great america pac

==

see dan backer (₂₀₁₆ recount)

NO MERRI

~ WI recall

:{2MILLION$ CHINESE C3-4 LAUNDER JESSE BENTON, ERIC BEACH

ERIC TRUMP

RUDY

with stop hillary

see gt am alliance

(no donny)

// jcn LEO wellspring on kaVanaugh?

---

wiki

Higbie is a spokesman for Great America PAC, an independent-expenditure only political action committee (Super PAC) which advocates for Donald Trump. In this capacity, he has acted as a Trump surrogate,^[18] appearing on news networks including Fox News and CNN. Higbie has discussed a variety of topics including the war in Iraq,^[19] the composition of the Trump transition team,^[20] the controversy relating to Khizr Khan's appearance at the Democratic National Convention,^[21] the proposal for a registry of Muslim immigrants,^[22] and the National Policy Institute conference.^[23]

===

an 8 24

According to a report from the New York Times, Donald Trump has put his relationship with one of his top campaign donors on shaky ground after he deluged her with a series of "angry texts" as his campaign was partially derailed by Vice President Kamala Harris becoming his new presidential opponent.

At issue, according to the Times' Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, was Trump accusing billionaire supporter Miriam Adelson, the widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, of allowing the PAC she has funded with millions of dollars, Preserve America, to be run by "Republicans in Name Only," also known as RINOs.

As the report notes, the former president instructed aide Natalie Harp to "fire off a series of angry text messages to Mrs. Adelson in Mr. Trump’s name," according to three sources who claim those messages left his wealthy benefactor "stunned."

ALSO READ:[Why ‘vanilla’ Tim Walz is the ingredient to beat Trump: Dem lawmakers

"The texts were particularly jarring because Mrs. Adelson and Mr. Trump had a friendly meeting just a week earlier at the Republican National Convention, according to a person briefed on the matter," the report notes before adding that Trump was manipulated into attacking Adelson by another donor, Ike Perlmutter, who "had hoped in vain that Mrs. Adelson would contribute to a rival super PAC that he backs."

The Times is reporting, "The text messages prompted concerns — as yet unrealized — that Mrs. Adelson might scale back her support of Mr. Trump."

You can read more here.

===

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ntbcw? V pence

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00640664

Official PAC Name:

GREAT AMERICA COMMITTEE

Location: WASHINGTON, DC 20038

Industry: Leadership PACs; Republican leadership PAC

Treasurer: HOBBS, CABELL

FEC Committee ID: C00640664

(Look up actual documents filed at the FEC)

---

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/

Notorious “dark money” conduit Wellspring Committee gave $14.8 million to the primary spender on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation and paid $919,900 to the mysterious LLC that made a $1 million donation to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, according to a new tax return obtained Nov. 27 by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Wellspring has acted as a conduit for large contributions from secretive donors since it was set up, effectively laundering multi-million dollar donations with no substantive disclosure or accountability.

Despite operating behind the scenes with a name unknown to most of the American public, Wellspring is at the crux of Ann and Neil Corkery’s network of politically active dark money groups, funneling millions from anonymous financiers to political causes they don’t want their names attached to — and doing ostensibly little else.

Wellspring has continued to be the chief financier of the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), with a $14,814,998 contribution last year.

JCN is another nondisclosing politically active nonprofit linked to the Corkerys’ network of conservative dark money groups. It has become the predominant dark money spender in Supreme Court confirmation fights as a vehicle for deep-pocketed donors to funnel millions of dollars behind or against judicial nominees.

Since 2010, Wellspring has funneled more than $54.2 million to JCN, according to tax returns obtained by CRP.

The bulk of Wellspring’s funds that came from three multi-million dollar secret donors in 2017, a shift from prior years in which the biggest amount the group received from a single mystery donor increased with each passing year. The largest donor accounted for $8.9 million, another gave $5.5 million and a third secret donor provided $2 million — but all of their identities remain hidden from the public.

The biggest anonymous contribution to Wellspring in 2016 was nearly $28.5 million, a jump from $8.5 million in 2015 and $6.96 million in 2014. That one secret donor accounted for around 90 percent of Wellspring’s funding in 2016, a year it gave $23 million to JCN.

As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, JCN is not required to report its donors to the IRS — and chooses not to disclose its funders’ identities to the public — so its only discoverable donors are other entities like Wellspring that act as conduits for the anonymous money directed at JCN.

JCN was back in the limelight this year as the biggest spender in support of Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Following its tried and true playbook, JCN launched its first ad about Kavanaugh before Trump even finished announcing his nomination and soon after announced plans to spend $10 million on his confirmation. JCN pledged $10 million to support the successful confirmation of Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, the prior year and reported spending $7 million to block the confirmation of Merrick Garland before President Barack Obama left office.

JCN has also spent substantial sums on lobbyists, including Jon Kyl, who lobbied to help JCN marshall in Gorsuch’s nomination before becoming the official White House “sherpa” guiding Kavanaugh through that same process. He was later appointed to fill the late Sen. John McCain’s seat — ultimately enabling him to vote for the confirmation he was once tasked with helping Kavanaugh secure.

JCN spent $483,246 in total on Facebook ads and just $1,900 on Google platforms around the fight to confirm Kavanaugh with an estimated reach of potentially millions of Facebook users.

TV advertising made up the bulk of JCN’s reported spending on Kavanaugh with around $3.9 million going TV ads, according to Kantar Media/CMAG estimates — leaving millions of dollars JCN had pledged to spend unaccounted for.

The puzzle of Trump’s mysterious inaugural gift

The only contractor paid by Wellspring last year was BH Group, [LEONARD] the mysterious LLC created four months to the day before it made a $1 million donation to the Trump inaugural committee on Dec. 22, 2016.

The newly discovered payment for “public relations” follows a $750,000 payment to the newly minted BH Group the prior year as well as $947,000 from JCN to the BH Group around when the LLC made its inaugural donation.

While it initially appeared that BH Group was merely a shell company created solely for the purpose of laundering money into the Trump inaugural committee, more information about the LLC has only added to its mystery.

New tax returns reviewed by CRP reveal that Judicial Education Project, JCN’s sister 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, also paid an additional $1.3 million to BH Group LLC last year. Judicial Education Fund keeps its donors anonymous but CRP tracked the bulk of the group’s recent funding to DonorsTrust, which accounted for more than 99 percent of its money last year. Like JCN, Judicial Education Fund has also been funded by Wellspring in prior years.

