(NewsInsights.org) – Since 2016, the Democratic Party began to outpace the GOP in collecting and spending dark money. Five left-leaning non-profit funds gathered $1.34 billion in donations and grants in 2022, distributing more than $935 million to other causes and organizations, according to a Fox News Digital report. Yet, one company, Arabella Advisors, seemingly oversees, advises, and coordinates their activities. Now, it has added a new dark money client to the list: The Telescope Fund, a donor-advised fund (DAF), a new category of dark money.
The term “dark money” refers to political funds directed to influence voter decisions about candidates or issues where the donors or source of the monies remains shrouded. In the US, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) does not require non-profit political action committees (PACs) organized under 501(c)(4) charters to reveal donors. Some choose to remain transparent, but pundits label those that don’t disclose their donors dark money PACs.
Arabella Advisors positions itself as a business services provider. It provides clients like the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Windward Fund, the North Fund, and the Hopewell Fund with accounting, legal compliance, and human resource services. Additionally, it advises clients in public relations and marketing, according to The Atlantic. The new Telescope Fund will join Arabella Advisors’ other 501(c)(4) clients in its choice not to disclose donors who advise the fund where they would like to see their donations directed.
Critics like Caitlin Sutherland of Americans for Public Trust, a watchdog organization skeptical of dark money and its influence, charge that Arabella Advisors has established an “overwhelming influence” on the American political system. The addition of the Telescope Fund, an outgrowth of the New Venture Fund, further expands that influence. Sutherland claimed the company was pushing the US “toward more extreme causes and candidates,” including far-left progressive candidates and green policies.
While Arabella Advisors claimed to serve rather than direct its client PACs, records have shown that the clients have transmitted funds to one another on more than one occasion. The company maintains unusually close ties with its newest PAC, the Telescope Fund, based on a unique client agreement and on the fact that the fund’s president, Leslie Payne, served as a former Arabella Advisors senior director, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
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