Great Am alliance
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ntbcw gt am pac?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></p><p style="margin: 5px 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/</font></a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Notorious “dark money” conduit </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/wellspring-committee/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Wellspring Committee</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> gave $14.8 million to the primary spender on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation</b> and<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> paid $919,900 to the mysterious LLC that made a $1 million donation to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee,</span> according to a </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5299825-Wellspring-2017-990.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">new tax return</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> obtained Nov. 27 by the Center for Responsive Politics.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Wellspring has continued to be the chief financier of the </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000026924" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Judicial Crisis Network</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> (JCN), with a $14,814,998 contribution last year.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b>JCN is another nondisclosing politically active nonprofit linked to the Corkerys’ network of conservative dark money groups.</b> It has become the predominant dark money spender in Supreme Court </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/09/kavanaugh-confirmation-dark-money/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">confirmation fights</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> as a vehicle for deep-pocketed donors to funnel millions of dollars behind or against judicial nominees.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since 2010, Wellspring has funneled more than $54.2 million to JCN, according to tax returns obtained by CRP.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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 </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/11/web-of-secret-money-hides-one-mega-donor-funding-conservative-court/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">to support</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">JCN has also spent substantial sums on lobbyists, including </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=77747" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Jon Kyl,</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">JCN </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/10/only-a-fraction-of-dark-money-spending-on-kavanaugh-disclosed/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">spent</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> $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.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The puzzle of Trump’s mysterious inaugural gift</font></b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">T<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">he only contractor paid by Wellspring last year was<b> BH Group</b>, 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.</span></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The newly discovered payment for “public relations” follows a </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/05/group-that-spent-millions-to-boost-gorsuch-also-paid-mysterious-inaugural-donor/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">$750,000 payment</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> to the newly minted BH Group the prior year as well as </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4463990-Judicial-Crisis-Network-990-2016-2017.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">$947,000</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> from JCN to the BH Group around when the LLC made its inaugural donation.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">New </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5188744-Judicial-Education-Project-2017-990.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">tax returns</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> 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.</b> 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.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">One name that CRP has </span><a href="https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article210176219.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">tied</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> to the mysterious LLC is Leonard Leo, </b>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.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Ann Corkery, the Wellspring Committee’s former president and wife of current president Neil Corkery, has </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/05/mystery-gift-to-trump-inauguration-from-conservative-activists/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">reportedly</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">A public records request </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/03/secret-contributions-to-trump-inauguration/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">revealed</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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 <b>Holtzman Vogel</b> Josefiak Torchinsky, the law firm that shared a Warrenton, Va. office with the address the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump inaugural committee on its tax return.</span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Continuing the money churn</font></strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Another appendage of the Corkerys’ dark money web is the<b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT)</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, a nonprofit run by acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker b</span>efore he became Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff, as CRP </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/04/new-nonprofit-tied-to-stealthy-circle-of-dark-money-groups/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">first reported</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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 </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/one-donor-accounts-for-all-dark-money-funding-whitakers-nonprofit/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">discovered</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> came entirely from a donor-advised fund called </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2783557-Donors-Trust-2014-990.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">DonorsTrust</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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 </span><a href="https://twitter.com/annalecta/status/1037813122298511361" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">spent</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> on ads supporting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation this year.</span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Another spender was America First Policies, the 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization staffed by former Trump campaign and White House personnel that h<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">as become the main dark money group supporting Trump’s agenda.</span></b></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Although <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">America First Policies</span> itself does not reveal donors’ identities, CRP </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/pro-trump-dark-money-group-tax-return/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">traced</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> over a quarter of its funding to major corporate players, including </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5188743-2017-Corporate-Contributions-to-501-C-4-and-501.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Reynolds American</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000504" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> (PhRMA), a trade group representing the drug company industry’s lobbying interests.</span></b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">New </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5141937-Great-America-Alliance-2017-990.html" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">tax documents</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> filed by another pro-Trump nonprofit,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"> <b style="">Great America Alliance</b>,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> 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.”</span></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></p><p style="margin: 5px 0px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/trump-inauguration-money-links-secretive-dark-money/</font></a></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Notorious “dark money” conduit </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/wellspring-committee/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Wellspring Committee</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> 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,</b> according to a </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5299825-Wellspring-2017-990.