One name that CRP has tied to the mysterious LLC is Leonard Leo, the executive vice president at the Federalist Society, an influential conservative and libertarian legal organization, who listed “BH Group” as his employer in a campaign finance filing reported to the Federal Election Commission.

Leo’s more widely known affiliation with the Federalist Society has gained attention after reports that it played a substantial role guiding the hand of Trump’s White House in its judicial nomination process, including in the selection of Supreme Court justices.

Ann Corkery, the Wellspring Committee’s former president and wife of current president Neil Corkery, has reportedly worked closely with him in this process and Leo has been “directly involved” in raising much of the anonymous money the Wellspring Committee brings in every year.

A public records request revealed that Leo and another Federalist Society vice president have also been involved in a nonprofit called the BH Fund, which was set up to enforce a donor agreement between an anonymous $20 million donor and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, whose president came under fire for allowing donors to dictate conditions in return for financial gifts.

:{Incorporation records list BH Group’s address as a virtual office in Arlington, Va. and the only identified point of contact is Donna Smith, whose name matches that of a longtime paralegal at Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky, the law firm that shared a Warrenton, Va. office with the address the :{Trump inaugural committee on its tax return.}::{}:

}:

Continuing the money churn

Staying the course from prior years, Wellspring also gave $400,000 to the Catholic Association, $48,000 to the Annual Fund and $350,000 to the Foundation for Government Accountability’s 501(c)(4) arm, FGA Action.

Another appendage of the Corkerys’ dark money web is theFoundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a nonprofit run by acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker before he became Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff, as CRP first reported in 2016. Like Wellspring, JCN and the Judicial Education Project, Neil Corkery is also the treasurer of FACT. Nearly 100 percent of FACT’s funding came from a single anonymous donor each year since the group was created in 2014, which CRP discovered came entirely from a donor-advised fund called DonorsTrust.

In addition to longstanding dark money stalwarts that have realigned their priorities for the Trump era, new groups spending heavily in support of Trump’s agenda also weighed in on Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation battle but are not entirely isolated from the Washington swamp Trump pledged to drain.

:{:{Wellspring was one of the early donors of 45Committee, another 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit that primarily exists to support Trump’s agenda which spent on ads supporting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation this year.}::{}:

}:

Another spender was America First Policies, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization staffed by former Trump campaign and White House personnel that has become the main dark money group supporting Trump’s agenda.

Although America First Policies itself does not reveal donors’ identities, CRP traced over a quarter of its funding to major corporate players, including Reynolds American and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade group representing the drug company industry’s lobbying interests.

New tax documents filed by another pro-Trump nonprofit, Great America Alliance, show it raised and spent around $3.4 million during that period. Unlike America First Policies, which reported millions more in previously undisclosed political spending it its new tax return, Great America Alliance claimed that it “educated voters through direct and indirect political advocacy messaging nationwide within the scope of applicable laws and regulations.”

This highlights one of the many legal grey areas emerging in the wake of Trump’s unprecedented move to register as a candidate for the 2020 presidential election on his first day in office — leaving the vast majority of financiers behind the growing network of dark money groups spending on his agenda a mystery.

---

huffpo

Pro-Trump Super PAC Mistakenly Publishes Private Donor Information

Some were livid when told their email address, cell phone numbers are now public.

Dave Levinthal Center for Public Integrity

A controversial pro-Donald Trump super PAC mistakenly released the personal email addresses and cell phone numbers of hundreds of Trump-loving donors — and some of them are livid.

The email and phone number disclosure came as part a routine campaign finance filing Great America PAC made Tuesday night to the Federal Election Commission.

The Center for Public Integrity review of the document identified 336 people who were affected by what Great America PAC’s treasurer says was an “error” that occurred while electronically sending donor information to the FEC.

Trump’s campaign formally disavowed Great America PAC in April in a letter to the FEC, but last week, Trump’s son, Eric Trump, appeared at a fundraiser for the group. Such a switch underscores Trump’s tortured relationship with big-money politics and allied political groups he can’t, by law, directly control.

Dan Backer, attorney and treasurer for Great America PAC, vowed to fix the mess.

“We will of course be contacting all affected contributors tomorrow to apologize for the error, and uploading an amended report,” Backer said.

CMDI, the company that Great America PAC pays for donation accounting services, explained that “the client had data entry errors” and “we’re working with them to fix it.”

In the meantime, several people who anonymously replied by phone to a Center for Public Integrity email informing them of Great America PAC’s mistake launched into expletive- and threat-filled tirades.

None of them were aware that anyone could view their email and phone information. They sometimes directed their angst at the Center for Public Integrity for informing them of the problem, and sometimes at Great America PAC for its information disclosure snafu.

One woman, who identified herself as a 78-year-old Trump supporter from Georgia, told a Center for Public Integrity reporter she would “make sure you never live to see the day” that “you slander Mr. Trump with your lies, you little s―- a― liberal Hillary lover.”

Reactions of more than a dozen other Great America PAC contributors, who offered more measured responses to the outing of their personal information, ranged from seeking legal relief to begrudging resignation.

“I have forwarded your email to the district attorney’s office, consumer protection unit,” said Terry Raineri of San Jose, California.

“Not happy as the Clinton Mob may use it against me for harassment purposes or worse,” wrote Barbara Troendle of Pensacola, Florida, who has donated $250 to Great America PAC.

“Yes, I am concerned,” said donor Don Paris of Lynchburg, Virginia. “However, there is not much I can do about what is already public. I will make no more online contributions.”

Mitch Hanna of Grass Valley, California, who gave Great America PAC $250 last month, wasn’t bothered that his email and part of his phone number are a matter of public record. “I am fine with it,” said Hanna, the CEO of Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital in Auburn, California.

Most of Great America PAC’s donors make modest contributions, sometimes as small as a few dollars. Many identify themselves in federal disclosures as “retired.”

Political campaigns and committees are required by federal law to publicly release the names, addresses, employers and occupations of donors contributing more than $200 during an election, something Great America PAC notes on its website’s privacy policy.

While political groups, including Great America PAC, often collect supporters’ phone numbers and email information, they almost never make such personal information public.

Great America PAC — one of several notable pro-Trump and anti-Hillary Clinton super PACs operating this year — formed in early February and originally called itself “TrumPAC.”

Later in February, the group changed its name to Great America PAC after federal regulators warned the super PAC about incorporating the name of an active political candidate into its own moniker.

Great America PAC is technically a “hybrid” super PAC, meaning it may raise unlimited amounts of money to independently promote or attack political candidates, and separately, raise smaller amounts of money to directly donate to candidates.

