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">White House appointee<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0During the Clinton administration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tax filings reveal that between 2020-2021, Arabella&#8217;s projects include the New Venture Fund and the Hopewell Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund and Secure Democracy USA. They had combined revenues of $1.3 Billion. Arabella supports non-profits in\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">2020: $529 Million<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0To &#8220;defend democracy.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It coincided also with the rise of private\/public election partnerships. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla, donated an<span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Estimated $350 Million<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0To the progressive Center for Tech and Civil Life, (CTCL), to support local efforts in the pandemic -challenged 2020 elections<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The vote was marked by changes in social-distancing regulations encouraging early and mail voting, policies which Republicans want to return to pre-pandemic guidelines. The grants of &#8220;Zuckerbucks&#8221; Oder &#8220;Zuckbucks,&#8221; As they are called by conservative critics, they were supposed to be impartial, but research revealed that they were disproportionately allocated in areas that boost Democratic voter turnout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Republicans have shown little interest in defending their opponents&#8217; strategies, other than imposing legislative restrictions on the private financing of elections.\u00a0Scott Walter, president and CEO of the conservative Capital Research Center said this month to a Zoom audience made up of Greenwich, Conn. residents that 2020 was an exception in the way outside influences shaped voting.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was only in 2020 with the so-called ZuckBucks, and it wasn&#8217;t illegal because no one ever dreamt of having something like this,&#8221; Walter said. &#8220;There haven&#8217;t been any efforts by Republicans that we&#8217;re aware of to do anything like this anywhere.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Over the past two decades, Democratic interests have tried many things to counter voter ID. They sought same-day voter registration and extended early voting.<\/p>\n<p>There are many other ventures.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Training election officials by CTCL or similar organizations is promising &#8220;nonpartisan&#8221; Learning opportunities These training opportunities used to be the core of the\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Election Center<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">A 1,500-member trade organization that includes administrators as well as election officials. <\/span><\/li>\n<li>CTCL attempts to generate favorable media attention: Setting up interviews between election offices and media outlets and placing opinion pieces in local newspapers, under the guise of election officials. Using a prewritten template, the op-eds lament the lack of public funds for elections. (<span data-contrast=\"none\">Stuart Baum<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Staffer at CTCL,\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">In October, Greenwich&#8217;s voting registrars received my letter<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">: &#8220;A reporter from the Washington Post is interested in learning more about your experiences with your aging voting machines \u2026 specifically the unfortunate meltdowns that you&#8217;ve experienced with them.&#8221;)<\/span><\/li>\n<li>CTCL was notified by local officials who were sympathetic to its needs. A\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Information request for December<\/span>\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">From an attorney from conservative Americans for Public Trust, was sent to CTCL via Macoupin (Illinois), County Clerk Pete Duncan. &#8220;attached is a FOIA you may already be aware of, but I figured I would pass it along to you.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Lobbying at both the federal and state levels. Open Secrets reports that New Venture, Sixteen Thirty Fund and Hopewell Fund spent $6.8 million lobbying Congress in a combined total of $6.8 millions last year. According to state lobbying records, New Venture, Hopewell and Secure Democracy spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past five year on issues such as election reform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The two parties and their allies work together to support and propose new laws for the country. They also oppose any such measures from the opposite side. This makes lobbying more fair. Democrat efforts are particularly troubled by foes due to their connections to the same groups who claim they provide nonpartisan training for election officials and allow private money flow more freely.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks before the passage of the March 2021 bill banning private financing of elections, Georgia&#8217;s Hopewell Fund &#038; Secure Democracy USA sent lobbyists into the Atlanta Capitol Building to try to halt it. They won a loophole that allowed DeKalb County in February to accept a $2 million grant from CTCL\u2014this despite the law&#8217;s being drafted in part by Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now it looks like some of these states will have to go back and amend their legislation to ensure things like DeKalb can&#8217;t happen,&#8221; Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America, told RealClearInvestigations (RCI). Georgia legislators moved to\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Strengthen the law<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0Following the DeKalb county grant <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Utah&#8217;s Cache and Weber county clerks have paid $1,600 each to participate in CTCL&#8217;s so called voter integrity plan.<\/p>\n<p>CTCL announces that more grants and memberships will be available soon. &#8220;once membership paperwork is finalized,&#8221; According to\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Emails<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0RCI obtained this information by submitting a public records inquiry. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Utah legislators passed a measure last year.\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">It is illegal for elections offices to accept private grants<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">, &#8220;the way it&#8217;s written, I could technically take grant money if I wanted for certain activities, but I choose not to because I don&#8217;t want to push the envelope,&#8221; Ricky Hatch (Weber County clerk) was a member CTCL&#8217;s advisory panel.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Zoom event<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0This year, earlier. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hatch declined an interview request.<\/p>\n<p>CTCL has many allies, including the\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">National Vote at Home Institute<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Center for Democracy and Voting Rights Lab, Rock the Vote and the Center for Secure and Modern Elections. These groups have been active for many years.