Thread by @duboo

NEW: GOP megadonor and power broker Art Pope has gone all-in to help Republicans rig elections in their favor for the next decade.
#HofellerFiles #redistricting
exposedbycmd.org/2021/09/28/gop…

A 2019 IRS filing from the Fair Lines America Foundation shows that Pope serves as the president and treasurer of its board of directors.
documentcloud.org/documents/2098…

FLA Foundation and its sister 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, Fair Lines America, work to block the creation of independent redistricting commissions, conduct redistricting trainings, and weigh in on redistricting litigation.

Pope’s role, at least in part, appears to be to secure cash for the effort. His family foundation has given $200,000 to Fair Lines America Foundation. The Bradley Foundation, a major funder of right-wing infrastructure that Pope chairs, has added $450,000.

Other funding for FLA Foundation includes $250,000 (2018) through the National Philanthropic Trust, $250,000 (2019) from the Irving I Moskowitz Foundation, $12,000 (2018) from the Legacy Foundation, and $10,000 (2019) from Bradley’s donor-advised fund, the Bradley Impact Fund.

Computer files from GOP gerrymandering guru Tom Hofeller shared with CMD by his daughter Stephanie Hofeller reveal Pope’s role in securing money for Republicans’ 2010 gerrymandering operation, with some connections to his current effort with Fair Lines.

In an 8/20/10 email, Pope suggested that he helped fundraise for the RNC’s data and mapping work around redistricting after Hofeller shared a proposal from Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies.
documentcloud.org/documents/2107…

The company was contracted to do the work and was paid through the Wellspring Committee, a dark money vehicle run by Christian Right activist Ann Corkery.
documentcloud.org/documents/2107…

The Wellspring Committee, founded in 2008, would go on to play an instrumental role as a donor conduit for a number of far-right efforts but is most known for contributing tens of millions to another Corkery-led tax-exempt organization, the Judicial Crisis Network.

Wellspring’s 2010-11 IRS filings detail $1.4 mil in payments to Magellan for “data analysis & mapping.” Republicans were apparently satisfied with Magellan’s work because FLA's 2019 IRS filing shows a Magellan contract for “technical consulting” for $110K
documentcloud.org/documents/2107…

The Koch political network’s hands are all over the gerrymandering effort of 2011 and suggest that they are again involved in this years effort to gerrymander maps in favor of republicans.

A huge thanks to @SHofeller for sharing her father’s computer files with CMD.