August 2022

The Corruption Belt – Diagramming Oklahoma’s Dark Money Web – Political Consultants and PAC Treasurers

After many weeks of study, I was able to put together an initial diagram of Dark Money and how it flows among and between various 501c4 and PAC organizations influencing Oklahoma elections.

Unfortunately, it creates rather a combination of shock, dismay, frustration and confusion to look upon the document itself. Standing at a distance, it looks a bit like a washing machine – interesting because I contend that the whole process amounts to little more than money laundering for political gain.

Definitions For Dark Money Components

501c4: This is an IRS designation applied to organizations which desire to be considered charitable/non-profit, but also want to have the ability to spend money influencing political candidates or campaigns. According to the IRS, an organization can maintain a c4 designation if they spend LESS THAN 49% of their money/time/assets for political activity. Donations are not generally tax deductible.

501c3: This is an IRS designation applied to organizations which desire to be considered charitable/non-profit, but they may not engage in political activity. Donations are tax deductible.

Dark Money: Though 501c4 organizations must reveal the amount of money they spend on political activity, they do not have to reveal the names of their donors – hence the source of the money is ‘dark’ or unrevealed. This article answers many questions about Dark Money if you are interested in more information.

PAC: PAC stands for Political Action Committee. There are actually several different kinds. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has a webpage with definitions here. PAC’s are created to allow an organization or individual to give (mostly) unlimited amounts of money to political candidates or campaigns. 501c4’s can donate to PACs, allowing donors to remain anonymous. Super PACS can only make Independent Expenditures (IEs). This means that there can be no coordination at all between a candidate, his/her campaign and donors to the PAC. People independent of the candidate and campaign, set up the PAC, solicit donations and then spend funds from the PAC on various forms of advertising on behalf of the candidate or campaign WITHOUT THEM KNOWING.

Dark Money Web – Many Political Consultant Companies Involved

Political Consultants are people who have backgrounds in politics and/or law, who help candidates with their elections. They provide – or contract for – services such as, photography, art, writing, polling, consultation and advertising, to include radio, social media, television and direct mail. Candidates normally pay consultants directly from funds they raise for their campaign.

Because I identified so many political consulting groups through the Dark Money Web, I decided to examine Ethics Commission reports for every seated Oklahoma legislator in 2022 and compile a list of all political consultants used by Oklahoma legislators.

If a legislator made a payment to a political consultant, I recorded the name and date I first found record of payment. Many of the following firms are not implicated in the Dark Money web at all, but were included because the intent was to catalogue ALL firms for information.

Here is the compiled list of the most popular political consultants within the House and Senate:

Amber Integrated – The Amber integrated team includes members of former “The Right Strategy Group“, and FKG Consulting groups – all of whom have long resumes in politics or government relations (aka lobbying). Partner Tammie Kilpatrick is designated as a lobbyist for at least 14 different organizations, including Cherokee Nation Businesses LLC, according to Oklahoma Ethics reports.

Ascend Action – Run by long-time Republican political strategist Holly Gerard, the Ascend Action website states, “we exclusively work with the candidates and organization who promote [these] foundational American values and strive to see them protected in the federal and state government level.” Much of their team has worked with Senator Ted Cruz. Other campaigns include Jim Jordan, Greg Abbott and Chip Roy.

Campaign Advocacy Management Professionals – According to CAMP’s website, CAMP is a partnership between Fount Holland and Matt Parker. Parker hails from Louisiana where he worked for Bobby Jindal. Holland has a long legacy in Oklahoma politics. In 2016, Holland was charged (along with others) on two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony relating to the campaign of then-candidate for Superintendent, Joy Hoffmeister in 2014. During that time, Holland was operating AH Strategies with partner Karl Ahlgren and Trebor Worthen, a former two-term member of the Oklahoma legislature elected to the seat held previously by his father, at only 23 years of age. Holland, Ahlgren and Worthen also owned Majority Designs, a printing/mailing service – now apparently called CAMP Mail run by Karl Ahlgren, who has his own questionable footprint in Oklahoma politics. Worthen is now working on his own helping candidates he won’t name publicly and operating the Sooner State Leadership Fund dark money PAC which has paid for ads against Governor Stitt.

