Left’s Point Person for Post-Election Violence Prep Linked to Arabella Advisors

The point person for the Fight Back Table, a coalition of liberal organizations planning for a "post-Election Day political apocalypse scenario," leads a progressive coalition that is part of a massive liberal dark money network. 

Deirdre Schifeling, who leads the Fight Back Table's efforts to prepare for "mass public unrest" following the Nov. 3 election, founded and is campaign director for Democracy for All 2021 Action, a project of Arabella Advisors' Sixteen Thirty Fund. The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a dark money network that provides wealthy donors anonymity as they push large sums into the left's organizational efforts.

The connections suggest that post-election mobilization isn't just the project of a liberal fringe, but that powerful Democratic Party interest groups are also involved.

Created in 2019, Democracy for All 2021 Action includes more than 20 labor union, think tank, racial justice, and environmental groups that push for automatic and same-day voter registration, prohibiting voter ID laws, and removing "barriers" to naturalization, among other initiatives. While the Sixteen Thirty Fund does not report Democracy for All 2021 Action in its D.C. business records, the group acknowledges that it is a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund at the bottom of its website. The Sixteen Thirty Fund has been used as an avenue for donors to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to state-based and national groups in recent years. In 2018 alone, $141 million was passed through the fund to liberal endeavors.

A complete list of groups that make up the Fight Back Table is not publicly available, but Schifeling's group appears to be an integral part of its efforts. Beyond being the point person for the Fight Back Table's election war games, Schifeling has ties to two of the Fight Back Table's founding groups, Demos and Color of Change, which are part of Democracy for All 2021 Action. Schifeling's group is also a part of Protect the Results, a separate coalition that is collaborating with the Fight Back Table on mass mobilization to "protect the results of the 2020 elections" in more than 1,000 locations across the United States.

The post-Election Day prep follows other doomsday planning scenarios by liberal activists. The Transition Integrity Project released a 22-page document that mentioned "violence" 15 times, "chaos" 9 times, "unrest" 3 times, and "crisis" 12 times. The Fight Back Table, likewise, is preparing for extreme outcomes, including violence and mass mobilization efforts following the elections.

"There are a lot of scary scenarios," Sean Eldridge, a former Democratic congressional candidate that leads Protect the Results, told the Daily Beast, who first reported on the Fight Back Table's efforts. "We have to be prepared to mobilize in unprecedented ways." Protect the Results's massive coalition also includes other groups involved with the Fight Back Table, including Demos and MoveOn.

The liberal activists are planning for "civil and political" unrest following the elections if Biden does not win in a landslide. According to the Daily Beast, their simulations have included scenarios where Trump's camp releases "classified documents for political purposes, fueling manufactured rumors," halting "assets of individuals and groups the president determines to be a threat," and "restricting internet communications in the name of national security."

The war game preppers also saw scenarios where Trump could "rely on surrogates to embed operatives inside protests to encourage violent action" and "mobilize a range of law enforcement actors … who might, without proper training or if led by politicized actors, escalate matters." Additionally, they envisioned scenarios in which Trump invokes the Insurrection Act and sends the military into cities to "restore order," "protect" voting locations, and "confiscate ‘fraudulent' ballots," among other hypothetical outcomes. Eldridge said that if Biden were to lose and concede a contested election, his group would not support the mass mobilization efforts.

Democracy for All 2021 Action did not respond to a request for comment on the war games or the group's relationship to the Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Schifeling's group is just one of dozens that fall under funds affiliated with Arabella Advisors. The funds have facilitated more than $1 billion in anonymous funding since President Donald Trump took office.

Funds affiliated with Arabella Advisors act as a "fiscal sponsor" to liberal nonprofits by providing tax and legal status to the groups. This setup means that the nonprofits do not have to file individual tax forms to the IRS, which include information such as board members and overall financials.

Some of the most prominent groups on the left fall under these funds, including Demand Justice, which fights Trump's judicial nominations, and numerous prominent state-based groups. Funds at Arabella are also used to push grants to outside groups not contained within their network, including David Brock's American Bridge, John Podesta's Center for American Progress, the Center for Popular Democracy, and America Votes.

Update 09/17/20, 5:00 PM: This story has been updated to specify that funds affiliated with Arabella Advisors provide fiscal sponsorship, not Arabella Advisors itself.

