{"id":19536,"date":"2021-07-30T11:40:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T18:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=19536"},"modified":"2021-07-30T11:47:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T18:47:05","slug":"in-the-race-against-nina-turner-gop-donors-fund-shontel-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/07\/30\/in-the-race-against-nina-turner-gop-donors-fund-shontel-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE RACE AGAINST NINA TURNER, GOP DONORS FUND SHONTEL BROWN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

<\/a>Shontel Brown, candidate for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District in Akron, Ohio, on July 14, 2021. Photo: Mike Cardew via Image<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With one week left in the Ohio primary, Republican donors have picked their Democrat \u2014 and the pro-Israel PAC supporting her.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Matthew Cunningham-Cook<\/a>
July 27 2021, 2:03 p.m. (theintercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AS THE DEMOCRATIC primary for Ohio\u2019s 11th Congressional District draws to a close, establishment pick Shontel Brown, a current Cuyahoga County Council Member and county Democratic Party chair, is facing a potential ethics probe for her past work supporting millions of dollars in contracts awarded to companies run by her partner and campaign donors. According to a story published Tuesday<\/a> by Newsweek and the Daily Poster, the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office took interest in an earlier Intercept story<\/a> and in June referred it to the state auditor\u2019s office, where officials agreed the matter should go before the state ethics commission. Meanwhile, and unrelated to the potential probe, newly released campaign finance disclosures show that Brown and a major Democratic PAC supporting her campaign have been heavily funded by donors who usually support Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revelations come with just one week left in the contest between Brown and Nina Turner, a progressive former state senator who stumped for Sen. Bernie Sanders during his 2016 and 2020 presidential runs and who, to many observers, remains representative of his campaign against Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinton, a high-profile backer of Brown, notoriously lambasted Sanders as \u201cnot a Democrat<\/a>,\u201d and said that she was proud that her greatest enemies were \u201cRepublicans<\/a>.\u201d But in this case, finance\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0show GOP donors flocking to Clinton\u2019s chosen candidate in the heated congressional race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Clinton and Sanders again pitted against each other, this time via state-level surrogates, the special election race for Ohio\u2019s 11th Congressional District has been described as a reflection of \u201cparty tensions.\u201d In addition to Clinton, Democratic establishment figures like Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and well-funded super PACs have rallied behind Brown, while progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Justice Democrats have coalesced to support Turner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undergirding these tensions are donors with long histories of support for Republican candidates who are now funding Brown\u2019s campaign, either directly or via the political action committee Democratic Majority for Israel, a major backer<\/a> of her campaign. Most notable among them is New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a close ally of Donald Trump who donated $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration and has supported a slew of Republican candidates. A staunch supporter of Israel, Kraft in 2019 also launched and donated<\/a> $20 million to a foundation to combat anti-Semitism and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, earning him a gala reception in Jerusalem to receive the Israeli Genesis Prize. Kraft has individually donated the election maximum $5,800 to Brown\u2019s campaign, and with his family contributed more than $20,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former chair of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, Roger Synenberg, donated $1,000<\/a> to Brown\u2019s campaign. Synenberg attracted controversy in 2018 for mailing an anonymous letter to a former county auditor, calling him a \u201csnitch<\/a>\u201d for his role in an unfolding corruption investigation in the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Majority for Israel, a hybrid PAC\/super PAC that has spent $1.2 million on ads supporting Brown and opposing Turner in the election, also has a slew of donors who have made ample donations to Republican candidates and causes. Leonard Feinstein, who donated $25,000<\/a> to DMFI on June 14, has made large<\/a> contributions to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County, and to committees supporting Republican Rick Berg\u2019s 2012 campaign for Senate in North Dakota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steven Fishman, who donated $20,000<\/a> to DMFI on June 14, made over $10,000<\/a> in campaign contributions to Republicans running in 2020, including Lindsey Graham, Jim Risch, Mike Rounds, and Michael McCaul. He also donated $1,800 to Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Heller, a Cleveland-area real estate executive, donated $10,000<\/a> to DMFI on February 23 and also donated $2,800<\/a> to Brown. Heller, who has been<\/a> an avid supporter of Republicans in Ohio and in Texas, donated over $13,000 <\/a>to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in 2020, as well as $5,000<\/a> to Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who is leading the push to restrict<\/a> voting rights in that state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neil Kadisha, who donated $2,000<\/a> to Brown on June 1 and $18,000<\/a> to DMFI on June 14, donated<\/a> to Trump\u2019s reelection campaign in 2019, as well as to then-Vice President Mike Pence\u2019s PAC. In 2012, Kadisha made large donations to both the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Republican donors have not supported Brown directly but have poured funding into DMFI. David Horowitz, an executive at the New York school cafeteria food company Tasty Brands, donated $10,000<\/a> to DMFI on June 7. In 2020, he donated<\/a> $25,000 to Sen. Mitch McConnell\u2019s super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, as well as making maxed-out contributions to losing Georgia Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip De Toledo, the president of the Capital Group, donated $50,000<\/a> to DMFI on June 8, 2020. De Toledo donated over $25,000 in campaign contributions to Republicans running in the 2020 elections, including<\/a> right-wing Reps. Patrick McHenry and Jim Risch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Kohn, another Capital Group executive who donated $100,000<\/a> to DMFI from his family trust on June 10, spent over<\/a> $10,000 in the 2020 cycle supporting Republicans Mike Rounds, Bill Cassidy, Cynthia Lummis, Ben Sasse, and Kay Granger.\u201cHow can we have someone who is the party chair and says that she\u2019s a Democrat\u2019s Democrat but is accepting Republican money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for Democratic Majority for Israel accused The Intercept of wanting to \u201ccherry pick contributors\u201d and said that DMFI has only supported \u201coutstanding\u201d Democratic candidates. Shontel Brown\u2019s campaign did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Rep. Juanita Brent, a Turner backer who represents Cuyahoga County in the Ohio House, and was referred to The Intercept by the Turner campaign, panned the role of the GOP in the Democratic primary campaign. \u201cAs a Democrat who has helped Democrats all over the state, we cannot condone Democrats that are accepting money associated with Trump,\u201d Brent told The Intercept. \u201cHow can we have someone who is the party chair and says that she\u2019s a Democrat\u2019s Democrat but is accepting Republican money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONTACT THE AUTHOR:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Matthew Cunningham-Cook<\/a>m.cunninghamcook@\u200bgmail.com<\/a>@matthewccook5<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shontel Brown, candidate for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District in Akron, Ohio, on July 14, 2021. Photo: Mike Cardew via Image With one week left in the Ohio primary, Republican donors have picked their Democrat \u2014 and the pro-Israel PAC supporting her. Matthew Cunningham-CookJuly 27 2021, 2:03 p.m. (theintercept.com) AS THE DEMOCRATIC primary for… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19540,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19536\/revisions\/19540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}