Federal Employees’ Political Donations Largely Went To Biden, Other Dems In 2023
Federal employees donated $641,633
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How Sam Bankman-Fried and his crypto empire used dark money to influence US elections
NBA Fouls Out With Attack On Orlando Magic’s Donation To A DeSantis Super PAC
The National Basketball Players Association condemned the Orlando Magic for donating to a PAC supporting Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign.America's largest teachers' union poured tens of millions into political causes last year, spent comparatively little on members
America's largest teachers' union, the National Education Association, spent twice as much on politics-related expenses as it did on its own members last year, according to an analysis of the union's financial disclosures.
In a report published Thursday, the Washington Examiner shared details of an analysis of the union's filings produced by the right-to-work nonprofit organization Americans for Fair Treatment that appeared to show the NEA's overt mission to sway the nation's politics.
In its analysis, the nonprofit reportedly found that during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the NEA, which boasts more than 3 million members, "donated $66 million to political activities and another $117 million to 'contributions, gifts, and grants' that were primarily political donations."
The $66 million in political donations amounted to 18% of the union's $374 million budget for 2020-2021, while the $117 million in "contributions, gifts, and grants" amounted to 32% of its expenditures. Meanwhile, just 9% of the union's budget was spent on direct assistance to members.
The exorbitant amount of political spending, the group said, shows where the union's "priorities lie."
It also comes as parents across the country become increasingly concerned over the teaching of progressive ideologies such as critical race theory and gender fluidity in schools.
"The National Education Association’s political and charitable spending in 2020-2021 makes the NEA look more like a political organization than a membership organization," Americans for Fair Treatment said in a statement to the Examiner. "The union spent $2 on politics for every $1 it spent on representing its members."
Furthermore, many of the NEA's political donations were sent to political action committees representing Democratic candidates or to liberal advocacy groups, Americans for Fair Treatment noted.
For example, the union sent more than $8 million to the State Engagement Fund and the Strategic Victory Fund, organizations that funnel money to left-wing political groups and Democratic candidates. It also donated $1 million to Future Forward USA Action, a PAC that supported President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign.
Based on statements posted on the NEA's website and social media accounts, it is clear which political party the union supports.
The NEA's president, Becky Pringle, recently released a statement celebrating the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, calling Jackson's story "the story of all of us who have overcome great obstacles in the pursuit of making our country a better, more equitable place for all."
According to the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm, in the past, the NEA has supported controversial causes such as Black Lives Matter, the teaching of critical race theory in classrooms, taxpayer-funded reparations, and abortion.
Dem dark-money group with ties to Chuck Schumer tried to depress Republican turnout, falsely accused GOP candidates of having liberal positions
A Democratic dark-money group with ties to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reportedly paid for deceptive attack ads that aimed to depress Republican voter turnout in the 2018 midterm elections, according to records reviewed by Axios.
Then-Republican Senate candidates Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) as well as then-Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and now-Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) were targeted with attack ads that hit them from the right, falsely accusing them of holding liberal positions on key issues important to conservatives.
The ads were purchased by a nonprofit group called the Coalition for a Safe and Secure America. Tax records obtained by Axios reporter Lachlan Markay reveal that CSSA received a majority of its funding from Majority Forward, a nonprofit linked to the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC that works on behalf of Senate Democrats.
In 2018, Majority Forward made a $2.7 million donation to CSSA, which was more than half of the $4 million CSSA raised that year. CSSA then turned that money around to buy direct mail and digital advertising campaigns attacking Republicans in competitive Senate races.
The digital ads ran on Facebook pages specifically tied to the states where each candidate was running for Senate. They accused Republicans of being weak on certain conservative issues.
Facebook users were told that Hawley, for example, "sides with Washington liberals against gun owners" and was a "pro-government gun control, career politician."
Another ad that ran in Indiana accused Braun of wanting to raise taxes.
Some of the ads that CSSA ran encouraged conservatives to support independent or Libertarian Party candidates. These ads were timed to coincide with the general election, not Republican primaries, showing how Democrats wanted to depress voter turnout for Republican candidates to win Senate races.
Incumbent Sen. Dean Heller lost his bid for re-election that year and Matt Rosendale failed to unseat Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), though he was later elected to the House of Representatives in 2020.
"Laws allowing nonprofits to engage in limited political activity permitted Majority Forward to finance these ads in a way that made it impossible to trace the money until years after the elections at issue," Markay reported.
Several Senate Democrats have in the past openly opposed so-called dark-money groups spending money raised from anonymous donors for political purposes. Yet, NBC News reported last year that Democratic-aligned dark-money groups outspent Republican groups for the first time ever in 2018.
Facebook bans donations to 147 Republicans who voted against certifying Biden's 2020 victory
After pausing political donations for several months, Facebook's political action committee will resume campaign contributions to members of Congress but will not donate to anyone who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election, the company told employees on Thursday.
Buzzfeed News was the first to report on an internal announcement from Brian Rice, a public policy director at Facebook, that said the decision was made after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and a review of Facebook's contribution policies.
"As a result of our review, the FBPAC Board has decided to resume contributions, but not to any members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election following the events at the Capitol on January 6," Rice said in an internal memo. "While a contribution to a candidate for office does not mean that we agree with every policy or position that a candidate may espouse, we believe this decision is appropriate given the unprecedented events in January."
Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft each announced a halt to political campaign contributions in January after the riot at the Capitol. Facebook said at the time it would conduct an internal review of its donation policies before resuming political spending.
