Sean Fieler

Last updated

Sean M. Fieler (born 1972 or 1973) is an American hedge fund manager known for his backing of religious and conservative causes, especially those aligned with his Catholic faith. [1] He is chair of the American Principles Project, a conservative think tank.

Contents

Life and career

Sean M. Fieler was born in 1972 or 1973, [2] [1] and he was raised by his family in the Catholic faith in northern California. [1] He graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, majoring in political economy, in 1995, [3] and he joined the New York-based assets management firm Mason Hill Advisors later that year. [4] Mason Hill was founded in 1986 by William Strong, who would become a longtime partner of Fieler's. [4] It is known for managing the Equinox Partners hedge funds, which Fieler co-founded, and it managed greater than $2 billion in assets in 2011 and $968.3 million in 2016. [4] [5] Fieler was leading the firm by the time Strong exited in 2016. [4]

While living in New York City after his college graduation, his mother encouraged him to become more active in the Catholic Church. [1] An early experience with philanthropy was his donations to a college friend, Jon Fielder, who left for a medical mission in Kenya in 2002 and worked with Christian churches to offer medical services in Africa. [1] [6] Fieler made charitable and political donations through his Chiaroscuro Foundation from 2006 until 2019, and he has been a major donor to the American Principles Project, a conservative think tank, and its chairman. [1] By 2015, he was known as an "ideologically motivated funder" of conservative Catholic groups, according to Inside Philanthropy . [7] [8]

Fieler is married to Brazilian economist Ana Cecília Fieler, [9] [10] and they have six children. [9] The two have also funded various political efforts together. [1] [11] Fieler lived in Princeton, New Jersey, before moving to Stamford, Connecticut, in 2018 after his wife began a teaching position at Yale University. [9] According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy , his family are members of a "tightknit" Catholic community in Stamford. [1]

Nonprofit leadership

Chiaroscuro Foundation

Fieler has chaired and provided financial backing to the Chiaroscuro Foundation, a nonprofit organization that he led from 2006 to 2019. [1] [12] [13] It notably held a news conference in 2011 attended by religious leaders including the Archbishop of New York, Timothy M. Dolan, during which the archbishop called for efforts to reduce the New York City's abortion rate. [12] It also donated $50,000 to the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media in 2012. [14] Between 2012 and 2017, the foundation donated $1.86 million to the World Youth Alliance, a New York-based conservative group with international affiliates involved in European lobbying. [15]

From 2015 to 2017, the foundation provided $1.79 million to the developers of FEMM, a menstruation tracking app which has been promoted by the Catholic Church. [16] [13] In 2019, The Obria Group, which runs crisis pregnancy centers in the U.S., included the usage of FEMM in its proposal for Title X funds for birth control services later approved by the Donald Trump administration. [16] [17] Fieler has sat on the board of the FEMM Foundation, which runs the app. [13]

Fieler led the Chiaroscuro Foundation until 2019. [1] He subsequently moved his finances to a donor-advised fund, the Chiaroscuro Fund, managed by the Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund (the latter of which he serves as chairman). [1] [18] [19]

American Principles Project

Fieler is chairman of the American Principles Project, a conservative nonprofit organization, and he has also been its financial backer. [9] From 2013 to 2023, he contributed more than $1.7 million to the American Principles Project political action committee (PAC). [20] The organization has advocated for a return to the gold standard; in 2011, Fieler told the Financial Times that there had been "a growing recognition within the Republican party and in America more generally" against the status quo. [21] He opposed the confirmation of Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve in 2013, describing her as "an enormously well-credentialed economist who also happens to be an inflationist who should not be allowed to run the Federal Reserve" in a video circulated by American Principles in Action. [22] He told Politico in 2014 that he had instructed the American Principles Project to invest $500,000 in organizing the opposition to the Common Core education standards as part of his organization's "long-standing drive for school choice." [23] The group has also advocated against LGBT rights, especially those of transgender youth. [1]