It is backed in part by Bill Doddridge, founder of diamond retailer The Jewelry Exchange. And it is led by Ed Rollins, Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign manager in 1984.

This year through August, Great America PAC has raised nearly $11.2 million, largely thanks to its aggressive online and telephone fundraising efforts.

Several million of its more than $9.2 million in expenditures this year have funded activities that ostensibly provide Trump’s campaign a direct promotional boost: TV and radio spots, online ads, bumper stickers and the like.

But the group has also spent several million dollars on line items that don’t directly benefit Trump’s presidential campaign — but are certainly good for political professionals.

They include handsome compensation for Rollins (more than $16,000 in August alone), various consulting services, fundraising efforts, payment processing fees and the renting of lists that contain personal information of prospective supporters and donors.

Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone in May accused the group of being a “scam.”

But Rollins of Great America PAC later that month described the super PAC’s mission as “establishing the largest group of Trump supporters so we can spread Donald’s message and ensure he becomes our nation’s next president.”

==

fluff?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America_PAC

Great America PAC is a Super PAC that supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.^[2] It was founded in 2016 by Eric Beach, a political strategist who is a veteran of presidential campaigns.^[3] Beach soon brought on Ed Rollins, a long time Republican campaign consultant and strategist who served as the campaign manager for Ronald Reagan's 1984 presidential campaign.^[4]

• 1Leadership
• 2Television ads
• 3Great America Alliance
• 4References
• 5External links

Leadership

Great American PAC is run by co-chairs Eric L. Beach and Ed Rollins.^[3] Former Navy SEAL and Trump supporter Carl Higbie was brought on to serve as the PAC's spokesman.^[5] The "hybrid PAC/Super PAC" spent $26.6 million during the 2016 election cycle. Its largest contributor in 2016 was Isaac Perlmutter, chairman and former CEO of Marvel Entertainment, who gave $5 million.^[6] Houston businessman Robert McNair, owner of the Houston Texans football team, gave the PAC $2 million.^[7] Andy Surabian served as a senior advisor to GAA at yearend 2017.^[8]

Television ads:

In June 2016, Great America PAC released its first ad entitled "Enemies" featuring spokesman Higbie.^[9] In the ad Higbie says, "The Orlando tragedy is a stark reminder that the enemy and the battlefield is moving here to our shores ... Join millions of active duty military members and veterans like me who stand with Donald Trump."^[10] Great America PAC spent $700,000 on the ad.^[10]

In July 2016, Great America PAC released its second ad entitled "The Difference" featuring Dorothy Woods, the widow of Ty Woods, a former Navy Seal and one of four Americans killed in the 2012 Benghazi attacks.^[11]In the ad, Woods says "her husband was a "fierce patriot." Woods goes on to say, "He was killed during the attack in Benghazi while saving American lives under the charge of our State Department," and that when "When Hillary Clinton was challenged by Congress on who was to blame for the attack, her response was a disgrace."^[12] Great America PAC spent two-million dollars to produce and air the ad.^[11]

In July 2016, Great America PAC released its third ad entitled "Leadership" featuring former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.^[13] In the ad Mayor Giuliani says "The world must come together and America needs to lead, yet President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton just wants to stay the course. The incompetence Hillary Clinton displayed during the Benghazi attack and her singular focus on protecting her own reputation proves she is not ready to be commander-in-chief. We face many challenges as a nation, but nothing is more critical than America displaying strong leadership and an unwavering resolve to defeat terrorism. America's leadership can and must be better and with Donald Trump as president, it will be."^[13]

In June 2018, Great American PAC released a video encouraging people to call 1-800-737-9719 and press "1" to indicate support for Donald Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The ad features claims that Trump is "Defeating ISIS", "Vowing to bring our troops home", "Taking action against chemical weapons", and "Bringing North and South Korea together, ending a decades long war". The ad was seen on the OAN on June 15th, 2018, but a reference is unavailable at this time.

Great America Alliance

In December 2016, Great America PAC announced the formation of a new offshoot called the Great America Alliance, which it described as a research and issue advocacy organization whose mission was to support the "Trump Agenda" by advocating "a stronger economy, a more secure nation, and a society with less government intrusion and more freedom for American citizens."^[14] The Great America Alliance is co-chaired by Eric L. Beach.^[15][16] Tomi Lahren joined the organization as a senior adviser in May 2017.^[17][18]

In June 2017, during the period when former FBI Director James Comey delivered three hours of sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding his dismissal as FBI director and links between Trump associates and Russian officials, Great America Alliance spent $400,000 on an Internet and television advertising campaign that criticized Comey, calling him "just another DC insider only in it for himself"^[19] and saying he "put politics over protecting America” even as “terror attacks were on the rise.”^[20]

In July 2017, Great America Alliance featured Lahren in an ad targeting liberal "snowflakes." The ad described symptoms of "snowflakeism" as "feeling the Bern" or saying "I'm with her."^[21]

Great America Alliance representatives such as Lahren and Beach have written opinion articles defending Trump's agenda and supporting pro-Trump conservative candidates in the 2018 congressional elections.^[22][23]

References

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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/24/exclusive-investigation-donald-trump-faces-foreign-donor-fundrai/

no links

Telegraph   News

Exclusive investigation: Donald Trump faces foreign donor fundraising scandal

Investigations team

24 OCTOBER 2016

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is facing a fundraising scandal after a Telegraph investigation exposed how key supporters were prepared to accept illicit donations from foreign backers.

Senior figures involved with the Great America PAC, one of the leading "independent" groups organising television advertisements and grassroots support for the Republican nominee, sought to channel $2 million from a Chinese donor into the campaign to elect the billionaire despite laws prohibiting donations from foreigners.

In return, undercover reporters purporting to represent the fictitious donor were assured that he would obtain “influence” if Mr Trump made it to the White House.

Last week Eric Beach, the PAC’s co-chairman, confirmed to the reporters at an event in Las Vegas that their client's support would be "remembered" if Mr Trump became president.

Eric Beach, co-chair of Great America PAC told undercover reporters that a fictitious Chinese donor would be "remembered" by Donald Trump CREDIT: THE TELEGRAPH

The disclosure raises questions about the origins of money being ploughed into supporting Mr Trump’s candidacy.

The PAC “consultant” who brokered the deal proposed using as a conduit a type of organisation he admitted is seen as being responsible for the “’dark money’ in politics”.

The revelations also highlight the apparent desperation of Mr Trump's supporters to finance the final weeks of his campaign amid a series of controversies and polls showing him losing in key states.

