GOP Dark Money Group Forms To “Anonymously Bring Down” Loeffler

Deep-Pocketed Republicans Prepare To “Go After” Loeffler In The Latest Sign That Her Toxic Scandal Is Tearing Apart The GOP

Republicans are so worried about “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler and her spiraling stock trade scandal they’re launching a new dark money group to “anonymously bring down” the Republican who has put the Georgia Senate seat at risk. 

Loeffler’s stock scandal became a “major political liability” and while she’s “fighting for her political life,” Congressman Doug Collins is picking up endorsements from the pro-Trump Great America PAC and a Georgia Republican Congressman. Earlier this month, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell initially declined to say whether he still supports Loeffler and was later forced to clarify through a spokesperson. Spending from deep-pocketed Washington conservative groups has also dried up as the appointed senator struggles to defend her and her husband’s “unseemly” Wall Street trades. Loeffler still refuses to explain the nature of the arrangement with her portfolio managers and whether she’s ever shared information with them or directed transactions. 

“This is the latest humiliating setback for an unelected senator whose political career is already over due to her own self-dealing during a public health crisis,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “Senator Loeffler has lost the trust of Georgia voters and her own party, and her campaign will continue to bleed support as she fails to defend her choice to cash in on Georgians’ pain.”

The Daily Beast: GOP Group Tells Donors They Can Help Anonymously Bring Down Kelly Loeffler

By Lachlan Markay

Key Points:

• Some GOP donors have been loath to publicly back attacks on Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) for fear that doing so will land them on the wrong side of powerful Republicans in Atlanta and Washington. But now, those donors have a way to go after the senator who finds herself at the heart of an insider-trading scandal without drawing the ire of party leaders: They can do it anonymously.

• Loeffler is the party establishment’s pick to stay in the Senate seat in 2020, even as she faces a primary challenge from Rep. Doug Collins, a Trump loyalist with significant grassroots appeal. Loeffler enjoys the full-throated backing of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his well-heeled political machine and Gov. Brian Kemp, who appointed Loeffler to the seat in December.

• A new group has now entered the fray, and it’s trying to even the odds in a way that allows its financial backers to avoid the ire of McConnell, Kemp, and their formidable allies.

• The group, Georgia Is Not for Sale, has only spent about $5,000 on Facebook ads so far. But according to a solicitation sent to potential donors and obtained by PAY DIRT, it has plans for a larger and more aggressive media operation, including more “widespread digital advertising investments” and “television and other mass media advertisements.” 

• It’s offering donors “investment opportunities to sponsor” those ad campaigns. And one of its selling points is that those donors can make those “investment opportunities” without having to reveal their names. 

• That lack of disclosure is key to Georgia Is Not for Sale’s appeal for potential donors, a source with close ties to the group told PAY DIRT. The goal is to give deep-pocketed Collins supporters the opportunity to boost his primary prospects without opening themselves up to recriminiations from Kemp in particular.

• “Even if people are reluctant to cross swords right now, we’ve seen real momentum in the past two weeks with people interested in supporting our efforts,” the source said. “Kelly Loeffler’s strength was always overrated, and this scandal has drastically weakened her position. Donors can read polls and they know this scandal has deeply impacted her for the simple reason that voters have lost trust in her.”

• The scandal referred to there began when The Daily Beast reported last month that Loeffler had sold millions of dollars in stock in the immediate aftermath of a January closed-door briefing on the novel coronavirus, which subsequently sent U.S. equities plummeting.

• A few weeks after the group was formed, Georgia Is Not for Sale was handed a new, far more potent line of attack. “Senator Loeffler is accused of betraying the public trust by using insider information regarding COVID-19 to make millions of dollars selling stocks while publicly assuring the people there was no need for alarm,” Jordan Russell, a spokesman for the group, told PAY DIRT. “The initial response to our petition demanding Sen. Loeffler’s resignation has been incredible. We are just getting started.”

• But a deeper look at those numbers show Loeffler’s stock trade controversy may be shifting donor attitudes. In the 11 days after that story broke, Loeffler’s campaign raised about $151,000, FEC records show. The Collins campaign nearly matched that total during the same period, bringing in about $146,000.

• The controversy is also drawing more deep pockets into the race on Collins’ behalf. On Wednesday, Great America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC, endorsed Collins and signaled that it will devote some of its considerable financial resources to attacking Loeffler over her stock trades.

Read the full story here.

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