National Popular Vote is the organization behind the popular vote movement. While they try to pass themselves off as a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, the truth is they are financed by millions from left-leaning groups, wealthy Democrats and at least one billionaire independent. The most recent available filing with the IRS showed that in 2015 the organization had revenue of $2 million.
According to Saul Anuzis, former chair of Michigan’s Republican Party, former advisor to Senator Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, and member of National Popular Vote, the bulk of the group’s budget comes from just two individuals who put up 95% of their money – a liberal progressive, John Koza and a supposed conservative, pro-life tax protester, Tom Golisano.
John Koza, chairman of National Popular Vote Inc., is a California businessman who invented the scratch-off lottery ticket. By 2014 he had spent at least $14 million marketing the compact among the states and had budgeted $2 million a year from that time forward. Regularly maxing out in donations to Democratic candidates such as Nancy Pelosi, Keith Ellerson, Bernie Saunders and Hillary Clinton, Koza has written checks for tens of thousands to the DNC and its fundraising arms for House and Senate races.
Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex and the New York Independence Party, is a three time unsuccessful candidate for governor. Having spent some $10 million of his own money to promote popular vote, Golisano has also donated to the presidential campaign of John Kerry and Dick Gephardt as well as the Senate campaign of Charlie Crist, a Florida Republican who switched to Independent, all of which doesn’t reflect any conservative viewpoint I know.
Barry Fadem, president of National Popular Vote is a California election lawyer who like Koza has also contributes to Democrat candidates such as John Kerry’s presidential campaign and the reelection campaign of Barbara Boxer, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
National Popular Vote’s secretary is Chris Pearson, a Vermont state progressive party senator, and former director of presidential election reform for FairVote, a left-leaning voting rights group. He also serviced as an aide to Bernie Sanders when he was in the House of Representatives.
Patrick Rosenstiel, spokesman and consultant for the organization is a Republican. He is chairman of the Institute for Research on Presidential Elections and CEO of Ainsley Shea, a Twin cities based public affairs firm.
According to the Capital Research Center, a conservative investigative think tank that monitors nonprofits, National Popular Vote receives a lot of money from liberal organizations like the Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation which gave a $1 million in 2011. Jonathan Soros, the son of George Soros, heads an large investment hedge fund known for financing left-leaning causes around the world.
The Stephen M. Silberstein Foundation made donations totaling $1 million to National Popular Vote Inc. from 2008 to 2012, according to the most recent data. Inside Philanthropy reported in 2015 that “nearly every major progressive policy and advocacy group in the U.S. has received money from Silberstein in recent years.” Silberstein who is a board member for the organization, said in 2016, after the election of Donald Trump, that “it’s not useful to change the rules of the game after the game is over….If you really want to do something, change the rules now in time for the next election.”
Another major donor to the compact was the Sandler Foundation, which contributed $100,000 in 2010. The organization’s 2015 filing with the Internal Revenue Service shows it gave millions to liberal groups, including the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union, EarthJustice California, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
The Tides Foundation, a major funder of left-leaning causes has also donated to the cause, along with donations to pretty much every left-wing organization in the country that includes the ACLU, the Center for American Progress, Media Matters, the Sierra Club, and Planned Parenthood, among other liberal groups. The George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations has given millions to the Tides Foundation, according to the Capitol Research Center along with many left-wing elitist who do not wish their names associated to any one particular left-wing cause.
As a specific kind of nonprofit under the tax code, National Popular Vote is allowed to lobby state lawmakers to join the interstate compact. Koza also established an educational nonprofit, the Institute for Research on Presidential Elections, that is prohibited from direct lobbying. It had $550,504 in revenue, according to its 2016 IRS filing.
National Popular Vote is the left’s end-run around the constitution to eliminates the geographic balance provided by the Electoral College which makes all regions of the country, states both small and large, liberal or conservative important in the Presidential election. It strikes directly at the Founders’ views of federalism and a representative republic that balances popular sovereignty with structural protections for state governments and minority interests.
The Electoral College has provided orderly elections for more than 200 years, allowing a stable transfer of power of the leadership. As former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith says, “We tinker with our success at our peril.”
Source: EXCLUSIVE: Who’s Bankrolling the National Popular Vote Movement, Capital Research Center; The Popular Vote Scam, FCP
