Dark Money

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

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

Part 2: Senator Jake Merrick’s Loss Engineered At The Hands of Oklahoma’s School Choice (Voucher) Cabal Who Helped Spend Nearly 350 Thousand Dollars To Elect His Opponent

While every political campaign has numerous points for failure from fundraising to voter contact, a post mortem of Jake Merrick’s re-election campaign shows that a combination of dark money and redistricting probably did more than anything to sink the re-election campaign of a fine man and public servant.

When I wrote Part 1 of the series, I reported that OCPA, through their Dark Money group Catalyst Oklahoma, had spent $50,620 FOR Merrick’s challenger, Kristen Thompson after spending over $100,000 FOR Merrick’s special election through their dark money group People for Opportunity last year.

I also reported that Senator Merrick – while voting yes in the Senate Education Committee – voted no on the Senate floor on the extremely contentious bill – SB1647 – which would provide publicly funded vouchers to private schools.

INDIVIDUAL CAMPAIGN DONATIONS

Searching the Oklahoma Ethics Commission website is painstaking, but not hard.

According to Kristen Thompson’s campaign Pre-Primary Ethics Commission report, she had a bit over sixty thousand dollars in her campaign account.

According to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, Jake Merrick had a little over $12 thousand dollars.

According to records posted to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission website, Kristen Thompson’s campaign contributions have been a ‘who’s who’ of Oklahoma School Choice (voucher) proponents and Big Government Republicans. For information; individuals can donate up to $2,900 per candidate, unlimited committees $5000 and limited committees $2500.

Lucia Frohling and Jill Shero both work for ECKO – Every Kid Counts – an organization run by Education Secretary Ryan Walters which supports school choice, including vouchers.

Ryan Martinez wrote a $1,000 check from his campaign account (Friends of Ryan Martinez) to Thompson’s campaign in December of 2021. Martinez is a Representative from the Edmond area who was the House Chair – along with Senator Lonnie Paxton, the Senate Chair – of the state’s legislative redistricting efforts. In March, Friends of Ryan Martinez donated another $1,700 to Thompson.

Mike Cantrell – an originator of Oklahoma Energy Resources Board (OERB) and an 11-year member of the Board of EPIC Charter Schools, who left the Board as depositions began for the criminal investigation which culminated in the arrest of EPIC’s founders, David Cheney and Ben Harris for alleged embezzlement of state tax dollars, donated $1,000.

Josh Cockroft – Governor Stitt’s Political Director.

Glenn Coffee – former Oklahoma Senator and Pro Temp and General Counsel for the Oklahoma State Chamber who was implicated in the Joy Hofmeister/Fount Holland conspiracy to coordinate with an independent campaign working for her election against former State Superintendent Janet Barresi.

Jim Dunlap – A long-time lobbyist in Oklahoma.

Donelle Harder – who has worked for Governor Stitt – by way of Washington, D.C. – in several capacities and currently manages his 2022 re-election campaign.

Linda Huggard – a long-time Oklahoma Republican party member gave the maximum allowed for an individual donor – $2900.00.

Chris Kannady, an attorney and State Representative for Cleveland County wrote a check from his campaign account (Friends of Chris Kannady) for $1500 to Thompson’s campaign. Kannady told the New York Times that he had led an effort to purge then-elected Republicans from the State House in 2018 because they were a “cancer” to the Party. In July, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission made public that it will sue the Conservative Alliance PAC, from which dark money donated via the Prosperity Alliance was used to oust as many as 11 Conservative House members that year. His campaign pays a consultant called the James Martin Company LLC, owned by Jenna Worthen, wife of Trebor Worthen, former partner with Fount Holland of AH Strategies, an organization who, with client Joy Hofmeister, was charged in a 2016 dark money scheme to oust former State Superintendent Janet Barresi. Today, Trebor runs Sooner State Leadership, a 501C4 dark money group running adds against Governor Kevin Stitt. Kannady also apparently works with CAMP (Campaign Advocacy Management Professionals), run by Worthen’s former partner, Fount Holland. Just a quick glance Kannady’s campaign account is eye-opening. For the first filing period in 2022, Kannady had $341,154.42 and his contributions are a “who’s who” of Oklahoma and national PACs including $10,000 of donations from the OKC Fraternal Order of Police $5,000 and Marathon PAC $5,000.

Trent Smith, the CEO of Accentra, is also co-owner of Sooner Medical Staffing with House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols and was appointed to the Oklahoma State School Board by Governor Kevin Stitt.