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">new tax return</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> obtained Nov. 27 by the Center for Responsive Politics.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Wellspring has continued to be the chief financier of the </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000026924" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Judicial Crisis Network</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> (JCN), with a $14,814,998 contribution last year.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b>JCN is another nondisclosing politically active nonprofit linked to the Corkerys’ network of conservative dark money group</b>s. It has become the predominant dark money spender in Supreme Court </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/09/kavanaugh-confirmation-dark-money/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">confirmation fights</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> as a vehicle for deep-pocketed donors to funnel millions of dollars behind or against judicial nominees.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since 2010, Wellspring has funneled more than $54.2 million to JCN, according to tax returns obtained by CRP.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b>JCN was back in the limelight this year as the biggest spender in support of Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.</b> 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 </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/11/web-of-secret-money-hides-one-mega-donor-funding-conservative-court/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">to support</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">JCN has also spent substantial sums on lobbyists, including </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=77747" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Jon Kyl,</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> who lobbied to help JCN marshall in Gorsuch’s nomination before becoming the official White House “sherpa” guiding Kavanaugh through that same process. </b>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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">JCN </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/10/only-a-fraction-of-dark-money-spending-on-kavanaugh-disclosed/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">spent</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> $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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The puzzle of Trump’s mysterious inaugural gift</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The only contractor paid by Wellspring last year was BH Group, the mysterious LLC </span>created four months to the day before it made a $1 million donation to the Trump inaugural committee on Dec. 22, 2016.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The newly discovered payment for “public relations” follows a </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/05/group-that-spent-millions-to-boost-gorsuch-also-paid-mysterious-inaugural-donor/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$750,000 payment</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> to the newly minted BH Group the prior year as well as </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4463990-Judicial-Crisis-Network-990-2016-2017.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$947,000</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> from JCN to the BH Group around when the LLC made its inaugural donation.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">New </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5188744-Judicial-Education-Project-2017-990.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">tax returns</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> reviewed by CRP reveal that<b> Judicial Education Project, JCN’s sister 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, </b>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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">One name that CRP has </span><a href="https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article210176219.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">tied</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b>Ann Corkery, </b>the Wellspring Committee’s former president and wife of current president Neil Corkery, has </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/05/mystery-gift-to-trump-inauguration-from-conservative-activists/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">reportedly</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">A public records request </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/03/secret-contributions-to-trump-inauguration/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">revealed</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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.</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Continuing the money churn</font></strong></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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 <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Foundation for Government Accountability’s 501(c)(4) arm, FGA Action.</span></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another appendage of the Corkerys’ dark money web is the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), </b>a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">nonprofit run by acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker before he became Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff, as CRP </span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/04/new-nonprofit-tied-to-stealthy-circle-of-dark-money-groups/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">first reported</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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 </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/one-donor-accounts-for-all-dark-money-funding-whitakers-nonprofit/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">discovered</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> came entirely from a donor-advised fund called </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2783557-Donors-Trust-2014-990.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">DonorsTrust</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">.</span></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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 </span><a href="https://twitter.com/annalecta/status/1037813122298511361" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">spent</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> on ads supporting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation this year.</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Although America First Policies itself does not reveal donors’ identities, CRP </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/pro-trump-dark-money-group-tax-return/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">traced</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> over a quarter of its funding to major corporate players, including </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5188743-2017-Corporate-Contributions-to-501-C-4-and-501.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Reynolds American</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000504" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> (PhRMA), a trade group representing the drug company industry’s lobbying interests.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">New </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5141937-Great-America-Alliance-2017-990.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">tax documents</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> filed by another pro-Trump nonprofit, Great America Alliance,</b> 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.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></font></p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Although America First Policies itself does not reveal donors’ identities, CRP </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/11/pro-trump-dark-money-group-tax-return/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">traced</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> over a quarter of its funding to major corporate players, including </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5188743-2017-Corporate-Contributions-to-501-C-4-and-501.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Reynolds American</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000504" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> (PhRMA), a trade group representing the drug company industry’s lobbying interests.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">New </span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5141937-Great-America-Alliance-2017-990.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">tax documents</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> filed by another pro-Trump nonprofit, Great America Alliance</b>, 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.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">
</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5141937-Great-America-Alliance-2017-990.html">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5141937-Great-America-Alliance-2017-990.html</a>]</font></p><pre class="DV-textContents" style="box-sizing: content-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.4em; overflow: hidden; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 46px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Total revenue. See instructions
3,467,647.
