americans for public trust apt
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AN PP 4 26
Across the country, Republican-led state legislatures are passing a slate of laws that effectively shield oil and gas companies from legal claims that they are responsible for the destruction and mounting toll caused by climate change. Fifteen laws have either been passed or are currently being debated in 11 states. Together, they threaten to remove long-standing tools for the public to hold corporations accountable.
A ProPublica investigation has found that most of these bills are part of a coordinated effort, orchestrated by a constellation of groups that share staff or have funding ties to the prominent conservative activist Leonard Leo, who is credited with placing conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. These groups have drafted state legislation, planned its dissemination and engaged a well-connected lobbying firm to get them signed into law.
The effort is unfolding as courts are weighing more than 30 significant lawsuits by states, counties and municipalities accusing fossil fuel companies of misrepresenting the risks their products posed to consumers and seeking to recoup the costs of disasters and other climate impacts like wildfire losses or coastal flooding that their products helped cause. A goal of the legislation is to block these cases from going forward and prevent new ones from being filed.
The strategy to establish state laws that will make it all but impossible to sue oil and gas companies was laid out in detail by a group of lobbyists and political operatives in December, during a panel presentation at the annual States and Nation Policy Summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council — the influential organization that brings together state lawmakers, corporate leaders and conservative activists to draft and promote legislation.
During the session, one of the panelists, Will Hild, the executive director of a nonprofit called Consumers’ Research, described the climate cases as a liberal effort to use the judicial system to exact a new tax on energy companies in the form of civil judgments. Another panelist, Oramel H. Skinner, the former solicitor general for Arizona and the executive director of the nonprofit Alliance for Consumers, warned that those judgments will trickle down to make citizens’ lives less affordable and ultimately make many of their choices — whether to own pickup trucks or purchase a side of beef — illegal.
ProPublica reviewed an audio recording of the event obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog group Documented.
Hild and Skinner had come to the session with a ready-made fix: a set of pre-written bills and plenty of funding.
Consumers’ Research and the Alliance for Consumers are both funded by organizations connected to Leo. ProPublica examined lobbying records across 25 states, federal tax disclosures for more than a dozen organizations and notes from other closed-door strategy sessions among ALEC members and found that several Leo-supported groups are part of a national strategy to give legal immunity to companies for their climate emissions.
Since 2021, Leo has been deploying a $1.6 billion gift through a series of nonprofits and other organizations that obscure the source and the recipients of donations — so-called dark money groups. Much of that money has been routed through a nonprofit judicial advocacy group Leo founded — now called The 85 Fund — which both receives and disseminates Leo’s funding. Many of these nonprofits are increasingly focused on issues related to climate change.
The panel session’s moderator, Michael Thompson, is a senior vice president at CRC Advisors, Leo’s for-profit Virginia-based political and corporate consulting firm. He also sits on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Advisory Council. Hild’s organization, Consumers’ Research, received more than 65% of its funding in 2024 through a dark money group called Donors Trust. The 85 Fund contributed more than $67 million to Donors Trust in 2024. Consumers’ Research also works closely with — and contracted more than $670,000 of work in 2024 to — CRC Advisors. Another panelist, Paul N. Watkins, was a legal fellow at Consumers’ Research. According to tax filings, his law firm received more than $2.2 million in 2024 from the group. As recently as 2024, Skinner was also counsel for Leo’s 85 Fund, according to the nonprofit’s tax filings.
= POWELL MEMO BS
“For decades, the left has leveraged immense resources to capture the institutions that shape our society — the legal system, universities, medical and scientific bodies, the entertainment industry, and our biggest corporations,” Leo wrote to ProPublica in a text message. “That takeover resulted in a radically woke culture that does not reflect the will of the American people, or the pillars of limited constitutional government that made our country great. That is why our enterprise supports organizations that are committed to crushing liberal dominance and restoring balance in the institutions that shape society.”