Republican House member Preston Stinson donated $1,000 to Thompson via his campaign fund – Stinson for House. Stinson was prominently featured in the state audit against EPIC Charter Schools management organization, Community Strategies. Ben Harris appointed Stinson to the Community Strategies Board – the governing body for Epic One-on-One Charter School and Epic Blended Charter School in 2016 – and later Community Strategies-CA, alleged to be the ‘shell’ company used by Epic Youth Services through which to receive management fees from Epic California creating profits for Harris and Chaney (#49 of Affidavit of Probable Cause). Preston Stinson received 55% of all campaign donations from EPIC founders and family for his 2020 campaign for the House of Representatives.

Former one-term State Superintendent Janet Barresi not only donated the $2,900 maximum to Kristen Thompson, she introduced her at an Oklahoma Conservative PAC meeting where Kristen shared her message with the audience AFTER OCPAC had committed to endorsing Jake Merrick again for his second campaign for Senate. Fully committed to Common Core during her tenure as State Superintendent, ROPE was nevertheless able to help repeal the bill mandating Common Core in 2014.

Jennifer Carter, former Cheif of Staff for Superintendent Janet Barresi is now the Oklahoma liaison for the American Federation for Children – an organization fronted by the DeVos Foundation to push school choice (vouchers) across the country. Jennifer’s husband Ray Carter writes for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs – an organization working for vouchers – recently in the news for its alleged mis-treatment of the wife of House of Representatives member and attorney, Anthony Moore. Moore’s wife dismissed the filed Victim Protective Orders after the primary election.

The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber PAC provided $1,500.

The State Chamber PAC kicked in $1,000.

Friends of Anthony Moore – who now has had an Oklahoma Bar Association complaint filed against him by OCPA President Jonathan Small for the VPO’s filed by his wife prior to the primary – donated $1,000 from his campaign fund (Friends of Anthony Moore 2022).

OKC Firefighters Association PAC Fund – $5,000.

Turnaround Team Pac donated $1,500 to Thompson. Governor Stitt has frequently called his first four years the “Oklahoma Turnaround”. In fact, his latest TV ads for his re-election campaign prominently feature this concept. The Oklahoma Ethics Commission filing for Thompson list a PO box in Jenks, Oklahoma as the PAC’s address. It is listed as an ‘unregistered’ PAC and there is no filing for the PAC with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, but Turnaround Team PAC is registered with the FEC in Newport, Kentucky. The treasurer for the PAC is listed as Kevin Broghamer from Newport, Kentucky, who is also the registered treasurer for Governor Stitt’s Oklahoma campaign account. As of 7/14/22, the PAC has $110,000. Donors include;

Edward Hilliary and Dustin Hilliary ($5k each); The Hilliarys own Hilliary Communications, a broadband and telephone service covering southwestern OK and northwest TX. They also publish the Comanche County Chronicle in Elgin and the Southwest Ledger out of Lawton. Governor Stitt has appointed Dustin Hilliary to the Board of the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education.
Robert “Bobby” Stem (5k). Executive Director, General Contractors of OKC. Former EPIC Board Member who said publicly that Senator Sharp’s accusations against EPIC (for which he won a lawsuit) were false. Became a lobbyist for EPIC Youth Services after leaving Board.
Clinton Renzi Stone (5k). CEO Of Saxum which launched Every Kid Counts for which Oklahoma’s Secretary of Education, Ryan Walters, works. Jennifer Monies, former Executive Director of Oklahoma Achieves (for which Secretary Walters worked briefly before his appointment by Governor Stitt) and former Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing for the Oklahoma State Chamber is on the Board of Every Kid Counts and also works for Saxum.

REDISTRICTING

For the past year, the House and Senate worked on re-drawing House and Senate districts across the state. This is done every 10 years in conjunction with the collection and distribution of the decade’s CENSUS data. Here is a picture of Merrick’s original district with the new district transposed over the top with red.

Note the approximate location of Merrick’s house (the small red dot nearly on the new southern district line) – especially compared with before. Prior to re-districting, Merrick’s neighbors could vote for Merrick. Now, only the neighbors to the north had that opportunity. Truly very odd.

It almost seems as though the powers that be wanted to re-district Merrick right out of his district. Losing a large chunk of voters with whom Merrick lived and already had voter recognition was tough.

With 9,485 votes in the election, Merrick lost to Thompson by 833. Merrick won Canadian county by 210 votes (total voters 3,036), but was beaten soundly in Oklahoma County by 1,043 (3,746 to 2,603 – total voters 6,449). Merrick had an uphill battle when most of the voters in this election were in Thompson’s backyard.