Form 990 (2017</font></pre><pre class="DV-textContents" style="box-sizing: content-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.4em; overflow: hidden; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 46px;"><pre class="DV-textContents" style="box-sizing: content-box; line-height: 1.4em; overflow: hidden; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 46px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Management Services
Issue Advocacy TV
Campaign Solutions 117 N Saint Asaph Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
On-line issue advocacy
Connell Donatelli, Inc 117 N. Saint Asaph St., Alexandria, VA 22314 On-line issue advocacy
Apex Strategy Group, 300 Knollridge Ct., El Dorado Hills, CA 95762 Issue Advocacy TV</font></pre><pre class="DV-textContents" style="box-sizing: content-box; line-height: 1.4em; overflow: hidden; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 46px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brent Lowder
President
Hector Barajas
Executive Dir/Treasurer
Donald McCormick
Director
Eric Beach
Executive Director
Christina Needham
Director/Treasurer/Sec</font></pre></pre><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><div class="widget_text awac-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><div class="widget_text awac widget custom_html-5" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="textwidget custom-html-widget" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; border: 1px dotted; padding: 11px; border-radius: 15px; margin-top: 40px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. </font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: <a href="mailto:info@crp.org" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">info@crp.org</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div></div></div></div><div class="related-box" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; width: 760px; padding: 8px 0px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 12px;"><span class="txt" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; float: left; line-height: 28px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: -0.03em; margin-right: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED TOPICS</font></span><ul class="related-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px -5px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/45committee/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">45Committee</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/501c/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">501c</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/501c-groups-2/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">501c groups</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/america-first-policies/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">america first policies</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/ann-corkery/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">ann corkery</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/anna-massoglia/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Anna Massoglia</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/bh-group/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">BH Group</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/brett-kavanaugh/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Brett Kavanaugh</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/dark-money/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">dark money</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/donald-trump/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Donald Trump</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/federalist-society/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Federalist Society</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/form-990/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">form 990</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/foundation-for-acc/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">foundation for acc</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/great-america-alliance/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">great america alliance</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/john-kyl/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">John Kyl</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/judicial-crisis-network/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Judicial Crisis Network</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/judicial-education-fund/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Judicial Education Fund</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/judicial-education-project/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">judicial education project</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/leonard-leo/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">leonard leo</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/llcs/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">LLCs</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/matthew-whitaker/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Matthew Whitaker</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/neil-corkery/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Neil Corkery</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/neil-gorsuch/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Neil Gorsuch</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/nonprofits/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">nonprofits</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/phrma/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">phrma</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/political-nonprofit/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">political nonprofit</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/reynolds-american/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Reynolds American</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/shell-companies/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">shell companies</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/supreme-court/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Supreme Court</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/tax-returns/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">tax returns</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/trump-inauguration/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump inauguration</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/wellspring-cmte/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Wellspring Cmte</font></a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; margin: 0px 5px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside; float: left;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/tag/wellspring-comittee/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background: rgb(236, 238, 242); text-decoration-line: none; display: block; padding: 5px 11px; border-radius: 3px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">wellspring comittee</font></a></li></ul></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; margin-block-start: 1em; margin-block-end: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/05/nonprofits-backing-trump-have-deep-swampy-ties/">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/05/nonprofits-backing-trump-have-deep-swampy-ties/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>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.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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<b>. 