Submitted by Scott Walter, Capital Research Center, Washington, DC
To the Editor,
In the controversy over whether Greenwich’s RTM should accept monies from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a group of letter-writers who advocate taking the cash labeled my group, the Capital Research Center, “an extremist right wing publication” (“Elected Leaders and Residents Urge RTM to Accept Grants for Registrars,” Jan. 13).
Does that mean other outlets are extremist if they’ve remarked on the unusual nature of private funding for public elections? Because that includes the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Ballotpedia, and the last two quote Capital Research Center on the issue.
The undisputed facts are that CTCL’s 2020 contributions in battleground states went disproportionately to jurisdictions Biden won (all data available here). In Pennsylvania, over 83% of funds went to Biden districts; in Georgia, over 94%; in Arizona, over 75%; in Nevada, 100%; in North Carolina, 64%; in Texas, over 94%; in Virginia, over 90%; in Wisconsin, 90%; in Michigan, 86%.
Here’s a good question: if you heard the Trump Foundation or right-leaning billionaire Charles Koch had sent funds to “help” administer elections through CTCL, would you be concerned? I asked that question when testifying to the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate last year. In response, every member of both parties on the Committee on Privileges and Elections voted to restrict such funding, and then the full Senate voted unanimously for the bill.