Published under: 2020 Election, Arabella Advisors, Dark Money, Democracy for All 2021 Action, Fight Back Table, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Violence

 Arabella Advisors

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Arabella Advisors is a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network.^[1] It was founded by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler.^[1]

Organizations incubated by and affiliated with Arabella Advisors include the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Hopewell Fund, and the Windward Fund.^[2] These groups have been active in various efforts to oppose the Trump administration and to organize opposition to numerous Republican politicians and policies. Because of the way they are legally structured, Arabella Advisors and its affiliated groups are not required to disclose their donors, and they have not opted to do so.

Structure and funding[edit]

Arabella Advisors and its affiliated entities utilize tax regulations in which groups who use a fiscal sponsorship arrangement do not have to file a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service.^[3] Using "pass-through" arrangements, funding is passed from one organization to another, making it difficult to trace where a donor's money ends up.^[4]

In 2018, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Hopewell Fund, and the Windward Fund had combined revenue of $635 million. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in 2018 the Sixteen Thirty Fund had "thirteen multi-million dollar secret donors."^[5] One donor gave $51.7 million to the group in 2018, while another donor gave $26.7 million and a third gave $10 million. The group is not required by law to reveal its donors and it has not disclosed who its funders are. Known donors to the group include Nick Hanauer, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Wyss Foundation. Michael Bloomberg gave $250,000 to a super PAC linked to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and Democratic donor group Democracy Alliance, whose members include billionaire George Soros, has recommended that donors give generously to the Sixteen Thirty Fund.^[1]

According to Politico, the Sixteen Thirty Fund's activities are "a sign that Democrats and allies have embraced the methods of groups they decried as 'dark money' earlier this decade, when they were under attack from the money machines built by conservatives including the Kochs".^[1]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund[edit]

In 2018, The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a liberal "dark money" nonprofit headquartered in Washington D.C. that spent $141 million on more than 100 left-leaning and Democratic causes,^[1] making it a large source of money for nonprofits pushing a variety of changes to state and federal law. The Sixteen Thirty Fund supports Democratic lawmakers and candidates and criticizes Republicans. The group spent money opposing the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other Trump judicial nominees and supporting various ballot measures.^[1]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund was behind several groups that ran issue advocacy ads to benefit Democrats during the 2018 midterms. The group also funded Demand Justice, which spent millions of dollars on ads attacking Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund "have fiscally sponsored at least 80 of their own groups, bankrolling those entities in a way that leaves almost no paper trail."^[5]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund was active in the battle for the House of Representatives in 2018, assisting "Democrats trying to seize back power after Trump's rise." According to Politico, "The election featured dozens of Democratic candidates who decried the influence of money in politics on the campaign trail."^[1]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund operates under dozens of different trade names with titles like Arizonans United for Health Care, Floridians for a Fair Shake, Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity, North Carolinians for a Fair Economy. These groups have collectively spent millions of dollars to pressure Republican members of Congress on their stances on health care and economic issues through advertising and activism.^[1][6]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund spent almost $11 million in the 2018 Colorado elections on ballot measures, lobbying, and Democratic super PACs.^[7]

In 2019, the fund raised $137 million.^[8] In 2020, it gave $0.5 million to the group Colorado Families First to support a proposed ballot initiative requiring paid family leave in the state.^[7][9][10]

New Venture Fund[edit]

The New Venture Fund had revenue of $405 million in 2018, up from $350 million annually in the three preceding years. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the New Venture Fund "has fiscally sponsored at least 80 groups and acted as a pass-through agency funneling millions of dollars in grants for wealthy donors to opaque groups with minimal disclosure."^[11]

Projects and funding recipients[edit]

Demand Justice[edit]

Demand Justice is a courts-focused group headed by former Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon. The group spent millions of dollars opposing Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. The group "projected a video of Christine Blasey Ford accusing Kavanaugh of assault on the side of a truck outside a Washington gala where Kavanaugh was speaking."^[1]

Fix the Court[edit]

Main article: Fix the Court

The New Venture Fund provides all of the funding for Fix the Court, a judicial advocacy group that seeks reform of the U.S. federal court system.^[12] When Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Fix the Court bought several Internet domain names related to Kavanaugh and redirected them to websites including End Rape On Campus, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Fix the Court's executive director, Gabe Roth, said he purchased and redirected the websites because he believed the sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh and by Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas.^[13][14]