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.</b></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Groups like the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C90016478&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">45 Committee</a> that were established during the 2016 election have spent multiple millions of dollars on ad campaigns during Trump’s first 100 days in office.</span> 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.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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 </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/11/06/donald-trump-why-you-should-vote-me/93398970/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">promised</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> to “drain”—than initially meets the eye.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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 <b>American Dream Initiative (ADI), </b>a politically active nonprofit with a history of spending undisclosed “dark money” in politics under the guise of issue advocacy.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A page from Rove’s playbook</font></strong></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Great America Alliance is not the first politically active nonprofit crafted from the carcass of another group. Notably</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">, the operatives behind dark money behemoth<b>Crossroads GPS</b></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> </b>appropriated an existing 501(c)(4) and rebranded it: It’s now One Nation. Tax lawyers have </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/05/roves-new-group-isnt-new-and-that-could-be-the-point/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">speculated</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> that this strategy can expedite the IRS approval process for tax-exempt status, which took Crossroads GPS </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/02/irs-gives-nonprofit-status-to-roves-controversial-dark-money-group/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">over five years</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">ADI’s Form 990 from </span><a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/462/767/2014-462767395-0bc44e31-9O.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">2014</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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 <a href="http://www.onmessageinc.com/our-clients/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">OnMessage Inc</a>. for “media buy and production” of an<b> ad attacking a candidate for Texas attorney general that ran just before a runoff election</b> in that race. OnMessage <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2014&vendor=OnMessage+Inc" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">was paid</a> by over 40 political campaigns, outside groups, and party committees supporting conservative candidates or agendas in each of the last three election cycles. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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 </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/summary?id=200309803" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican Governors Public Policy Committee</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> in 2011 and </span><b><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=American+Future+Fund&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">American Future Fund</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> in 2010, which also came under </span><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3036379/American-Future-Fund-W-Aff.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">scrutiny</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> for skirting restrictions on political spending</b>.</span></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">ADI reported no political activity to the IRS in 2014 and only </span><a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2015/462/767/2015-462767395-0ce25443-ZO.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">an unusual $1 political contribution</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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 <a href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/dark-money-uncovered/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">filed</a> both a federal criminal complaint and an IRS complaint against ADI and 10 other “social welfare” groups; CREW called </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">for the FBI to investigate whether the groups violated their nonprofit status by acting as political organizations or significantly underreporting their political activity.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fresh faces, new scandals</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">In late January 2017, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/gingrich-giuliani-trump-great-america-alliance-234386" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">announced</a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> their “newly-formed” political nonprofit devoted to promoting President Donald Trump’s agenda: <b>Great America Alliance</b></span><b>.</b> 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 </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00608489" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Great America PAC</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">. Great America PAC raised and spent millions in the last election cycle—but also became embroiled in several controversies.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The<b> super PAC mistakenly published emails and cell phone numbers of </b></span><b><a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/09/21/20246/pro-trump-super-pac-mistakenly-publishes-private-donor-information" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">hundreds of donors</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">, became caught up in a </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/24/exclusive-investigation-donald-trump-faces-foreign-donor-fundrai/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">fundraising scandal</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b> for attempting to funnel money from a foreign donor</b> into the U.S. presidential election, and parted ways with a political operative </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/05/politics/jesse-benton-rand-ron-paul-aide-convicted-trump-super-pac/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">convicted</a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> of falsifying campaign records in a prior election.Blasted as a “</span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263655-trump-campaign-calls-supporting-super-pac-a-big-league" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">big-league scam</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">,” Great America PAC was accused by many of being a </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/scammers-feast-of-trump-fundraising-disarray-223141" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">scam PAC</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">. 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, </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2016&vendor=Frontline+Strategies+%26+Media" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Frontline Strategies and Media</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">, making the PAC the firm’s <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2012&vendor=Frontline+Strategies+%26+Media" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">top-paying client</a> that cycle.