Crossroads GPS, the dark money political organization linked to Republican operative Karl Rove, apparently gave $2 million last year to Americans for Job Security, a group that was involved in a scheme in California to funnel $11 million into efforts aimed at two state ballot initiatives.

A state investigation into the movement of money found that AJS, also a dark money nonprofit, sent the $11 million through three other organizations in an attempt to hide the identities of its donors. California election authorities called it “the largest contribution ever disclosed as campaign money-laundering in California history” and demanded disclosure of the donors.

In a settlement today, after a grand jury investigation, the Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership — two of the groups through which money was channeled — agreed to pay a fine of $500,000 each, which together amounts to the largest campaign-reporting fine ever levied by the watchdog agency. CPPR has been a major clearinghouse of contributions to other conservative dark money groups. Both CPPR and ARL have strong ties to the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, major donors to conservative political causes. CPPR received $115 million from the Koch-spearheaded group Freedom Partners last year.

In addition, the agency released a list of AJS donors the state obtained in its investigation. The document, much of which is redacted, contains enough information to identify some of the large donors.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/24/3709096_p2/calif-pacs-reach-1m-campaign-finance.html#storylink=cpy

Crossroads GPS spent more than $70 million on independent expenditures in the 2012 elections, but apparently had enough to give to other dark money groups as well.

Some other major Republican donors are on the list, such as Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, who gave $250,000 each. The Adelsons were major donors to Republican super PACs in 2012, giving nearly $100 million to such groups as American Crossroads (the super PAC affiliate of Crossroads GPS) and the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future.

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

Other donors included:

Jesse Rogers of Altman Capital, $450,000

Greg Penner of Wal Mart, $500,000

Margaret Bloomfield of Baron Real Estate Fund, $500,000

Glen Stearns and Stearns Lending, $250,000

The Tulley and Elise Friedman Fund, $100,000

The American Council of Engineering Companies of California, $500,000

Wayne Hughes, $450,000

Hitchcock Automotive, $100,000

The Los Angeles Times identified other donors: The Fisher family, for instance, which owns the Gap clothing empire, gave more than $9 million, according to the Times.

According to the Associated Press, CPPR said that the settlement included a recognition by the state that the group didn’t intend to conceal information but made a mistake “largely because it had never previously made any contributions” in California. “The Commission today recognized that CPPR acted in ‘good faith’ and that there was absolutely no intent to violate campaign reporting rules,” attorney Malcolm Segal said in a statement.

The money flowed like this: AJS raised $29 million. It gave nearly $25 million of it to CPPR, which in turn gave $18 million to Americans for Responsible Leadership. ARL gave $11 million to the Small Business Action Committee, which put it toward fighting one state ballot initiative that would have meant higher taxes and supporting another that would have reduced the political power of labor unions. The Small Business committee was ordered Thursday to pay $11 million to the state.



CPPR also gave $7 million to the American Future Fund , which sent $4 million on to the California Future Fund for Free Markets. The California group, which supported the anti-union ballot measure, was ordered by the state watchdog agency to pay a penalty equivalent to the sum it received. None of those organizations disclose their donors, though they are all engage in extensive political activity. The American Future Fund spent more than $25 million at the federal level in the 2012 elections. A call and email to Crossroads GPS were not returned at the time of this post. Political Nonprofits Investigator Robert Maguire and Money-in-Politics Reporter Russ Choma contributed to this post. Image: Sean Noble, head of the Center to Protect Patient Rights, via his Twitter account.



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]





Support Accountability Journalism At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether you’re reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or “dark money” influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust.Please support our work and keep this resource free. Thank you. Support OpenSecrets ➜