Mr Trump once labelled Super PACs a “disaster” that have “total control of the candidates”, and has criticised Mrs Clinton for relying on outside groups.

Undercover reporters posing as consultants acting for a Chinese benefactor approached specific pro-Trump and pro-Clinton fundraisers and groups after receiving information that individuals were involved in hiding foreign donations.

Sources also said PACs, “independent” organisations that can raise unlimited sums of money to lobby for or against particular candidates, were being used to circumvent rules.

The pro-Clinton organisations did not respond to initial approaches. But earlier this month an undercover reporter spoke by telephone to Eric Beach, co-chairman of the pro-Trump Great America PAC, which has the backing of Rudy Giuliani, one of Mr Trump’s most senior advisers, as well as the billionaire's son Eric.

Undercover reporters were invited to a Great America PAC event at Stoney's Rockin Country bar in Las Vegas

The reporter said a Chinese client wished to donate to the PAC to support Mr Trump's campaign.

Mr Beach appeared interested despite raising concerns about his nationality and saying he would need to know the donor’s identity.

He suggested the donation could be put through a social welfare organisation called a 501(c)(4) - or C4 - , which unlike a PAC is not subject to a blanket ban on receiving foreign money, and not required to name donors. He stressed in an email that "any path we recommend is legal".

The reporter then received an email from Jesse Benton, a senior figure at the PAC until being convicted in May in connection with buying a senator’s endorsement on a prior campaign. He said he was a “consultant” and that Mr Beach had not wanted a “paper trail” of contact. He and the PAC later denied that he had worked for it at all since May.

Mr Benton proposed channelling the donation through his own company to mask its origin. It would then be passed on to two C4s before being donated by them to the PAC, or simply used to fund projects the PAC had already planned.

Jesse Benton described himself as a "consultant" for Great America PAC  CREDIT: THE TELEGRAPH

Mr Benton said the $2 million, for which he would submit an invoice for “appearances” would “definitely allow us to spend two million more dollars on digital and television advertising for Trump.” The Chinese benefactor's generosity would be “whispered into Mr Trump’s ear.” He said he had previously helped US donors conceal donations.

Mr Beach then said at the Vegas event last Wednesday: "Trump knows that you know, people have stuck with him … I’m not gonna twist your arm or anything,  I just think that there’s no way that this group, and you guys have been participating indirectly or directly, won’t be remembered."

Eric Beach with Donald Trump in December 2015 CREDIT: FACEBOOK

Mr Benton denied any “unethical” behaviour. He claimed he spoke to the reporters after a “business referral” from Mr Beach and proposed a  “public affairs contract” with his firm “having determined money could not go into a 501(c)4”.

Dan Backer, counsel to the PAC, denied that Mr Beach asked Mr Benton to act for him and said Mr Benton “has not had a role with the PAC since May and does not speak for it”. The "professional referral" for "Mr Benton's own benefit" was so that "Mr Benton could explore legal options for your reporters' alleged client".

He continued: “Mr Benton has not solicited any contributions to the PAC that I am aware of, nor has he been asked to do so.”

He suggested Mr Benton had simply engaged in “puffery and self-promotion”, adding that “the conduct of the PAC and Mr. Beach’s conduct was appropriate, ethical and legal at all times.”

Mr Backer added that "The PAC has never ... solicited or accepted contributions from a foreign national or entity" and said Mr Beach had been suggesting how "a US company with a foreign parent company could potentially engage in legal political activity".

Asked if Mr Trump's campaign was aware of the scheme suggested by Mr Benton, his spokeswoman said: " We publicly disavowed this group back in April.  This is public via Federal Election Commission filings.

How it unfolded: Pro-Trump fundraisers agree to accept illicit foreign donation

Taking to a podium in Colorado last week, Donald Trump resumed a line of attack he had long used against his opponent: “Her international donors control her every move”.

Yet fundraisers supporting his bid for the White House were in the process of finalising the details of a $2 million donation from a Chinese benefactor seeking unspecified future “influence” under a Trump presidency. Under US law it is illegal for a foreign national to make any contribution in connection with an election.

But when an undercover reporter telephoned Eric Beach, the co-chairman of the Great America PAC, one of the leading “independent” groups financing campaign work for Mr Trump, to convey his fictitious Chinese client’s desire to make such a donation, his approach did not appear unwelcome.

Eric Beach spoke to undercover reporters at a Great America PAC event in Las Vegas

In an initial call on October 4 the reporter explained that the benefactor wanted to donate to support Mr Trump’s campaign, “but he’s not a US national.”

Mr Beach agreed that making such a donation to the PAC could be difficult. But he did, however, have a suggestion involving a 501(c)(4) – a tax-exempt “social welfare organisation” – which he described as a “non-disclose entity” through which the client could make a contribution for a “specific purpose”.

You shouldn’t put any of this on paper

Jesse Benton

Mr Beach’s response, along with his later statements on the matter, appeared ambivalent for someone who was clearly aware of the ban on foreign nationals making donations in connection with US elections.

Despite warning about the need to know the origins of the money, he was already aware that the donor was a foreign national who would naturally be banned from donating for his stated purpose.

Political observers and campaign groups have raised concerns about 501(c)(4)s, labelling them “dark money” groups because, unlike PACs, they are not required to name donors.

A PAC with a “sister” 501(c)(4) could therefore encourage donors to give to that body. The 501(c)(4) could then contribute to the PAC, or simply spend the money on a project that the group would otherwise have funded.

That scheme was subsequently laid out to two reporters at a meeting in a New York hotel by Jesse Benton, a long-time Republican strategist, who emailed the reporter with the subject “From Eric Beach” and the opening line: “Eric Beach asked me to reach out”.

Great America PAC is a Donald Trump supporting super PAC CREDIT: REUTERS

Mr Benton was a senior figure at the PAC until he was convicted in May in connection with buying a senator’s endorsement for Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in 2012.

At the meeting on October 13, he explained that Mr Beach, 38, needed to maintain a “deliberate disengagement”.

Mr Benton's proposal was for the Chinese client to pay his $2 million, via the reporters’ Singapore-based communications consultancy, to Mr Benton’s own public affairs firm, Titan Strategies LLC, in order to mask the fact that the money was coming from abroad.

He set out the scheme in writing in an email on October 5 in which he said he had “checked with our attorney, and there is no prohibition on what I propose”, although “he is giving one final review for full legal vetting.”

