California Governor Gavin Newsom and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren claim on X that they are raising money to help fight the Los Angeles wildfires and its victims.
The problem: Hyperlinks take contributors to the notorious far-left ActBlue fundraising operation that became the target of an investigation by Texas Attorney Ken Paxton for suspicious donations.
Warren’s appeal on X goes to an Act Blue Warren for Senate page. Newsom’s goes not to the California Fire Foundation, the ostensible recipient of contributions. Rather, users landed at an ActBlue page for Newsom’s own super pac.
Meanwhile, Newsom has denied that his veto of a bill to hire seasonal firefighters led to layoffs.
Newsom Super Pac
Newsom’s appeal for money comes under a note about “a lot of misinformation out there” about his abysmal performance during the worst fires in Los Angeles history.
The X post links to CalFireFacts, a website, which includes a hyperlink for donations to the Cal Fire Foundation.
But donors won’t go to the Cal Fire Foundation. Instead, they land at Campaign for Democracy, Newsom’s own campaign super PAC, as the New York Post reported. ActBlue is providing the platform.
“Your donation will go directly towards supporting firefighters and the communities they serve, including direct financial support to impacted residents,” the website says.
Continued the Post:
“Not a cent of these donations go to Gavin Newsom or his PAC. Gov. Newsom is proud to have raised $450,000 for the Fire Foundation in small-dollar contributions during these fires and is grateful for the people across the nation who have come together to help Californians in their time of need,” a spokesperson for Newsom told The Post.
Observers online also quickly pointed out that ActBlue takes a portion of all donations as a processing fee. ActBlue claims to “charge a flat rate of 3.95% on each donation” to “cover the processing cost.” The Post has contacted ActBlue for comment.
ActBlue’s pricing page explains the fee: “a 3.95% transaction fee on each contribution.”
Likewise, Warren sends donors to a “Warren for Senate” page also maintained by ActBlue.
“To help support the communities around L.A. being devastated by wildfires, can you split a donation between the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles? 100% of your donation will go directly to these organizations,” Warren wrote. There followed a link to the ActBlue page, which explains the two recipients.
“The Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation fills in funding gaps to connect firefighters with the protective equipment and latest tools they need to do their jobs, while working to ensure firefighters’ long-term health and safety,” the page says.
Why the city doesn’t have enough equipment to fight fires given the tax burden on Los Angelenos is unclear.
“United Way of Greater Los Angeles is providing support to low-income individuals, people experiencing homelessness, small businesses, and community organizations affected by the wildfires,” the page continues.
As well, “your full donation will directly support these two organizations.”
But not if ActBlue is pocketing almost four cents on the dollar.
Paxton vs. ActBlue
In October, Paxton referred ActBlue to the federal Justice Department for a criminal investigation after his 10-month probe into possibly illegal contributions at the website.
Noting that ActBlue required credit card CCV security codes as result of his investigation, Paxton told the DOJ that ActBlue didn’t do enough to stop illegal contributions, including “straw donations apparently … being made on a large scale using false identities, through untraceable payment methods.”
In a note to the Federal Election Commission, Paxton wrote that “if not corrected by the FEC, bad actors can — with trivial ease — illegally funnel foreign money into American elections, exceed political contribution limits, and more.”
The House Administration Committee also opened a probe into the Democratic money vacuum.
It found evidence of donations from China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela, the Post reported.
“Our investigation has indicated that these [foreign] actors may be exploiting existing U.S. [sic] donors by making straw donations without the individuals’ or your platform’s knowledge,” committee chief Bryan Steil of Wisconsin wrote. “This failure to verify donor identity may have allowed foreign actors to fraudulently participate in the political process.”
And that wasn’t all, the newspaper continued.
“Wisconsin GOP strategist Mark Block claimed in a bombshell racketeering lawsuit that his identity was stolen to make at least 385 donations to left-wing causes, as well as the veep’s super PAC, the Harris Victory Fund,” the Post explained.
Block claimed almost $1,000 went to Democrats without his knowledge, yet the donations were under $200 each. Thus, ActBlue wasn’t required to report them to the FEC.
“According to money laundering experts on Steil’s panel, ActBlue’s donation history over the past 14 years also shows several suspicious fact patterns,” the Post reported. “Hundreds of donations have been recorded amounting to just $2.50 from the same individual.”
No Seasonal Firefighters
Before the Warren-Newsom fundraising scheme surfaced, Newsom took to X to claim that his veto of a bill did not worsen the Los Angeles fires.
“Last year Gov. Newsom vetoed a bill that would have let CalFire retain seasonal firefighters to help with staffing shortages,” Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez wrote on January 9:
His veto forced the layoff of thousands of seasonal firefighters, who he never replaced despite his promises. This is negligence of the highest order.
Newsom claims that isn’t true. The bill, he wrote, would have delayed hiring those firefighters.