At the ALEC session, Skinner presented a model bill that would effectively bar cities and towns from bringing public nuisance lawsuits against corporations and others when the issue is a broad public harm like climate change. In several cases, plaintiffs have argued that the impacts of climate change — the buckling of a road from extreme swings in temperature, for example — are a “nuisance” caused by fossil fuel companies.
Nuisance claims are common in the American legal system, giving individuals, companies or communities a way to sue when someone else’s actions damage their property, degrade the health or safety of the environment around them or interfere with their rights. Under these laws, parties can ask for financial compensation or seek court orders to remedy problems, such as pollution. Skinner, however, argues that nuisance laws should only be used to address local, easily fixable problems, like excessive noise from a bar. His bill would curtail the use of public nuisance suits in climate cases by limiting liability for manufacturers and other businesses and giving state attorneys general the sole authority to bring them.
“Think really hard about every lever you have in your states to shut off the ability for this woke lawfare machine to churn,” Skinner told the audience. “The left’s goal is to reshape society around you using the courtroom.”
The second draft law, called the Energy Freedom Act, was produced by the policy nonprofit associated with Hild’s organization. It would, among many provisions, shield businesses from liability related to emissions of greenhouse gases if those releases did not violate the federal Clean Air Act.
Critics of the bills say they subvert the rights of local communities. They send the message that “you can pollute with impunity,” said Carly Phillips, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s really a thumb in the eye of places that are affected by climate change.”
The push to block climate suits across the states comes as several of the cases against the oil industry approach, or have already entered, the perilous legal phases of discovery, when plaintiffs will have the opportunity to seek confidential industry documents and depose oil executives. The stakes for oil companies are enormous. By some estimates more than $10 trillion in damages can be attributed to U.S. emissions.
:{:{There’s a reason why state and local governments have increasingly brought these suits. The frequency and cost of climate-influenced disasters, including severe storms, drought and flooding, continues to mount — between $350 billion and $450 billion in each of the last three years — stretching government budgets.}:
Significantly, the science that makes it possible to attribute how much any one disaster was influenced by climate change has steadily advanced. To cite one example, the March heat waves across the U.S. would have been virtually impossible without the emissions that have caused climate change, according to the European science group World Weather Attribution, and were about four times as likely to happen as they were a decade ago.}:
Boulder, Colorado, is among the places facing increasing droughts, more extreme precipitation and larger wildfires — all of which are significantly propelled by climate change linked to the emissions from the use of fossil fuels. The state has estimated the costs of these perils will run into the many hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2018, Boulder County sued Exxon Mobil and the Canadian oil company Suncor Energy, accusing the companies of “intentional, reckless and negligent conduct.”
Among its claims, the county alleged the oil companies engaged in a conspiracy to mislead the public and violated consumer protection rules by mischaracterizing the dangers of their products. They accused the oil companies of creating a public nuisance by altering the environment and leaving the county to pay to abate growing hazards such as the flooding that tests roads and bridges. Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy have never filed a response in Colorado but asked for the case to be dismissed.
Ever since, the lawsuit has been mired in a dispute over whether Colorado courts were the correct venue, with the state Supreme Court ultimately ruling last May that they were. Suncor filed to the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider, and this fall it will weigh the company’s petition asking whether federal environmental law preempts the state law.
:{:{The high-profile national court case is just one facet in an increasingly tense fight over liability for the fossil fuel industry. In January, the American Petroleum Institute, the largest fossil fuel industry group in the United States, said fighting the climate liability lawsuits was one of its top priorities in 2026. Lobbying records for the group from last year show that it advocated for legislation to protect oil producers from climate lawsuits at the state level. }:
The Trump administration; other industry groups, including the Chamber of Commerce; and several of the nonprofit advocacy groups associated with Leo have argued that state courts are the wrong venue for claims that ultimately concern emissions that drift widely across borders, and they wish to see other cases moved or dismissed. They say that because the federal government already has the authority to regulate those emissions, the federal courts, not the states, should hear the claims.}:
In an interview, Hild told ProPublica that he sees the suits as an illegitimate effort to enact policy through the courts and to “regulate the entire U.S. economy from a single state.”