At the meeting more than a week later, he explained how he would direct the funds evenly to two 501(c)(4)s which could donate the money to the Great America PAC in their name, or spend it on activities the PAC would otherwise have funded.  One of the organisations was Vision for America, which is run by Mr Beach.

“I’ll send money from my company to both,” Mr Benton said.

Undercover reporters met Eric Beach at a Great America PAC event held at Stoney's Rockin' Country bar in Las Vegas

Mr Benton said: “I don’t know if you ever hear journalists wring their hands about ‘dark money’ in politics  - they’re talking about 501(c)(4)s.”

He told the reporters: “There’s no prohibition against what we’re doing, but you could argue that the letter of the law says that it is originating from a foreign source and even though it can legally go into a 501(c)(4) then  it shouldn’t be done”.

Discussing how the money would be spent on pro-Trump grassroots campaigning as well as television advertising, he warned: “You shouldn’t put any of this on paper.”

He suggested that the $2 million paid to his firm could be billed simply as “a large retainer” for consulting work. He then sent a $2 million invoice, for the sake of “appearances”, for his services providing “analysis of the American political and business landscape”.

In one of a series of telephone conversations over a two-week period, he explained that the work, which “doesn’t cost any money” apart from a “couple hours of my time” would be reports on the spending of the 501(c)(4)s and PAC.

“It would be one more way … for your client to have an assurance that quality work’s being done with his money. You know, it would give you a window into what the c4s and the super PAC are doing.”

Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump at the final debate in Las Vegas CREDIT: POOL

And the fictitious Chinese benefactor’s generosity would not go unrewarded should the donor a require a line of communication to Mr Trump if he became president.

“We can have that whispered into Mr Trump’s ear whenever your client feels it’s appropriate,” he said. After a telephone conversation with Mr Beach, Mr Benton said that the PAC wished to invite the reporters to a party the group was hosting in Vegas on October 19, the night of the final presidential debate.

He later passed on a briefing on the event prepared by Mr Beach. Mr Benton warned that he would have to stay away from Vegas because “everything that we’re doing is legal by the book but there’s perceptions and some grey areas.”

Jesse Benton speaking to undercover reporters in New York CREDIT: TELEGRAPH

Mr Beach also needed to be kept “deliberately ignorant” of the “exact arrangements”. But at the event the PAC's co-chairman clearly understood their client’s apparent request for an assurance that Mr Trump would remember his contribution.

“One thing he has to understand is, what you guys have to understand is: you can get credit, but don’t overdo it with the influence,” he said. The particular sticking point was the highly discreet method by which the client would be donating.

You’re going to get credit but your ‘non-disclosed’ [donation] is not disclosed.  Not just for your benefit, but for everyone’s benefit.

Eric Beach, Great America PAC co-chair

“I would just manage your expectations, say: ‘you’re going to get credit but your ‘non-disclosed’ [donation] is not disclosed.  Not just for your benefit, but for everyone’s benefit.’”

Then Mr Beach’s ambivalence, or possibly confusion, about the proposal appeared to return. “I would never let you guys give to the PAC, to give to the C4, because that’s illegal,” he added. “See the C4 is technically not illegal, but it’s not – it’s just not the best way to go.”

Lawrence Noble, who was general counsel at the US Federal Election Commission for 13 years and is now at the Campaign Legal Centre, a DC-based advocacy group, said: "If there is evidence that representatives of a super PAC were soliciting or knowingly accepting foreign national money and helping arrange for it to get into the super PAC through a 501(c)(4) organisation, then it should be investigated by the FEC and by the Department of Justice as a criminal violation."

Mr Benton denied any “unethical” behaviour and said he was not “an agent of Great America PAC”, while Dan Backer, counsel to the PAC said Mr Benton “has not had a role with the PAC since May and does not speak for it”. Mr Backer added that “the conduct of the PAC and Mr. Beach’s conduct was appropriate, ethical and legal at all times.”

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https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/05/nonprofits-backing-trump-have-deep-swampy-ties/

Outside groups mobilizing in support of President Trump have already spent tens of millions on his behalf—and may never have to reveal where they got the money.

Trump’s unprecedented move to register as a candidate for the 2020 presidential election on his first day in office blurs the line between groups spending in support of the president’s agenda and those supporting his re-election. Unlike their forerunner, Organizing for Action, which did not exist as a 501(c)(4) until after President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012, political nonprofits have been active since the onset of President Trump’s first term as he’s taken on the roles of both candidate and president.

:{:{Groups like the 45 Committee that were established during the 2016 election have spent multiple millions of dollars on ad campaigns during Trump’s first 100 days in office.}: Trump’s supporters also include new names like Great America Alliance and Making America Great, whose operations and funding sources are still largely opaque though they’ve spent plenty backing Trump; they will not have to file reports with the IRS until next year, and even then won’t have to publicly name their donors — just some of the benefits of the 501(c) tax status.

}:

The nonprofits have publicly jostled to be the Trumpian counterpart to Obama’s OFA; but these groups have much more in common with each other—and the “swamp” of political insiders his campaign promised to “drain”—than initially meets the eye.

For instance, despite holding itself out as a “new” nonprofit launched to support President Trump’s agenda, records show Great America Alliance is actually a refurbished 501(c)(4) that has been around since 2013. An IRS Exempt Organizations Division official confirmed that Great America Alliance was once known as the American Dream Initiative (ADI),a politically active nonprofit with a history of spending undisclosed “dark money” in politics under the guise of issue advocacy.

A page from Rove’s playbook

Great America Alliance is not the first politically active nonprofit crafted from the carcass of another group. Notably, the operatives behind dark money behemoth Crossroads GPS appropriated an existing 501(c)(4) and rebranded it: It’s now One Nation. Tax lawyers have speculated that this strategy can expedite the IRS approval process for tax-exempt status, which took Crossroads GPS over five years.

ADI’s Form 990 from 2014 shows the group paid over $500,000—more than 83% of its total spending in 2014, though it’s supposed to spend less than half its funds on political activities—to OnMessage Inc. for “media buy and production” of anad attacking a candidate for Texas attorney general that ran just before a runoff election in that race. OnMessage was paid by over 40 political campaigns, outside groups, and party committees supporting conservative candidates or agendas in each of the last three election cycles. However, only two other nonprofit organizations in the Center for Responsive Politics’ comprehensive database of 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, 501(c)(5) labor unions, and 501(c)(6) trade groups filing tax returns with the IRS in recent years reported paying OnMessage Inc: the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee in 2011 and American Future Fund in 2010, which also came under scrutinyfor skirting restrictions on political spending.

