{"id":2600050,"date":"2026-05-07T17:10:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/when-california-republicans-run-against-democrats-theyre-running-against-the-government\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:15:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:15:50","slug":"when-california-republicans-run-against-democrats-theyre-running-against-the-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/when-california-republicans-run-against-democrats-theyre-running-against-the-government\/","title":{"rendered":"CA Republicans Who Run Against Dems Run Against Government"},"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\">18<\/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%2Fwhen-california-republicans-run-against-democrats-theyre-running-against-the-government%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=2600050&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--><p>The article describes a political dispute in California over whether government money is indirectly supporting advocacy that comes close to campaigning. It centers on a claim by Republican candidate Steve Hilton that CHIRLA-related funding supported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/its-happening-president-trump-issues-warning-swing-states-that-found-massive-voter-fraud-which-is-all-of-them-cannot-legally-certify-these-votes\/\" title=\"IT...S HAPPENING: President Trump Issues Warning \u2013 Swing States that Found MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD, which is all of them, CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY these votes\">illegal immigrants<\/a> in campaign activity for Xavier Becerra, and it argues this aligns with a broader pattern of ties between state government and immigration-focused nonprofits.<\/p>\n<p>To support that argument, it points to financial audits and reported figures-especially CHIRLA\u2019s receipt of substantial government contract funding (notably about $34 million reported for fiscal year 2023 and a large majority of funding coming from California government sources). It also cites state announcements and policymaking partnerships that portray CHIRLA favorably, suggesting the nonprofit is closely intertwined with government priorities.<\/p>\n<p>The piece then distinguishes between CHIRLA (depicted as service\/organizing focused and funded by government grants) and a separate political affiliate, the CHIRLA Leadership Action Fund, which it says conducts electoral\/issue advocacy and has endorsed Xavier Becerra. It uses IRS Form 990 disclosures and leadership\/location references to argue that while the groups are legally separate, the overall network appears connected to election-related outcomes.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>California government is the Democrat Party, and NGOs are the bridge. It\u2019s like looking at a ball of yarn: The threads wrap together.<\/p>\n<p>That long-understood interconnection has just resurfaced in the form of a new allegation. In California this week, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton made a claim that didn\u2019t really surprise anyone.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>\ud83d\udea8 NEW FROM CAL DOGE: California taxpayer $$$ funding illegal immigrants to campaign for Xavier Becerra, in violation of federal law.<\/p>\n<p>Taxpayer-funded non-profit CHIRLA endorsed Becerra April 13th. Our investigation reveals payments to illegal immigrants for campaign activity: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ziM3P4pT6C\">pic.twitter.com\/ziM3P4pT6C<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveHiltonx\/status\/2052091039461396969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 6, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The conservative California journalist Jennifer van Laar has been <a href=\"https:\/\/redstate.com\/jenvanlaar\/2025\/06\/09\/we-followed-the-money-in-the-la-riots-34-million-in-taxpayer-dollars-lots-of-connections-to-karen-bass-n2190217\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reporting for years<\/a>, using financial data compiled by the Bay Area lawyer Laura Powell, that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chirla.org\/who-we-are\/connect\/offices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">large and omnipresent<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chirla.org\/\">Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights<\/a> (CHIRLA) is a government-fed activist group:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>According to a financial audit submitted to the State of California, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, CHIRLA took in $34 million from various government contracts, and 96 percent of the government funding was from the State of California. That amount is nearly three times the prior year\u2019s government contract total. CHIRLA\u2019s total revenue for the year ending June 30, 2023, was $45 million, meaning that 75.5 percent of its revenue came from government contracts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Citing the popular X account called DataRepublican, the House Judiciary Committee has <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/media\/in-the-news\/house-judiciary-committee-opens-probe-taxpayer-funded-groups-potential-ties-la\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">used the same number<\/a>: $34 million in fiscal year 2023.<\/p>\n<p>As the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=c14vfq3jqpo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">famous movie quote<\/a> says, \u201cThey\u2019re not confessing. They\u2019re bragging.\u201d The connections between state government and NGOs aren\u2019t obscure. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2026\/02\/20\/governor-newsom-launches-new-state-investment-and-philanthropic-collaboration-to-continue-supporting-families-under-federal-assault\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a> this February, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a plan to provide tens of millions of dollars in state funding to immigration-focused nonprofits: \u201cGovernor Newsom launches new state investment and philanthropic collaboration\u00a0to continue supporting families under federal assault.