Editorials & Other Articles

marmar

(77,072 posts) Tue Feb 23, 2021, 11:23 AM Feb 2021

The Lincoln Project's implosion: A perfect time for Democratic donors to rethink their spending

The Lincoln Project's implosion: A perfect time for Democratic donors to rethink their spending
If Democrats want to win elections, they need to start thinking bigger than the election cycle

By JON SKOLNIK
FEBRUARY 23, 2021 10:00AM

(Salon) For the past month, anti-Trump super PAC the Lincoln Project –– which promised to bridge America's divides by bringing dignity back to the Republican Party –– has been put through the wringer and hung out to dry. First, allegations of sexual harassment by more than twenty people, including two minors, against Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver came to light in late January. According to various reports, several of the group's prominent Republican founders knew about the allegations as early as March of 2020, yet no subsequent investigations were ever launched. Two weeks later, it was revealed that over two-thirds of the $90 million raised by the Lincoln Project was paid to firms run by the group's founders, leaving only $27 million spent on the ad campaign in support of congressional Democrats and against Donald Trump it promised to run.

Additional allegations have since accused the Lincoln Project leaders of cultivating a toxic workplace rife with infighting, sexism, and homophobia. The Lincoln Project's co-founders, Steve Schmitt and Jennifer Horn, as well as its senior advisor, Kurt Bardella, have resigned amid the turmoil, throwing the group into a chaotic state of disunity.

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Not only did highly-moneyed liberals rally behind a Republican-backed organization that now appears foundationally rotten; they did so because they erroneously believed its strategy to be new and bold. According to Federal Election Commission filings, here are some of the Lincoln Project's biggest donors:

* Democratic dark money group Majority Forward ($1.35 million)

* Democratic dark money group Sixteen Thirty Fund ($300,000)

* Hedge fund manager Stephen Mendel Jr. ($1 million)

* Oil heir Gordon Getty ($1 million)

* Media magnate David Geffen ($500,000)

* Bain Capital Co-Chair Joshua Bekenstein ($100,000)

* Founder of Dreamworks Pictures Jeffrey Katzenberg ($100,000)

* Philanthropist Liz Lefkofsky ($100,000)

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Although Abrams' political project benefited from a large pot of grassroots donations, she avoided giving money to specific candidates, instead building out the political infrastructure needed to amass broad support for progressive policies. Needless to say, the remarkable success of her project presents an important question for Democratic donors: Will they continue to bankroll short-term avenues of influence that focus on the success (or failure) of individual political candidates? Or will Democrats finally focus on enfranchising new voters and establishing a broader, longer-term coalition of support? Given how the 2020 election cycle played out, it appears that the latter strategy has more political potential. ...........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/02/23/the-lincoln-projects-implosion-a-perfect-time-for-democratic-donors-to-rethink-their-spending/