</span></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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 </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/political-nonprofits/summary?id=202303252" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Judicial Crisis Network</a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and $350,000 from <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/11/wellspring-gives-big-boost-to-judicial-crisis-network-with-6-6-million-grant/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Wellspring</a>. </span>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.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secret swamp connections</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">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.</span> Wellspring has bankrolled other groups with deep connections to the Trump administration as well, funneling $750,000 to </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C90016478&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">45 Committee</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> and $100,000 to “<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2014&vendor=Ar2+Inc" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">AR2 Inc</a>.,” the 501(c)(4) arm of the GOP “<a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00542902&cycle=2014" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">America Rising</a>” 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.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chart-2.png" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><img class="wp-image-22529 aligncenter" src="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chart-2.png" alt="chart (2)" width="620" height="473" srcset="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chart-2.png 848w, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chart-2-300x229.png 300w, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/chart-2-768x586.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; border: none; vertical-align: top; max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /></a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Much of this can be traced to two influential families of mega-donors: the Ricketts and the Mercers.</b> 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.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">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, </span><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00489856&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ESA Fund</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">, formerly Ending Spending Action Fund, which were started by his father and fellow mega-donor Joe Ricketts. The super PAC spent more than </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00489856&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$15 million</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> in the 2016 cycle, and Ending Spending itself reported spending over </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C90014697&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$2.6 million</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">. 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.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">The Ricketts also helmed the </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C90016478&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">45Committee</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> and </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00574533&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Future45</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><b>, which spent over $40 million in the 2016 election. </b>45Committee, another 501(c)(4), has continued </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/price-health-care-ads-234195" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">spending</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> to praise Trump’s nominees and policies, and has invested in other federal</span><a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/georgia-6th-district-ossoff-handel" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"> <span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">races</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">. The family’s </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/20/the-ricketts-family-was-a-big-backer-of-nevertrump-now-joe-ricketts-is-supporting-trump/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">flip to support Trump</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> has been startling: During his campaign, Trump </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/22/donald-trump-warns-owners-of-chicago-cubs-better-be-careful-after-funding-campaign-against-him/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">threatened to expose</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> the Ricketts’ family secrets after Joe and Marlene Ricketts gave more than $5.5 million to </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib_all.php?cmte=C00603621&type=A&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Our Principles PAC</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">, which opposed Trump.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Unlike the Ricketts, the Mercers kept a lower profile—until recently. Robert Mercer and his wife Diane are in the </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topindivs.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">top 20</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> individual donors at the federal political level, which the Ricketts are as well. However, the Mercers’ </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/06/a-hedge-fund-house-divided-renaissance-technologies/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">contribution patterns</a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> are more line with their reported rejection of the GOP establishment.</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Although the Mercers originally <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C00575373&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">spent</a> millions backing Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, when Cruz suspended his campaign they quickly </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">directed</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> their super PAC to support Trump, becoming among the first major donors on the “Trump train.” Ultimately they spent around </span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib_all.php?cmte=C00575373&type=A&cycle=2016" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">$20 million</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> on behalf of Trump. The Mercers also leveraged the power of </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/no-one-knows-what-the-powerful-mercers-really-want/514529/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Cambridge Analytica</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">, a firm that uses secret psychological methods to more effectively influence voters, to help the Republican nominee. The Mercers are investors in the firm.