On Saturday, California Governor Gavin Newsom made the ill-conceived decision to appear in studio on Pod Save America, a podcast hosted by former Barack Obama staffers. It was a bizarre move to make while large parts of Los Angeles County are still burning.
As I mentioned previously, he threw local officials under the bus while presenting himself as an innocent bystander amid a string of government failures. Apparently no one in charge cares more about containing the fires than making sure someone else gets blamed for it. But, even worse, the podcast hosts took the opportunity to solicit donations, promoting a fundraising page hosted by ActBlue, the party’s scandal-ridden fundraising platform. The move has sparked widespread outrage, as many Democrats are pushing people to donate to wildfire “relief funds” funneled through ActBlue, raising serious concerns.
If you want to help those impacted by the California wildfires, please donate at https://t.co/QrPa8M4aRi https://t.co/fegP5tndlk
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) January 11, 2025
As Barack Obama’s former chief of staff once said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” and it looks like Democrats are exploiting the crisis to line their own pockets. Soon after, other prominent Democrats were posting pleas for donations, like this one from Sen. Elizabeth Warren:
To help support the communities around L.A. being devastated by wildfires, can you split a donation between the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles? 100% of your donation will go directly to these organizations: https://t.co/EtgMfHrEtq
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 11, 2025
If you click through on the link, you’ll see the page is branded with Warren’s Senate campaign logo. At the very least, Warren is exploiting the situation to promote her own campaign and grow her mailing list. But it's likely far worse.
The page claims that the “full donation will directly support” the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles. However, in light of the recent fundraising scandals connected to ActBlue, it wouldn’t surprise me if ActBlue is, at the very least, still taking a transaction fee. But are the political campaigns also getting a little something more than just addresses for their email lists?
For our VIPs: Here's Why ActBlue Must Be Shut Down
At the very least, we should question why Democrats and left-wing organizations are pushing people to donate to relief funds through a partisan fundraising platform rather than directly. Typically, ActBlue takes a 3.95% transaction fee for every donation. While the donations are being made through ActBlue’s charitable arm, there’s little reason to believe every cent goes directly to the cause.
Why? Because both organizations receiving the donations have their own donation pages where you can feel a lot more confident every cent is going to where it should. If you want to donate to the Los Angeles County Fire Department Foundation, you can do so by clicking here, and if you want to donate to the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, you can click here.
When both organizations have their own independent donation portals, there’s no reason to give ActBlue, Democrat politicians, or left-wing organizations the benefit of the doubt that everything is kosher.
Related: ActBlue Is Accused of Money Laundering By Several State Attorneys General
Think about it. If you cared about the cause, why not selflessly promote the direct donation pages of both of these organizations over using a partisan portal that has been plagued by scandal for years? The only explanation is they’re benefiting from it somehow—and clearly they are.
Dark money groups frequently have to get creative to spend the social welfare portion of their programming budget. But money raised for these charities that passes through the (c)(4) allows for money raised elsewhere to go to electioneering ads. “This is prima facia non-political cap space that they are generating,” the veteran strategist strategist told the Reporter.
“Let’s say they raise $6 million in money for the fire that they pass on to these [501(c)(3)s]. The next $4 million that they take in from a major donor can go directly to a super PAC undisclosed without having to take a haircut. This lets a major donor give $4 million undisclosed to a Democrat super PAC. This is like the most evil s*** I have ever seen. Using a (c)(4) to generate dark money cap space on the back of the worst natural disaster in recent California history is such appalling behavior.”
In short, left-wing organizations and leftist politicians are not letting the crisis go to waste, and are exploiting the wildfires for financial gain. This entire scheme raises red flags, and frankly, there’s no reason not to be suspicious about it.
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