HPPC/Lance Cargill – Though there is no website I can find for his current organization (this is from an old website), Lance Cargill has been a fixture in Oklahoma politics for two decades. First elected to the House in 2000, Cargill became Speaker of the Oklahoma House from 2007 to 2008 before leaving the legislature due to a scandal involving late payment of property and personal income taxes and accusations of mishandling PAC money. In 2017, HPPC helped Democrat Richard Morrissette run for Oklahoma City Council in a campaign that reported it’s only spending to HPPC.

James Martin Company – Founded by Jenna Worthen, wife of Trebor Worthen, James Martin doesn’t list their political clients or the non-profits with which they have worked. Their team includes Macey Whitehouse, identified as a former employee of CAMP.

Neva Hill – I was unable to find a working website associated with Neva Hill’s political consulting services, however, BallotPedia reports Hill as a fixture in Oklahoma politics over four decades during which she has worked for Tom Cole, James Lankford and Ervin Yen. She has also been a long-time political commentator for KOSU. She served as the State Director for the Bush/Quayle campaign and was the Assistant Commissioner of Labor under Governor Henry Bellmon.

Tomahawk Strategies – Run by John Fritz and Josh Wagoner, with – apparently at some point – Stuart Jolly. So far, this organization has been sued by a Tulsa doctor for libel and conspiracy during a series of ads for their client Cody Rogers (they lost the case, paying Dr. Emerson nearly $10k in damages 3/2022), broke numerous FEC rules during their management of Lankford opponent Jackson Lahmeyer, racked up a Better Business Bureau complaint for services rendered, and gained public consternation about a flyer for candidate Kelly Dunkerley in Tulsa that mis-stated facts and quoted Jolly as endorsing the candidate when he had not.

Victory Enterprises – This organization headquarters out of Iowa, but has agents for Oklahoma, Missouri and Wisconsin. Oklahoma’s agent of record is Whitney Michael who apparently lives in OKC. Some of the people for which members of the Victory Enterprises team has worked, according to their website, include, Chuck Grassley, James Lankford and John McCain. Many of the team members have extensive backgrounds in politics.

Dark Money Web – Many Treasurers In Common

You can find the diagram on our Scribd account. This dark money web was created as I began to research Jake Merrick’s failed Senate re-election campaign. I wanted to understand who wanted Jake removed from office so badly as to spend so much money on an Oklahoma Senate seat. Clearly – with nearly $350,000 spent on the race – individual donations were exceptionally unlikely to make up the bulk of the campaign, so I believed a much wider effort had to be at play. I was right.

The problem – if you will – of researching Jake’s race was that I kept finding where money was transferred from one PAC to another and payments were made to organizations for services.

Lots of money went to organizations outside Oklahoma for radio, television and social media (digital) advertising. Of those organizations within the state that were paid for services out of campaign and PAC accounts, several appeared numerous times; CAMP, South Creek Group LLC and Amber Integrated all received checks for services rendered from numerous PACs. In some cases, all three received payments from one PAC.

Another interesting overlap was that many of the PACs had the same treasurer, ie; Dustin McIntyre and Joel Riter and Geoffrey Long appeared numerous times.

McINTYRE

McIntyre is an enigma, but paperwork filed with the FEC for the Protect Our Freedoms PAC provides a McIntyre email address for the FEC Compliance Group, LLC, once the Clark Fork Group, LLC, both based out of Columbus, Ohio. Joel Riter is a known associate of Clark Fork Group.

RITER

Joel Riter, a former aide to Republican Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel and lobbyist for Cap Square Solutions in Ohio, has been connected to a dark money web influencing Ohio elections including PACs that also function in Oklahoma. CREW, an ethics watchdog group, has filed FEC complaints on several of Riter’s PACs which network to others on the Dark Money Web, including, A Public Voice, American Exceptionalism Institute Inc, and Prosperity Alliance, Inc.

Riter also has a presence in Oklahoma. The 501c4, Foundation for Economic Prosperity is operated by Trey (John W.) Richardson and Jeri Richardson with Joel Riter listed as Director and Secretary. The Richardsons own SAGAC Public Affairs and GrPRO – the latter of which employs Maressa Treat, the wife of Senate Pro Temp, Greg Treat, who also uses SAGAC and GrPro to manage his campaign. IRS filings for the Foundation for Economic Prosperity are only available from 2016-2019.