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">After the election, Robert Mercer’s daughter Rebekah joined forces with top Trump campaign advisers to form </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/77133d470c634a458b3198063af4a14b/trump-advisers-start-america-first-policies-nonprofit" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">America First Policies</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">. But a power struggle followed the emergence of more pro-Trump nonprofit groups in the unstable ecosystem, leading Rebekah Mercer to </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/29/politics/mercer-trump-nonprofit/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">leave</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> 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.<br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/02/pro-trump-nonprofits-rev-up/</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>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.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Conservative Solutions Project</b>, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, was founded in 2014, about a year before <b>Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) a</b>nnounced 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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>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,</b> 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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Between July and October of 2015, CSP spent at least $8 million on such ads.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another group, <b>Great America Alliance,</b> was started by former House Speake<b>r New Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani</b>, both prominent campaign surrogates for Donald Trump and previous presidential candidates themselves. Two other Republican strategists, <b>Ed Rollins and Eric Beach,</b> 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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">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.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr;"><div class="mw-parser-output" style=""><table class="infobox biography vcard" style="background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); border-spacing: 3px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1em; padding: 0.2em; float: right; clear: right; line-height: 1.5em; width: 22em;"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"><span class="fn"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eric Beach</font></span></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Residence</font></th><td class="label" style="vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Costa Mesa, California</font></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Occupation</font></th><td class="role" style="vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Great America PAC, Chairman</font></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Known for</font></th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Veteran Republican Strategist</font></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political party</font></th><td class="org" style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Republican</font></a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"><span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Partner(s)</font></span></th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leigh Beach</font></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Website</font></th><td style="vertical-align: top;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.greatamericapac.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" word-wrap="word-wrap" break-word="break-word" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.greatamericapac.com/</font></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Eric L. Beach</b> is a Republican political strategist and consultant based out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Beach,California" title="Newport Beach, California" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Newport Beach, California</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a></sup> He currently serves as the co-chair for the pro-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Donald Trump</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America_PAC" title="Great America PAC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Great America PAC</a>, along with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Rollins" title="Ed Rollins" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ed Rollins</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a></sup> Beach has previously worked for presidential campaigns of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_Paul" title="Rand Paul" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Rand Paul</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich" title="Newt Gingrich" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Newt Gingrich</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani" title="Rudy Giuliani" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Rudy Giuliani</a>, as well as for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger" title="Arnold Schwarzenegger" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Arnold Schwarzenegger</a>'s 2003 campaign for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_California" title="Governor of California" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">governor of California</a>.</font></p><div id="toc" class="toc" style="background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><h2 style="background: none; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline; line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h2><span class="toctoggle" style="user-select: none;"> [<a role="button" tabindex="0" class="togglelink" style="background: none; cursor: pointer;">hide</a>] </span></div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#Early_life_and_education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Early life and education</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#Political_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Political career</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#Other_activities" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Other activities</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">References</span></font></a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life_and_education">Early life and education</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eric_Beach(political_consultant)&action=edit§ion=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Early life and education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Beach was born in raised in Maryland, just outside of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,D.C." title="Washington, D.C." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Washington, D.C.</a>, where his father was a firefighter.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a></sup> Beach attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towson_University" title="Towson University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Towson State University</a> where he was a member of the football team and student body president for two years.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a></sup> He obtained a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master%27s_degree" title="Master's degree" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">master's degree</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_science" title="Political science" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">political science</a> from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_University" title="George Washington University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George Washington University</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Political_career">Political career</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eric_Beach(political_consultant)&action=edit§ion=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Political career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">Beach is a veteran political operative, having served on many high profile campaigns.