The term “dark money” gets thrown around a lot, and when politicians make claims about “dark money” coming from the lurid corners of opposing political party backers, it is hard to take such vague claims seriously.
When an exposé is conducted by a research group that focuses solely on “dark money” matters, the claims become clearer, the culprits are brought into the light, and, most importantly, the money is followed. Scott Walter, “dark money” hawk and president of the Capital Research Center (CRC), has accumulated a wealth of information on “dark money” sources from the left.
In his new book, “Arabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Secretly Transforming America,” Walter guides the reader through this network of billionaires and multi-billion dollar charity organizations who use their 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) tax statuses to funnel money toward social and political movements, ranging from abortion to climate change to lobbying against the appointment of conservative judges. The billionaires involved include some of the most famous Americans, like Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, and the most usual suspect, George Soros. Charity organizations include the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, OpenSociety, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Sierra Club. But how do all of these organizations and individuals coordinate? It starts with a group called Arabella Advisors.
The “Tentacles” of Arabella
“We need to understand more thoroughly how these tentacles of Arabella operate across America,” Walter writes early in the book. He notes that though a majority of these donors and their organizations originate in Washington, D.C., their influence is felt throughout the country at statewide and local levels. Upon digging into organizations with harmless-sounding names like “Arizonans United for Health Care, Floridians for a Fair Shake, Keep Iowa Healthy, New Jersey for a Better Future, and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy,” one realizes just how harmful and deceptive these groups are, but furthermore, just who is pouring money—from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of millions of dollars—into them. As Walter suggests, these “pop-ups” are merely tentacles, of which there are so very many. As he further notes, “Think of almost any left-wing position, and Arabella money—usually a lot of it—can be found promoting it.”
In “Arabella,” the author explains how this group utilizes IRS loopholes to spawn its nonprofit subsidiaries and keeps its donors hidden, or at least very difficult to uncover. “Obscuring which donor paid for which project is one strength of the Arabella ‘dark money’ system, which is why its biggest clients are the biggest left-wing foundations in America,” Walter writes.
Right Against Left
Walter’s Capital Research Center is a conservative group that focuses on following the left’s money, and much of the research notated in the bibliography stems from its online source called InfluenceWatch.org. This website documents the inner workings of a vast array of left-of-center charity organizations (“charity,” for lack of a better term). One could call “Arabella” a hit piece since the source of the book is right-wing, but what helps dilute this accusation is the large amount of left-of-center publications cited throughout the book, including “The New York Times,” “The Washington Post,” and “Politico.” The use of such sources is no doubt intentional by Walter.
Furthermore, concerning these left-of-center publications, the CRC’s work has forced the mainstream media to recognize the clear risks this “dark money” plays in a democratic society. This recognition is cited by Walter, and none more important or devastating to Arabella than when Arabella CEO Sampriti Ganguli was interviewed by “The Atlantic.” The interview, which focused on Arabella’s “dark money” influence, resulted in Ganguli quickly being removed from her position. Most importantly, however, is the fact, and one that Walter is and should be most proud of, that the House Ways and Means Committee is investigating Arabella, specifically into the use of foreign money in political elections and legislation.
One for the Politicians
No doubt “Arabella” is an important read for citizens interested or concerned about the state of American politics and social movements. Where do all these organizations come from, and how do they rise so suddenly and so influentially? “Arabella” puts faces and names to the seemingly hidden figures. It is a book that, I believe, every local, state and federal conservative legislator and politician should read (even moderate Democrats may find the read enlightening and useful).
Over the decades, and especially since 2016 (the rise of Donald Trump), political and social pressure has been put on conservatives from countless angles. It would behoove those planning to join or are already within the political arena to know where this pressure is coming from and to know that the pressure is typically concocted not by concerned citizens but by big-money activists, who are concerned with “more centralized government in Washington, including ever more burdensome regulation of all facets of American life.” As Walter acknowledges, concerning CRC’s success, “It’s harder to manipulate people when you’re forced out of the shadows.”