In an email, Skinner wrote: “Our effort is not one focused on climate change. But it is true that left-wing activists and their dark money donors have put vast sums of money and years of groundwork into pushing a coast-to-coast campaign of climate-focused public nuisance lawsuits.”
Neither Watkins nor Thompson responded to requests for comment.
When Skinner and Hild finished their presentation at ALEC they made a QR code available to download the language of the model bills and directed the audience to a woman named Catherine Gunsalus, who was in the back of the room. She would be able to answer any questions, they said.
Gunsalus until recently worked for the Heritage Action Fund, the political and lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation, the Trump-aligned think tank that is most recently known for promoting the Project 2025 agenda. Records show that Gunsalus has also lobbied in collaboration with another Leo-affiliated group, Americans for Public Trust.
In April 2025, she formed a lobbying firm called Varidon Strategies and began registering in states almost immediately afterward, according to records. By mid-summer, Varidon was representing Alliance for Consumers Action Fund; Consumers’ Research; The Honest Election Project, an affiliate of The 85 Fund; as well as other Leo entities in 25 states. In the majority of those filings, Varidon used an email address at the domain of Holtzman Vogel, a Virginia-based law firm that is often retained by Leo’s organizations.
Gunsalus did not reply to a detailed list of questions.
In the four months since the ALEC summit, there has been substantial activity in the states where Varidon has registered. On Jan. 5, representatives in Missouri introduced the loosely related Eliminate Criminal Profiteering Act, which could stop revenues flowing to law firms from settlements in the sort of nuisance suits often used in climate cases. Two days later, legislators took up the Public Nuisance Reform Act, which proposes narrowing the definition of what could be considered a nuisance.
That same month, similar bills were introduced in Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee. In February, eight more followed in Oklahoma, Iowa, South Carolina, Utah, Louisiana and Kansas. Skinner, who is registered to lobby in Kansas, was invited to testify in a hearing about that state’s bill and launched a new “End the Lawfare” website targeting the “left-wing” agenda. As of April 2, versions of the model legislation offered at the ALEC meeting have been introduced across 11 states altogether. In Utah, the governor has signed two related bills into law, and in Tennessee and Indiana, bills are awaiting their governors’ signature.
The more states there are with some sort of waiver in place, the narrower the pathway for cities and states to seek redress as environmental conditions worsen, and the costs continue to rise. Hild and Skinner and the Leo network’s bills also serve another purpose: teeing up a conflict that pits states against one another, a conflict that only the Supreme Court or Congress can finally resolve.
As Hild put it at the ALEC gathering, “This is economic civil war.”
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https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Public_Trust
americans for Public Trust is a Virginia-based, right-wing 501(c)(3) nonprofitwith close ties to the Republican party, which has been tax exempt since 2020.[1]
Americans for Public Trust conducts investigations, pursues legal action, and publishes reporting, with the stated goal of ensuring "those who disregard the rule of law are held responsible. By raising awareness of this work, we help to rebuild public faith in our elected leaders."[2]
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News and Controversies
Launched $2 Million Media Campaign Opposing Biden Nominees Alongside Heritage Action for America and Judicial Crisis Network