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[6]</a></sup> Beach is currently the co-chair of the pro-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America_PAC" title="Great America PAC" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Great America PAC</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[7]</a></sup> along with former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Ronald Reagan</a> campaign manager, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Rollins" title="Ed Rollins" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Ed Rollins</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[9]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">Prior to joining the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America_PAC" title="Great America PAC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Great America PAC</a>, Beach served as national finance chairman for Kentucky Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_Paul" title="Rand Paul" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Rand Paul</a>'s 2016 presidential campaign.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[10]</a></sup> Beach also served a national finance chairman for former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="Speaker of the United States House of Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Speaker of the House</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich" title="Newt Gingrich" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Newt Gingrich</a>'s 2012 presidential campaign.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[11]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">In 2008, Beach served as the state finance leader, in California, for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani" title="Rudy Giuliani" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Rudy Giuliani</a>'s presidential bid.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[12]</a></sup> Beach has also served as national finance chairman for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Express" title="Tea Party Express" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Tea Party Express</a>, campaign director for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Jones(California_politician)" title="Bill Jones (California politician)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Bill Jones</a>' 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in California, and as a member of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger" title="Arnold Schwarzenegger" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Arnold Schwarzenegger</a>'s 2003 campaign team.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[13]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">Beach was brought in to run the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America_PAC" title="Great America PAC" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Great America PAC</a> in March 2016.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-14" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">[14]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Other_activities">Other activities</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eric_Beach(political_consultant)&action=edit§ion=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Other activities" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Beach founded Brothers in Arms, an organization that hosts hosts the annual Brothers in Arms Classic featuring high school football teams from around the country to raise awareness for those serving in the military and to raise money for the victims of fallen troops.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[17]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eric_Beach(political_consultant)&action=edit§ion=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em;">]</span></span></font></h2><div class="reflist" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0.5em; list-style-type: decimal;"><div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns" style="column-width: 30em;"><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: inherit;"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">reporter, Martin Wisckol, Politics. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ocregister.com/totalbuzz/strong-469082-beach-gingrich.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"O.C. man named Gingrich's state finance chief"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=O.C.+man+named+Gingrich%27s+state+finance+chief&rft.aulast=reporter&rft.aufirst=Martin+Wisckol%2C+Politics&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ocregister.com%2Ftotalbuzz%2Fstrong-469082-beach-gingrich.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/donald-trump-super-pac-ramps-up-220037" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Pro-Trump super PAC ramps up, hires top political operative"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Pro-Trump+super+PAC+ramps+up%2C+hires+top+political+operative&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fblogs%2F2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results%2F2016%2F03%2Fdonald-trump-super-pac-ramps-up-220037&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Staff, Entrepreneur (2016-06-06). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277001" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Meet the 38 Year Old Who Co-Chairs One of the Largest Super PACs Supporting Donald Trump"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Meet+the+38+Year+Old+Who+Co-Chairs+One+of+the+Largest+Super+PACs+Supporting+Donald+Trump&rft.date=2016-06-06&rft.aulast=Staff&rft.aufirst=Entrepreneur&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.entrepreneur.com%2Farticle%2F277001&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Staff, Entrepreneur (2016-06-06). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277001" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Meet the 38 Year Old Who Co-Chairs One of the Largest Super PACs Supporting Donald Trump"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Meet+the+38+Year+Old+Who+Co-Chairs+One+of+the+Largest+Super+PACs+Supporting+Donald+Trump&rft.date=2016-06-06&rft.aulast=Staff&rft.aufirst=Entrepreneur&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.entrepreneur.com%2Farticle%2F277001&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Staff, Entrepreneur (2016-06-06). