Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema continues to rake in huge political donations from private equity underwriters (PEU). Sludge reported:
Tens of thousands of dollars of Sinema’s second quarter haul came from donors who work at the investment firms Montgomery Capital, First Atlantic LLC, Crescent Capital Group, and TPG Capital.
A handful of large donations from employees of the Boston-based private equity firm Advent International, totaling $23,000, were received by Sinema’s joint fundraising committee within a one week period in April, including from David Mussafer, the company’s chairman and managing partner. Other donations in the second quarter to Sinema came from Amir Goldman of private equity company Susquehanna Growth Equity, John Connaughton of Bain Capital, and James Burr, managing director at the Carlyle Group.
The PEU boys are showing their appreciation for Sinema's saving their preferred "carried interest" taxation.
Donors with private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), the Carlyle Group, Crescent Capital Group, tech investment firm Francisco Partners, and Blackstone contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Sinema’s PAC this year, making up a portion of the more than $226,000 that GSD (a PAC supporting Sinema) has received from investment industry donors.Politically connected PEUs funnel money to elected officials to get their legislative wishes enacted. These kingpins are known as "policy making billionaires." So what do politicians do with these funds? They circulate them to friends and family via a giant money funnel.
How would you like to be paid as a full time employee and also own a company that provides services to the Senator's campaign? Vrindavan Gabbard Bellord owns TOA Group, an Arizona company and is on the congressional payroll, according to LegiStorm.
The Daily Beast gave some color to the relationship:
Since fall 2021, Bellord has been employed as the “security director” in Sinema’s Senate office, a role that has paid her over $50,000, according to Senate records. Bellord has also apparently been the exclusive security provider to Sinema’s campaign.
Beyond paying Bellord’s salary, Sinema’s campaign committee and personal PAC have spent over $240,000 on other security-related expenses—airfare, lodging, meals, and other benefits for “security detail,”
Sludge indicated the money funnel did not stop there:
...travel and security service TOA Group, formed by the sister of Sinema’s friend, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, with almost $268,000 paid to it by GSD (a Sinema related PAC). The security company has also received $233,000 from Sinema’s campaign this year.
That's over $500,000 from the Sinema campaign and a mission related PAC.
Several experts commented on the nature of this multiple income arrangement (mixing public and campaign/PAC money):
.....remarked the $300,000-plus sum that Bellord received from Sinema was “eye-opening” and that the fact that the senator is her only apparent client is “one of the biggest red flags.”
That Bellord is being paid with campaign funds for security while drawing a taxpayer-funded salary for the same kind of work is “exceptionally rare,” said Brendan Fischer, executive director of the watchdog group Documented.
It's the PEU way and it's infected our government and society from nearly top to bottom.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also paid an obscure consultant big bucks during her time in office. Honolulu Civil Beat reported:
Deep in the Washington state wilderness, a highly paid political consultant is raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars from U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s presidential campaign.
It’s the kind of money usually spent on national name-brand political operatives with bustling offices and large staffs based in Washington, D.C., or New York.
But few people in the business have ever heard of Kris Robinson, the owner of Northwest Digital, a web design and internet marketing firm working for Gabbard’s campaign. His company address is a P.O. box here in Stehekin, a remote village in the Northern Cascades mountains that’s famous for its isolation.
Federal Election Commission records show that between 2013 and 2019 Gabbard’s congressional and presidential campaigns have paid out more than $531,000 to Robinson, Honu Creative and Northwest Digital.Tulsi was this man's only political client. No other politician hired him outside Gabbard.
“If you’re a serious enough agency to be working on a presidential campaign, you would have worked on previous statewide campaigns or national super PACs. The fact that I’ve never heard of this guy or his company is peculiar.”
The insider money funnel continues to churn out big bucks for the connected. It appears independent members of Congress are as corruptible as the aligned.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. The "No Labels" addition is of PEU disruption origins. Very dark money is behind it. That's what policy making billionaires do. They pull the strings and manage our political marionettes to the benefit of their power and pocketbook.
For Kyrsten Sinema a bright PEU future awaits. She has earned it and did so on the backs of the poor and marginalized, which she once was. Nevermore.
Update 10-24-23: Kyrsten Sinema said she doesn't care if she loses reelection because she 'saved the Senate by myself' and can go serve 'on any board I want to.' For saving PEU preferred taxation I'll wager she gets more than a board seat.
