Watchdog group accuses House Republicans of violating campaign finance law
The left-leaning advocacy group End Citizens United says three freshman House Republicans have violated federal campaign finance law, the Washington Examiner reported.
Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota, and Marc Molinaro, all from New York, are being accused of having unlawfully transferred $4,000 combined between their state and federal committees.
"The law is intended to prevent corruption and undue influence over our leaders," Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, said in a statement. "These aren’t one-off mistakes; they appear to be calculated moves."
The Examiner's report stated that in March 2022, LaLota's federal committee received $1,000 from the Suffolk County Republican Committee, earmarked "from [a] verified source,." D’Esposito's federal committee raised $1,000 in March 2022 from Citizens for D’Esposito, and Molinaro's federal committee received $2,000 in total from his state committee in 2021 and 2022, according to End Citizens United.
The FEC stipulates that a candidate's nonfederal committee is "prohibited" from transferring "funds or assets" to his or her federal election committee. The agency also says direct contributions constitute a "transfer" -- regulations that End Citizens United say the lawmakers violated.
It its complaint, End Citizens United says D’Esposito's state campaign illegally used funds on print and advertising, rent, cellphones, volunteer expenses, and mail services in Washington, D.C.
"Additionally, the state committee spent over $97,000 in connection with a golf fundraiser reported to have a speaker advocating for Mr. D’Esposito's election to U.S. Congress," the complaint read. "Despite spending thousands of dollars on these expenses from his state committee, Mr. D’Esposito was neither campaigning for, nor was he seeking ballot access for, any New York state or local office in the 2022 election cycle."
"Thus, there is no logical reason that his state committee needed to make payments for a campaign office, print and online advertising, cell phones, printing, fundraising, or volunteer services. Rather it seems more likely that Mr. D’Esposito made these payments in connection with his federal campaign — his only active campaign at the time," the complaint read.
Read More Here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/house-republicans-violated-campaign-finance-law-pac-allegesDeSantis' educational board nominees have deep ties to dark money
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has placed an emphasis on structuring school boards by nominating far-right activists who align with his controversial initiative to reform education.
Now, a new report is offering insight into the types of nominees he's selected and how they are connected to Republican dark money. In a report published by Truthout, Alyssa Bowen and Caitlin Mahoney began with an overview of all that has transpired in recent months.
"DeSantis has appointed far-right activists with ties to dark money groups to fill the state’s Board of Education, which wields significant power over the state’s K-12 schools, including the power to dictate educational standards," Bowen and Mahoney wrote.
"These appointments, however, have garnered less media attention than DeSantis’s takeover of Florida’s New College, which included appointing Christopher Rufo, the architect of the recent manufactured outrage over supposed 'critical race theory' in public schools and an
According to Bowen and Mahoney, the nominees have been linked to dark money groups like Moms For Liberty (MFL), “Judicial Crisis Network” (JCN), The Catholic Association (TCA), and a number of others.
The writers went on to express concern about how these types of nominees and heir extremist views could ultimately impact schools and education across the state of Florida. They note that the type of money they have access to puts them in a better position to push their agenda.
"Such extremism by members of a board that determines what is taught in K-12 schools statewide should be disqualifying in itself," they wrote. "The dark money ties of these far-right actors, who have the power to push the fringe positions of their donors to public school children across the state, should also raise eyebrows."
"The close ties between such groups and politicians like DeSantis allow super-wealthy donors with extreme views to be hidden from the public while having disproportionate influence and the power to peddle unpopular and harmful policies that suit the views of rich extremists," they added.
But despite DeSantis' efforts to forward his agenda, the writers emphasized that poll projections suggest voters are not in alignment with this push.
"While DeSantis may want to export his 'culture war' attacks in a bid to 'Make America Florida,' voters don’t appear to be falling for the coordinated right-wing attacks on reproductive rights or our local schools, at least according to the most recent election results," they wrote.
AFPGOP's 'anti-woke' panic is turning off voters: strategist
Panic-inducing cultural crusades that include banning books involving sexual orientation from classrooms and cracking down on drag performances, are missing their mark, according to a strategist writing for The Bulwark Tuesday.
The problem is that swing voters are simply not tuned into this Republican cause — and are even actively turned off by it, wrote Rich Thau, the president of the research firm Engagious.
"We talked to seven Republicans, four Democrats, and three Independents across two sessions on April 11," he wrote. "The short answer is: The war on woke still isn’t resonating."
These voters, wrote Thau, often didn't have a definition of "woke," and when they did, it was unfavorable to the GOP. One voter identified as "Scott," for example, defined "woke" as "a term that was initiated by right-wing media to try to stop the progressive movement under the age of 30" and "a scare tactic."
When asked about specific policies, these swing voters' positions were more complicated but by no means highly favorable to the GOP. They were open to restricting "classroom instruction" on sexuality for young children and limiting transgender athletes from competing in their gender category — two issues the GOP has pursued — but were not on board with other GOP "anti-woke" policies like banning books, opposing "critical race theory," and cracking down on cities that "defund the police."
"And the vast majority of them saw it as negative if a candidate endorses all five policies, with some calling it pandering" and saying politicians should "focus on things that actually matter."
This tracks with polls broadly showing that most voters actually see "wokeness" as positive and don't support Republicans attacking businesses that celebrate diversity.
"The anti-woke platform may play well with Republican base voters," concluded Thau. "But come the general election in 2024, it’s hard to see combating wokeness driving vote choice."
Read More Here: https://www.thebulwark.com/swing-voters-still-not-into-the-anti-woke-stuff/