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277001" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Meet the 38 Year Old Who Co-Chairs One of the Largest Super PACs Supporting Donald Trump"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Meet+the+38+Year+Old+Who+Co-Chairs+One+of+the+Largest+Super+PACs+Supporting+Donald+Trump&rft.date=2016-06-06&rft.aulast=Staff&rft.aufirst=Entrepreneur&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.entrepreneur.com%2Farticle%2F277001&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-04-26/raising-cash-in-trump-s-name-whether-he-likes-it-or-not" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Raising Cash in Trump's Name, Whether He Likes It or Not"</a>. <i>Bloomberg.com/politics</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Bloomberg.com%2Fpolitics&rft.atitle=Raising+Cash+in+Trump%E2%80%99s+Name%2C+Whether+He+Likes+It+or+Not&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fpolitics%2Farticles%2F2016-04-26%2Fraising-cash-in-trump-s-name-whether-he-likes-it-or-not&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/pro-trump-super-pac-california-222415" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Super PAC to mount pro-Trump charge in California"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Super+PAC+to+mount+pro-Trump+charge+in+California&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fblogs%2F2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results%2F2016%2F04%2Fpro-trump-super-pac-california-222415&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Ballhaus, Rebecca. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/06/07/whos-who-meet-the-super-pacs-backing-donald-trump/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Who's Who: Meet the Super PACs Backing Donald Trump"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Who%E2%80%99s+Who%3A+Meet+the+Super+PACs+Backing+Donald+Trump&rft.aulast=Ballhaus&rft.aufirst=Rebecca&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fblogs.wsj.com%2Fwashwire%2F2016%2F06%2F07%2Fwhos-who-meet-the-super-pacs-backing-donald-trump%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/donald-trump-super-pac-ramps-up-220037" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Pro-Trump super PAC ramps up, hires top political operative"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Pro-Trump+super+PAC+ramps+up%2C+hires+top+political+operative&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fblogs%2F2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results%2F2016%2F03%2Fdonald-trump-super-pac-ramps-up-220037&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Times, Los Angeles. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-rand-paul-california-money-20150410-story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"White House hopeful Rand Paul heads to California, money in mind"</a>. <i>latimes.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=latimes.com&rft.atitle=White+House+hopeful+Rand+Paul+heads+to+California%2C+money+in+mind&rft.aulast=Times&rft.aufirst=Los+Angeles&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fpoliticsnow%2Fla-pn-rand-paul-california-money-20150410-story.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Times, Los Angeles. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-rand-paul-california-money-20150410-story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"White House hopeful Rand Paul heads to California, money in mind"</a>. <i>latimes.com</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=latimes.com&rft.atitle=White+House+hopeful+Rand+Paul+heads+to+California%2C+money+in+mind&rft.aulast=Times&rft.aufirst=Los+Angeles&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fnation%2Fpolitics%2Fpoliticsnow%2Fla-pn-rand-paul-california-money-20150410-story.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">reporter, Martin Wisckol, Politics. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ocregister.com/totalbuzz/strong-469082-beach-gingrich.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"O.C. man named Gingrich's state finance chief"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=O.C.+man+named+Gingrich%27s+state+finance+chief&rft.aulast=reporter&rft.aufirst=Martin+Wisckol%2C+Politics&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ocregister.com%2Ftotalbuzz%2Fstrong-469082-beach-gingrich.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">reporter, Martin Wisckol, Politics. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ocregister.com/totalbuzz/strong-469082-beach-gingrich.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"O.C. man named Gingrich's state finance chief"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=O.C.+man+named+Gingrich%27s+state+finance+chief&rft.aulast=reporter&rft.aufirst=Martin+Wisckol%2C+Politics&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ocregister.com%2Ftotalbuzz%2Fstrong-469082-beach-gingrich.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/donald-trump-super-pac-ramps-up-220037" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Pro-Trump super PAC ramps up, hires top political operative"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Pro-Trump+super+PAC+ramps+up%2C+hires+top+political+operative&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fblogs%2F2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results%2F2016%2F03%2Fdonald-trump-super-pac-ramps-up-220037&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2013/aug/26/brothers-in-arms-looney-football/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Playing in honor of a 'hellbent' hero"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Playing+in+honor+of+a+%E2%80%98hellbent%E2%80%99+hero&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sandiegouniontribune.com%2Fnews%2F2013%2Faug%2F26%2Fbrothers-in-arms-looney-football%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach(political_consultant)#cite_ref-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.biafoundation.org/about.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Brothers in Arms"</a>. <i>www.biafoundation.org</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=www.biafoundation.org&rft.atitle=Brothers+in+Arms&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biafoundation.org%2Fabout.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid-column;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Beach_(political_consultant)#cite_ref-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span></a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2014/aug/27/missionhills-cathedral-helix-lcc-eastlake-tp-footb/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Brothers in Arms is a classic"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" style="white-space: nowrap;">2016-07-29</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Brothers+in+Arms+is+a+classic&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sandiegouniontribune.com%2Fnews%2F2014%2Faug%2F27%2Fmissionhills-cathedral-helix-lcc-eastlake-tp-footb%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEric+Beach+%28political+consultant%29" class="Z3988" /></span></font></li></ol></div></div></div></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both;"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Categories</a>: </font><ul style="list-style: none none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 0px; padding: 0px 0.5em 0px 0.25em; zoom: 1;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:George_Washington_University_alumni" title="Category:George Washington University alumni" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George Washington University alumni</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Towson_University_alumni" title="Category:Towson University alumni" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Towson University alumni</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Living_people" title="Category:Living people" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Living people</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_political_consultants" title="Category:American political consultants" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American political consultants</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:California_Republicans" title="Category:California Republicans" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">California Republicans</a></li></ul></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p>