Senate leaders: Whose “dark money” is funding vaccine opponents?

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk, who supported Pete Buttigieg for the Democratic presidential nomination, has not made a decision on which of the remaining candidates to back. State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk, who supported Pete Buttigieg for the Democratic presidential nomination, has not made a decision on which of the remaining candidates to back. Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Staff Photographer Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Senate leaders: Whose “dark money” is funding vaccine opponents? 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

Two groups lobbying against stricter requirements on childhood vaccinations are using “dark money” while refusing to follow state transparency rules by not registering with ethics officials, Democratic leaders of the state Senate charged Thursday.

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney of New Haven, Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk and Sen. Mary Daugherty Abrams, co-chairman of the legislative Public Health Committee, said the groups are engaged in organized fundraising and seem to have spent beyond the $3,000 thresholds for registering as lobbyists with the Office of State Ethics.

The anti-vaccination groups Informed Choice Connecticut and Health Choice 4 Action remain secret operations with no public scrutiny, the senators said.

A third group, the Connecticut Freedom Alliance, based in Ridgefield, registered with the ethics office this week, but did not indicate a lobbying budget.

The groups have attracted thousands of supporters to the Capitol this session, have social media sites and websites, have rented roadside billboard ads and have created stickers and posters.

“Transparency is critical to an honest and effective public policy process,” Looney said in a written statement Thursday. “We know foreign governments are fueling public dissent in America on health care. We know that out-of-state people are trying to influence Connecticut's discourse on public health. The public deserves to know who is funding these groups that are actively lobbying legislators to endanger the health of our children.”

Duff called the groups “professionally organized and operated entities.”

The groups have declined to comment about their operations, or could not be reached.

“With massive foreign operations funding the anti-vaxxer movement to undermine the public health of our nation the public deserves to know how these organizations are being funded,” Duff said. “Not only should these organizations be following state law and filing with the Office of State Ethics, but they should be providing financial records demonstrating the dark money fueling their efforts to harm Connecticut's public health.”

“When citizens shared concerns about the funding of these groups, I began to question where the money for websites, booklets, and billboards, to name only a few of the apparent financial expenditures, was coming from,” said Senator Abrams. "These organizations claim to be grassroots and/or non-profits, but upon further investigation are not registered as such. We have laws that require transparency, especially when finances are involved; people, including lawmakers, have the right to know who is spending money to influence legislation."

“While anti-vax parents and their children by the thousands have literally flooded the Capitol twice this session, first during a public hearing and again when the Public Health Committee voted on pending legislation that would eventually end the state’s religious exemption for parents who want their children to attend public schools, Looney said that parents of children with compromised immune system and cannot safely take vaccines, have been scared away from supporting the measure.

“We are here to say that we hear you and we will fight for you in the face of irresponsible efforts to ignore the needs of children whose lives depend upon a high level of herd immunity and vaccination compliance,” Looney added.

“All the facts show Connecticut must increase vaccination numbers to protect public health,” Duff said. "Democrats in the Public Health Committee stood up to the bullying and constant threats by these anti-health care organizations. The people of our state deserve to know where the money is coming from to prop up this small but vocal group."

“With the backdrop of our current concerns regarding the Coronavirus, it is imperative that we address the rise in non-medical exemptions from childhood immunizations,” said Abrams, D-Meriden. “Non-medical exemptions among enrolling kindergarten students have increased from 455 to 1,469 over ten years; the trajectory of this trend is a public health concern. We have over 100 schools in our State that fall below the immunization rates required for community immunity, putting our State and our children at risk for an outbreak of disease.”

Informed Choice Connecticut registered as a limited liability corporation in Woodstock on May 30, 2019 and dissolved on December 31, 2019, but was apparently reincorporated on February 26, according to records with the Secretary of the State. The principal for the organization, LeeAnn Ducat, recently declined comment on the issue.

Health Choice 4 Action’s website says it is a non-profit “leading the lobbying/education efforts within the state in opposition to bills introduced this legislative session pertaining to vaccines and exemptions for school.”

The Connecticut Freedom Alliance, according to records at the Office of the Secretary of State, registered in Ridgefield by Dawn Jolly on October 19, 2019 and is still an active LLC. While lobbying outside the state Senate chamber last week, members of the group declined comment.