In February 2021, a conservative coalition led by Americans for Public Trust, Heritage Action for America, and Judicial Crisis Network plan to spend a total of $2 million targeting President Joe Biden's "dark money" ties and opposing Health Department nominee Xavier Becerra and associate attorney general nominee Vanita Gupta.[3][4][5] Americans for Public Trust will spend $600,000 attacking Biden's ties to "dark money" groups, Heritage Action for America will spend $600,000 targeting Becerra, and Judicial Crisis Network will spend $800,000 targeting Gupta.[3][4][5]
In response to these ad buy announcements, Politico said, "a 'dark money' organization is a political nonprofit that is not required to disclose their donors. Judicial Crisis Network and **Heritage Action** for America are, in fact, dark money groups themselves. As 501(c)(4) groups they do not have to reveal their funders."[5
[vid]
"Liberal Dark Money Cashes In", Americans for Public Trust YouTube channel
APT's Ties to the Republican Party and Trump's "Stop the Steal" Efforts
A Center for Media and Democracy report said Americans for Public Trust "is clearly allied with the Republican Party. Caitlin Sutherland, who previously worked for GOP super PAC the Congressional Leadership Fund and the National Republican Congressional Committee, is executive director, and Nevada's former GOP attorney general, Adam Laxalt, is counsel.Last year, while working for APT, Laxalt was the Trump campaign's Nevada co-chair. Days after the election, Laxalt and the campaign asked judges to stop the vote counting there, and weeks later, Laxalt was still trying to invalidate Bidens' win in the state."[3]
Accused Left-Wing "Dark Money" Network of "Politicizing Coronavirus" After Ads Attacked Trump COVID-19 Response
Drawing from research from the Washington Post and Fox News, Americans for Public Trust presented a "dark money" network of left-wing groups, including Arabella Advisors, Sixteen Thirty Fund, New Venture Fund, Protect our Care, American Bridge, ACRONYM and PACRONYM. The network also shows how Democratic operatives David Brock, David Plouffe, and Brad Woodhouse are connected to some of these groups.[6]
Personnel
Staff
As of March 2021:[2]
- Caitlin Sutherland, founding Executive Director
- Adam Paul Laxalt, Outside Council
Contact Information
Americans for Public Trust
107 South West Street, Suite 442
Alexandria, VA 22314
EIN: 84-4413894
Website: https://americansforpublictrust.org/about/
Email:info@americansforpublictrust.org
Phone: (202) 656-5175
Articles and Resources
Related SourceWatch
- 501(c)(3)
- 501(c)(4)
- Brad Woodhouse
- Center for Media and Democracy
- Congressional Leadership Fund
- David Brock
- David Plouffe
- Fox News
- Heritage Action for America
- Joe Biden
- Judicial Crisis Network
- New Venture Fund
- Washington Post
IRS Form 990 Filings
Since APT was established in 2020, none of its IRS filings are publicly available as of March 2021.
References
- ↑ Economic Research Institute, Americans for Public Trust, organizational website, accessed February 26, 2021.
- ↑ ^Jump ^up to:2.0 2.1 Americans for Public Trust, About, organizational website, accessed February 26, 2021.
- ↑ ^Jump ^up to:3.0 3.1 3.2 Alex Kotch, "Right-Wing Groups Coordinate Attacks on Biden Nominees", PRWatch, February 23, 2021.
- ↑ ^Jump ^up to:4.0 4.1 Thomas Catenacci, "Conservative Groups Launch $2 Million Campaign Against Biden’s ‘Dark Money’ Ties, Health And DOJ Nominees", Daily Caller, February 18, 2021, accessed February 26, 2021.
- ↑ ^Jump ^up to:5.0 5.1 5.2 Medidith McGraw, "A trio of conservative groups tries to torpedo two top Biden nominees", Politico, February 18, 2021.
- ↑ Americans for Public Trust, "New reports reveal the dark money network working to politicize coronavirus", organizational website, March 18, 2020, accessed February 26, 2021.
