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Pressure is building on the dark-money centrist group No Labels to reveal its donors as we approach this year’s presidential election.
The shadowy organization, whose leadership has discussed assembling a long-shot bipartisan ticket to compete in this year’s election, has avoided donor disclosure rules because it’s technically registered as a “social welfare” organization and not a traditional political party.
Nonetheless, it’s viewed by many Democrats as a vehicle to draw votes from Joe Biden and to help Donald Trump. Although No Labels officials have denied any intention to spoil Biden’s election chances, the group has also reportedly received funding from right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow (the guy who's lavished gifts on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas). And No Labels has sought donations from other rich right-wingers, like Peter Thiel and Ken Langone, who both backed Trump in previous elections. Adding to the scrutiny, Mother Jones managed to unearth a list of donors from No Labels' tax filings.
On Friday, HuffPost published a letter sent to No Labels on Thursday night by several campaign finance and civil rights organizations — including Black Voters Matter, End Citizens United, the League of Women Voters and the Campaign Legal Center — in which they threaten legal action if the group doesn't release its list of donors.
“No Labels’ refusal to disclose its funders is disturbing and unlawful. Secret political spending is one of the most corrupting influences in politics,” they write, “and having a secret money organization impersonating a political party severely undermines the democratic process as a whole.”
The groups end the letter saying, “if you continue to deprive voters of the information to which they are entitled, our organizations will consider legal action to vindicate American voters’ legal right to know who is using No Labels to try to buy the 2024 presidential election.”
No Labels officials have been vehemently opposed to revealing its donors. The organization’s website claims this is because “we live in an era where agitators and partisan operatives try to destroy and intimidate organizations they don’t like by attacking their individual supporters.” The group is also suing the state of Arizona in federal court in part to stop efforts to pry the donor list loose.
On an episode of The ReidOut last year, Joy Reid met with No Labels' national co-chair Benjamin Chavis, who disputed claims that the group's goal is to help Republicans' electoral chances in November. When Chavis was asked who No Labels’ donors are, he cited the rule that social welfare groups aren’t required to disclose donors.
The mystery of No Labels’ funding continues. And Thursday night’s letter shows there are plenty of people looking to unravel it.
Watch Joy's conversation with Benjamin Chavis below: