VoteVets brought on Zach Allen, Buttigieg’s former director of fundraising for the tri-state area, as a consultant after Allen left the Buttigieg campaign last fall, according to two people familiar with the arrangement. Allen worked for the Buttigieg campaign as a contractor. A spokesman for VoteVets declined to comment.

VoteVets has aired $2.1 million in ads helping Buttigieg so far, according to Advertising Analytics.

Allen’s knowledge of Buttigieg’s donor world is helping VoteVets raise big money. In January, several major Buttigieg donors gave to VoteVets for the first time, disclosures filed Thursday show.

Those donors include Swati Mylavarapu, national finance chair of Buttigieg’s campaign, and her husband, Matt Rogers, who donated $100,000 combined to VoteVets in January. Hamilton James, executive vice president of financial services firm Blackstone and a bundler for Buttigieg, gave the group $15,000. New York-based investor Nicole Fox, also a Buttigieg bundler, gave $10,000.

And while the group and the campaign are independent from each other, in a Tweet in early February, a Buttigieg aide appeared to hint that the campaign wanted help from VoteVets in Nevada, writing that it was “critical” voters in the state see more about Buttigieg’s military experience on the airwaves.



Outside groups turning to operatives with knowledge of the campaign they support is not new in politics, but it is new in the 2020 Democratic primary. Until recently, many candidates had sworn off super PACs in an attempt to look independent from Washington politics and to connect with the Democratic Party’s grassroots.

But candidates — including longtime super PAC foe Elizabeth Warren — have reversed course in recent days and months, accepting super PAC help as the financial demands of the expanding 2020 battlefield stacked up.

Allen, the fundraiser, is raising money for House and Senate campaigns that VoteVets is aiding in addition to Buttigieg, according to a person familiar with his work. And he has worked for VoteVets in the past, though not while he was employed by Buttigieg’s campaign.

When an aide for a candidate goes to a super PAC, the aide could help direct spending and offer valuable intelligence on the candidate’s thinking that super PACs -- which are legally not allowed to coordinate with campaigns -- are not supposed to have, said Meredith McGehee, executive director of the watchdog group Issue One.

“When staff goes over to a super PAC, that throws independence [of the PAC] out the window,” said McGehee.