Other political contributions and advocacy

Political campaigns

Fieler gave $20,000 to the Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino in the 2010 New York gubernatorial election against Democrat Andrew Cuomo. [24] He was the largest donor in early 2012 to Democratic New York senate candidate Charles Swanick, who was challenging Republican senator Mark Grisanti in that year's State Senate election. [24] Grisanti was one of four Republican state senators to cross the party line to vote in favor of the 2011 Marriage Equality Act legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. [24] Fieler contributed $50,000 in stock to Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, [25] and $50,000 to a super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Rick Perry. [11] Fieler donated $10,000 to a super PAC supporting Republican Joe Lhota in the 2013 New York City mayoral election. [26] Fieler gave nearly all of the $394,207 raised in 2013 by the American Principles Fund, a super PAC intended to support socially conservative political candidates which was led by Sarah Huckabee Sanders (who was previously political director of the 2008 presidential campaign of Mike Huckabee, her father). [5] [27] Fieler donated $70,000 to Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli in the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election, citing what he termed the "extreme position on abortion" held by Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe. [28] [29] He also donated $75,000 to Women Speak Out-Virginia PAC, which ran advertisements opposing McAuliffe on his position on abortion. [30]

uCampaign, a software company which has developed apps for Republican political campaigns, was founded in 2014 with $150,000 in seed capital provided by Fieler. [31] For the 2014 U.S. elections, Fieler contributed $394,000 to a super PAC that ran advertisements describing New Jersey Democratic Senate candidate Cory Booker as a "pro-abortion extremist" and accusing Republican Wyoming candidate Liz Cheney of supporting same-sex marriage. [32] :225 [3] Cheney was opposed to same-sex marriage, a position which led her to be criticized by her sister Mary Cheney, who is in a same-sex marriage. [32] :225 Liz Cheney later dropped out of her race, while Booker was elected. [32] :225 Fieler donated $65,000 to Sean Reyes, the Utah Attorney General who previously opposed Common Standards in Utah schools, defended the state's ban of same-sex marriage, and was running in the 2014 elections. [33] For the 2014 elections in New York, Fieler donated $41,000 to Rob Astorino, the Republican nominee in the gubernatorial election; [34] $20,000 to the campaign of Republican candidate for attorney general, John Cahill; [35] and $6,500 to the campaign of Democratic candidate for state senator, Fernando Cabrera. [36]

In 2016, Donald Trump appointed Fieler and 33 other Catholic figures to a Catholic advisory group for his presidential campaign launched earlier that year. [1] [37] Fieler contributed $20,000 to the campaign of Republican Delegate Robert Marshall, the opponent of Democratic challenger Danica Roem, a former journalist who is a transgender woman, in the 2017 Virginia House of Delegates election. [38] [39] Fieler was a donor to CatholicVote, a Catholic group supporting Trump which worked with prominent political strategist Steve Bannon to collect mobile phone location data from people attending mass at a church in Dubuque, Iowa in 2018. [40] [41] Fieler moved to Connecticut in 2018. [9] Around this time, his involvement in state politics included making contributions to Republican candidates running for state offices, including Bob Stefanowski in 2018 and Kim Fiorello in 2020, and $10,000 donation to the Connecticut Republican Party in 2021 and 2022. [9] His first high-profile venture in state politics came in 2022 when he started a super PAC, Parents Against Stupid Stuff PAC. [9] In an interview with The Connecticut Mirror , Fieler said he had founded the PAC to oppose Democratic governor Ned Lamont in that year's gubernatorial election for conflicting with the rights of parents on the issues of critical race theory, "sexually explicit curricula in public schools", and the participation of transgender youth in girls' sports. [9] Fieler said the PAC is independent of the American Principles Project. [9] The PAC commissioned a political advertisement parodying a controversial sex education lesson used in an Enfield school lesson the year before that was subsequently featured in national news. [42]

LGBTQ rights

Fieler was the largest donor to the Institute for American Values (IAV), a group led by same-sex marriage opponent David Blankenhorn; he told The New York Times in 2013 that his annual donations to IAV "ranged from $200,000 to $250,000." [43] After Blankenhorn changed his position on same-sex marriage in June 2012, Fieler quit IAV's board, and he later told The New York Times that "The problem with gay marriage and the position David has taken is it promotes a very harmful myth about the gay lifestyle. It suggests that gay relationships lend themselves to monogamy, stability, health and parenting in the same way heterosexual relationships do. That's not true." [43]