ADI reported no political activity to the IRS in 2014 and only an unusual $1 political contribution the following year to “Grassroots Victory” with an address at the same location as ADI itself. In 2016, the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed both a federal criminal complaint and an IRS complaint against ADI and 10 other “social welfare” groups; CREW called for the FBI to investigate whether the groups violated their nonprofit status by acting as political organizations or significantly underreporting their political activity.

After the Texas attorney general race in 2014, ADI appeared to go dormant. Then it got a fresh coat of paint in 2016 for its quiet rollout as Great America Alliance.

Fresh faces, new scandals

:{In late January 2017, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced their “newly-formed” political nonprofit devoted to promoting President Donald Trump’s agenda: Great America Alliance. Two Republican political operatives who are now in charge of the group, Ed Rollins and Eric Beach, as well as its executive director, Dan Backer, also ran a super PAC supporting Trump in the 2016 presidential race called Great America PAC:{.  Great America PAC raised and spent millions in the last election cycle—but also became embroiled in several controversies.}:

}:

Thesuper PAC mistakenly published emails and cell phone numbers ofhundreds of donors, became caught up in a fundraising scandalfor attempting to funnel money from a foreign donor into the U.S. presidential election, and parted ways with a political operative convicted of falsifying campaign records in a prior election.Blasted as a “big-league scam,” Great America PAC was accused by many of being a scam PAC. Nevertheless, the group raised over $28 million during the 2016 cycle and spent over $26 million. Great America PAC paid more than $4 million to Beach’s firm, Frontline Strategies and Media, making the PAC the firm’s top-paying client that cycle.

In 2014, ADI reported raising $600,000 from a fundraising campaign using in-person solicitation conducted by Frontline. The same year, ADI received $250,000 from Judicial Crisis Network:{:{ and $350,000 from Wellspring. }:Frontline Strategy’s $600,000 fundraising push—which matches the total amount donated by the Wellspring and Judicial Crisis Network—accounts for more than 90% of ADI’s revenue of $652,829 in 2014.

}:

Secret swamp connections

Great America Alliance is in good company with other 501(c)(4) nonprofits mobilizing for Trump’s agenda that also have financial ties to “dark money” groups that have gained notoriety over the years. Wellspring has bankrolled other groups with deep connections to the Trump administration as well, funneling $750,000 to 45 Committee and $100,000 to “AR2 Inc.,” the 501(c)(4) arm of the GOP “America Rising” network of opposition research groups. Although the groups appear to be disjointed and often even in competition with each other, the network of politically active nonprofits supporting Trump’s agenda share common vendors, staff, consultants, and funding sources.

Much of this can be traced to two influential families of mega-donors: the Ricketts and the Mercers. Beyond just the money they bring to the table, members of each family have taken strategic roles in nonprofits as well as firms those groups hire.

Todd Ricketts, who recently withdrew from consideration to be deputy secretary of Commerce due to the difficulty of disentangling himself from his business interests, has been a key player in “dark money” operations for years. In 2012, he took over a 501(c)(4) nonprofit called Ending Spending as well as its super PAC arm, ESA Fund, formerly Ending Spending Action Fund, which were started by his father and fellow mega-donor Joe Ricketts. The super PAC spent more than $15 million in the 2016 cycle, and Ending Spending itself reported spending over $2.6 million. Because Ending Spending ran “issue” ads that most of the time need not be reported to the FEC despite being almost indistinguishable from direct advocacy, the total amount spent remains unknown but is likely much higher. Its donors may never be known.

The Ricketts also helmed the 45Committee and Future45, which spent over $40 million in the 2016 election.45Committee, another 501(c)(4), has continued spending to praise Trump’s nominees and policies, and has invested in other federalraces. The family’s flip to support Trump has been startling: During his campaign, Trump threatened to expose the Ricketts’ family secrets after Joe and Marlene Ricketts gave more than $5.5 million to Our Principles PAC, which opposed Trump.

Unlike the Ricketts, the Mercers kept a lower profile—until recently. Robert Mercer and his wife Diane are in the top 20 individual donors at the federal political level, which the Ricketts are as well. However, the Mercers’ contribution patterns:{:{ are more line with their reported rejection of the GOP establishment.}:

}:

:{Although the Mercers originally spent millions backing Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, when Cruz suspended his campaign they quickly directed their super PAC to support Trump, becoming among the first major donors on the “Trump train.” Ultimately they spent around $20 million on behalf of Trump. The Mercers also leveraged the power of Cambridge Analytica:{, a firm that uses secret psychological methods to more effectively influence voters, to help the Republican nominee. The Mercers are investors in the firm.}:

}:

:{After the election, Robert Mercer’s daughter Rebekah joined forces with top Trump campaign advisers to form America First Policies. But a power struggle followed the emergence of more pro-Trump nonprofit groups in the unstable ecosystem, leading Rebekah Mercer to leave:{ America First Policies for another new pro-Trump nonprofit called Making America Great. There she joins ally David Bossie, whom she helped elevate to become Trump’s deputy campaign manager last year.}:

}:

As alliances continue to shift between factions, this tangled web of groups churning money from secret donors into the pockets of consultants doesn’t appear to be draining the swamp. Seems more like everyone’s dived in.

==

~ WI recall

with stop hillary

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2x?

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/

Notorious “dark money” conduit Wellspring Committeegave $14.8 million to the primary spender on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation and paid $919,900 to the mysterious LLC that made a $1 million donation to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, according to a new tax return obtained Nov. 27 by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Wellspring has acted as a conduit for large contributions from secretive donors since it was set up, effectively laundering multi-million dollar donations with no substantive disclosure or accountability.

Despite operating behind the scenes with a name unknown to most of the American public, Wellspring is at the crux of Ann and Neil Corkery’s network of politically active dark money groups, funneling millions from anonymous financiers to political causes they don’t want their names attached to — and doing ostensibly little else.

Wellspring has continued to be the chief financier of the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), with a $14,814,998 contribution last year.

JCN is another nondisclosing politically active nonprofit linked to the Corkerys’ network of conservative dark money groups. It has become the predominant dark money spender in Supreme Court confirmation fights as a vehicle for deep-pocketed donors to funnel millions of dollars behind or against judicial nominees.

Since 2010, Wellspring has funneled more than $54.2 million to JCN, according to tax returns obtained by CRP.

The bulk of Wellspring’s funds that came from three multi-million dollar secret donors in 2017, a shift from prior years in which the biggest amount the group received from a single mystery donor increased with each passing year. The largest donor accounted for $8.9 million, another gave $5.5 million and a third secret donor provided $2 million — but all of their identities remain hidden from the public.

