Dark money accounts for roughly a quarter of pro-Medicaid expansion committee’s funds
Missouri’s pro-Medicaid expansion committee just landed a $1.5 million donation from a Washington, D.C.-based dark money group — the single largest campaign contribution to a Missouri candidate or committee since 2018.
The Friday donation from North Fund, a tax-exempt organization that does not disclose its donors, comes less than a month before Missourians will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would expand Medicaid eligibility for an estimated 300,000 low-income residents.
A June 2 campaign finance disclosure showed that the pro-expansion Missourians for Healthcare committee had raised $3,368,206 this election cycle. Since then, the committee has more than doubled its haul, tacking on $3,818,024 in donations of $5,000 or more, which must be reported within 48 hours.
Meanwhile, the anti-expansion No on 2 in August committee has only reported raising $88,680 to date.
The Center for Responsive Politics defines dark money as “political spending meant to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown.”
In addition to its $1.5 million gift, North Fund made an $88,000 in-kind contribution to the pro-expansion committee.
The committee has also received $238,685 from The Fairness Project and $24,050 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, both D.C.-based dark money groups.
Of the nearly $7.2 million Missourians for Healthcare has reported raising this cycle, just over 25% has come from groups that don’t disclose their donors.
Pro-expansion spokesman Jack Cardetti declined to comment specifically on the dark money contributions.
“The coalition supporting Amendment 2 is among the broadest, most diverse Missouri has seen,” Cardetti said in an email.
“Our donors, volunteers and supporters all share our commitment to protecting frontline healthcare jobs, helping keep rural hospitals open, and bringing $1 billion of our tax dollars back from Washington, D.C., annually.”
Created in late 2018, North Fund has next to no online footprint. A representative for the group could not be reached for comment.
In May 2019, North Fund bought advertisements advocating for Washington, D.C., statehood. The group also spent $500,000 on a Colorado ballot initiative that would have allowed the state to keep all the money collected over its revenue limit to spend on education and transportation.
In 2018, for the first time since the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision undid corporate restrictions on electioneering communication and candidate advocacy, liberal dark money groups outspent their conservative counterparts, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Missouri’s Medicaid expansion initiative has received considerable bipartisan support, including an endorsement from the reliably conservative Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Earlier this month, Oklahoma became the 37th state to endorse Medicaid expansion and the fifth to do so through a referendum vote.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 3:15 PM.