Nonprofit led by Flynn saw fundraising skyrocket

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Feb 22,2024 11:15 pm

Feb 22, 2024

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With Daniel Lippman

NONPROFIT LED BY FLYNN SAW FUNDRAISING SKYROCKET: A decades-old conservative nonprofit saw its fundraising soar after appointing former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn as its board chair several years ago, but America’s Future has continued bleeding cash while sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to Flynn and members of his family, according to tax filings.

— The filings, obtained by watchdog group Issue One and shared with PI, show that America’s Future raised $1.4 million in 2022. That’s down from the $2.3 million raised in 2021, when Flynn came aboard, but boatloads more than the $27,000 and $12,000 the group raised in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

— America’s Future is not required to disclose its donors, but Issue One’s review of additional tax filings found that $1 million of the nonprofit’s haul in 2021 and a $500,000 gift in 2022 came from conservative donor-advised funds Donors Trust and the Bradley Impact Fund, respectively.

— The group’s annual spending shot up accordingly, from nearly $97,000 in 2019 to $2.6 million in 2021 and $1.8 million in 2022. That year, America’s Future paid $762,000 in salaries, benefits and other compensation to staff — 43 percent of the organization’s total spending — while doling out only $135,000 in grants.

— About $530,000 — or a fifth — of the nonprofit’s spending went toward personnel in 2021, while grantmaking surpassed $1.2 million. (In previous years, then-President Ed Martin’s compensation accounted for over half of the nonprofit’s expenditures, according to ProPublica’s nonprofit database.)

— Flynn, who became a central figure in pushing lies about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, was appointed board chair for America’s Future in April 2021. He subsequently brought his brother Joe Flynn on as a director and his sister Mary O’Neill on as the nonprofit’s executive director, along with a consulting firm owned by Flynn’s sister Clare Eckert. America’s Future steered a total of more than $513,000 to Michael Flynn, Joe Flynn, O’Neill and Eckert’s firm, Flynn Consulting, in 2021 and 2022.

— Among the organizations that benefitted from the influx of cash to America’s Future in recent years was Cyber Ninjas, the firm hired by GOP state senators in Arizona for an “audit” of the 2020 election results, which received $977,000 from America’s Future in 2021 before shutting down less than a year later.

— Over two years, America’s Future gave to other groups peddling the falsehoods about the 2020 election, including $125,000 to the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, $20,000 to Americans for Limited Government and $10,000 to Moms for America.

— It also donated $100,000 to a nonprofit to launch a new museum focused “on realism visual arts that document and honor” things like “individual freedom, personal rights, hard work and entrepreneurism, the beauty of our land, our cultural melting pot, American values, American heroes, spirituality, and patriotism.”

Happy Thursday and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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ANOTHA ONE: Avoq is the latest firm on K Street to part ways with one of its Chinese clients after PI reported that several members of Congress were considering banning the firms that represent them from meetings with their offices.

— The firm has terminated its lobbying relationship with controversial dronemaker DJI after less than six months, according to a disclosure filing. The firm reported pulling in $240,000 in lobbying revenues during that time.

— Avoq follows three other firms — Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Vogel Group — that have dropped Chinese clients in the past week after PI reported their inclusion on a list circulating around the Hill naming firms that lobby for Chinese companies that are on federal entity lists.

— A bipartisan group of lawmakers was considering blacklisting firms that represent companies on the Pentagon’s so-called 1260H entity list for “Chinese military companies” — even if they were trying to meet to discuss American clients. DJI is on the Pentagon entity list, as well as entity lists for the Commerce and Treasury departments.

— Lawmakers praised the news of the terminations, with Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) telling PI, “I’m glad that firms are realizing that business as usual is no longer acceptable when it comes to representing or supporting these companies, particularly as the Chinese Communist Party further inflames tensions in the South China Sea and across the Taiwan Strait.” A spokesperson for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called the developments “encouraging.”