The biggest anonymous contribution to Wellspring in 2016 was nearly $28.5 million, a jump from $8.5 million in 2015 and $6.96 million in 2014. That one secret donor accounted for around 90 percent of Wellspring’s funding in 2016, a year it gave $23 million to JCN.

As a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, JCN is not required to report its donors to the IRS — and chooses not to disclose its funders’ identities to the public — so its only discoverable donors are other entities like Wellspring that act as conduits for the anonymous money directed at JCN.

JCN was back in the limelight this year as the biggest spender in support of Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Following its tried and true playbook, JCN launched its first ad about Kavanaugh before Trump even finished announcing his nomination and soon after announced plans to spend $10 million on his confirmation. JCN pledged $10 million to support the successful confirmation of Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, the prior year and reported spending $7 million to block the confirmation of Merrick Garland before President Barack Obama left office.

JCN has also spent substantial sums on lobbyists, including Jon Kyl,who lobbied to help JCN marshall in Gorsuch’s nomination before becoming the official White House “sherpa” guiding Kavanaugh through that same process.He was later appointed to fill the late Sen. John McCain’s seat — ultimately enabling him to vote for the confirmation he was once tasked with helping Kavanaugh secure.

JCN spent $483,246 in total on Facebook ads and just $1,900 on Google platforms around the fight to confirm Kavanaugh with an estimated reach of potentially millions of Facebook users.

TV advertising made up the bulk of JCN’s reported spending on Kavanaugh with around $3.9 million going TV ads, according to Kantar Media/CMAG estimates — leaving millions of dollars JCN had pledged to spend unaccounted for.

The puzzle of Trump’s mysterious inaugural gift

The only contractor paid by Wellspring last year was BH Group, the mysterious LLC created four months to the day before it made a $1 million donation to the Trump inaugural committee on Dec. 22, 2016.

The newly discovered payment for “public relations” follows a $750,000 payment to the newly minted BH Group the prior year as well as $947,000 from JCN to the BH Group around when the LLC made its inaugural donation.

While it initially appeared that BH Group was merely a shell company created solely for the purpose of laundering money into the Trump inaugural committee, more information about the LLC has only added to its mystery.

New tax returns reviewed by CRP reveal thatJudicial Education Project, JCN’s sister 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,also paid an additional $1.3 million to BH Group LLC last year. Judicial Education Fund keeps its donors anonymous but CRP tracked the bulk of the group’s recent funding to DonorsTrust, which accounted for more than 99 percent of its money last year. Like JCN, Judicial Education Fund has also been funded by Wellspring in prior years.

One name that CRP has tied to the mysterious LLC is Leonard Leo, the executive vice president at the Federalist Society, an influential conservative and libertarian legal organization, who listed “BH Group” as his employer in a campaign finance filing reported to the Federal Election Commission.

Leo’s more widely known affiliation with the Federalist Society has gained attention after reports that it played a substantial role guiding the hand of Trump’s White House in its judicial nomination process, including in the selection of Supreme Court justices.

Ann Corkery,the Wellspring Committee’s former president and wife of current president Neil Corkery, has reportedly worked closely with him in this process and Leo has been “directly involved” in raising much of the anonymous money the Wellspring Committee brings in every year.

A public records request revealed that Leo and another Federalist Society vice president have also been involved in a nonprofit called the BH Fund, which was set up to enforce a donor agreement between an anonymous $20 million donor and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, whose president came under fire for allowing donors to dictate conditions in return for financial gifts.

:{Incorporation records list BH Group’s address as a virtual office in Arlington, Va. and the only identified point of contact is Donna Smith, whose name matches that of a longtime paralegal at Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky, the law firm that shared a Warrenton, Va. office with the address the Trump inaugural committee on its tax return.:{}:

}:

Continuing the money churn

Staying the course from prior years, Wellspring also gave $400,000 to the Catholic Association, $48,000 to the Annual Fund and $350,000 to the Foundation for Government Accountability’s 501(c)(4) arm, FGA Action.

Another appendage of the Corkerys’ dark money web is the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT),a nonprofit run by acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker before he became Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff, as CRP first reported in 2016. Like Wellspring, JCN and the Judicial Education Project, Neil Corkery is also the treasurer of FACT. Nearly 100 percent of FACT’s funding came from a single anonymous donor each year since the group was created in 2014, which CRP discovered came entirely from a donor-advised fund called DonorsTrust.

In addition to longstanding dark money stalwarts that have realigned their priorities for the Trump era, new groups spending heavily in support of Trump’s agenda also weighed in on Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation battle but are not entirely isolated from the Washington swamp Trump pledged to drain.

:{Wellspring was one of the early donors of 45Committee, another 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit that primarily exists to support Trump’s agenda which spent on ads supporting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation this year.:{}:

}:

Another spender was America First Policies, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization staffed by former Trump campaign and White House personnel that has become the main dark money group supporting Trump’s agenda.

Although America First Policies itself does not reveal donors’ identities, CRP traced over a quarter of its funding to major corporate players, including Reynolds American and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade group representing the drug company industry’s lobbying interests.

New tax documents filed by another pro-Trump nonprofit, Great America Alliance, show it raised and spent around $3.4 million during that period. Unlike America First Policies, which reported millions more in previously undisclosed political spending it its new tax return, Great America Alliance claimed that it “educated voters through direct and indirect political advocacy messaging nationwide within the scope of applicable laws and regulations.”

This highlights one of the many legal grey areas emerging in the wake of Trump’s unprecedented move to register as a candidate for the 2020 presidential election on his first day in office — leaving the vast majority of financiers behind the growing network of dark money groups spending on his agenda a mystery.

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https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/02/pro-trump-nonprofits-rev-up/

With a new set of politically active nonprofits promising to pour millions into ads supporting President Donald Trump’s agenda and cabinet nominees, an FEC decision last month provides a telling reminder of  how these groups push the legal limits on their activity — and how difficult it is for regulators to do anything about it.

For the second time in as many months, the Federal Election Commission deadlocked along party lines on whether or not to pursue a politically active nonprofit for its political spending in a single 2016 race.

Conservative Solutions Project, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, was founded in 2014, about a year before Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) announced his failed bid to become the Republican party’s nominee for president. In its filings with the IRS and other agencies, the group listed the same address as another similarly named group, Conservative Solutions PAC, a super PAC formed by Rubio allies to support his candidacy.