evil but not wrong
americans for Public Trust is a right-of-center watchdog group that was formed in early 2020 and is operated by Caitlin Sutherland, former research director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The majority of the organization’s public-facing work since its founding has focused on filing ethics complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding alleged misuse of campaign funds or potential violations of campaign finance law against Democratic members of Congress, Democratic candidates, and left-leaning donors. [1]
In addition to being led by Sutherland, the organization employs former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R) as outside legal counsel. [2]
CONTENTS
Background
Americans for Public Trust was founded in January 2020 by Caitlin Sutherland, who previously worked as the research director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The organization’s mailing address is a UPS store in Alexandria, Virginia. As of early 2021, there are no publicly available tax records for the organization. [3]
Activity
In February 2020, Americans for Public Trust filed ethics complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Office of Congressional Ethics against three Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee over alleged campaign finance and coordination violations. The organization filed complaints against U.S. Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA) for allegedly using funds from her previous campaign for lieutenant governor in her congressional race and accused U.S. RepresentativePramila Jayapal (D-WA) of violating House rules by asking for contributions through a C-SPAN videoshowing a committee hearing discussing Rep. Jayapal’s proposed legislation. [4]
Americans for Public Trust made a third complaint against U.S. Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA) for allegedly coordinating campaign funds with her previous employer, Everytown for Gun Safety, where she worked as national spokesperson until early April 2018. The complaint alleges that from Rep. McBath’s campaign’s start in March 2018 to her leaving Everytown in late April, Rep. McBath appeared on CNN as both a congressional candidate and a spokesperson for Everytown and was receiving campaign contributions from Everytown during the same period. [5]
Adam Laxalt, the outside counsel for Americans for Public Trust and former Attorney General of Nevada, pointed out that the group was particularly focused on the three members of Congress because they served on the House Judiciary Committee, which has oversight over the Department of Justice (DOJ). In response to the complaint, the FEC commented that it was able to receive complaints but unable to investigate because it was operating without a quorum of four commissioners at the time. [6]
Americans for Public Trust filed another FEC complaint against Expensify and its CEO David Barrett after Barrett sent an email to Expensify’s 10 million customers urging them to vote for President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Americans for Public Trust stated the email was not reported as an independent expenditure in support of Biden’s campaign, in violation of election reporting requirements. [7]
The organization also filed FEC complaints against Courier Newsroom for running news articles that appeared to be political advertisements supporting Democratic congressional candidates,which Americans for Public Trust alleged were illegal because the group didn’t register as a political entity. [8] Americans for Public Trust also filed a complaint against North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham (D) to call for an investigation as to whether he used campaign funds to fund an extramarital affair that was revealed during the campaign. [9]
In February 2021, the group joined a $2 million joint grassroots and media campaign with the Judicial Crisis Network and Heritage Action for America to explore “dark money” group ties to two of President Biden’s senior nominees: Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Xavier Becerra and Associate Attorney General nominee Vanita Gupta. [10]
References
...
Americans for Public Trust (Customer# 11012125) is a business incorporated with Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), Clerk's Information System (CIS). The business incorporation date is January 16, 2020
:{
}:
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americans for Public Trust is a business registered with Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), Clerk's Information System (CIS). The customer account number is #11012125. The business address is 107 S West St Ste 442, Alexandria, Virginia 22314-2824. The business industry is 0 - General.
Business Information
| Entity ID | 11012125 |
|---|---|
| Entity Name | Americans for Public Trust |
| Address | 107 S West St Ste 442 Virginia 22314-2824 |
| Entity Type | Stock Corporation |
| Status | ACTIVE Active and In Good Standing |
| Status Date | 2021-05-27 |
| Duration | 9999-12-31 |
| Incorporate Date | 2020-01-16 |
| Incorporate State | VA |
| Office Effective Date | 2020-01-16 |
| Industry Code | 0 - General |
| Stock Indicator | N |
| Assessment Indicator | NON-ASSESSED-MUST FILE ANNUAL REPORT AND RA |
Registered Agent Information
| Registered Agent Name | COGENCY GLOBAL INC. |
|---|---|
| Registered Agent Address | 250 Browns Hill Ct Virginia 23114-9510 |
| Registered Agent Effective Date | 2020-01-16 |
| Registered Agent Status | Active |
Business Officers
| Officer Title | Officer Name |
|---|---|
| Treasurer | Caleb Crosby |
| LeElle Slifer | |
| President Secr | Annie Talley |
| Mimi Walters |
}:
caitlin (Sullivan) Sutherland
3rd degree connection3rd
Executive Director, Americans for Public Trust
Washington, District of Columbia, United States Contact info
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Caitlin (Sullivan)’s recent posts and comments will be displayed here.Caitlin (Sullivan)’s recent posts and comments will be displayed here.
