Poor Stallman

[2/3] >>464 https://www.stallman.org/archives/2020-jul-oct.html#4_October_2020_(Supporters_of_QAnon-Supporting_extremist_candidates) -- *[Republican] Megadonors, Freedom Caucus, and CEOs Bankroll QAnon-Supporting, Extremist Candidates.* -- https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2020/10/01/trump-megadonors-freedom-caucus-and-ceos-bankroll-qanon-supporting-extremist-candidates/ -- Trump Megadonors, Freedom Caucus, and CEOs Bankroll QAnon-Supporting, Extremist Candidates -- October 1st, 2020

The Freedom Fund has also endorsed and directed donations to QAnon-friendly GOP nominees Lauren Boebert and Burgess Owens. The Freedom Fund itself donated $5,000 to the Greene campaign, and it reported making $47,000 worth of independent expenditures backing Greene and over $57,000 supporting Boebert. Fifteen out of the 37 Freedom Caucus members are alumni of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing pay-to-play network of state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists that writes corporate-friendly model bills. Current Freedom Caucus members have also helped out Greene. The campaigns of Jim Jordan, who was previously chair of the group, and current chair Andy Biggs (R-AZ), donated $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. Biggs’ leadership PAC donated $3,500 to Right Women PAC, which spent money helping Greene. Another member, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), tweeted enthusiastic support for her.

Your Voice Counts, the leadership PAC of Mark Meadows, the former chair of the Freedom Caucus who is now Trump’s chief of staff, donated $2,000 to the Greene campaign in April, days before his PAC was terminated. Your Voice Counts also donated $5,000 to the House Freedom Fund. Gun groups are also supportive of Greene’s House bid. The PAC of Gun Owners for America gave the maximum allowed donation of $5,000 to Greene’s campaign, and the National Association for Gun Rights PAC added $1,000. Pro-gun activists’ support for Greene should come as no surprise. Greene posted a photo to Facebook of herself holding an assault rifle alongside the faces of three progressive congresswomen of color [ https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-deleted-gop-candidates-post-threatening-violence-against-aoc-2020-9 ]. The company took down the image because it violated its policy against “violence and incitement.” The corporate PAC of Koch Industries donated $5,000 to Greene’s campaign but asked for a refund [ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/07/koch-withdraw-qanon-candidate/ ] after photos emerged of Greene posing with known neo-Nazi leader [ http://archive.is/uoA80 ] Chester Doles and members of right-wing militia group.

No other corporate PACs gave directly to the Greene campaign, but several others donated to PACs that did. The PACs that gave to Greene all revolve around Meadows. Through his campaign committee, leadership PAC, a super PAC, and the PAC of the Freedom Caucus, Meadows boosted Greene’s campaign or helped fund ads supporting her. Additional corporate and union PACs gave money to the House Freedom Fund, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. Pfizer PAC gave $5,000 in January 2019, and Devon Energy gave $5,000 in April 2020. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association PAC gave $1,000 in January 2019 and $2,500 in February 2020. Pfizer spokesperson Sharon Castillo condemned QAnon but indicated the company PAC will not ask for a refund of its donation to the House Freedom Fund. “Pfizer’s PAC has not donated to Ms. Greene’s campaign,” she wrote in an email. “Pfizer rejects and condemns the hateful speech and divisive conspiracy theories promoted by the QAnon movement. Our political contributions are led by two guiding principles—furthering innovation and expanding access to medicines and vaccines for the patients we serve.”

Devon Energy spokesperson Lisa Adams told CMD that her company PAC did not contribute to the Freedom Fund. “I can confirm that no money from our corporate PAC (DEC PAC) was contributed to the House Freedom Fund,” she wrote in an email. “We believe there has been a mistake, and Devon was incorrectly identified as a contributor. We are in touch and working with the FEC to investigate further and correct the information.” Corporations and unions have also indirectly supported QAnon-friendly candidates by giving to Meadows’ Your Voice Counts. In 2019, the PACs of the Air Line Pilots Association ($1,000), Altria Group ($5,000), Dominion Energy ($1,000), FedEx ($3,000), Mylan ($1,000), National Air Traffic Controllers Association ($2,000), National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association ($5,000), and Reynolds American ($5,000) donated to Your Voice Counts.

AltriaPAC gave $5,000 to Your Voice Counts in August 2019. Company spokesperson David Sutton told CMD that Altria has not supported Greene and that it “never direct[s] a leadership PAC to make a contribution to a candidate or otherwise earmark our funds for particular candidates.” “Our contribution to the Meadows’ leadership PAC was well before the leadership PAC’s contribution to [Greene],” said Sutton. “As the leadership PAC’s FEC reports indicate, our contribution was not earmarked for this candidate.” National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesperson Doug Church declined to comment, telling CMD that the trade group does not comment on its PAC donations. The other PACs listed above did not return CMD’s requests for comment.

Your Voice Counts also gave $5,000 to Right Women PAC, a super PAC that spent over $26,000 on independent expenditures supporting Greene or opposing her primary opponent, John Cowan. The biggest donor to Right Women PAC by far is Mark Meadows’ campaign committee, having given over $61,000. The “social welfare” nonprofit Americans for Limited Government donated $22,500. The group’s former chairman and co-founder, Howard Rich, is a director at the libertarian Cato Institute and the conservative political group Club for Growth. Reynolds American PAC added $2,000. Other donors of note to Right Women PAC include financial services executive and Heritage Foundation trustee Mark Kolokotrones, who gave $20,000, and Diana Davis Spencer ($1,000), whose charitable foundation is a major player in the right-wing political donor network. Since 2014, Spencer’s foundation has given large amounts to dozens of conservative think tanks, higher education programs, and political operations including the Manhattan Institute ($3.5 million), Hoover Institution ($1.75 million), the Daily Caller News Foundation ($550,000), and Turning Point USA ($325,000), according to CMD’s research. The foundation has also contributed to the anti-Muslim hate group the Center for Security Policy, giving $440,000 since 2014. Many of the same PACs that contributed to Meadows’ leadership PAC or the House Freedom Fund also gave to Meadows’ campaign committee directly during the 2020 election cycle:

🐘 Reynolds American PAC ($10,000)
🐘 National Air Traffic Controllers Association PAC ($4,500)
🐘 Pfizer PAC ($3,500)
🐘 Altria Group PAC ($3,500)
🐘 Koch PAC ($2,500)
🐘 FedEx PAC ($2,500)
🐘 Air Line Pilots Association PAC ($2,000)
🐘 National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association ($1,000)

Boebert is a gun rights activist and restaurant owner who upset five-term GOP incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton in the June primary in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. While her campaign manager told CNN [ https://lite.cnn.com/en/article/h_2bdac2f66c55f11d7cc8d19d1f2a540c ] that the GOP nominee “does not follow QAnon,” Boebert told the online talk show Steel Truth, which is hosted by a “prominent” QAnon supporter, “Everything I heard of Q—I hope that this is real because it only means America is getting stronger and better, and people are returning to conservative values, and that’s what I am for.” The National Republican Congressional Committee, led by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), embraced Boebert, including her in its “Young Guns” fundraising push. “Lauren won her primary fair and square and has our support,” Emmer told [ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1232673#blogHeader ] NBC News. “This is a Republican seat and will remain a Republican seat as Nancy Pelosi and senior House Democrats continue peddling their radical conspiracy theories and pushing their radical cancel culture,” he said.