Defend American Democracy[edit]

Defend American Democracy spent six figures on television advertisements pressuring Republican members of Congress to vote to impeach President Donald Trump for what they called "abusing his office and risking national security for his own gain."^[5][15] This group "primarily targets swing-district Republicans, prominently features military veterans in its ads and presents itself as a veterans group to local media outlets."^[5] The Center for Responsive Politics reported that "A veterans group urging Republican lawmakers to 'put country over politics' amid the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is the project of a well-funded liberal 'dark money' network." Defend American Democracy's advertisements contained disclaimers that they were "paid for by a group called Protect the Investigation. But Protect the Investigation doesn't legally exist — it's one of dozens of fictitious names registered by the Sixteen Thirty Fund."^[5]

The Hub Project[edit]

The Hub Project was started in 2015 with funding from the Wyss Foundation, operated by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. The Hub Project seeks "to shape media coverage to help Democratic causes."^[16] The goal of The Hub Project is to help Democrats be more effective at conveying their arguments through the news media and directly to voters. It seeks to "dramatically shift the public debate and policy positions of core decision makers."^[16] The Hub Project engaged in paid advertising campaigns that criticized Republican congressional candidates in 2018. The Hub Project is housed within the Arabella-sponsored groups the New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Between 2007 and 2020, the Wyss Foundation donated approximately $56.5 million to these groups. The New Venture Fund underwrites Acronym, which owns the Courier Newsroom, a group seeking to boost Democratic candidates through local news stories and advertising.^[16]

The Hub Project is an initiative that passes on funding to and coordinates 14 groups out of a single office in Washington D.C., "with the goal of battering Republicans for their health care and economic policies during the midterm elections."^[17] The Hub Project is run by Obama administration official and public relations specialist Leslie Dach and former Center for American Progress political strategist Arkadi Gerney. The Hub Project "set up an array of affiliate groups around the country, many with vaguely sympathetic names like Keep Iowa Healthy, New Jersey for a Better Future and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy. The Hub Project then used them to mobilize volunteers and run advertising on policy issues against Republican members of Congress many months before the election."^[17]

America Votes[edit]

Main article: America Votes

The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave America Votes, which describes itself as "the coordination hub of the progressive community", $27 million in 2018. The $27 million grant was nearly twice the amount America Votes had previously ever raised in a single year.^[1]

Ballot measures[edit]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund urged passage of a Nevada ballot measure promoting automatic voter registration and a Michigan redistricting ballot measure. The group also supported a Florida constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons and minimum wage increases in Arkansas, Missouri, and other states. The way the groups structure their funding creates "an incomplete picture of where support for candidates and ballot initiatives are coming from" and allows these groups to "avoid public scrutiny by registering trade names to carry out their work. The groups pose as grassroots activist organizations... while being connected to much larger organizations."^[2] They adopt 'trade names' meaning voters have little way of knowing who is controlling or funding the organizations until after an election is over. In a 2018 ballot measure campaign in Michigan, a Sixteen Thirty Fund donor group didn't report a "trade name" they had used in a campaign "until 12 days after voters went to the ballots."^[2]

League of Conservation Voters[edit]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $8 million to the League of Conservation Voters in 2018.^[5]

ACRONYM and the Courier Newsroom[edit]

Main article: Acronym (political organization)

Main article: Courier Newsroom

In 2018, the New Venture Fund gave $250,000 to ACRONYM, described by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) as "a liberal dark money group with an affiliated super PAC called PACRONYM."^[11] As of 2019, ACRONYM was the full owner of Courier Newsroom, a digital for-profit media company which publishes "websites that appear to be free-standing local news outlets" but that are "actually part of a coordinated effort with deep ties to Democratic political operatives."^[11] According to the CRP, "Courier has faced scrutiny for exploiting the collapse of local journalism to spread 'hyperlocal partisan propaganda.'"^[11]