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2 yrs2 yrs
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Mar 2018 - 2019 · 11 mosMar 2018 - 2019 · 11 mosWashington D.C. Metro AreaWashington D.C. Metro Area
}:
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Feb 2017 - Mar 2018 · 1 yr 2 mosFeb 2017 - Mar 2018 · 1 yr 2 mos
}:
3 yrs 4 mos3 yrs 4 mos
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Sep 2015 - Feb 2017 · 1 yr 6 mosSep 2015 - Feb 2017 · 1 yr 6 mos
}:
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Nov 2013 - Sep 2015 · 1 yr 11 mosNov 2013 - Sep 2015 · 1 yr 11 mos
}:
EducationEducation
B.A., Political ScienceB.A., Political Science2006 - 20102006 - 2010
SkillsSkills
Endorsed by Mark Littrell who is highly skilled at thisEndorsed by Mark Littrell who is highly skilled at this
Endorsed by Mark Littrell who is highly skilled at thisEndorsed by Mark Littrell who is highly skilled at this
Interests
another reason to nuke arlington
Caitlin Sutherland, Executive Director Americans for Public Trust 107 South West Street, Suite 442 Alexandria, VA 22314
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attempt to ctr?
influencewatch BS:
Controversies
“DARK MONEY” CRITICISM FROM THE LEFT AND RIGHT
Arabella and its nonprofit network have been criticized as “dark money” funders both for channeling hundreds of millions of dollars to left-wing organizations and for hosting hundreds of “pop-up groups”—websites designed to look like standalone nonprofits that are really projects of an Arabella-run nonprofit. [59]
In April 2021, the New York Timescriticized Arabella’s “system of political financing, which often obscures the identities of donors,” as “dark money,” calling the network “a leading vehicle for it on the Left.” [60] In May 2021, the New York Times identified Sixteen Thirty Fund as one of the “leading dark money spenders on the Left” for quietly supporting Democrats with more than $63 million in super PAC donations that hurt Republicans in the 2020 election, as well for “help[ing] create and fund dozens of groups, including some that worked to block Mr. Trump’s nominees and push progressive appointments by Mr. Biden.” [61]
Robert Maguire, research director for the far-left Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said of Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2021: [62]
“Altogether this is absolutely one of the largest fundraising machines I have ever come across . . . I am really struggling to think of any other group, especially recently, that could rival it,” he added, comparing the amount of money flowing through Sixteen Thirty Fund to the Koch brothers’ network at the height of its influence earlier this decade.
In November 2019, Politico criticized the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the 501(c)(4) advocacy wing of Arabella’s nonprofit network, as a “little-known,” “massive ‘dark money’ group [that] boosted Democrats” in the 2018 midterm elections with $140 million. “The money contributed to efforts ranging from fighting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other Trump judicial nominees to boosting ballot measures raising the minimum wage and changing laws on voting and redistricting in numerous states,” the left-leaning website reported. Politico also noted that Sixteen Thirty Fund’s biggest single donation (made anonymously) was for $51.7 million, “more than the group had ever raised before in an entire year before President Donald Trump was elected,” adding that “the group’s 2018 fundraising surpassed any amount ever raised by a left-leaning political nonprofit.” [63] However, Politico failed to tie the Sixteen Thirty Fund to Arabella Advisors’ nonprofit network.
The left-leaning Washington Postfurther criticized Arabella’s Sixteen Thirty Fund as a “big campaign donor” in a November 21, 2019 opinion by the editorial board, which called on Congress to change nonprofit disclosure laws, noting in particular a $26.7 million anonymous donation to the Fund. [64] However, the Postalso failed to connect the Sixteen Thirty Fund to Arabella Advisors and its other three nonprofits.