THE STATE OF THE UKRAINE LOBBY, 2 YEARS INTO WAR: “In the two years since the war in Ukraine began, 46 different firms or individuals have been registered under FARA to represent Ukrainian interests,” the Quincy Institute’s Ben Freeman writes for Responsible Statecraft. “This includes lobbying heavyweights like BGR Government Affairs, Hogan Lovells, and Hill & Knowlton, as well as international public relations firms like Qorvis Communications. In total, these firms have received nearly $10.92 million from Ukrainian clients since 2022, according to FARA data compiled by OpenSecrets.”

— “Just as in the year before the war … the Ukraine lobby has been working feverishly since the war began,” reporting to the Justice Department more than 12,000 political activities on behalf of Ukrainian interests, with Yorktown Solutions being the most prolific firm.

— “[T]he Ukraine lobby isn’t funded at the level of perennial influence powerhouses in Washington, like Saudi Arabia, whose lobbying and public relations firms have received more than $70 million from the Kingdom since 2022, according to OpenSecrets.”

— “But, the actual dollar amount of spending on lobbying, public relations and the other influence efforts done on behalf of Ukrainian interests is deceptive, as many individuals, and even some of the most prominent lobbying firms in D.C., have been working for Ukraine pro-bono. In fact, of the 46 different firms and individuals that have been registered under FARA to represent Ukrainian clients, 29 have done the work for free,” though many of those firms “appear to have done little work on behalf of Ukrainian interests.”

TIMMONS CHIDES CONGRESS ON IMMIGRATION, UKRAINE: National Association of Manufacturers chief Jay Timmons expressed exasperation with Washington’s leaders, needling policymakers today for a lack of “common sense” when it comes to regulatory proposals, and the failure so far to revive a set of tax breaks and enact immigration reform and another round of aid for Ukraine.

— “I have to tell you, I am flat out of patience, and I know you are too,” Timmons said in an annual address on the state of the manufacturing industry. “I’m sick of the games, and the shifting goal posts, and the ‘leaders’ who don’t respect you enough to give you a straight answer from the start.” Timmons criticized what he called a “regulatory onslaught” from the Biden administration while urging the Senate to take up a tax package that would revive tax breaks that were “rocket fuel” for industry.

— And though NAM “didn’t like every piece” of the bipartisan border security deal brokered in the Senate, the package represented a step in the right direction on a number of issues, Timmons argued, demanding that lawmakers be forced to answer for their inaction on immigration reforms and Ukraine aid.

GREEN ON GREEN VIOLENCE: “The United States’ top developer of green energy has spent nearly six years undermining a clean power project vital to meeting New England’s climate goals,” our Benjamin Storrow reports.

— “Florida-based NextEra Energy has fought to block a transmission line for Canadian-generated hydropower by opposing it at two state supreme courts, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the ballot box — twice. Its tactics, overseen in part by a public relations firm with a history of defending coal, recently led a Maine ethics agency to issue its largest-ever fine against an organization working on NextEra’s behalf.”

— “NextEra’s campaign has delayed the power line’s construction for almost two years, leaving the region overwhelmingly dependent on natural gas — a stance critics say belies the company’s branding as a leader in the fight against climate change. Its opposition highlights an uncomfortable reality for climate advocates: Powerful allies can turn into cutthroat adversaries when their profits are threatened.”

— “NextEra spokesperson Chris McGrath defended its opposition to the line, saying no other company had done ‘more to drive the transition to clean energy’ or ‘invested more in the nation's electrical infrastructure in the past decade.’”

— “But he argued that new transmission projects should be used for domestic energy, and the company has asserted in legal filings that the line might fail to deliver its promised environmental benefits. That echoes concerns expressed by some green groups about its potential impacts on forests and rivers.”

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Jobs Report

— Glenn Reynolds is joining Nokia as vice president of government affairs for North America and head of its Washington office. Reynolds was previously vice president for tech policy at the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and is an NTIA alum.

— Connor Pfeiffer is now director of congressional relations at FDD Action. He previously was executive director of the Forum for American Leadership, where he’ll remain a senior adviser, and is a Will Hurd alum.

