The Wellspring Committee's '15 payment of $500k to the "Opportunity Solutions Corporation" is a good example of how money gets shuffled around in the conservative dark money network w/ little or zero oversight...
...The Opportunity Solutions Corporation was registered in VA on July 1 '15 to a virtual office address in Arlington & was out of business by Nov '17....
Thomas Raymond Conlon, Neil Corkery & Leonard Leo's CPA of choice, prepared the Wellspring Committee '15 990 so, as usual, disclosure as to how the money was spent is inadequate. Who was the consultant paid $310K? Who knows?....
...The Opportunity Solutions Corporation officers were:
Conor Sweeney
Rebecca Schuller
Lindsay Hayes
I'd welcome the opportunity to ask the trio what public relations services they provided to the Wellspring Committee, given WC had no public relations...
...I'm fairly certain Opportunity Solutions Corporation president, Conor Sweeney, is this Conor Sweeney, an advisor to Paul Ryan's American Idea Foundation est. in '19 (more on AIF later). Sweeney's been working for Paul Singer since Ryan left office...
americanideafoundation.com/american-idea-…
...Rebecca Schuller doesn't list her stint as Opportunity Solutions Corporation treasurer on her LinkedIn profile. Schuller is executive director of Winning For Women, a 501c4 which the Wellspring Committee donated $250k to in '18...
...There's more than one Lindsay Hayes around but I think I have the right one, given her LinkedIn profile. She also omits her stint as Opportunity Solutions Corporation secretary on her resume....
...Grants totaling $7.9 million made by the Wellspring Committee in '15. Ann Corkery was the sole director/officer that year. She was paid $120k & one other employee was paid $30k...
...Wellspring Committee's second largest donation, $750k, in '15 went to the 45Committee which deserves its own thread. The 990s were prepared by Renae Duncan, Atchley Associates, who also prepared the Trump Inaugural Committee 990s....
...This is classic campaign 501c4 dark money. The 45Committee raked in $46 million bet April 1 '16 & March 31 '17, spent $38 million in advertising & I bet very few people even know it...
...The 45Committee year end was intentionally set at March 31 so the 990 showing it spent $38m during the '16 election wouldn't be disclosed until late '18. Why the '16 990 was marked "terminated", I don't know but it wasn't...
...Renae Duncan is another CPA who, like T. Raymond Conlon, doesn't believe in completing Schedule A showing revenue by year so I'll do it...
2016 $2.2m
2017 $46.4m
2018 $13m
2019 $15.6m
Tot $77.2m
...45 Committee independent contractors in order by year. I know very little about the firms but I imagine they're all hot wired into the GOP...
...And that ends today's Wellspring Committee thread. Stay tuned!
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