The Left: The Hugest Spenders Of ‘Dark Money’
Wikipedia defines “dark money” as: “In…politics…, dark money are funds given to nonprofit organizations – and include 501(c)(4) (social welfare) 501(c)(5) (unions) and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups – that can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals, and unions, and spend funds to influence elections, but are not required to disclose their donors.”
You’ve undoubtedly countless times heard the apparently conjoined phrases “dark money” and “Koch brothers.”
Let us begin with the fact that if we all know all about the Koch brothers’ political donations – the coin isn’t particularly dark, is it?
Add in the fact that 2016’s more extravagant of the two brothers, Charles Koch, ranked a very distant 53rd on the list of top individual donors.
Add also the fact that seven of the top ten on the list – give to the Left.
And of course there are the massive Leftist foundations and institutions – which have laundered billions of dollars worth of Leftist political coin. The Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Gates Foundations (and there are many others still) all uber-fund all sorts of uber-Leftism.
And then there’s uber-Left George Soros – and his Open Society Foundation: “The Open Society Foundations is bigger than you think. In fact, it may be the largest philanthropic organization ever built, with branches in 37 countries….OSF’s budget will be around $930 million this year….That budget is set annually by George Soros, who’s given away nearly $12 billion….”
Yet somehow, despite ALL of this, the assertion is the Right is the side awash in “dark money.”
Speaking of massive Leftist “dark money” – meet Leftist environmentalist-population-control freak Fred Stanback.
The Strange Ties Between Environmentalists And Population Control Advocates: “For years, a host of environmental groups like the Sierra Club have received millions of dollars in funding and other support from donors with deep pockets who believe that most environmental problems stem from far too many people living on the planet.
“One troubling but little-known donor is Fred Stanback Jr., a wealthy man from Salisbury, North Carolina and self-proclaimed environmentalist who believes that controlling population is key to protecting the environment.
“But equally distressing is the vehicle he has apparently employed to support groups that share his vision. That vehicle is the Foundation for the Carolinas, one of the most prominent and esteemed philanthropic organizations in the nation.
“With assets totaling nearly $2 billion…Stanback has been able to work through the foundation because the foundation is a so-called donor-advised fund. In other words, donors have the ability to recommend how their donations are spent.”
Oh look – yet another multi-billion dollar Leftist foundation surreptitiously funneling massive coin into Leftist politics. Uber-funded by yet another cadre of Leftist freaks – chief amongst them the very anti-human Stanback.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance is an outstanding free market British think tank. (Full disclosure: The Alliance’s co-founder Matthew Elliott is a friend – and Matthew wisely married Yankee Sarah Smith, another friend.)
The Alliance has co-published – along with America’s Energy and Environmental Legal Institute (E & E Legal) – a report in which they track the massive money (you may call it “dark” if you wish) being poured into radical environmentalism in Europe and America:
“The TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal that €87 million has been handed to environmentalist campaigns in the UK and the rest of the European Union in the last ten years. British taxpayers have contributed to this budget.”
Actually, all the European Union-member governments fund the Leftist radicals:
“Many of the environmental groups are heavily reliant on EU funding:
- The European Commission provided 57 per cent of Friends of the Earth Europe’s funding in 2015.
- The European Commission provided 49 per cent of Pesticide Action Network Europe’s funding in 2015.”
E & E Legal continues highlighting the dark coin connections on both sides of The Pond:
“(M)ajor environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) in the U.S. and U.K. are being funded by a few ultra-wealthy population control extremists in the United States.
“This new report…details how billionaires like Fred Stanback, heir to the Stanback headache powder fortune, and others are quietly funding ENGOs with enormous levels of funding to apparently further their personal agendas.
“Stanback in particular is closely aligned with some of the most notorious…population control groups and leaders in the United States.
“Stanback and others are funneling donations through the Foundation for the Carolinas (FFTC), a non-profit ‘community foundation.’ Because the FFTC administers donor-directed funds, it appears that Stanback now has control over the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars from the FFTC.
“For example, since 2014 alone, FFTC has funded, the Natural Resources Defense Council – $25,000,000, Friends of the Earth – $6,000,000, Greenpeace – $3,000,000, and the Dogwood Alliance – $2,000,000.
“The scale of Stanback’s involvement and influence in environmental circles is best illustrated by the sheer size of his funding. Stanback’s 2014 donation of over $397 million to FFTC in ‘non-cash’ contributions would rank as the third-largest charitable donation anywhere that year had they been public….”
Emphasis ours. Because this highlights the darkness of the massive money the very anti-human Stanback is pouring into the radical Left’s radical environmental movement.
More from E & E Legal: “‘It’s troubling that these so-called “environmentalist” organizations in the U.S. and U.K are either willfully or unknowingly colluding with extremist population control…activist groups funded by a few extremely wealthy Americans,’ said Craig Richardson, President of E&E Legal.
“’Environmentalist organizations are extremely influential in legislative bodies in the U.S. and U.K. and we call for full transparency of their funding to ensure the public understands the puppet masters behind their extremist public policy agenda.’”
A little light shined into the massive dark caverns of Leftist coin – especially when it is intermingled with huge government money, and it nigh always is – ain’t a terrible idea.
Perhaps some of the freaks – like the very anti-human Stanback – will scurry back into the holes from whence they came.
And not be quite so darkly involved going forward.
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Seton Motley is the President of Less Government and he contributes to ARRA News Service. Please feel free to follow him him on Twitter / Facebook.
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