Dark, outside money Is trying to keep you from getting your PFD

Former Alaska State Revenue Commissioner, Bill Corbus, a member of the group opposing your right to have a State Constitutional Convention, said the following in an article he wrote for the Juneau Empire -

“Outside interests with their inexhaustible dark money purses may play a role…With recent rulings on political campaign contributions, dark money could influence the election of convention delegates and with a well-funded lobbying effort could effect changes to the Constitution.”

To be sure, dark, outside money is certainly playing a part in our once a decade opportunity this November to call for a Constitutional Convention. But it’s the group funding the effort to prevent you from having it that is the dark money at play now.

The biggest donor to Defend Our Constitution, the group opposing a Convention, is The Sixteen Thirty Fund. According to an article in The Atlantic, a liberal magazine if there ever was one, “The Sixteen Thirty Fund is the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money—and was the second-largest super-PAC donor in 2020, according to the investigative organization OpenSecrets.” The New York Times calls The Sixteen Thirty Fund one of the “leading dark money spenders on the Left.” Politico, another left leaning news outlet, writes that The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a “left-leaning, secret-money group doled out a whopping $410 million in 2020, aiding Democratic efforts to unseat then-President Donald Trump and win back control of the Senate.”

The article goes on to say that The Sixteen Thirty Fund’s “massive 2020 fundraising and spending illustrates the extent to which the left embraced the use of “dark money” to fight for its causes in recent years. After decrying big-money Republican donors over the last decade, as well as the Supreme Court rulings that flooded politics with more cash, Democrats now benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars of undisclosed donations as well.”

The Open Society Foundation, founded by liberal mega-donor George Soros, lists nearly $17 million in 2020 grants to The Sixteen Thirty Fund on its website.

Let that sink in.The group trying to convince you to vote no on a Constitutional Convention says they’re afraid of “dark money” affecting the process. Simultaneously, the most progressive news sources in the country say their biggest donor is one of the “biggest dark money behemoths in the nation”. That is priceless.

But to be sure, if they fool Alaskans with this blatant hypocrisy, there will be a cost. And it will come out of your pocket and mine.Does the Defend Our Constitution group really think that Alaskans aren’t smart enough to see how insincere, manipulative and condescending this strategy is? What do the members of the no group have in common? They hate the Permanent Fund Dividend and have done everything they can to prevent you from getting your statutorily-defined check. Regardless of your opinion on the PFD or the Constitutional Convention, this deception should outrage you.To add insult to injury, the latest ad, paid for by The Sixteen Thirty Fund, headquartered and entrenched in the swamp of Washington, DC, says a Constitutional Convention might take away Alaskans right to own and bear arms. This is Alaska! Who could possibly imagine voters in our state approving such nonsense? It is beyond the pale.Oh, and as you can guess, The Sixteen Thirty Fund, according to a publicly available IRS 990 document, gave massive funds to campaigns across the country to take away American’s right to bear arms. The arrogance and lack of respect by this group is appalling. Between now and November 8th, when you decide whether it’s time for Alaskans, who own our State Constitution, to make needed proposed changes to our founding document, pay attention carefully to the ads that will be flooding the airwaves, newspapers and social media telling you to be afraid. Let each one of those ads remind you how arrogant, distorted and fraudulent the no side has sunk to deny you your right to propose needed changes to our Constitution. Vote yes on November 8th and keep the real dark money from Washington, DC out of our lives.

Craig Campbell is the Chair of ConventionYes Campaign.