— Airlines for America promoted Marli Collier to managing director of communications, Hannah Walden to director of communications and Nick McClellan to director of digital and brand.

— Phil Powell has been promoted to associate partner at The Normandy Group. He previously served as director of federal affairs.

— Dedrick Asante-Muhammad will be the next president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He was previously chief of race, wealth and community at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

— Defense tech company Reticulate Micro added Louis Sutherland as senior director of business development and  Anne Wainscott-Sargent as senior director of marketing and communications.

— Former acting national cyber director and president of Paladin Global Institute Kemba Walden is joining the Aspen Digital Institute as the new co-chair of its U.S. and Global Cybersecurity Groups, Morning Cybersecurity reports.

— Daniel O’Day, CEO of Gilead, is now the chair of PhRMA’s board of directors, succeeding Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, is now board chair-elect, and Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi, will be treasurer.

— Mike Graham is set to retire from his post as senior vice president at the American Dental Association after almost 30 years.

— Cummins’ Nicole Lamb-Hale has been appointed to the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

— Zack Condry and Erik Hotmire are launching Watermark Strategies, a corporate affairs consulting firm. Condry most recently founded and ran Echo, and is an Everest Communications and Brunswick Group alum. Hotwire previously was at FGS Global and is a Teneo, Brunswick and SEC alum.

— Lee Alman is joining BCW as an executive vice president in the agency’s North America corporate affairs practice based in Los Angeles. Alman was most recently executive vice president of the U.S. crisis and risk practice at Edelman.

— The Human Rights Campaign is adding Orlando Gonzales as senior vice president for programs, research and training, and Stephanie Osborn as COO. Gonzales most recently was executive director of SAVE and the SAVE Foundation. Osborn most recently was COO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

— Wendy Sammons-Jackson is joining Cornerstone Government Affairs’ federal government relations team. She previously was acting deputy principal assistant for research and technology for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command.

— Shannon Kellman is now senior adviser in the U.S. Liaison Office of UNAIDS. She most recently was senior policy director at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

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New Joint Fundraisers

Blue Spruce Victory Fund (DSCC, Sen. John Hickenlooper)

Brown/Rogers Victory Fund (Sam Brown for Nevada, Rogers for Senate, NRSC)

New PACs

AMERICA FIRST PRIORITIES PAC (Super PAC)

America Reborn PAC (Super PAC)

FIX WASHINGTON PAC (Super PAC)

Local Leadership PAC (Super PAC)

Ohio Conservative Project Inc (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Arentfox Schiff LLP: Massachusetts Ambulance Association, Incorporated

Blank Rome Government Relations: Fugro USa Marine, Inc.

Brian Glackin & Associates LLC (Formerly Listed As Brian J. Glackin & Associates LLC): Army Alliance, Inc.

Capitol Counsel LLC: International Council Of Shopping Centers

Collective Strategies & Communications (Formerly Collective Communications LLC): Neptune Aviation

Husch Blackwell Strategies: US Strategic Metals

Mason Street Consulting, LLC: Innovaccer Inc.

Mccartin Public Policy Group LLC: World Wildlife Fund, Inc.

Murray, Montgomery & O'Donnell: Sonoma County Transportation Authority Recgional Climate Protection Authority

Perseus Strategies: David Vardanyan

S-3 Group: Morrison Cohen, LLP Obo Rexmark Holdings, LLC

T A Business Development, LLC: Recon Supply, LLC

Taras, LLC: Wilder Systems Inc.

T Cap Solutions, LLC: Tradinghub Group Limited

Van Scoyoc Associates: Acadian Ambulance Services Inc.

Water Strategies, LLC: Lower Loup Natural Resources District

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New Lobbying Terminations

Lone Star Consulting (Fka Ls Consulting, LLC): The City Of Crystal City

The Vogel Group: Complete Genomics

The Vogel Group: Dji Technology

Venable LLP: Electronic Transactions Association

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