Investigating Power
The Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute paid out $149.2 million in grants in 2020 to universities, right-wing policy, litigation, and advocacy groups, and other causes, the latest IRS filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy detail.
Spurred by $158 million from one secret donor, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund pumped a record amount of money into right-wing campaigns to remake the Supreme Court, spread election and climate disinformation, and support extremists last year.
While the July 26-28 session was ostensibly led by the dark money group Honest Elections Project, it was organized, hosted, and bankrolled by ALEC, despite repeated claims by its CEO, Lisa Nelson, that the group does not work on voting issues.
A mix of high-powered lawyers, pastors, and corporate leaders funded the Council for National Policy’s 40th Anniversary celebration in May.
Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey, a state chair and national board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, allegedly used illegal contributions to further his campaign for Congress in 2016.
The Trump-aligned nonprofit pitches a “Systematic Effort” to “Inspire Our Kids [to] Love America Again” in investor prospectus obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
Both leading candidates in the Republican primary for secretary of state in Arizona support voter suppression legislation, and one is an insurrectionist backed by Trump.
The Republican Attorneys General Association has added another weapon to its arsenal of pay-to-play groups designed to influence state attorneys general and national policy.
The Maine Ethics Commission voted to authorize an investigation into whether the American Legislative Exchange Council violated state campaign finance laws by providing valuable voter management software to its legislative members for free as a “membership benefit.”
GOP megadonor and power broker Art Pope has gone all-in to help Republicans rig elections in their favor for the next decade.