PACS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

These PACS spent money FOR Thompson (except Job Creators Action Fund).

These PACS spent money AGAINST Merrick. There was no PAC spending FOR Merrick.

The School Freedom Fund, is a dark money super PAC that is registered by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). It was given $15 million dollars by the founder of the PAC, Jeff Yas, a resident of Pennsylvania who earned his billions via gambling and playing the stock market. Yas did not donate money to Trump, but to libertarian, Gary Johnson, but he is a rabid supporter of “school choice” and donates frequently to “school choice” PACS.

{Interestingly, OCPAC’s Bob Linn, quotes Jeff Yas in the OCPAC email of July 11th 2022 where he touts the “money following the kid” (vouchers).}

A large chunk of School Freedom funds have been donated to the Protect Freedom PAC and the Club For Growth.

In Oklahoma, according to the Ethics Commission, the Chairperson for the School Freedom Fund is David McIntosh whose email url reads “clubforgrowth.org”.

Also according to Ethics Commission reports, the School Freedom Fund PAC spent $75,206 FOR Thompson and $119,546.23 AGAINST Merrick.

Then, there’s Common Sense Conservatives, LLC. Here is the address for the PAC.

Yup. A Reesor’s parking lot.

There is no email listed for the Director whose name is simply listed as “Walt Lowe”.

There are a couple Walter Lowe’s in Tulsa, but not anyone who stood out as being someone associated with a PAC – like an attorney. I have tried the number listed on the PAC and it does not work (1-918-236-6078) it’s a constant busy signal as though it’s not a working number. I have checked the Oklahoma Secretary of State website for the LLC. Guess what? Big shocker there – nothing listed. I even tried the FEC and there’s no listing there either. It’s an LLC – according to the Ethics Commission website, so I wouldn’t be able to locate it on the IRS website for non-profit filings. I can’t locate it under “Committees”, I can only find it under “Independent Expenditures”. I’m so mad about it, I filed an Ethics Complaint on the PAC 7/20/22.

Common Sense Conservative (FAKE) PAC spent $66,310 on Digital Ads through an organization in Tennessee called Counterpoint Messaging LLC AGAINST Merrick.

In fact, this PAC spent $207,592.17 against a whole slew of candidates – J.J. Stitt and Brady Butler running against Darcy Jech in SD26, Chris Toney running against Brenda Stanley in SD42, Deb Campbell and Jennifer Sengstock in HD50 against Marcus McEntire, Ron Lynch in HD60 running against Rhonda Baker and Karmin Grider running in an open seat for HD31. ALL candidates but Grider lost. Grider is in a run-off.

In total, PACS spent $158,615.17 FOR Thompson and $185,856.23 AGAINST Merrick, meaning that Thompson benefitted from a WHOPPING $344,471.40.

What in the world? Sadly, how is Kristen Thompson not a bought and paid for candidate by special interest dark money PACS whether she means to be or not? The fact that Oklahoma elections can be BOUGHT like this should concern every voter in the state, not just those in SD22.

WHY DARK MONEY PACS WORK

Most voters don’t work to be educated about issues or candidates. They don’t study candidates or even subscribe to organizations from which they could get an idea of what issues candidates stand for. Consequently, when they see an ad on Facebook calling Jake Merrick a “fake Republican who supported government overreach”, they’re likely not going to look up his voting record, emotions will kick in and Jake will get kicked to the curb. Same with the crazy mailers Fount Holland and his buddies make up.

Former state Senator Ron Sharp knows how this system works all too well. He was attacked by the “school choice” crowd using EPIC money and lost his seat to Shane Jett in 2020.

WHY CAMPAIGN ACCOUNTS SHOULD BE BARRED FROM CONTRIBUTING TO EACH OTHER

Note the number of campaign accounts listed in Thompson’s contribution reports:

Friends of Anthony Moore
Friends of Chris Kannady
Friends of Ryan Martinez
Stinson for House 2022

Four separate campaigns donated to Thompson. Let’s say I donated to Friends of Anthony Moore. I expected that money to go to support his election/re-election campaign, I didn’t expect he would donate my funds to another candidate I might not like instead.

Truly, this is a form of money laundering. Money comes into the campaign for campaign expenses, but it’s then donated to another campaign who then donates it to another. Where is accountability in this round robin? If an elected official wants to donate to a campaign. It should be out of their own pocket, not out of funds citizens provide in good faith that it will be used for their campaigns.

HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM

Though this month (7/22) the Ethics Commission recently shut down arguably the most influential PAC in Oklahoma – the Senate Republican PAC – due to ethics violations, over the years, the legislature has taken away more and more of the Commission’s ability to preside over dark money and other campaign issues.

If we are to take back our elections and elect candidates we want representing our community instead of people from out of state willing to throw around truckloads of cash to get candidates elected to forward their agendas in our legislature, or the school choice voucher cabal here in Oklahoma who use in-state and out-of-state donors to push their political will, we must give the Ethics Commission the tools they need to fight for campaign accountability.

Nothing beats an educated voter, but until we have a million of those, we need an Ethics Commission armed and ready to beat back unethical campaign behavior to keep good candidates like Jake Merrick from being steamrolled out of office.

Explain to your legislator that Oklahoma absolutely must give the Ethics Commission the ability to prosecute any electioneering that occurs against Ethics rules and ask them to sponsor legislation next year toward that end.

It’s our only hope.

——————–

FYI: CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THOMPSON: Catalyst Oklahoma $50,620, School Freedom Fund $75,206, American Energy Action Fund $9,862, Job Creators Action Network $22,927.17

CONTRIBUTIONS AGAINST MERRICK: School Freedom Fund $119,546.23, Common Sense Conservatives $66,310

July 22, 2022 2

Out Of State Dark Money Ads Against SAI Cindy Byrd Tout Unlicensed Candidate With Two Bankruptcies

Dishonest and disingenuous mailers are suddenly being sent out state-wide against current state auditor Cindy Byrd. According to Nolan Clay of The Oklahoman, candidate McQuillen has filed bankruptcy twice and is not a licensed accountant – unlike Byrd.

A recent article in the Tulsa World by Randy Krehbiel did a wonderful job of summarizing the dark money being poured into the race against Cindy Byrd.

According to Krehbiel:

An Ethics Commission filing shows that Truth PAC, based in Oklahoma City, bought $280,596.60 in television time for McQuillen earlier this week. It has reserved more than $680,000 in air time, but it is not clear whether all of that is for the auditor and inspector campaign.

Records show that Truth PAC was created June 9 with Matthew Parker as chairman and treasurer. Parker is a business partner of Fount Holland.

The filings do not show the source of the $280,000.

The mailers carry the stamp of Holland and Parker’s company, CAMP, and the name “American Values First” and a Tulsa address that is a box at an office supply store.

Who else is CAMP working for? Chances are many of the mailers you’re getting in your mailbox have their sticker on it. Just today I received CAMP mailers:

against John O’Connor
for Steve McQuillen
for Grant Green – running for Senate in District 28

If you look under the Postage Paid stamp, you’ll see CAMP – Fount Holland’s organization.

Why does it matter that CAMP would be involved in any race? After all, they are an organization paid to do a job – promote candidates. They’re simply doing their jobs.

In 2016, Fount Holland, Joy Hofmeister and others had charges filed against them for violating state campaign laws – conspiring to use dark money in attack ads against then-state superintendent Janet Barresi.

https://okcfox.com/news/local/two-more-accused-alongside-hofmeister-turn-themselves-in

Dark money should concern every voter. Money being poured into races to influence voters – many of whom do not do their own due diligence by researching the candidates – puts those of us who do our civic duty and due diligence at a disadvantage by influencing voters we can’t reach.

This is ESPECIALLY TRUE IN THE STATE AUITOR’S RACE.

In the article by Nolan Clay of the Oklahoman – a STARTLING revelation comes to light:

When Steve McQuillin last filed for bankruptcy, his attorney told the judge he was retired, had severe health problems and did not intend to return to working.

…He said his two bankruptcies – in 2002 and 2020 – should not be held against him. He blamed the first one on a marriage that didn’t work and the second on medical expenses after being hospitalized in Texas for a kidney stone.

WHAT? The Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector (OSAI):

…as the chief auditor for the State, is responsible for auditing the financial accounts of all government agencies within Oklahoma. The State Auditor and Inspector also performs performance audits and special investigative audits upon request by certain state officials and upon petition by citizens.

And we’re supposed to believe that a person who has two bankruptcies in his credit history and isn’t even a licensed accountant is someone we should trust to oversee the OSAI office?

Cindy Byrd won the National Association of State Auditors Comptrollers and Treasurers (NSAA) Award for Excellence for her forensic report on EPIC Charter Schools.

Clearly, Auditor Byrd is not only doing the job she’s paid to do – protect Oklahoma’s tax dollars – but excelling in that job.