Geoffrey Long, for example, is the Designated Filing Agent (originally named treasurer – an error I regret) for Truth PAC (on the upper left in our diagram). This PAC was apparently created by CAMP as the email reads info@camppolitical.com, Matthew Parker is Treasurer and the address is CAMP’s (401 NE 46^th Street, OKC 73105). Ethics records show that the PAC received $281,000 from Protect Our Freedoms Pac. Protect our Freedoms PAC – which has a Virginia address at a Parcel Plus in a strip mall – received two $375,000 contributions: One from Benjamin Harris and one from David Chaney, founders of EPIC Charter School, now with four felony charges relating to mismanagement of taxpayer funds. Nearly every penny of the $281k was spent supporting straw candidate Steve McQuillen for State Auditor and Inspector over Cindy Byrd, the current SAI who audited EPIC on orders of the governor and found large numbers of illegalities.

During 2018, the Foundation had over a million dollars, but recorded only spending of approximately 270 thousand dollars to Gr Pro LLC and SAGAC Public Affairs for consulting and event management and a ‘grant’ of $2500 to Advancing Freedom for ‘issue advocacy’.

Foundation for Economic Prosperity Inc., filed as a PAC with the FEC in 2013/14 where it spent over $160k to support James Lankford and Patrice Douglass and nearly $65k against TW Shannon. SAGAC Public Affairs also operates the FEC-registered Advancing Freedom Political Action Committee (for 2021/22) and the Committee For Advancing Freedom (also for 21/22), though no expenditures or deposits are recorded in either to date of publication.

Advancing Freedom, Inc – which spent $214k opposing Oklahoma AG John O’Connor – ties to the Committee for Advancing Freedom by PO Box and that the organization’s books are listed as in care of Trey Richardson. Advancing Freedom had nearly $200k in revenue from unknown sources and spent $13k in electioneering.

The Corruption Belt: MISLEADING Mailers Against SD28 Candidate Jeff McCommas From Advance Oklahoma PAC – Another PAC With Ties To Fount Holland (CAMP)

Advance Oklahoma PAC has some very interesting connections and affiliations – and just put out a hit piece on a candidate running against a Fount Holland (CAMP) client.

Today I received a mailer against a candidate in my local SD28 race – Jeff McCommas.

Jeff is running against Fount Holland (CAMP) candidate Grant Green. Mr. Holland is the man who was arrested and charged for working with then-candidate Joy Hofmeister to coordinate voter messaging through an Independent Expenditure – a PAC that must be independent of a candidate and his/her committee.

This mailer is tied to a group called Advance Oklahoma PAC. Note the diagram above. Advance Oklahoma PAC has many things in common with a PAC called Build and Protect. They both have the same Treasurer – Dustin McIntyre. They both spend money through three groups – CAMP, Amber Integrated and South Creek Group.

Advance Oklahoma and Build and Protect PAC share an address.

This is what corresponds to the address listed:

Both phone numbers produce similar generic answering messages – essentially no one is available to take the call, please leave a message.

Now, here comes an even more interesting tie – the candidates associated with the PACs.

Advance Oklahoma lists Independent Expenditures for Gabe Renfrow, Logan Phillips, Hunter Zearley, Teresa Sterling, Jeff Sawatzky and Grant Green. The only one who is NOT a CAMP client is a direct mail expense for Richard Miller (running for HD49). But here again is an interesting parallel.

Build and Protect PAC has IE’s supporting only CAMP client John George (running for HD36), but for 1 entry supporting Senator Brenda Stanley (a Neva Hill client).

Inside the Advance Oklahoma PAC there is only ONE documented expense paid to CAMP. That for Richard Miller (an Ascend client).

Notice that both of these entries have funds expended through CAMP.

Advance Oklahoma PAC is registered with the Federal Election Committee as a Super PAC (it can only spend money for candidates who don’t know it’s spending money for them).

Note the Treasurer is the same as registered on the other PAC paperwork. Interestingly, the address on the FEC paperwork corresponds to the address below.

But there’s more.

Looking through the expenditures at FEC.gov shows thousands and thousands of dollars in expenditures to CAMP for the same time period as recorded through the Ethics Commission website for Advance Oklahoma PAC – this is just one page.

Now for the questions.

How can an INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE PAC:

have no legitimate address or phone number tying it to a business or at least a person responsible for the PAC?
pay the political consultant of the client for which the PAC is spending money and still be INDEPENDENT?
have so many things in common as these two PACS who seem to work only for CAMP clients while also paying CAMP for work the PAC does?

