The dark-money nonprofit that worked with Republican strategists last year to promote spoiler independent candidates in important state Senate races also raised over $700,000 from organizations controlled by Democratic fundraisers.
The nonprofit, Grow United Inc., which is based out of a UPS Store in Denver, provided more than half a million dollars last fall that Republican strategists used to advertise little-known independent candidates who did no campaigning of their own in three key Senate elections — one in Central Florida and two in South Florida. The ads appeared designed to appeal to voters who might otherwise have voted for the Democrats in the three races, all of which were ultimately won by Republicans, helping the GOP retain control of the 40-member Florida Senate.
But even as it financed efforts to undermine Democratic Senate candidates, Grow United also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from groups that were supporting those same candidates.
Representatives for “The People Over Profits Florida Inc.,” a nonprofit founded by a former Democratic lawmaker and candidate for attorney general, said the organization donated approximately $500,000 to Grow United last year. And representatives for “A Better Miami Dade Inc.,” another nonprofit controlled by Democratic consultants, said it gave $222,500 to Grow United.
Neither organization would say where the money they gave to Grow United came from. They do not have to disclose their own donors, but they do have to report transfers to other nonprofits.
Some government watchdogs say the fact that Democratic and Republican strategists were using the same entity to hide the identities of donors shows how omnipresent dark money has become in elections — from campaigns for the presidency all the way down to state senate districts and county commissions.
“It shows how some nonprofits are essentially tools in the toolbox of political operatives that can be pulled out or borrowed when they have a need to inject cash into elections without revealing the true identity of the donors,” said Matt Corley, the chief investigator at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a group that attempts to trace dark money.
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