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The category of things that the state calls <em>immigrant services<\/em> is enormous, and the private entities that provide those services live on a steady stream of public funding. Non-governmental organizations frequently aren\u2019t non-governmental. Instead, they\u2019re government cut-outs, state funding moved to private bank accounts for private activity.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom\u2019s press releases also explicitly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2025\/10\/12\/governor-newsom-signs-bill-to-protect-parents-rights-and-children\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cite<\/a> the state\u2019s policymaking partnerships with CHIRLA, favorably quoting its director on the work they do together.<\/p>\n<p>You can find a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/coalition-for-humane-immigrant-rights-chirla\/#funding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">detailed discussion<\/a> of CHIRLA\u2019s funding sources at the InfluenceWatch website, and you can track the same money by looking for it on government websites. The organization gets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/award\/ASST_NON_23CICET00327_7003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dir.ca.gov\/outreach\/cwop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">state<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/oia.lacounty.gov\/oia-awards-3-15-million-to-strengthen-case-management-capacity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">county<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lacity.spending.socrata.com\/#!\/year\/All%20Years\/explore\/0\/vendor_name\/COALITION+FOR+HUMANE+IMMIGRANT+RIGHTS\/0\/fund_name\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">city<\/a> funding.<\/p>\n<p>In news stories following the Republican candidate\u2019s announcement, CHIRLA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/xavier-becerra-using-illegal-immigrant-234807736.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">denies Hilton\u2019s claim<\/a>: \u201cCHIRLA disputes that characterization, saying any public funds it receives are strictly limited to legal services and social support programs, not political or protest work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But watch how this works in practice.<\/p>\n<p>You can find the most recent IRS financial disclosure form (called the Form 990) for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/954421521\/202610849349302011\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. It discloses $8,726,683 in government grants to fund purposes like \u201cLegal Immigration Services,\u201d \u201cCommunity Outreach and Education,\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dont-be-like-the-hippies\/\" title=\"Don...t Be Like the Hippies\">community organizing<\/a> leadership development, strategies and tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You can find the most recent Form 990 for the <em>completely separate<\/em> Californians For Human [sic] Immigrant Rights Leadership Action Fund <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/271460237\/202600849349301445\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. It has far less revenue and no government funding, and it conducts \u201cElectoral Activities\u201d and \u201cIssue Advocacy Activities,\u201d including the endorsement of candidates for public office. The CHIRLA Leadership Action Fund has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calonews.com\/communities\/los-angeles\/chirla-action-fund-endorses-xavier-becerra-for-california-governor\/article_095a8745-bcc9-43ef-833a-9e736ace7ae0.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explicitly endorsed<\/a> Xavier Becerra for California governor.<\/p>\n<p>So CHIRLA is government-funded, and does community organizing but doesn\u2019t do political work, while the CHIRLA Action Fund endorses candidates and lobbies for legislation. They\u2019re <em>completely different organizations<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>From the Form 990, here\u2019s the location and leadership of the service and community activism-focused CHIRLA:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>From the other Form 990, here\u2019s the location and leadership of the politically focused CHIRLA Action Fund:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>See, totally different. The CHIRLA Leadership Action Fund is working to get Xavier Becerra elected as the governor of California, but the government-funded CHIRLA has nothing to do with it. You can see how true that is with your own eyes.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California government is Democrats, NGOs the bridge-new allegation in CA. \ud83d\udea8 NEW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2600051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hiltonn-chirla-1024x601.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[79285,79286,32171,3756,79284],"class_list":["post-2600050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-anti-democratic-campaigns","tag-government-critique","tag-political-commentary","tag-republicans","tag-texas-charged-rhetoric"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hiltonn-chirla-1024x601.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600050","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\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2600050"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2600054,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600050\/revisions\/2600054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2600051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2600050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2600050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2600050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}