If this is legal, it shouldn’t be. If it’s illegal, it should be prosecuted. Where is justice for all the good candidates who are having voters turn against them because of baseless claims by people who seem to be colluding with their clients to change voter perception using money that is supposed to be INDEPENDENT of their candidate campaigns.

In case it’s not legible, the McCommas mailer makes the baseless, untrue claim that Jeff is pro-choice on the basis of an UNRETURNED survey sent out by Oklahoman’s for Life. Jeff doesn’t even remember getting that survey. What candidate remembers to fill out every survey they get? This would be flat silliness if it weren’t so destructive to good people who have put aside their businesses and families and budgets to become SERVANT leaders at our state capitol.

Here’s Jeff’s own mailer from today. Vote Jeff McCommas.

August 20, 2022 1

We’re Not So Jolly About Common Core Clark – Vote NO For Clark Jolley For State Treasurer

Clark Jolley at the Jeb Bush, Foundation for Education Excellence National Summit on Education Reform in Boston, MA with former Oklahoma State Board of Education member Amy Ford. Clark Jolley was the lead author of the bill that adopted Obama-pushed Common Core State Standards throughout Oklahoma.

Sadly, Clark Jolley and ROPE have never been famous friends.

It all started in 2010, when he authored SB2033 (described by the title, “Teacher Incentive Pay) with Coffee, Jolley, Ford, Rice and Leftwich of the Senate. This bill was created as a vehicle by which to apply for federal Race To The Top funds. The bill is 34 pages and codified into law the Teacher Leader Effectiveness Evaluation System (a nightmare that Senator Adam Pugh tried to put an end to last year in a bill that was ‘committee’d to death’), the Race To The Top Commission, The Common Core State Standards Initiative, and failing school intervention program – three of the four aspects of the Obama Administration’s Race To The Top grant paid for with ARRA funds.

So, there’s that.

In fact, I STILL can’t consider any Republican in the legislature who signed on to OBAMA’s education plan a real Republican – including Clark Jolley.

There is more – so much more – but to post all of that here would more than likely cause some kind of catatonic state from which the reader might not recover. Let me simply say this; Blogspot has an excellent ‘search’ function. I highly suggest – before casting a vote for Clark Jolley for anything – you search his name on the ROPE blog. There are dozens of entries from which to choose where we’ve dissected and discussed legislation created by Senator Jolley and his cronies that we simply could not – AS SMALL GOVERNMENT REPUBLICANS – support.

The blog from which this picture was taken, “Oklahoma Legislative Education Leaders Take Advantage of Free Boston Trip Sponsored By Jeb Bush Foundation“, most probably says it all, however.

In closing – and yes I am closing, as I feel my point should have been made solidly with the opening line – I do want to copy and paste an encounter we had with Senator Jolley (originally posted here) while we were lobbying against Common Core.

During 2011, there was a bill of Senator Jolley’s (SB264) with which we had issue. It was advertised as a deregulation bill for schools, but there were an additional number of components – including a reference to the SLDS (State Longitudinal Database System) we didn’t like – and we didn’t want it passed. Unfortunately, we found it late in its legislative cycle – after it was going back to the House a second time.

Three of us were walking the halls talking to Representatives, sharing our concerns about the bill, when Clark Jolley strides by us at a ferocious clip, points a finger at us and says, “I want to see you in my office” and marches off. We felt as though we were to follow, so we shrugged our shoulders at one another not knowing what was going on, and followed dutifully.

Senator Jolley strode into his office directly behind his desk, told us to sit down, sat down himself and immediately launched into a very thorough berating, replete with pointed finger. Now, mind you, one of us was actually a constituent of the Senator and NONE of us on the ROPE board are paid in any way – we are all mothers, housewives (and business owners) who take it upon ourselves to study the legislative process and become involved. This fact, however, did not stop Senator Jolley from taking the time to tell us exactly how the cow ate the cabbage.

We were NOT to go around behind his back, he explained vociferously. If we had a problem with one of HIS bills, we needed to come to him first and not let him hear about it from someone else. He wanted to make sure HIS bills get passed and he would work with us but he was not going to have us going around him taking matters into our own hands.