In a November 24, 2019 letter to the editor published by the Washington Post,Capital Research Center president Scott Walter identified the $26.7 million donation as originating with the New Venture Fund, the largest of Arabella’s in-house nonprofits, and confirmed Politico’s suspicion that the Sixteen Thirty Fund is “part of a larger network of dark money.” [65]
In November 2020 Politicocalled the Sixteen Thirty Fund a “liberal dark-money behemoth” and “one of the Left’s biggest financial hubs” for raising $137 million in 2019, much of which was spent on an “eight-figure ad campaign attacking Republican senators.” Politicoalso noted that “more than half of the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s money came from just three anonymous sources in 2019” and it made grants to over “100 different liberal organizations” that year. [66]
ILLEGAL ELECTION INTERVENTION COMPLAINT (2021)
On May 15, 2021, the right-leaning watchdog Americans for Public Trust (APT) filed a complaint (archived here) with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which oversees political groups’ spending, alleging violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act by Hansjorg Wyss, the Wyss Foundation, the Berger Action Fund, the New Venture Fund (in its capacity as the parent of the Hub Project), and Sixteen Thirty Fund. [67] According to APT, “Mr. Wyss indirectly funded federal electoral advocacy through his nonprofit organizations,” failing to set them up as political action committees (PACs), and “the intended recipient of these funds was ultimately a variety of organizations whose primary purpose is to engage in electoral advocacy.”
Organizations which receive contributions in excess of $1,000 or makes contributions in excess of $1,000 in a calendar year is considered a PAC for the major purpose of influencing elections. PACs are subject to strict financial reporting requirements that 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) nonprofits are not. [68] The complaint points out that the Wyss Foundation, BergerAction Fund, and New Venture**Fund**, which are all 501(c) nonprofits, have failed to file a statement of organization with the FEC, despite Wyss contributing at least $56.5 million from the Wyss Foundation to the New Venture Fund and another $135 from the Berger Action Fund to the Sixteen Thirty Fund. The 501(c)(4) Sixteen Thirty Fund spent $30 million influencing the 2018 midterm elections in order to favor Democratic candidates, “thereby triggering classification as a political committee,” according to APT.
U.S. law strictly prohibits foreign nationals from making direct or indirect contributions to political action committees. [69] Wyss, who was born in Switzerland, resides in the U.S. under an “E-2 VISA” (which is intended for foreign investors who live and work in the country) and “is not a permanent resident of the U.S. under a ‘green card,'” according to his attorney. [70] The complaint cites $41,000 in illegal federal campaign contributions Wyss paid between 1998 and 2003, claiming that, “Since that time, [Wyss] has made indirect contributions and expenditures by means of an intricate network of organizations in a scheme to obscure his role as the source of these funds.” [71]
APT alleges that Wyss established the Hub Project, a front for the “dark money” funder New Venture Fund and the recipient of significant funding from the Wyss Foundation, in order “to avoid any connection with the sizeable election activities carried out by the Hub Project and Change Now,” a super PAC associated with the Hub Project. “Operating since 2015
without the requisite FEC filing,” APT writes, “the Hub Project has been immune to any oversight and accountability despite significant spending in federal election.” It adds:
The Hub Project has served as a vehicle for the political spending of Mr. Wyss. This is demonstrated by the fact that Mr. Wyss has not publicly disclosed his role in founding the Hub Project. Neither his influence nor his financial support can be found anywhere on the group’s website. Rather, information regarding his involvement with the Hub Project was the result of “interviews with five people with knowledge of The Hub Project, an internal memo from another liberal group that was obtained by The New York Times.”
HIDING POLITICAL AGENDA BEHIND “FAKE NEWS SITES”
The nonprofit watchdog OpenSecrets (published by the Center for Responsive Politics) reported in May 2020 on Arabella’s involvement in numerous “fake news sites,” pouring millions of untraceable dollars into advertisements and other digital content “masquerading as news coverage to influence the 2020 election.” [72]
OpenSecrets identified five Facebook pages (Colorado Chronicle, Daily CO, Nevada News Now, Silver State Sentinel, Verified Virginia) that “gave the impression of multiple free-standing local news outlets,” but are in fact “merely fictitious names used by the Sixteen Thirty Fund,”Arabella’s 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit. [73] These pages published Facebook political advertisements that favored Democrats and left-wing causes during the 2020 election. After the report was published a number of these pages were deleted.
