George Soros Spending Millions to Defeat Brett Kavanaugh
A new political advocacy group that vowed to put $5 million behind an effort to
stop Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court has
significant ties to the liberal financier George Soros.
A Daily Caller News Foundation review has found that the group’s primary
financial supporter is a nonprofit to whom Soros has given millions.
The group, Demand Justice (DJ), is organized and financed by a 501(c)(4) called
the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which collected some $2.2 million in contributions from
the Open Society Policy Center (OSPC), one of Soros’ primary donation vehicles,
between 2012 and 2016.
The Soros Connection
One of those donors is the OSPC. The Center’s tax forms show the Soros group
gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Fund each year between 2012 and
2016, the last year in which records are publicly accessible. The Center gave
the Fund $350,000 in 2012, $772,000 in 2013, $125,000 in 2014, $550,000 in 2015,
and $481,483 in 2016.
OSPC is practically indistinct from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), Soros’
philanthropic and grant-giving network. OSPC has no employees of its own,
according to the Center’s 2016 tax forms. Rather, Foundations employees are
compensated for any work done for the Center. Said compensation is determined by
the OSF, and documented in OSF’s internal records. “OSPC has no
employees,” the form reads. “Employees of Open Society [Foundations], a related
section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, perform services for OSPC. OSPC
advances funds to Open Society [Foundations] for their services based on the
time they spend on OSPC matters. Their compensation is determined by Open
Society [Foundations], and is based on market comparability data and is
documented in Open Society [Foundations’] records.”
Executive director Brian Fallon told The New York Times that DJ hopes
to “sensitize rank-and-file progressives to think of the courts as a venue for
their activism and a way to advance the progressive agenda.”
Its ranks are staffed by alums of the Obama administration and former Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign: Fallon, the former
Clinton campaign press secretary, serves as executive director and longtime
Obama aide Christopher Kang is chief counsel. Other Clinton veterans involved
with the group include Gabrielle McCaffrey and Diana Bowen, according to
LinkedIn.
The Fund serves as Demand Justice’s fiscal sponsor. As such, DJ does not have to
submit its own tax returns or disclose its supporters. The Fund registered the
trade name “Demand Justice” with the Washington D.C. Department of Consumer and
Regulatory affairs on May 2.
The
National Council of Nonprofits says that fiscal sponsors provide
“fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services”
for its dependents, like Demand Justice. As such, many grants or donations DJ
receives are awarded by way of the Fund. Both organizations are based out of the
same Washington, D.C., address.
Supporters can also give to DJ through ActBlue Civics, a major fundraising
platform for leftwing causes.
Given this structure, it is difficult to know how much money individual donors
like Soros have channeled to Demand Justice.
The
nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court
presents the first significant political conflict since DJ was founded in the
spring of 2018. The outfit vowed to put $5 million dollars behind a
multi-platform effort to stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The campaign will
feature television spots promoting embattled Democratic Senate incumbents in
West Virginia, Indiana, and North Dakota, who face competitive Republican
challengers this November.
They will also run ads in Maine and Alaska, urging GOP Sens. Susan Collins and
Lisa Murkowski to oppose the nomination. Collins and Murkowski are pro choice
moderates who have broken with their party on Obamacare repeal and federal
funding for Planned Parenthood. The spots urge the senators to protect abortion
access by withholding support for nominees who oppose the 1973 Roe v. Wade
decision.