I have NEVER been such a combination of flabbergasted, annoyed and angry all at the same time. I thought Senators were supposed to be public SERVANTS. At one point I finally decided I’d had enough and told him that we weren’t paid lobbyists and didn’t know the system inside and out – heck one of us was even a constituent – we were simply doing what we felt was right. It didn’t require a lecture.

I have never forgotten that incident…

True public “SERVANTS” don’t behave like Clark Jolley.

PS: Todd Russ was always kind to us, listened, and more importantly voted YES to repeal Common Core from Oklahoma law. I’ll be voting for Russ.

August 19, 2022 0

The Corruption Belt: SPECIAL ELECTION STEAL ALERT: UNKNOWN Group Runs Ads Against Candidates Opposing Fount Holland (CAMP) Clients In The August 23rd Run-Off

Conservative Policy Network is yet another group in a long line of groups which is using money from who knows where (Dark Money) to influence Oklahoma elections.

As I’ve written about in previous blogs on Dark Money, campaign consultant Fount Holland was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit a felony for breaking Oklahoma campaign laws. At the time, Mr. Holland was running Joy Hofmeister’s campaign for State Superintendent against former SS Janet Baressi. He was charged because it was found that he – and Mrs. Hofmeister – were working with an independent PAC to help get her elected.

FYI: Any candidate running for office can accept donations of up to $2900 a person or $3800 per couple per each election cycle (a primary, a runoff, a general). Think on this: that’s over $11,000.00 a couple could give a candidate during an entire election campaign. That’s not an insignificant amount.

Still and all, there are people who want to help candidates get elected by contributing more than what’s legal through a campaign account. They do this by creating an “unlimited” PAC. The PAC raises money, but doesn’t have to show where that money comes from (which is why it’s called DARK money) and then spends what they raise to help elect a candidate. THIS IS IMPORTANT: It is illegal for a candidate – or their campaign manager – to work with anyone associated with an unlimited PAC using money to help the candidate get elected. They are called Independent Expenditures because the group is working to elect the candidate INDPENDENTLY of the candidate’s campaign.

Candidates have a campaign account that can be searched on the Oklahoma Ethics Commission website. This transparency allows citizens to be able to see who is donating to that candidate.

501c4’s only have to record WHERE and HOW their money was spent, not where it comes from. This keeps voters in the dark about who might be influencing candidates. Often, Dark Money IE’s are funded through an intricate web of non-profit 501c4’s and PACs which make it very hard to determine anyone associated with a group spending money on behalf of a candidate.

This set of mailers was received today. Look more closely at the address box:

Note that it says, “Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee”. This means it’s an Independent Expenditure and it’s NOT LEGAL for a candidate or their campaign manager to be associated with the group paying for the mailer – in this case, “Conservative Policy Network”.

I wanted to know where this mailer came from, so I went to the Oklahoma Ethics website and searched for Conservative Policy Network. I found the Ethics report at the top of the page. Please note; it says it is an IE OPPOSING Brady Butler, Jarrin Jackson and Karmin Grider.

The address for the group is here:

Legitimate IE groups in Oklahoma are required to have an address to the business or group supporting the IE. This is NOT a legal address for an Independent Expenditure in Oklahoma.

I called the phone number associated with the group and it picks up immediately and says, “The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please leave a message.” (This happens with EVERY organization without a legitimate address I’ve tried.)

Additionally, I was not able to find an associated Federal PAC, nor an associated 501c4, nor any other information at all about this group created on the 22nd of July – not even a month ago.

Who is running against the candidates being opposed by this group? Brady Butler is running against CAMP (Fount Holland) client Darcy Jech, Jarrin Jackson is running against CAMP client Ally Seifried and Karmin Grider is running against CAMP client Collin Duel. Odd coincidence? Doubtful.

In a few days, I’ll be releasing a diagram of how money is flowing from 501c4 organizations and specific PACs in Oklahoma during this election year. You’ll note at that time, that the filing agent listed on this Ethics Report is one often used by PACs/Groups associated with Fount Holland candidates or paying CAMP for work on campaigns.

DARK MONEY ADS LIKE THE ONE AGAINST KARMIN, CAN URGE VOTERS TO VOTE BASED ON LIES AND HALF-TRUTHS PAID FOR BY PEOPLE WHO WANT TO INFLUENCE ELECTIONS WITHOUT BEING KNOWN!

DON’T MAKE AN UNEDUCATED VOTE!!

