A Democratic congressional candidate who criticized the influence of “special interests” consulted for an organization in Washington, D.C., linked to left-wing dark money groups, according to financial disclosures.
Curtis Hertel, a Democrat running in a competitive House race to fill a seat that is vacant due to Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) deciding to run for Senate, reported on his 2024 candidate financial disclosures that he earned $20,000 in the preceding year to consult for Inseparable. The mental health policy organization, which houses a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group that does not disclose its donors to the IRS, was formed by top staffers at a D.C.-based firm called Civitas Public Affairs Group that has Democratic dark money ties.
However, as a state senator in Michigan, Hertel sought to “get dark money out of politics.” He introduced a bill in 2021 that “would require certain nonprofit groups affiliated with Michigan candidates to disclose who is funding the groups and how they spend their money,” according to a press release, which quoted Hertel demanding “full transparency from candidates and their donors.”
In June, a press release by End Citizens United, a progressive group, quoted Hertel as criticizing “the corrosive impact of special interests in our politics.” In 2020, Hertel also took aim at a Michigan official for accepting a “dark money check” into his corporate account.
Still, Inseparable, the group Hertel disclosed consulting for, counts its co-founders as a trio of Civitas Public Affairs Group staffers, including the firm’s chairman, Bill Smith. The chairman doubles as the CEO of Inseparable, whose charity arm pays hundreds of thousands of dollars for consulting services to Civitas Public Affairs Group, according to tax forms filed with the IRS. Smith cut a $500 check to Hertel’s House campaign last year, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Civitas Public Affairs Group also shares an office in D.C. with Inseparable, according to tax forms.
Civitas Public Affairs Group notably produced a report in 2015 for a foundation connected to Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss for a “communications hub” reportedly resembling a coalition called the Hub Project. The coalition launched that year with the help of Obama administration officials, the New York Times reported. It is fiscally sponsored by the New Venture Fund, a charity managed by the D.C.-based dark money firm Arabella Advisors, according to tax records. Arabella Advisors oversees the largest Democratic-aligned dark money network in the United States.
Civitas Public Affairs Group senior associate Alicia Diaz, a co-founder of Inseparable, is listed on the website of a little-known group called the Pipeline Fund as its grants manager. However, the Pipeline Fund does not actually exist on paper. It is a project of Arabella’s Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) group that spends hundreds of millions of dollars to elect Democrats.
Krithika Harish, a Pipeline Fund co-founder and board member, sits on Inseparable’s advisery board. Harish, who has called to “end capitalism,” left Civitas Public Affairs Group in 2022, according to her LinkedIn account.
“Extreme Democrat Curtis Hertel will say anything to squeeze out a vote, but his record is clear: He’s nothing more than a hypocritical, sleazy lobbyist riddled with dark money ties and radical policy positions that are out of touch with regular Michiganders,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Inseparable recently called for providing “diversity and equity training curricula that are anti-racist, inclusion centering, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, healing-centered and inclusion centering,” according to its website. The group has said “modifying law enforcement” is necessary, and there are “discriminatory structures and policies” in the U.S. “that disproportionately impact the mental health of people of color.”
It is unclear what matters Hertel focused on while consulting for Inseparable. The Democrat will face Republican Tom Barrett, a U.S. Army veteran and former Michigan state senator, in November to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.
The race is a toss-up, according to the Cook Political Report.
Hertel’s campaign declined to comment on his consulting work, instead providing an unrelated statement from Hertel’s spokesman, Sam Kwait-Spitzer.
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“Voters see through Tom Barrett’s attempt to distract from his record in the legislature of shielding drug companies from legal accountability, leaving office to work for a lobbyist, and then being rewarded with millions in campaign support from Big Pharma allies,” Kwait-Spitzer said.
Inseparable did not return a request for comment.