Though (c)(4) groups like CSP — funded mostly by wealthy donors whose identities are kept secret —  aren’t supposed to have politics as their primary purpose, the rules on how much is too much are about as clear as the view through a pair of kaleidoscope binoculars. The IRS has never defined the limits that define “primary purpose,” nor has it ever laid out how to measure it — as a share of overall expenditures, for example, or employee time devoted to a cause. That leaves interpretation up the groups themselves and their most creative, top-dollar lawyers.

Of the more than 6,500 ads that ran in support of Rubio by the end of 2015, nearly 75 percent were paid for by this nominally apolitical nonprofit group, according to a December 2015 Wesleyan Media Project report produced in partnership with the Center for Responsive Politics.  Yet, none of that ad spending was reported to the FEC because these ads — all of which targeted viewers in early primary states with positive messages about Rubio’s record and policies — were framed as educational “issue” ads, ostensibly aimed at influencing policy positions rather than the election. Such ads only have to be reported to the FEC if they run within 30 days of a primary election, or 60 days of a general election.

Between July and October of 2015, CSP spent at least $8 million on such ads.

The initial investigation by the FEC’s Office of General Counsel stemmed from a complaint filed by American Democracy Legal Fund, a liberal nonprofit headed by Democratic operative Brad Woodhouse, focusing on two of those ads. According to the complaint, the spots, which ran in September and October in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, amounted to “express advocacy” and, therefore, should have been reported to the FEC as independent expenditures within days of being aired.

The OGC disagreed with Woodhouse and the ADLF. The ads did indeed have the “look and feel of campaign speech,” the OGC said. And the campaign nature of the ad, “with Rubio orating about the greatness of America and the future leadership the country needs” lent itself to the perception that the ads were aimed at furthering Rubio’s campaign, a perception that was “bolstered by the fact that the ads aired in September and October 2015 in the early primary states.”

But the ads did not ultimately reach the threshold of express advocacy, in the OGC’s view. For one, they make no reference to Rubio’s candidacy — though viewers in those early primary states, where the candidates were racing from Elk’s Club to rec center to diner making stump speeches, would have known Rubio was running.

And if the ads didn’t make a reference to Rubio’s candidacy, they certainly didn’t call on viewers to support him in the primaries, which is express advocacy in its purest form.

The agency’s three Republican commissioners accepted the OGC’s recommendation to find no reason to believe CSP was in violation of the rules, while the two Democrats and one independent on the Commission voted to pursue an investigation.

And mirroring the FEC’s November deadlock in the Carolina Rising case, Democratic commissioners Ann Ravel and Ellen Weintraub provided a statement criticizing their agency’s failure “to enforce clear law on the registration of political committees.”

They contended that “no reasonable person could conclude that the ads were intended as anything other than advocacy on behalf of Rubio’s election.” And just as they did in November, they argued that factors beyond a narrow analysis of the ads’ content further support the idea that CSP was acting as a political committee.

Conservative Solutions viz (1)“The Commission has affirmed that the major purpose inquiry is a fact-intensive analysis that may consider a number of elements,” they say, citing a report by the Center for Responsive Politics showing the significant overlap of Rubio staff and consultants working with his campaign, his allied super PAC and CSP itself.

Since Rubio’s presidential aspirations were put on hold, CSP has done little aside from posting links to news articles on its website and social media accounts. It hasn’t run millions of dollars educating viewers around the country about Rubio’s, or anyone else’s, policies.

With the FEC’s investigation at an end, focus now shifts to the IRS, which also has regulatory oversight of politically active nonprofits. The watchdog group CREW filed a complaint against CSP with the IRS, but we may never know what comes of it, because decisions like that are private under IRS rules that protect taxpayer confidentiality.

Now as the Trump movement transitions from campaign to policy platform, at least two nondisclosing nonprofits have been formed to promote the administration’s agenda. America First Policies was founded this week by top campaign aids Brad Parscale, Rick Gates and Nick Ayers. The “grassroots group” will soon “go out there and help with the agenda, help the White House be successful,” Parscale told the AP.

Another group, Great America Alliance, was started by former House Speaker New Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both prominent campaign surrogates for Donald Trump and previous presidential candidates themselves. Two other Republican strategists, Ed Rollins and Eric Beach, will help run that new group.In 2016, Rollins and Breach ran a pro-Trump super PAC called Great America PAC that spent $23 million to boosting Trump.

Opting to transform a campaign apparatus into a nonprofit supporting the president’s agenda is not new. The Obama administration also turned its campaign into a (c)(4) called Organizing for Action. One big difference: OFA reluctantly disclosed its donors, allowing watchdogs like the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation to report on the individuals and interests fueling the organization.

Neither of the two new pro-Trump groups have made any such commitment to transparency, which will encourage the arrival of big checks from those who may want to curry favor with the president but remain out of public view. Contributions from foreign governments are also possible, should the group’s leaders choose to allow it.

Meanwhile, Conservative Solutions Project will slip back into the darkness. It could fade away entirely or lay dormant until Rubio’s next potential foray in the presidential arena.

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donors also venders revily

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rapid response TV, 2 names? hides?

1Great America PAC$1,923,16225   04-14-2016   07-26-20162

Henry Ross for Congress$30,920304-17-201505-01-20153Revive America PAC$20,000102-17-201502-17-20154The Tea Party Leadership Fund$17,461401-05-201502-08-20165Tea Party Majority Fund$14,9755104-19-201604-19-20166Constitutional Rights PAC$12,514304-01-201606-24-20167Senate Conservatives Action$12,500102-25-201602-25-20168Special Operations Speaks PAC$6,446202-03-201512-11-20159Take DC Back Action$6,166302-01-201503-10-2015

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https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00608489&cycle=2016

2016 PAC Contribution Data

Official PAC Name:

GREAT AMERICA PAC 

Location: ALEXANDRIA, VA 22314

Industry: Republican/Conservative

Treasurer: DAN BACKER 

FEC Committee ID: C00608489

(Look up actual documents filed at the FEC)

only 2 contib both to gt am?

austin, so wrong one?

cbg holdings

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hank-seale-a939729

seale inc

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why?

Searches related to AUBURN MANOR HOLDING CORPORATION HARMON, MARTIN A

**rhs investments (hank seale)**

martin harmon

auburn manor holding **trump**

**franklin resources**

**murray energy**

**renaissance technologies**

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AUBURN MANOR HOLDING CORPORATION

HARMON, MARTIN A

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/martin-harmon.asp?cycle=16

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