States Newsroom, which runs another network of left-wing “fake news” websites, was originally created as “Newsroom Network,” a project of the Arabella-run 501(c)(3) Hopewell Fund. In June 2019, States Newsroom was spun off as an independent nonprofit with its own 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, but a number of its local affiliates are used by the Hopewell Fund as its own legal aliases. [74]
While States Newsroom does not disclose its donors (and is not required to by the IRS), [75]
IRS application records obtained by OpenSecrets show the States Newsroom was offered a $1 million donation from the Wyss Foundation, a private foundation primarily funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who made his fortune as CEO of a controversial medical device manufacturer called Synthes.
A financial statement in the IRS records obtained by OpenSecrets shows that the States Newsroom plans to bring in more than $27 million in contributions before the end of 2021.
And in 2018 theHopewell Fund gave $1.72 million to News for Democracy, which OpenSecrets points out “was at the crux of a network of seemingly independent Facebook pages disguised as news outlets that started spending on digital ads in 2018,” with backing from the Sixteen Thirty Fund and Investing in US, an investment vehicle funded by LinkedIn founder and liberal billionaire Reid Hoffman. [76]
Also among these “dark money” groups was ACRONYM, which raised $9.4 million from “secret donors” through April 2019, including $250,000 from Arabella’s 501(c)(3) New Venture Fund. ACRONYM is affiliated with a super PAC, PACRONYM, which spent close to $18 million aiding Democrats and hurting Republicans through independent expenditures in the 2020 election. [77] ACRONYM also owns and operates Courier Newsroom, which in turn manages a network of left-wing websites that present themselves as local news outlets while spreading “hyperlocal partisan propaganda,” according to the centrist watchdog Newsguard. [78] Courier Newsroom spent at least $20,000 in digital advertising campaigns on Facebook between March 2019 and May 2020; its total spending in Facebook ads as of June 2021 is nearly $1.4 million. [79] [80]...
- Americans for Public Trust: Complaint to Federal Elections Commission regarding Wyss Foundation. Filed May 15, 2021. Original URL: https://americansforpublictrust.org/document/wyss-complaint/. Archived URL: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/05/Wyss-Foundation-FEC-Complaint-Americans-for-Public-Trust.-05.15.21.pdf ^
- 52 USC 30101: Definitions. From Title 52-VOTING AND ELECTIONS. U.S. House of Representatives. Accessed May 17, 2021. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title52-section30101&num=0&edition=prelim ^
- “Foreign nationals.” Federal Election Commission. June 23, 2017. Accessed May 17, 2021. https://www.fec.gov/updates/foreign-nationals/ ^
- “E-2 Treaty Investors.” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Accessed May 17, 2021. https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/e-2-treaty-investors ^
- Richard Pollock. “EXCLUSIVE: Foreign Clinton Donor Made Donations To US Campaigns.” The Daily Caller. Feb. 28, 2016. Accessed May 17, 2021. https://dailycaller.com/2016/02/28/exclusive-clintons-swiss-ally-gave-big-bucks-to-u-s-campaigns/ ^
- Anna Massoglia.
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/amassoglia/ legit
- “‘Dark money’ networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites.” Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets). May 22, 2020. Accessed June 14, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/05/dark-money-networks-fake-news-sites/ ^
- Anna Massoglia. “Sixteen Thirty Fund Incorporation Records.” Center for Responsive Politics. Accessed June 14, 2021. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6555491-Sixteen-Thirty-Fund-Incorporation-Records.html ^
- Anna Massoglia. “Hopewell Fund Fictitious Names.” Center for Responsive Politics. Accessed June 14, 2021. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6827522-Hopewell-Fund-Fictious-Names.html ^
- Anna Massoglia. “‘Dark money’ networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites.” Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets). May 22, 2020. Accessed June 14, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/05/dark-money-networks-fake-news-sites/ ^
- Anna Massoglia. “‘Dark money’ networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites.” Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets). May 22, 2020. Accessed June 14, 2021. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/05/dark-money-networks-fake-news-sites/ ^
- PACRONYM: Disbursements, 2019-2020. Federal Election Commission. Accessed June 14, 2021. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00646877/?cycle=2020 ^