Biden-allied group vowing to investigate GOP pocketed $1.5M from left-wing dark money giant
Gabe Kaminsky
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A left-wing nonprofit group allied with President Joe Biden and planning to investigate the House GOP while in the majority has taken large sums from an influential liberal dark money group, records show.
The Congressional Integrity Project, which is led by Democratic strategists, has been relaunched after going silent during Biden’s presidency and operating minimally in 2020. The project has raked in $1.5 million combined from Sixteen Thirty Fund, a group under the helm of Arabella Advisors, the largest liberal dark money network in the United States, according to tax forms reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
The group is a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm. It has been dubbed a “dark money” network because it manages five nonprofit groups, including the 501(c)(4) Sixteen Thirty Fund, that do not disclose their donors. All five groups sponsor a variety of pop-up left-wing organizations, which are not required to file tax documents with the IRS.
In 2021, Sixteen Thirty Fund granted $1 million to Congressional Integrity Project, which is also a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, according to Sixteen Thirty Fund’s newly filed tax forms. The fund gave $500,000 to Congressional Integrity Project in 2020, according to Sixteen Thirty Fund’s tax forms that year.
Both grants were given for the purpose of “civil rights, social action, [and] advocacy,” according to tax forms. It is unclear what other organizations have poured money into Congressional Integrity Project, and an internet search of its employer identification number does not display other grants.
Sixteen Thirty Fund, which hauled in $190 million in 2021, is run by Amy Kurtz, who has worked in the liberal nonprofit sphere since 2001. The fund steered $6.2 million to liberal political action committees between January and September, according to campaign finance filings. In 2021, the fund granted over $18.9 million to the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group, to “fund the development of several climate provisions” in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a $740 billion energy and climate spending bill.
“Every time you pull back the curtain, you’re going to find that the Arabella Advisors network is bankrolling the Left’s newest project,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, a conservative ethics watchdog, told the Washington Examiner. “This time, it’s Sixteen Thirty Fund providing millions in seed money to the Congressional Integrity Project.”
On Friday, the Washington Examiner went to the Washington, D.C., address listed in public records as belonging to Congressional Integrity Project. However, it was unclear if any employees were on site, and nobody opened the door after roughly 45 minutes.
An unnamed spokesperson for the Sixteen Thirty Fund told the Washington Examiner: “Sixteen Thirty Fund is proud to support efforts to strengthen integrity and transparency in government. Our grants to Congressional Integrity Project funded important research to ensure effective, ethical leadership in Washington.”
BIDEN-ALLIED GROUP VOWS TO PUSH BACK ON HOUSE GOP OVERSIGHT
The relaunch of the Congressional Integrity Project comes as House Republicans, who will have a majority come January, plan a variety of investigations. This includes oversight into the COVID-19 origins, the alleged politicization of the Justice Department and FBI, the influx of immigrants at the border, the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“After four years of covering up for Trump, MAGA Republicans in Congress have already made their priorities clear — relentlessly investigating Joe Biden, historic impeachments of Cabinet Secretaries, and likely efforts to impeach Biden himself,” says Congressional Integrity Project on its website. “These investigations are revenge for the past two years of Biden working every day for all Americans, not the special interests.”
Congressional Integrity Project’s leadership includes experienced Democratic operatives who have worked on campaigns for former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Kyle Herrig, the group’s executive director, runs a left-wing advocacy group called Accountable US, which has taken almost $9 million between 2019 and 2021 from the New Venture Fund, another group in Arabella’s dark money network, tax records show.
Leslie Dach, a senior adviser to Congressional Integrity Project, helped implement Obama’s Affordable Care Act while working as senior counselor between 2014 and 2016 in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Another senior adviser to Congressional Integrity Project is Jeff Peck, who was an aide to Biden while he was a senator, the treasurer and vice chairman of the Biden Foundation, and a senior adviser to the Biden-Harris transition team.
Brad Woodhouse, a Congressional Integrity Project board member, was previously a senior adviser for the Democratic National Committee and president of American Bridge, a liberal opposition research PAC.
Congressional Integrity Project’s researchers have begun the process of combing through public records to locate material that could undercut the expected agenda of congressional Republicans, according to Politico. Democratic leaders in Congress have already been briefed on Congressional Integrity Project’s relaunch, a source familiar with the situation told the outlet.
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“With White House insiders at the helm, and dark money in their coffers, Arabella has cemented how central they are to the liberal and left-wing movement,” added Sutherland.