Why Did the OCEA Funnel Money Through Atlas PAC?
http://redcounty.com/content/why-did-ocea-funnel-money-through-atlas-pac
By Chip Hanlon | 10/28/10 | 7:39 PM EDT | 6 Comments
As I told the subject of this article, I really didn't want to write about this but since that person's non-explanation was disconcerting and the other party I wanted to talk to didn't reply...
Before I get started, though: for those unfamiliar with Atlas PAC, they're thought of around here as sort of a junior Lincoln Club: conservative, a membership made up of respectable young professionals from around O.C., a group headed up by a guy who most folks around here seem to like. Bottom line: good folks.
The group has also been, as far as I know, pretty in line with most conservatives around here, believing that public employee unions are at the leading edge of bankrupting this state.
OK, so why did the OCEA, the massive association of public employee unions in Orange County, run more than $10,000 through the conservative Atlas PAC during the June primary?
I'm sincerely hoping there's some benign explanation, but here's what I know so far:
- There exists a PAC named "California Citizens for Fair Government" (CCFG) which seems to be entirely funded by the OCEA (see this document)
- Meanwhile, the second largest donation Atlas PAC has received during this cycle came from that committee, CCFG, in the amount of $10,250 (See document here)
- Because the donation was PAC-to-PAC, it would seem it wasn't beholden to any late filing requirements that might have put sunlight on this transaction before the primary. The contribution was made on June 4th, 2010, but wasn't reported as received by Atlas until July 29th.
- Atlas then turned around and spent $9400 on anti-Shawn Nelson hit pieces in an I.E. on behalf of Harry Sidhu in the primary (see that filing here). Apparently the vendor wasn't paid until 10 days after the actual primary, hence the 6/18 pay date, but Atlas President Lee Lowrey did confirm to me by telephone earlier this week that the money from CCFG did come through Atlas explicitly for the purpose of hitting Nelson via an independent expenditure. Sidhu was the endorsed candidate by Atlas, he tried to explain.
But wait... that leaves open a lot of questions:
First, why didn't CCFG just pay for the I.E. itself? Why did it have to first run that money through Atlas?
For that matter, why didn't the OCEA just pay directly for such an expenditure? Why would it need to run that money through any other PAC like CCFG in the first place? After all, it was pretty open knowledge that the unions were all gunning for Nelson in June.
And all of this leaves out the most basic question of all, of course: what the hell was Atlas doing helping the OCEA funnel IE money around in the first place?
Was it for the fee? I mean, it looks to me like $10,250 that came in shrunk to $9400 on the way out-- meaning a tidy little profit of $850 for Atlas. That might not sound like a lot of money, but it would represent the 8th largest contribution the group received in this cycle, if so.
But things get hinkier still. When speaking with Atlas President, Lowrey, a few days ago, he said he had no idea that CCFG was funded entirely by the public employees of OCEA.
That may or may not be true, but let's assume it is.
I then asked him, "OK, well someone introduced you to CCFG. Somebody connected them (and the OCEA) to Altas through you. Who was it?"
No reply.
When I pressed him on this, he made it abundantly clear that the had no intention of disclosing who that person was. I explained to him that by not disclosing that info, it would look like he was hesitant to do so because either A) the passing of money between all these committees represented some sort of campaign finance violation or B) he was protecting someone for whom this would all look terrible.
I suspect it's the latter, and I'll explain why in a minute.
First, I certainly hope it isn't the former; I don't know Lee Lowrey well but I've certainly met him on a number of occasions and he seems like a good guy. Certainly, I don't recall ever having heard anything negative about him from other local Republicans so I hope all this money laundering (sorry, I don't know what else to call it) is all legal, even if questionable, ideologically.
But here's why I suspect he's just protecting someone--the person who brought this OCEA funding scheme to him in the first place: it has to do with the biggest contribution (and corresponding outgoing expenditure) Atlas has been part of this election cycle, one which happened just days ago. That in-and-out financial transaction was for the express purpose of another I.E. in different race, and there is only one person in the entire county (besides Lowrey) that I can very logically connect to both of these strange transactions.
For that person, the one I assume Lowrey is refusing to disclose, the funneling of OCEA money would look particularly awful. I called that person earlier this week for comment, leaving message as to what I was calling about, and so far-- no call back.
I'll write about that most recent contribution tomorrow and try to tie all of this together, but it seems like something stinky is going on. Maybe something very stinky.