In 2013, Fieler donated over $1 million to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an organization which opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage. [44] Later that year, he was reported to have contributed at least $200,000 (compared to the total amount raised of $500,000) to an effort by the Privacy for All Students coalition to place a voter referendum in California's November 2014 elections that would repeal the School Success and Opportunity Act, a recently enacted state law intended to protect transgender students. [45] [46] [3] He was the largest contributor to the unsuccessful effort. [47] In early 2015, he agreed to pay a $2,400 fine from the state's Fair Political Practices Commission for his failure to file a donor report for his contributions to Privacy for All Students. [47] [48] A report released by NOM in 2015 showed that Fieler had provided $1.25 million of the group's $2 million in donations contributed to the Stand for Marriage Maine PAC in efforts to repeal Maine's same-sex marriage law through voter referendum (Question 1) in 2009. [49]

Fieler wrote an opinion article for the conservative news website The Daily Signal in 2015 in which he warned social conservatives about the transgender rights movement following Caitlyn Jenner's recent coming out as a transgender woman. [50] In the article, Fieler describes transgender people as "a small, troubled minority", and writes that "Unlike the gay lifestyle, the transgender lifestyle has not been, and perhaps never can be, normalized." [51]

Fieler remained opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2023, contending that Obergefell v. Hodges – the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that made it legal nationwide – "is a huge impediment to moving forward with family formation in the United States." [52]

Healthcare

Abortion

Fieler has served as a board member of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. [1] [19] He has supported the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Students for Life. [1]

Fieler credited former President Donald Trump's appointments to the Supreme Court for bringing about the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to reverse the constitutional protections for the right to have an abortion afforded by Roe v. Wade . [1] He said the following year: "To have Roe overturned is just fantastic." [1]

Assisted suicide

Fieler provided $475,000 out of the total $730,000 raised by the Massachusetts Alliance Against Doctor Prescribed Suicide, a group formed to oppose a 2013 ballot initiative in Massachusetts legalizing physician-assisted suicide which ultimately narrowly failed to pass. [53] :33 [54]

Influence

In The Chronicle of Philanthropy , Church historian Massimo Faggioli of Villanova University criticized Fieler for his alleged influence on the Catholic Church in the United States through his backing of conservative Catholic organizations. [52] Faggioli contended that many of these conservative nonprofits were involved in a recent ideological division between all Catholics in which philanthropy has played a significant role. [52] He said that the church had also been vying for money from donors to conservative nonprofits, leading these donors' interests to have an outsized influence on the church compared to the interests of the church itself. [52] In response, Fieler denied that his philanthropy had made the church more conservative, and called the implication "kind of crazy." [52]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Rights Campaign</span> LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGBTQ individuals, including advocating for same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination and hate crimes legislation, and HIV/AIDS advocacy. The organization has a number of legislative initiatives as well as supporting resources for LGBTQ individuals.

The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) is an organization affiliated with the Republican Party which advocates for equal rights for LGBT+ Americans, by educating the LGBT+ community and Republicans about each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kay Granger</span> American politician (born 1943)

Norvell Kay Granger is an American politician from the U.S. state of Texas serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 12th congressional district since 1997. She is a member of the Republican Party, and was chair of the United States House Committee on Appropriations from 2023 to 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Mehlman</span> American lawyer

Kenneth Brian Mehlman is an American social entrepreneur and businessman. He serves as a member, global head of public affairs, and co-head of KKR global impact at investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. He oversees the firm's responsible investment efforts, leading the firm's Environmental Social Governance programs. Prior to joining KKR, Mehlman spent a year as an attorney and partner at law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. In January 2017, Mehlman announced that he would act as chairman of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Policy Advisory Board.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to expand Christian religious liberties and practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and oppose LGBTQ rights. ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with branch offices in several locations including Washington, D.C., and New York. Its international subsidiary, Alliance Defending Freedom International, with headquarters in Vienna, Austria, operates in over 100 countries.

"Gay agenda" or "homosexual agenda" is a term used by sectors of the Christian religious right as a disparaging way to describe the advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual sexual orientations and relationships. The term originated among social conservatives in the United States and has been adopted in nations with active anti-LGBT movements such as Hungary and Uganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in the United States</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the United States rank among the most advanced in the world, with public opinion and jurisprudence changing significantly since the late 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ Victory Fund</span> United States political action committee

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of out LGBTQ+ public officials in the United States. Victory Fund is the largest LGBTQ+ political action committee in the United States and one of the nation's largest non-connected PACs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Singer (businessman)</span> American businessman (born 1944)

Paul Elliott Singer is an American hedge fund manager, activist investor, and the founder, president, and co-CEO of Elliott Management. As of March 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$6.1 billion. Fortune described Singer as one of the "smartest and toughest money managers" in the hedge fund industry. A number of sources have branded him a vulture capitalist, largely on account of his role at Elliott Management, which is a vulture fund. The Independent has described him as "a pioneer in the business of buying up sovereign bonds on the cheap, and then going after countries for unpaid debts".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT movements in the United States</span>

LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied social movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century. A commonly stated goal among these movements is social equality for LGBT people. Some have also focused on building LGBT communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from biphobia, homophobia, and transphobia. LGBT movements organized today are made up of a wide range of political activism and cultural activity, including lobbying, street marches, social groups, media, art, and research. Sociologist Mary Bernstein writes: "For the lesbian and gay movement, then, cultural goals include challenging dominant constructions of masculinity and femininity, homophobia, and the primacy of the gendered heterosexual nuclear family (heteronormativity). Political goals include changing laws and policies in order to gain new rights, benefits, and protections from harm." Bernstein emphasizes that activists seek both types of goals in both the civil and political spheres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foster Friess</span> American investment banker and political donor (1940–2021)

Foster Stephen Friess was an American investment manager and prominent donor to the Republican Party and to Christian right causes. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Wyoming in the 2018 election, losing in the primary to State Treasurer Mark Gordon.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is an American non-profit political organization established to work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. It was formed in 2007 specifically to pass California Proposition 8, a state prohibition of same-sex marriage. The group has opposed civil union legislation and gay adoption, and has fought against allowing transgender individuals to use bathrooms that accord with their gender identity. Brian S. Brown has served as the group's president since 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CatholicVote.org</span> Roman Catholic conservative political group

CatholicVote.org is a conservative, non-profit political advocacy group based in the United States. While the organization acknowledges the authority of the Magisterium, it is independent of the Catholic Church.

Social conservatism in the United States is a political ideology focused on the preservation of traditional values and beliefs. It focuses on a concern with moral and social values which proponents of the ideology see as degraded in modern society by liberalism. In the United States, one of the largest forces of social conservatism is the Christian right.

Richard Ellis Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and conservative donors. Richard is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.

The American Principles Project (APP) is a socially conservative 501(c)(4) think tank founded in 2009 by Robert P. George, Jeff Bell, and Francis P. Cannon. It is chaired by Sean Fieler. It is led by Terry Schilling, the son of the late former U.S. Representative Bobby Schilling. It has opposed Common Core standards and advocated for monetary reform by suggesting a return to the gold standard. The organization has an affiliated super PAC, the American Principles Project PAC, which spent nearly $4 million during the 2020 election cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT conservatism in the United States</span> Movement with conservatism

LGBTQ+ conservatism in the United States is a social and political ideology within the LGBTQ+ community that largely aligns with the American conservative movement. LGBTQ+ conservatism is generally more moderate on social issues than social conservatism, instead emphasizing values associated with fiscal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, and neoconservatism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social policy of Donald Trump</span> Social policy of the United States under Donald Trumps administration

The social policy of the Donald Trump administration was generally socially conservative. As of 2016, Donald Trump described himself as pro-life with exceptions for rape, incest, and circumstances endangering the life of the mother. He said he was committed to appointing justices who may overturn the ruling in Roe v. Wade. Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices during his presidency. All of them later went on to vote in the majority opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court case overturning Roe v. Wade and ending federal abortion rights nationwide.