Don’t be fooled by disingenuous (the SAI cannot stop flow of immigrants across the border or stop CRT in schools as many of the mailers – no matter how much “war” McQuillin has declared “on the woke left”) and inaccurate mailers paid for by people who don’t want you to know their identities.

Auditor Byrd is completing an HISTORIC audit of the Oklahoma State Department of Education. An audit which ROPE has asked to be accomplished for over a decade. Byrd needs to be able to finish that job and ROPE is very much looking forward to the results of her audit.

Based upon the successes of her previous four years, Auditor Byrd should definitely be supported for another four and these dark money groups pushing someone clearly not an appropriate fit for the SAI job, should be outed for trying to do just that.

June 18, 2022 0

Part 1: Jake Merrick Supported, Then Worked Against By Oklahoma Council For Public Affairs (OCPA) Dark Money Groups

Jake Merrick won a special election for now-Congresswoman Stephanie Bice’s open Senate seat last year. Senator Merrick is a Conservative, pro-life, pro-2nd amendment, small business owner who has served Oklahoma well since his special election. Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs (OCPA) dark money helped him in his first election. Here’s the rub: After voting YES in committee, he voted NO (on the Senate floor) on a bill to send public money to private schools (voucher – SB1647). This election cycle, OCPA is using many thousands of dollars to influence voters AGAINST HIM through a different dark money group.

What is “dark money”? Dark money is money spent on political campaigns where – since 2010 – the names of the donors to the campaign don’t have to be disclosed. The money can come through STATE or FEDERAL sources – or both. To learn more about “dark money”, click here.

In March of 2021, an Oklahoma PAC called People for Opportunity, Inc. gave over 100 thousand dollars to an organization called WPAi – a political polling, research and analytics team – run by Chris Wilson – in support of Jake Merrick.

Who is People for Opportunity?

According to the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s office, People for Opportunity was begun in 2020 by Jonathan Small – the President of OCPA and Dave Bond – the Vice President for Advocacy at OCPA.

Trent England is the David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow for the Advancement of Liberty and the Executive Director of Save Our States, a project with OCPA.

OCPA has long been an organization in part dedicated to the idea of School Choice – which includes ‘vouchers’; providing parents with tax dollars to send their children to private schools.

OCPA is often funded by grants from the Walton Foundation (during campaign cycles apparently), the State Policy Network – an organization of which they are an affiliate – as well as private and other donors. Because they are a private, non-profit organization, however, they do not have to report the source of their donations, only their expenditures.

In 2019, OCPA did make two expenditures.

One to the American Federation for Children – a school choice organization – and one to the OCPA Impact Inc organization.

OCPA Impact Inc., also does business as OCPA Oklahoma Policy Solutions, Inc. under the same EIN (tax number).

In 2019, they reported $19,933 in revenue, but again, from where that came who knows. Where it was spent was not recorded on their tax form either.

In fact, OCPA has LOTS of organizations registered with the OK Secretary of State’s Office. Unfortunately, our state is not a fan of transparency as it costs a minimum of $5 to request ANY documents from the SOS office on any registered organization and upwards of $10 per document to actually see the paperwork the SOS’s office requires for filing.

Why so many organizations associated with OCPA?

Where did the 100K come from for the donation through People for Opportunity?

Who knows? The only way to find out any information about these dark money groups is painstaking and not something many people are going to do. This is sad, because people who SPEND MONEY TO ELECT or REMOVE elected officials have INFLUENCE over the candidates they help elect.

This election cycle, an organization listed as Catalyst Oklahoma recorded expenditures of $50,620 for Jake Merrick’s opponent Kristen Thompson.

Who is Catalyst Oklahoma, Inc. ?

Catalyst Inc., is a dark money subgroup of OCPA with the Principal listed as Charles Sublett – a member of OCPA’s Board.

There is no 990 filing for Catalyst Oklahoma for 2019 and above, though there’s little the form would tell us but to whom the organization has given money.

Why would OCPA work so heavily in dark money in Oklahoma? Why have so many organizations and sub-organizations with so many different names associated? What does OCPA have to hide?

Why spend so much money to help Senator Merrick win and then turn around and spend more money to unseat him? If OCPA is so fired up about “empowering parents” by offering “school choice”, why not put the money being spent on elected legislators into starting new schools to help kids? How does it ’empower parents’ to spend so much money on legislative activities?

Dark money always leaves unanswered questions while it influences the legislative process in ways most ‘average’ Oklahomans can’t.

June 17, 2022 0

Category

Definitions For Dark Money Components

Dark Money Web – Many Political Consultant Companies Involved

Dark Money Web – Many Treasurers In Common

McINTYRE