BH Group
BH Group is a for-profit limited liability corporation registered in Virginia in August 2016.[1] Partly owned by longtime Federalist Society executive Leonard Leo, it was the sister group of the BH Fund and is closely related to the Wellspring Committee. BH Group is compensated by The 85 Fund and Concord Fund, which are operated by Leo associates.[2][3]
Funding
[edit]Between 2016 and 2018, the BH Group received $4 million from the Concord Fund (formerly Judicial Crisis Network), The 85 Fund (formerly Judicial Education Project), and the Wellspring Committee.[1] Robert Maguire of McClatchy DC has described it as a shell company, a pass-through vehicle, and an entity that was likely created to conceal the identities of a donor.[4]
In November 2017, the Wellspring Committee filed tax documents showing a $750,000 payment to BH Group firm for public relations.[4] The BH Group does not appear to market itself as a public relations firm, has no known website, and does not advertise its services.[4] Similarly, Wellspring Committee, a nonprofit, has no known public-facing operations, no website, and three employees.[4] In 2018, the BH Group received nearly $919,000 from the Wellspring Committee, the primary funder of the Judicial Crisis Network.[2][5]
In 2018, the Judicial Crisis Network also reported paying BH Group $1.2 million in consulting fees.[6]
In 2018, the Rule of Law Trust paid the BH Group $4 million for consulting services.[6] The Rule of Law Trust is an $80 million trust with no employees; its sole trustee is Leonard Leo.[7][8]
Activities
[edit]The BH Group is connected to the non-profit BH Fund, which distributed money to Leo's network of groups supporting president Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominees. The BH Fund was formed in 2016 with $24 million from a single unknown donor, and has donated more than $3 million to the Freedom and Opportunity Fund and America Engaged. The BH Fund was dissolved in 2017, three days after Politico inquired as to whether it facilitated the sale of The Polling Company, owned by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, to Creative Response Concepts, which is linked to Leo. Conway was advising Trump on Supreme Court nominees at the time.[1][9][10]
The BH Fund is responsible for enforcing a donation agreement between an anonymous $20 million donor and the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.[11][12][13][14]
In December 2016, the BH Group donated $1 million to Donald Trump's inaugural committee.[4]
The Honest Elections Project, an alias of the Judicial Education Project/Judicial Crisis Network, has also paid money to the BH Group.[15] The Honest Election Project, which has expressed the view that voter suppression is a "myth," has filed court briefs "in favor of voting restrictions" in Nevada, Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin and Minnesota.[15] The Guardian wrote that "[by] having a hand in both voting litigation and the judges on the federal bench, this network could create a system where conservative donors have an avenue to both oppose voting rights and appoint judges to back that effort."[15]
Employees
[edit]Leonard Leo is an employee of the BH Group and the president of the BH Fund.[1][16][11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d O'Harrow Jr., Robert; Boburg, Shawn (May 21, 2019). "A conservative activist's behind-the-scenes campaign to remake the nation's courts". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 21, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^ a b Lee, Michelle Ye Hee (November 27, 2018). "Unnamed donors gave large sums to conservative nonprofit that funded Trump allies". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
- ^ Vogel, Kenneth P. (October 12, 2022). "Leonard Leo's Network Is Increasingly Powerful. But It Is Not Easy to Define". The New York TImes.
- ^ a b c d e Maguire, Robert (May 15, 2018). "$1 million mystery gift to inauguration traced to conservative legal activists". McClatchy.
- ^ "The Money Behind Conservative Legal Movement (Published 2017)". The New York Times. March 19, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
- ^ a b "Barrett ads tied to interest groups funded by unnamed donors". AP News. October 26, 2020.
- ^ "$80 million dark money group tied to Trump Supreme Court advisor, Leonard Leo". CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
- ^ "Rule of Law Trust IRS 990" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 30, 2020.
- ^ Przybyla, Heidi (January 20, 2023). "Dark money group linked to Leonard Leo is dissolved". Politico.
- ^ Przybyla, Heidi (December 20, 2022). "While advising Trump on judges, Conway sold her business to a firm with ties to judicial activist Leonard Leo". Politico.
- ^ a b "New 'dark money' group led by Trump judicial adviser tied to network promoting his court picks". OpenSecrets. February 27, 2019.
- ^ Michaelson, Jay (July 9, 2018). "The Secretive Puppetmaster Behind Trump's Supreme Court Pick". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
- ^ "After Eight Years On The Sidelines, This Conservative Group Is Primed To Reshape The Courts". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
- ^ Woolsey, Angela (May 11, 2018). "GMU law school under scrutiny for possible Federalist Society ties". Fairfax County Times.
- ^ a b c Levine, Sam; Massoglia, Anna (May 27, 2020). "Revealed: conservative group fighting to restrict voting tied to powerful dark money network". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
- ^ Boburg, Shawn; O'Harrow Jr, Robert (May 21, 2019). "Five takeaways from The Post's report on Leonard Leo". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 24, 2020.