Timothy Marvin Dunn is an American businessman. He is the chief executive officer of CrownQuest Operating, an oil and gas business he co-founded in 1996. A billionaire, Dunn is influential in Texas politics, and is a major financial backer of various politically conservative causes and organizations.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rendon, Jim (March 7, 2023). "Powerful Donor Quietly Supports Groups Opposing Abortion and LGBT Rights" . The Chronicle of Philanthropy . Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  2. Walker, Hunter (February 11, 2015). "These are Wall Street's top 16 political donors". Business Insider . Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023. 11. Sean M. Fieler — $3,063,031
  3. 1 2 3 Williams, Ken (December 13, 2013). "The hedge fund honcho who despises transgender kids and the gays". San Diego Gay and Lesbian News . Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Delevingne, Lawrence (May 18, 2016). "Longtime Mason Hill hedge fund partners Strong and Fieler split". New York: Reuters. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Bykowicz, Julie (February 4, 2014). "Super-PAC Targets Religious Voters on Abortion in 2014" . Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  6. Munemo, Julia (November 28, 2016). "From Williams to Africa". Williams College. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  7. Stewart, Katherine (March 9, 2021). "How Big Money Is Dividing American Catholicism". The New Republic . Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  8. Adeniji, Ade (October 16, 2015). "Sean Fieler's Philanthropy: The Hedge Funder Who Promotes Conservative Values". Inside Philanthropy . Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pazniokas, Mark (April 12, 2022). "New PAC plans to make transgender athletes and critical race theory issues in CT race for governor". Hartford Courant . Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  10. Larson, Greg (November 2, 2021). "Ana Cecília Fieler uses detailed firm-level data to build economy-wide models that shed light on how international trade influences growth and development". Yale Economic Growth Center. Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Blumenthal, Paul (June 5, 2015). "Sean Fieler Is Out And Proud About His Anti-Gay Marriage Donations". The Huffington Post . Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Vitello, Paul (January 7, 2011). "Religious Leaders Call for New Efforts to Lower the City's 'Chilling' Abortion Rate" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 Glenza, Jessica (May 30, 2019). "Revealed: women's fertility app is funded by anti-abortion campaigners". The Guardian . Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  14. Israel, Josh (October 8, 2014). "This Is The Way The War On Pornography Ends". ThinkProgress . Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  15. Bird, Michael; Zgaga, Blaz (August 22, 2019). "US billionaires funding EU culture war" . EUobserver . Archived from the original on July 1, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  16. 1 2 Cha, Ariana Eunjung (July 29, 2019). "New federally funded clinics emphasize abstinence, natural family planning" . The Washington Post . Archived from the original on July 23, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  17. Glenza, Jessica (July 29, 2019). "Anti-abortion group uses US federal grants to push controversial fertility app". The Guardian . Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  18. Rojc, Philip (July 6, 2022). "Crusaders: The Philanthropic Funders That Helped Bring an End to Roe v. Wade" . Inside Philanthropy . Archived from the original on August 8, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  19. 1 2 White, Christopher (April 8, 2021). "Major Catholic funders and power brokers spearhead voter suppression efforts". National Catholic Reporter . Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  20. Wilson, Jason (August 4, 2023). "The far-right financier giving millions to the Republican party to fight 'woke communists'". The Guardian . Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  21. Harding, Robin; Fifield, Anna (August 23, 2012). "Republicans eye return to gold standard" . Financial Times . Washington. Archived from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  22. Puzzanghera, Jim (October 11, 2013). "Group begins campaign to stop Janet Yellen's confirmation as Fed chair". Los Angeles Times . Washington. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  23. Simon, Stephanie (January 7, 2014). "For right, Common Core just the start". Politico . Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  24. 1 2 3 Precious, Tom (July 29, 2012). "Marriage vote is still campaign factor" . The Buffalo News . Albany. Archived from the original on September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  25. Eggen, Dan; Farnam, T. W. (May 19, 2023). "President Obama spent twice as much as Mitt Romney in June" . The Washington Post . Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  26. Pillifant, Reid (November 1, 2013). "After court lifts limits, Koch gives $200K to pro-Lhota PAC". Politico . Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  27. Goldmacher, Shane; National Journal (February 13, 2014). "Wanted: A Super-PAC Sugar Daddy to Back a 2016 Presidential Run". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  28. Mundy, Alicia (August 26, 2013). "Virginia Governor Race Lures Far-Flung Donors" . The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  29. Pershing, Ben (July 2, 2013). "As Cuccinelli campaigns, some big GOP donors keep wallets closed for now" . The Washington Post . Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  30. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld (July 22, 2013). "Virginia Republican Suffers Abortion Backlash From Donors" . Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  31. Singer, Natasha; Confessore, Nicholas (October 20, 2018). "Republicans Find a Facebook Workaround: Their Own Apps" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  32. 1 2 3 Vogel, Kenneth P. (2014). Big Money: 2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, and a Pimp on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich Hijacking American Politics. New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN   9781610393386.
  33. Gehrke, Robert (June 7, 2015). "Business as usual? A.G. Reyes' campaign donations raise conflict-of-interest questions". The Salt Lake Tribune . Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  34. McKinley, Jesse (July 16, 2014). "Cuomo's Campaign Holds a Wide Lead in Fund-Raising" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  35. Bredderman, Will (July 17, 2014). "John Cahill Took $20,000 from Controversial Conservative Financier". The New York Observer . Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  36. Barkan, Ross (September 3, 2014). "Fernando Cabrera Takes Campaign Cash From Pro-Life GOP Donor". The New York Observer . Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  37. Schiffer, Kathy (September 23, 2016). "Donald Trump Names 34 Members to Council of Catholic Advisers". National Catholic Register. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  38. Olivo, Antonio (April 9, 2023). "Virginia's GOP leaders send Del. Marshall a late infusion of cash for heated race" . The Washington Post . Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  39. Lavers, Michael K. (October 18, 2017). "Joe Biden endorses Danica Roem". Washington Blade . Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  40. Thomason, Kristen (March 24, 2023). "'He Gets Us' is feeding information to data analysts and, ultimately, conservative political groups". Baptist News Global. Archived from the original on September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  41. Eaton, Joshua (July 19, 2019). "Catholics in Iowa went to church. Steve Bannon tracked their phones". ThinkProgress . Archived from the original on September 17, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  42. Pazniokas, Mark (August 27, 2022). "'Pizza and consent': Controversial sex education lesson to be featured in CT political ad". The Connecticut Mirror . Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  43. 1 2 Oppenheimer, Mark (January 29, 2013). "In Shift, an Activist Enlists Same-Sex Couples in a Pro-Marriage Coalition" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  44. Levine, Dan; Henderson, Peter (January 29, 2013). "Exclusive - U.S. gay marriage foes suffer from fundraising shortfall". Reuters. Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  45. Geidner, Chris (October 25, 2013). "LGBT Groups Take On Jelly Belly Chairman For Anti-Transgender Referendum Donation". BuzzFeed News . Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  46. Abcarian, Robin (December 10, 2013). "Right wing frenzied over transgendered students choosing bathroom" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  47. 1 2 McGreevy, Patrick (April 6, 2015). "Opponent of transgender student law agrees to pay fine". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  48. Cadelago, Christopher (April 6, 2015). "Businessman who funded effort to overturn transgender rights law fined by state watchdog". The Sacramento Bee . Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  49. Sharp, David (August 24, 2015). "Group turns over donor list from gay marriage fight in Maine" . New York Daily News . Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  50. Weigel, David (June 5, 2015). "Conservatives Ask How They Lost the Culture War Over Transgender Rights" . Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  51. Ring, Trudy (April 3, 2020). "Catholics for Trump Coalition Loaded With Anti-LGBTQ Extremists". The Advocate . Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
  52. 1 2 3 4 5 Rendon, Jim (March 7, 2023). "Critics Charge That Conservative Donors Are Pushing the American Catholic Church to the Right" . The Chronicle of Philanthropy . Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  53. Cunningham, Maurice T. (2014). "Defeating "Death with Dignity": Morality and Message in a Massachusetts Referendum". American Catholic Studies . 125 (2): 23–43. ISSN   2161-8542. JSTOR   44195784.
  54. Ring, Dan (November 30, 2012). "Big donations helped defeat doctor-assisted suicide in Massachusetts". MassLive . Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.