There are a lot of terrific local folks who count themselves members of Atlas PAC. If I were one of those members, I'd be asking some very direct questions of my leadership right about now...
By Chip Hanlon | 10/28/10 | 7:39 PM EDT | 6 Comments
As I told the subject of this article, I really didn't want to write about this but since that person's non-explanation was disconcerting and the other party I wanted to talk to didn't reply...
Before I get started, though: for those unfamiliar with Atlas PAC, they're thought of around here as sort of a junior Lincoln Club: conservative, a membership made up of respectable young professionals from around O.C., a group headed up by a guy who most folks around here seem to like. Bottom line: good folks.
The group has also been, as far as I know, pretty in line with most conservatives around here, believing that public employee unions are at the leading edge of bankrupting this state.
OK, so why did the OCEA, the massive association of public employee unions in Orange County, run more than $10,000 through the conservative Atlas PAC during the June primary?
I'm sincerely hoping there's some benign explanation, but here's what I know so far:
- There exists a PAC named "California Citizens for Fair Government" (CCFG) which seems to be entirely funded by the OCEA (see this document)
- Meanwhile, the second largest donation Atlas PAC has received during this cycle came from that committee, CCFG, in the amount of $10,250 (See document here)
- Because the donation was PAC-to-PAC, it would seem it wasn't beholden to any late filing requirements that might have put sunlight on this transaction before the primary. The contribution was made on June 4th, 2010, but wasn't reported as received by Atlas until July 29th.
- Atlas then turned around and spent $9400 on anti-Shawn Nelson hit pieces in an I.E. on behalf of Harry Sidhu in the primary (see that filing here). Apparently the vendor wasn't paid until 10 days after the actual primary, hence the 6/18 pay date, but Atlas President Lee Lowrey did confirm to me by telephone earlier this week that the money from CCFG did come through Atlas explicitly for the purpose of hitting Nelson via an independent expenditure. Sidhu was the endorsed candidate by Atlas, he tried to explain.
But wait... that leaves open a lot of questions:
First, why didn't CCFG just pay for the I.E. itself? Why did it have to first run that money through Atlas?
For that matter, why didn't the OCEA just pay directly for such an expenditure? Why would it need to run that money through any other PAC like CCFG in the first place? After all, it was pretty open knowledge that the unions were all gunning for Nelson in June.
And all of this leaves out the most basic question of all, of course: what the hell was Atlas doing helping the OCEA funnel IE money around in the first place?
Was it for the fee? I mean, it looks to me like $10,250 that came in shrunk to $9400 on the way out-- meaning a tidy little profit of $850 for Atlas. That might not sound like a lot of money, but it would represent the 8th largest contribution the group received in this cycle, if so.
But things get hinkier still. When speaking with Atlas President, Lowrey, a few days ago, he said he had no idea that CCFG was funded entirely by the public employees of OCEA.
That may or may not be true, but let's assume it is.
I then asked him, "OK, well someone introduced you to CCFG. Somebody connected them (and the OCEA) to Altas through you. Who was it?"
No reply.
When I pressed him on this, he made it abundantly clear that the had no intention of disclosing who that person was. I explained to him that by not disclosing that info, it would look like he was hesitant to do so because either A) the passing of money between all these committees represented some sort of campaign finance violation or B) he was protecting someone for whom this would all look terrible.
I suspect it's the latter, and I'll explain why in a minute.
First, I certainly hope it isn't the former; I don't know Lee Lowrey well but I've certainly met him on a number of occasions and he seems like a good guy. Certainly, I don't recall ever having heard anything negative about him from other local Republicans so I hope all this money laundering (sorry, I don't know what else to call it) is all legal, even if questionable, ideologically.
But here's why I suspect he's just protecting someone--the person who brought this OCEA funding scheme to him in the first place: it has to do with the biggest contribution (and corresponding outgoing expenditure) Atlas has been part of this election cycle, one which happened just days ago. That in-and-out financial transaction was for the express purpose of another I.E. in different race, and there is only one person in the entire county (besides Lowrey) that I can very logically connect to both of these strange transactions.
For that person, the one I assume Lowrey is refusing to disclose, the funneling of OCEA money would look particularly awful. I called that person earlier this week for comment, leaving message as to what I was calling about, and so far-- no call back.
I'll write about that most recent contribution tomorrow and try to tie all of this together, but it seems like something stinky is going on. Maybe something very stinky.
There are a lot of terrific local folks who count themselves members of Atlas PAC. If I were one of those members, I'd be asking some very direct questions of my leadership right about now...
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