Talk to candidates directly. Most all have websites and even phone numbers where they can be reached. Educate yourself before you mark your ballot, don’t be misled by FAKE groups using DARK money to influence you!

Jenni White, Education Director

August 17, 2022 0

The Corruption Belt – Part 1: Is Catalyst Oklahoma Inc., An Alliance Among OCPA, The Oklahoma State Chamber And Fount Holland (CAMP) To Elect CAMP Clients In The 2022 Election Cycle?

For months I’ve been researching Dark Money in Oklahoma, tying together a wide-reaching web of PACs and Non-Profits and Oklahoma Movers and Shakers and other SWAMP creatures. This is Part 1 of what I hope will be a pretty thorough expose on who pulls the strings to get voters to pull levers in Oklahoma elections.

Since becoming disgusted with the 2022 primary elections – especially former Senator Jake Merrick’s re-election campaign – like some politically nerdy Alice in Wonderland, I accidentally fell down a rabbit hole trying to determine who really decides elections for Oklahomans – voters, or people who use money to influence elections.

What I’ve found is mind-numbing and the absolute reason why grassroots Oklahomans engaged in the political process to elect Constitutionally-minded, small government conservatives are getting their butts handed to them nearly every election. We simply can’t make up in advocacy, what PACS and 501C4’s can raise in money when no one has to know where that money is coming from and – to an extent – where it goes. It all happens in the dark at our expense.

So let’s start with Catalyst Oklahoma PAC. I wrote about them briefly in my analysis of Merrick’s re-election campaign, but since then, I’ve learned much more.

CATALYST’S OCPA/CHAMBER CONNECTION

Catalyst Oklahoma, Inc., was created in October of 2014. A filing made with the Secretary of State’s Office (OKSOS) received October 23, 2014, lists Charles Sublett as Executive Director/Treasurer, Director and President at 100 North Broadway, Suite 1500, OKC, OK 73102. Charles Sublett is a Board Member of OCPA from Tulsa.

With the filing was a copy of a 990-EZ tax return for 2013 (which cannot be found on the IRS website for the non-profit with the same EIN -it also lists a $150,000 donation by an individual whose name was redacted in the Secretary of State filing). The tax return is signed by Charles Sublett and prepared by Edward DeBee of DeBee Gilchrist, A Professional Corporation, 100 North Broadway, Suite 1500, OKC, OK 73102. (Apparently now DeBee Clark Attorneys and Counselors at 1200 NW 63rd Suite 5000).

Tangentially, DeBee Clark was also used to create People for Opportunity, a PAC created by Dave Bond, Jonathan Small and Trent England – all of OCPA.

A 2016 Registration Renewal lists the mailing address as 1200 NW 63rd Suite 5000 and Charles Sublett as President and Director along with Mark Nichols (Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Koch Industries) and Allen Wright (President of the Hustings Group) – both of whom are on the Board of Directors for the Oklahoma State Chamber.

Also tangentially, Allen Wright was involved in OCPA Impact (aka OCPA Oklahoma Policy Solutions Inc.) – a 501C4 organization where Dave Bond served as President and CEO from 2015-2019 (the last available filing for OCPA Impact on IRS.gov). From 2015 to 2018, Allen Wright served in various capacities within the C4. DeBee Cilchrist, A Professional Corporation is listed as the filing agent for that organization as well.

A 2017 Registration Renewal adds Bob Sullivan (former Secretary of Energy under Governor Frank Keating) and the group remains the same for 2018.

No renewals are logged with the OKSOS until 2021 when the address changes to 317 East 33rd in Edmond (the address for Neighborhood Veterinary Services). Officers for 2021 Included Sublett and Wright, but not Nichols and Meg Salyer (former OKC City/Council Member) and former OKC Mayor, Ron Norick were added.

A 2018 article by Brianna Bailey of The Frontier about dark money spending, records a spokesman for OCPA, David Autry, saying that a ‘tax preparer previously listed Catalyst as an OCPA-related nonprofit because of the shared board member, but there was no legal reason to do so.’

Ok, while there may be no “legal” reason, there’s enough overlap to see the connections nonetheless.

CATALYST OKLAHOMA 2015-16 FEC FILING BY STATE CHAMBER ATTORNEY FOR CONGRESSMAN TOM COLE

Catalyst Oklahoma is not a PAC – it’s a 501C4 private non-profit. It can donate either directly to candidates or to PACs and it doesn’t have to publish where its money comes from.