As a result of Facebook's new policy, the company will not donate to eight senators and 139 members of the House of Representatives. All 147 lawmakers who voted against certifying the Electoral College results are Republicans, including prominent Facebook critics Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Josh Hawley (Mo.).
The contribution ban comes as a growing number of Republican lawmakers at both the state and federal level seek to break up Big Tech companies in retribution for censorship.
After Facebook's oversight board upheld the company's decision to deplatform former President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) vowed to "rein in big tech power over our speech." Sen. Hawley, a longtime critic of tech companies, called Facebook a "monopoly" and advocated for Republicans to take antitrust action against the social media giant.
Democrats have also expressed criticism of the power and influence of tech giants, though their criticisms differ from Republicans in that they believe social media platforms do not do enough to stop the spread of "misinformation" and want increased censorship of what they consider to be "fake news."
Facebook currently faces antitrust lawsuits from 46 state attorneys general and two territories as well as the Federal Trade Commission.
Biden reeled in more 'dark money' than any other candidate in history, majorly outpaced Trump donations: report
President Joe Biden received a record-breaking amount of "dark money" from anonymous contributors that helped propel him into the White House. A Bloomberg report found that the Biden campaign accepted more dark money than any other presidential candidate in American history.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden reportedly reeled in a record-breaking $145 million, topping the previous record of $113 million that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) received in his failed 2012 presidential bid against Barack Obama.
Former President Donald Trump's dark money donations majorly dwarfed Biden's, and he purportedly only received $28.4 million from anonymous donors.
A report from CNN in late November stated, "More than $320 million of so-called 'dark money' helped boost Democrats in the White House and congressional races -- more than double the anonymous dollars that aided Republicans in this year's federal elections, a new analysis shows."
"It's not surprising that Biden set the mark given that the $1.5 billion he hauled in overall was the most ever for a challenger to an incumbent president," Yahoo News reported.
Meredith McGehee, the executive director of campaign finance reform advocacy group Issue One, told Bloomberg, "The whole point of dark money is to avoid public disclosure while getting private credit."
Open Secrets, the self-proclaimed "most comprehensive resource for federal campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere," defines dark money as "spending meant to influence political outcomes where the source of the money is not disclosed."
The South China Morning Post said Biden's campaign had previously "called for banning some types of non-profits from spending money to influence elections and requiring that any organization spending more than $10,000 to influence elections to register with the FEC and disclose its donors."
Amy Kurtz, executive director of the left-leaning nonprofit Sixteen Thirty Fund, said, "We have lobbied in favor of reform to the current campaign finance system, but we remain equally committed to following the current laws to level the playing field for progressives."
Despite running a super-PAC supporting Biden, Even Cecil said her group supports campaign finance reform, "We still look forward to the day when unlimited money and super- PACs are a thing of the past."
Democrats enjoyed a record-breaking third quarter of 2020 where the political party raised $1.5 billion through left-leaning crowd-funding website ActBlue over three months, according to Politico.
A Biden spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Bloomberg.
Multiple companies yank donations from Republicans who opposed Electoral College certification
At least three major corporations have announced they will stop giving to the political campaigns of Republican lawmakers who opposed the certification of Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.
The development comes as America attempts to reckon with the deadly riots on the U.S. Capitol last week, which happened as a joint-session of Congress was meeting to certify Biden's win. Those lawmakers who opposed the certification have been at least partially blamed for helping instigate the riots by sowing doubt into the legitimacy of Biden's victory.
Despite the violence, 147 Republican lawmakers — 139 representatives and eight senators — still voted against the certification of Electoral College results.
What's happening now?
Popular Information, a political newsletter operated by left-wing operative Judd Legum, contacted 144 corporations that financially supported the Republican lawmakers, specifically the eight senators, through their corporate PACs, asking if the companies would continue to support the lawmakers.
In response, three of the companies told Popular Information they would stop donating:
- Marriott International, the world's largest hotel chain
- Blue Cross Blue Shield, one of America's largest health insurance providers
- Commerce Bancshares
In a statement, a spokesperson for Marriott said, "We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election."
Meanwhile, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association president and CEO Kim Keck told Popular Information that it was suspending political donations to the 147 Republicans who voted against certification, calling their decision one that sought to "undermine our democracy."
At the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, we continuously evaluate our political contributions to ensure that those we support share our values and goals. In light of this week's violent, shocking assault on the United States Capitol, and the votes of some members of Congress to subvert the results of November's election by challenging Electoral College results, BCBSA will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.
While a contrast of ideas, ideological differences and partisanship are all part of our politics, weakening our political system and eroding public confidence in it must never be. We will continue to support lawmakers and candidates in both political parties who will work with us to build a stronger, healthier nation.
Commerce Bancshares told Popular Information, "At this time, we have suspended all support for officials who have impeded the peaceful transfer of power. Commerce Bank condemns violence in any form and believes the actions witnessed this week are abhorrent, anti-democratic and entirely contrary to supporting goodwill for Americans and businesses."
Legum later said that Citibank also told him it would pull their donations, but in Legum's article, he said that Citibank was pausing all PAC donations, not just those for Republicans.
UPDATE: @Citibank says it will “not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law” and will “pause contribu… https://t.co/x3Yz4Hxk7f— Judd Legum (@Judd Legum)1610307273.0
A few companies told Popular Information they would temporarily suspend all PAC donations without partisan particularity, while others told the newsletter they were reviewing their policies.
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