OPINION:
My gosh, but the left has got itself in a tizzy. A desperate tizzy, to be more accurate. A desperate, costly tizzy that pulls out all the funding stops, to be even more accurate.
The money trail is never wrong.
You’ve got George Soros’ Open Society Policy Center funding the likes of Sixteen Thirty Fund, and then this Sixteen Thirty Fund, as the Daily Caller initially reported, siphoning off money to a group called Demand Justice aimed at stopping Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. The ties are tough to discern — but they’re there.
Here’s how it’s all linked: Tax filings from Soros’ Open Society Policy Center show tens of thousands of dollars have been granted to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(C)4 initiative that provides money for left-leaning social and environmental issues. In 2015 tax filings, for instance, the Soros OSPC revealed it funneled $550,000 to the Sixteen Thirty Fund — an amount that put this initiative at the top 10 of OSPC contributions that year.
In 2018, Demand Justice burst on the scene to “stop Trump’s SCOTUS nominee, Brett Kavanaugh,” as it wrote on its own website. What’s Demand Justice? As the Center for Responsive Politics on its OpenSecrets.org site put it, Demand Justice is a “newer liberal ’dark money’ group” that “launched a digital ad campaign against Trump’s judicial picks in May 2018.”
Who funds it? Very good question. Key phrase: “dark money.”
OpenSecrets.org goes on: “The group announced that it expects to raise $10 million in its first year and spend on digital ad campaigns in the mid-five figures. However, the group’s structure keeps the actual amounts raised and spent hidden. … According to a May 2018 addition to the list of trade names on file with the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Demand justice was organized by a fiscal sponsor called the Sixteen Thirty Fund.”
Don’t expect much more transparency than that with this Demand Justice group, though.
Demand Justice, because it’s sponsored by Sixteen Thirty Fund, doesn’t have to fill out an IRS Form 990 listing its sources of money. And donors who want to spread their cash to Demand Justice don’t have to reveal they’re giving to Demand Justice — they only have to report donations to the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
But the tie between Soros and the Oppose Kavanaugh At All Costs crowd is there. Want another? Debra Katz, the attorney representing Christine Blasey Ford, a woman accusing Kavanaugh of a high-school era, decades-old sexual attack, is the vice chair of the Project on Government Oversight — which is listed on this same 2015 Form 990 as having received $30,000 from the Soros-tied OSPC the previous year. Interesting, yes?
Here’s one more notable tidbit about Demand Justice: Paige Herwig, currently working as the deputy chief counsel at Demand Justice, served for deputy general counsel for none other than — drumroll please — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, and yes, the same Dianne Feinstein who brought us the famous Ford letter. Herwig says as much on her LinkedIn page; it’s also been reported by Paul Sperry, the previous D.C. bureau chief for Investor’s Business Daily, on his Twitter page. She worked for Feinstein January 2017-February 2018; she started at Demand Justice this March.
Hmm.
But back to Soros.
The Soros money tie is just one prong on this massive leftist wave aimed at taking down President Donald Trump — taking down Republicans in the midterms — and ultimately, putting a stop to conservative agendas.
Another? GovPredict — which just found that nearly 90 percent of political donations made by Alphabet employees, including those who work for Google, YouTube, Verily and others, have gone, between the years of 2004 and 2018, to Democrats — has a new report on Amazon.
And the findings about political donations are equally interesting.
Since 2004, Amazon employees donated $610,805 to Hillary Clinton; $413,763 to Barack Obama; $128,750 to Democrat Patty Murray; $106,965 to Democrat-Socialist Bernie Sanders; $95,345 to Democrat Maria Cantwell; and $57,098 to Democrat Jay Inslee. Republicans on that list? Mitt Romney received $62,400; Jason Chaffetz, $39,000; and Trump, $17,436.
GovPredict wrote that “310 Amazon employees contributed to Hillary Clinton, 275 contributed to Bernie Sanders, 171 to Barack Obama, 55 to Jay Inslee, 54 to Maria Cantwell, 42 to Patty Murray, and 20 to Mitt Romney. … Trump received $17,436 from 42 contributors.”
Lean left much?
That’s Google; that’s Amazon — two of America’s largest employers. The money trail, once again, speaks volumes.
Then comes this, an announcement from singer-actor John Legend — with more anti-Kavanaugh ties to Team Soros.
“A diverse coalition of social justice organizations today unveiled a new digital ad featuring singer-songwriter actor John Legend that urges viewers to contact their senators and tell them to vote ’no’ on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh,” a statement from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights read. Interesting that it’s a “digital ad” campaign — the exact type of campaign Demand Justice launched in May to oppose Trump’s court pics, yes?
Anyhow, among the social justice groups that have banded to oppose Kavanaugh are these: The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. The Human Rights Campaign. Color of Change. The National Urban League. Oh, and Planned Parenthood — listed in 2015 IRS Form 990 filings as the recipient of $1.5 million from the Open Society Policy Center. Color of Change, meanwhile?
This hybrid PAC/Super PAC reported donations in October of 2016 from Soros to the tune of $150,000 and $250,000; in May of 2018 from Soros in the amount of $50,000; and in January of 2018 from Jonathan Soros, George Soros’ son, in the amount of $5,000.
That’s just a quick glimpse. But it’s George Soros, once again. The money trail, once again.
The numbers, the dollar signs — the sneaky, semi-hidden funding mechanisms for the opposition — speak volumes. And what they’re saying is this: The left is well-funded, well-organized, globally connected, and both intent and bent on pulling out all the stops to stop this president, stop this Supreme Court nomination, and stop conservatism and capitalism and constitutionally based freedom, as we know it, in this country.
It’s a cultural and political clash conservative cannot afford to downplay or ignore.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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