It doesn’t have to file with FEC, but it did in 2015-16 when it supported Tom Cole ($62,099.00) for Congress – a federal position that required the creation of a federal PAC.

The “About” section of the FEC filing has absolutely nothing to identify itself but a PO Box number which links to attorney (and former Oklahoma Senator and Secretary of State) Glenn Coffee, who became the Oklahoma Chamber’s attorney of record in 2013.

Attached to the FEC filing is a letter from attorney Coffee – in response to a letter from the FEC regarding Catalyst’s late filing – that describes efforts by Catalyst Oklahoma including a survey on the Mick Cornett/Ed Shadid mayoral race in 2015.

CATALYST OKLAHOMA’S WEBSITE IS A LIBERAL ORGANIZATION “OK UNITED”

Each 990 tax filing made by Catalyst Oklahoma, Inc., lists their website as www.okunited.org.

Oklahoma United’s main focus is to REPEAL CLOSED PRIMARIES IN OKLAHOMA – an absolutely disastrous idea for conservative politics. But then, conservative politics are not at ALL what this website touts. In fact, this is a website that uses words like “MODERATE” and “MIDDLE” and “CENTRIST” throughout.

Here’s what they’re “doing” in their own words:

Creating and leveraging existing media content to support and give voice to centrist views and representation for Oklahomans (translation: like Facebook factcheckers, they want to make sure right-sided views are eliminated)
Joining initiatives to improve voter registration, access, and turnout (translation: pushing for motor/voter laws and pushing for absentee voting?)
Identifying and addressing obstacles that contribute to partisan fringe domination of Oklahoma politics (translation: working to take out true conservatives in elections)
Advocating for the Forgotten Middle in Oklahoma (translation: putting money into PACS and elections to sway voters to vote for more government and less freedom)

This is NOT what OCPA says it stands for on its website, but then, it did go full bore for the IMPLEMENTATION OF MANAGED CARE (the step into a single-payer/socialist healthcare system) in Oklahoma this session (2022).

CATALYST OKLAHOMA SUPPORTS CONSERVATIVES IN 2018 GOES QUIET 4 YEARS AND COMES BACK IN 2022 SUPPORTING ANTI-GRASSROOTS CANDIDATES WITH $288,704.11 (4/1-8/10)

A late 2018 Ethics Commission filing for Catalyst Oklahoma shows the address as 1200 NW 63rd Street supporting Cathy Costello for Commissioner of Labor.

Early 2022 Ethics reports for Catalyst Oklahoma carry an address of 817 East 33rd Street Edmond (not 317 as listed on the 2021 OKSOS filing), which corresponds to a building in an office complex off 33rd that has no sign outside but isn’t empty.

A search for that address connects it to the Boggy Depot Land and Cattle Co, incorporated 7/20/22 by Allen Wright. A search for the post office box listed on the Ethics filing returns no associations at all.

Ethics reports for Catalyst Oklahoma from 4/1/22-8/10/22 show that $288,704.11 was paid to support only four candidates – Kristen Thompson against Jake Merrick (Thompson won the Primary outright), Darcy Jech against Brady Butler, Hunter Zearley against Jack Stewart (Stewart won the Primary outright) and Ally Seifried against Jarrin Jackson. CAMP runs candidates Seifried and Jech.

This seems odd, but there is a connection between OCPA and Fount Holland.

From February of 2019 to February of 2020, Fount Holland was a lobbyist for OCPA.

I cannot mention often enough, that Fount Holland was caught colluding with a dark money PAC during Joy Hofmeister’s election against former State Superintendent Janet Baressi.

This lack of ethics isn’t the only issue I have with his tactics, however, which is why I will continue my series on the Corruption Belt with some of the more enlightening information I’ve stumbled upon as I’ve continued to research Dark Money influence and its effect on Oklahoma elections.

For now, know this – true Conservatives will have a horrible time winning elections in this state until we can change Ethics laws to prevent the endless merry-go-round of money through 501C4’s and PACs and the influence spread by sitting legislators who use their campaign ‘war chests’ to fund the campaigns of other legislators and candidates they believe will help their efforts. So be prepared. By the end of this series, you’ll either need to act, or sit on your hands and watch the Bible belt continue to rust into the Corruption Belt while Oklahoma turns blue.

August 15, 2022 6