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">CTCL was used<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0Symposiums and presentations to election officials throughout the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Election Center, the national association representing election officials, has been the number one source of information and workshops on elections for many decades.\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Many events take place each year<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0CTCL is now one of the presenters\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Event tentatively planned for April<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>CTCL board director is the Election Center&#8217;s spokesperson and CEO of Programs.\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Tammy Patrick<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0who is also a senior consultant to the elections section of the\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Democracy Fund<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Patrick requested, but did not answer emailed questions.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration also attempted to stop state probes into possible voting fraud by sending both wide and narrow messages.\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Particular warnings<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0To states that engage in post-election research that could potentially expose election malfeasance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A<span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">state audit<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0Texas&#8217;s former Dallas City Council member and convicted felon asked for mail ballots to 393 individuals as 2020 presidential election neared. RCI reviewed the ballot applications and found that more than 90% of those voters were Democrats.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Teri Hodge\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Indicted for a crime in 2010.<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0She was charged with tax fraud in connection to her role in a city hall corruption and extortion scheme. Felicia Pitre, along with several assistants, helped to increase the party&#8217;s voter base by signing up voters and signing up more than 400 county residents to receive mail-in votes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was not illegal,&#8221; Sam Taylor, a spokesperson for the Texas Secretary-of-State&#8217;s office, said this.<\/p>\n<p>However, the findings would usually lead to further investigation into the accuracy and verification of the applications by calling the voters.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor&#8217;s office tried to expand its investigation but was stopped by a\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">Directive from the U.S. Department of Justice<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0July 2021: A statement that contact with voters put them in danger of violating federal laws about voter intimidation was issued. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is DOJ guidance that says that talking to voters about things like this [how they applied to vote by mail] is potentially considered voter harassment or voter intimidation,&#8221; Jacqueline Hagan Doyer was the legal director for the Forensic Audit Division, Texas Secretary of State&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Hodge was also a state representative who served on the election committee. He could not be reached to comment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since 2018, we&#8217;ve seen Democrats catch up with the Republican strategy of getting voters to vote,&#8221; Paul Bentz is a political consultant from Arizona. He said that voter registration, early voting and mail-in ballots were the cornerstones for this strategy.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, The Republican National Committee announced the Election Integrity Committee. It produced\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">A 24-page report<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0It was several months later. The committee did not do anything after the report, which demanded that outside aid for elections be strictly prohibited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The RNC established an election integrity committee to examine how Democrats attack election integrity\u2014and more importantly, to lay out a blueprint for protecting our elections from the far-left,&#8221; RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"none\">According to the Washington Examiner<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0The report was published.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Joe Gruters, Chairman of the Committee, did not respond to a request for interviews.<\/p>\n<p>RCI was informed by Mac Warner, West Virginia&#8217;s Republican Secretary-of-State, that his party must be more aggressive in elections and use some of the same tactics used by their opponents.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you&#8217;ve lost so many elections, you finally have to decide to fight fire with fire,&#8221; Warner, who is a candidate for the gubernatorial office in 2024, said. &#8220;You don&#8217;t win elections by not getting ballots out there. You can start playing by their rules and win an election. It&#8217;s time to go in another direction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> &#8230;..<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p> Continue Reading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/leftist-groups-tapping-1-billion-to-vastly-expand-the-private-financing-of-public-elections_5122174.html?utm_source=partner&#038;utm_campaign=conservnewsd\">Leftist Groups Spend $1 Billion on Private Financing to Increase Public Elections<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11px\"><em>&#8220;The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author of the article and not necessarily shared or endorsed by Conservative News Daily&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats and their progressive allies are vastly expanding their unprecedented efforts, begun in 2020, to use private money to influence and run public elections. Supported by groups with more than $1 billion at their disposal, according to public records, these partisan groups are working with state and local boards to influence functions that have long<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1856,"featured_media":1895825,"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":[543],"tags":[7915,6571,13460,4717,4070,3799,21634,14563],"class_list":["post-1886850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-expand","tag-elections","tag-financing","tag-leftist","tag-private","tag-public","tag-tapping","tag-vastly"],"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\/1886850","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\/1856"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1886850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1895825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1886850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1886850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1886850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}