In 2018, the Sixteen Thirty Fund "sponsored social media pages and digital operations for five pseudo local news outlets."^[11] These outlets appeared to be independent but ran nearly identical digital ads. Associated Facebook pages "gave the impression of multiple free-standing local news outlets with unique names and disclaimers...But the sponsors of those ads are merely fictitious names used by the Sixteen Thirty Fund." The Sixteen Thirty Fund is also tied to Supermajority News, whose associated super PAC, Democracy PAC, was created by George Soros in 2019. Democracy PAC gave $1.75 million to PACRONYM, the super PAC arm of ACRONYM. ACRONYM gained notoriety as the majority owner of Shadow Inc., a political technology company whose software failed during the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.^[11]

Coronavirus pandemic[edit]

In 2020, the Sixteen Thirty Fund was behind a number of groups that spent millions of dollars on advertisements attacking President Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic ahead of the 2020 presidential election.^[4] Arabella Advisors aimed to raise between $8 million and $10 million for the Trusted Elections Fund in case the coronavirus pandemic leads to foreign hacking of voting systems, violence, or contested election results.^[18]

Editing of Wikipedia page[edit]

In June 2020, Arabella came under scrutiny for hiring a paid editor to request edits to their Wikipedia page, with the edit request being reported by multiple news sources.^[19]

References[edit]

1. Markay, Lachlan (2020-06-11). "Lefty Advocacy Outfit Enlists PR Strategist to Clean Up Its Wikipedia Page". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-07-16. ^
2. ^ Slodysko, Brian; Beaumont, Thomas (July 28, 2020). "Wealthy donors pour millions into fight over mail-in voting". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
3. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Burns, Alexander (October 31, 2018). "With $30 Million, Obscure Democratic Group Floods the Zone in House Races". New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
4. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c} Vogel, Kenneth P.; Robertson, Katie (13 April 2021). "Top Bidder for Tribune Newspapers Is an Influential Liberal Donor". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
5. ^ Seidman, Andrew. "'Stop putting politics ahead of our country' on Trump impeachment, veterans tell GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in new ad". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2020-04-28. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
6. ^ Lieu, Johnny (October 10, 2018). "Someone bought BrettKavanaugh.com, which links to sexual assault survivor resources". Mashable. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
7. ^ Black, Shelby (October 10, 2018). "Fix The Court Bought Brett Kavanaugh's Name As A Website To Help Sexual Assault Survivors". Elite Daily. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
8. ^ Wolf, Richard (November 12, 2014). "At Supreme Court, secretiveness attracts snoops". USA Today. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
9. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d e f} Massoglia, Anna (May 22, 2020). "'Dark money' networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites". Center for Responsive Politics. OpenSecrets.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
10. ^ Politics, Marianne Goodland, Colorado. "Paid leave ballot measure kicks off, backed by dark money groups". Colorado Politics. Archived from the original on 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
11. ^ Kenney, Andrew. "Colorado's Paid Leave Bill Is Dead, But Voters May Still Decide". Colorado Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
12. ^ Bland, Scott. "Liberal dark-money behemoth raised nearly $140M last year". Politico. Archived from the original on 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
13. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} "Dark money group drops $500,000 to help put a paid family leave initiative on November ballot". The Colorado Sun. 2020-05-07. Archived from the original on 2020-05-12. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
14. ^ SCOTT BLAND (29 July 2018). "Liberal secret-money network hammers House GOP". Politico. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020. The groups have local members and names like Floridians for a Fair Shake, Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy. But they are all linked to one obscure nonprofit in downtown Washington, D.C.: the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has funneled millions of dollars to progressive causes in recent years and set up each of the new groups
15. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d e f} Massoglia, Anna; Evers-Hillstrom, Karl (November 20, 2019). "Liberal 'dark money' operation behind ads urging Republicans to support impeachment". Center for Responsive Politics. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
16. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Massoglia, Anna (March 27, 2020). "Democratic 'dark money' groups and super PACs target Trump with multi-million dollar coronavirus ad campaign". Center for Responsive Politics. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
17. ^ Rojc, Philip (January 14, 2020). "Big Builds: A Look Inside Arabella Advisors". Inside Philanthropy. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
18. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c} Barrett, Malachi (November 26, 2019). "Left-leaning 'dark money' network poured millions into Michigan elections". MLive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
19. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Bland, Scott; Severns, Maggie (November 19, 2019). "Documents reveal massive 'dark-money' group boosted Democrats in 2018". Politico. Archived from the original on 29 May 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.