The 85 Fund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from )
The 85 Fund
Formation2011; 11 years ago (2011)
TypeNonprofit
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Region served
United States
Key people
Leonard Leo
AffiliationsJudicial Crisis Network
Formerly called
Judicial Education Project

The 85 Fund, formerly known as the Judicial Education Project,[1][2] is a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington D.C. It is part of a network of nonprofits linked to Leonard Leo, a prominent leader in the conservative legal movement. The 85 Fund was founded to counter the influence of Arabella Advisors, a liberal group with a similar structure. The 85 Fund raised at least $20 million in 2020.[3]

Organization and finances[]

The secretary of The 85 Fund is Carrie Severino, who is the president of the Judicial Crisis Network.[4] The 85 Fund is closely connected to Leonard Leo, the vice president of the Federalist Society.[2][5][6][4][7] The group's 2017 tax return listed a payment of $675,000 to the BH Group, an employer of Leo.[1][8] Neil Corkery formerly served as president of the group.[9]

Between 2012 and 2017, the group raised $46 million.[10] In 2018, more than 99% of the group's funding came from a single $7.8 million donation from Donors Trust, a donor-advised fund.[1][11] In 2020, The 85 Fund received $20 million in donations from Donors Trust.[4]

Expenditures[]

The group donated $300,000 to the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative nonprofit organization.[8]

In 2020, The 85 Fund provided $750,000 in funding to the Mercatus Center, a think tank affiliated with George Mason University.[4]

In 2020, The 85 Fund donated $1 million to the Accountability and Civics Trust Project, formerly run by Matthew Whitaker.[4][12] The Accountability and Civics Trust Project filed a complaint to the Office of Special Council to investigate Jennifer Granholm, the current United States Secretary of Energy.[4]

In 2020, The 85 Fund donated $2 million to the Government Accountability Institute, a group founded by former White House strategist Steve Bannon and investigator Peter Schweizer and chaired by Rebekah Mercer.[4]

Honest Elections Project[]

The 85 Fund has provided funding for the Honest Elections Project.

In April 2020, the Honest Elections Project announced it was launching a week-long $250,000 digital and television ad campaign on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN against mail-in voting.[13]

Lawyers contracted by the Honest Elections Project sent letters to the secretaries of state in Colorado, Florida, and Michigan to lobby for purges of voter rolls in these states.[1] The Guardian reported that these letters used "misleading data to accuse jurisdictions of having bloated voter rolls" and threatened legal action.[1] The Honest Elections Project filed legal briefs in favor of voting restrictions in Nevada, Virginia, Texas, and Minnesota.[1][14]

In 2020, The 85 Fund provided $70,000 in funding to the Honest Elections Project.[4]

In September 2020, the Honest Elections Project was involved in legal action concerning whether mail-in ballots that were postmarked before the election but arrived up to 14 days after it should be counted;[15] the suit was successful.[6][16]

The Honest Elections Project concluded that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election and did not participate in any litigation to try to challenge or overturn the election results.[6] The Honest Elections Project issued a statement criticizing the 2021 United States Capitol attack that occurred on January 6, saying: "The violent insurrection at the Capitol was a heinous attack against democracy, the rule of law, and the election system HEP was created to defend.”[6]

In May 2021, the Honest Elections Project lobbied against H.R. 1, also known as the For the People Act.[17] As of 2021, the executive director of the Honest Elections project was Jason Snead.[18]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Revealed: conservative group fighting to restrict voting tied to powerful dark money network". The Guardian. 2020-05-27. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  2. ^ a b Swan, Jonathan. "Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network, step aside from the Federalist Society". Axios. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  3. ^ Massoglia, Anna (16 December 2021). "Conservative 'dark money' group raised record $50M in 2020 after election rebranding". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Schwartz, Brian (2021-11-18). "Trump ally's fund received over $20 million last year, then funneled cash to other right-leaning groups". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  5. ^ "Wealthy donors pour millions into fight over mail-in voting". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  6. ^ a b c d Schwartz, Brian (2021-01-13). "Dark-money GOP fund funneled millions of dollars to groups that pushed voter fraud claims". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  7. ^ Riccardi, Nicholas (March 2, 2021). "Conservative group pushes proposals to tighten voting laws". The AP.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ a b "Trump judicial adviser's 'dark money' network hides Supreme Court spending". OpenSecrets News. 2020-01-02. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  9. ^ "An influential 'dark money' group turns off the lights for the last time". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  10. ^ ProPublica, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Ken Schwencke, Brandon Roberts, Alec Glassford. "Judicial Education Project - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  11. ^ "Conservative 'dark money' network rebranded to push voting restrictions before 2020 election". OpenSecrets News. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  12. ^ Bronstein, Scott. "Whitaker ran conservative group funded by dark money". CNN. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  13. ^ UTC, Leigh Ann Caldwell194d ago / 5:00 PM. "Conservative group to launch ads opposing mail-in voting". www.nbcnews.com. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  14. ^ Marimow, Ann E. "Coming to Trump's defense: An unconventional lawyer for an unconventional president". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  15. ^ Mauger, Craig. "Former GOP Michigan secretaries of state sue over plan to count late arriving ballots". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  16. ^ Corse, Alexa (2020-10-17). "Michigan Court Rescinds 14-Day Extension for Receipt of Mail Ballots". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  17. ^ Lejeune, Tristan (2021-03-23). "Conservative group says polling shows Democrats' voting rights bill 'out of sync with American voters'". TheHill. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  18. ^ Corasaniti, Nick (2021-12-04). "Voting Battles of 2022 Take Shape as G.O.P. Crafts New Election Bills". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-12.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""