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Executives, rich GOP donors funded attacks during elections

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The entrance to Loudoun County Schools Board Headquarters in Ashburn (Virginia), U.S.A June 22-22, 2021 is lined with signs opposing Critical Race Theory

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

According to campaign finance records, several business executives as well as wealthy donors contributed funds for groups which targeted critical race theories, which were a high-profile issue during the fall elections.

In the Virginia governor’s race, critical race theory was a prominent issue. This academic idea is taught mostly in graduate and college level courses. Republican Glenn Youngkin beat the Democratic ex-Gov. Terry McAuliffe was defeated by Democratic former Gov. Glenn Youngkin after he pushed to prohibit the teaching of critical racism theory in commonwealth schools.

With next year’s midterm elections, the battle for the idea is sure to get more heated. Republican officials already indicated that the campaign will focus on education and critical race theory teaching. Critical race theory is also called CRT and it’s an academic way to study the effect of racism. Conservatives use the term recently to denote any anti-racism conversation or even. any mention of race in schools 

Fight for Schools PAC is a group that attacks critical race theory. It is based out of Virginia, and it is headed by Ian Prior, a long-time GOP operative. As it invites people to give, the website proclaims “Welcome the parent revolution.”

Critical race theory may not be the primary concern of this group. However, the website states: “Schools all across the country remain only partly open. Students suffer from hopelessness. Special needs children are falling through cracks.

Many wealthy Republican financiers also support the PAC. A businesswoman and benefactor Sharon Virts, who has contributed $11,000 to the PAC, is the top donor according the Virginia Public Access Project.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Virts is a virtuous woman.You can find it here the founder and CEO of FCi Federal. Bloomberg reports that the company “provides professional services and operations management to federal agencies.” It was acquired by technology company PAE in 2017

A site promoting Virts’ foundation states that she and Scott Miller have placed their philanthropic efforts at education, health care, and restoring historical landmarks. The couple bought the sprawling estate Selma in Leesburg, Va. Loudoun Now reported that they purchased the estate. they spent about $1.2 million to purchase the historic mansion that features 20 rooms.

It couple and their home were featured in Washington Life Magazine in 2019. At the time, they claimed that $5 million was spent on restoring the property. The data from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization, shows that Virts donated over $44,000 to Trump’s National Republican Congressional Committee in 2017.

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Virts didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

1776 Action, a separate dark money group that also opposes critical race theory and is supported by people linked to former President Donald Trump, such as Newt Gingrich and Ben Carson, has given $10,000 to Fight for Schools PAC. David Bossie longtime Trump friend, founded the Presidential Coalition. It has donated $5,000 to Fight for Schools.

1776 Project PAC has supported school board candidates from various states including Ohio, Colorado, New Jersey, and Colorado. This group was started by author and political commentator Ryan Girdusky

Pete Farrell, founder and chairman of ResMed Medical Equipment Company, donated $1,000 to 1776 Project PAC. Eric Gray, the vice president of insurance company Gray & Co., donated the same amount to the committee.

In separate statements, Prior of Fight for Schools and Girdusky from the 1776 Project noted that both their respective committees were funded largely by small-dollar donors. Record data shows that combined PACs have raised more than $735,000.

“The vast majority of donations to Fight for Schools are from small dollar donors that are parents, grandparents and taxpayers frustrated with the failure of school boards to collaborate and be accountable to their constituents – specifically the Loudon County School board,” Prior told CNBC in a text message.

As I stated, there were approximately 17,000 people who donated and an average donation of less than $100. To my knowledge, nobody has ever made a donation greater than $10,000. Girdusky said that the donations came again from online and direct mail, not personal solicitations.” Girdusky shared this information with CNBC through a Twitter message.

Numerous other business leaders are also helping to finance Fight for Schools.

Nicole Hall, president of HSP Direct fundraising firm, donated $5,000 to the PAC on June. According to Virginia based records, HSP Direct has received over $30,000 for its services from the Fight for Schools PAC. CRP data shows that HSP received more than $6,000,000 from GOP affiliate committees during the 2020 election cycle.

Alexander Marcus was the founder and managing director at ESI Total Fuel Management. He donated $1,000 to the PAC this August. Marcus did not respond to my LinkedIn message.

Emord and Associates is a law company that focuses primarily in constitutional law. In September, Emord and Associates donated $1,000 to PAC. Jonathan Emord (the firm’s president) did not respond to an email seeking comment.

John Whitbeck (the founder of Whitbeck Bennett law firm) donated $1,000 to this committee in August. Whitbeck declined to return phone calls and emails seeking comment.

Fight for Schools was founded by a businessman who cited Covid policies for the motivation of his gift.

Pete Snyder was the founder and former Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia. He donated $2,000 to Fight for Schools in July.

Snyder explained why he donated, saying that schools were “an absolute freaking mess”. “At that time our schools were closed, and there wasn’t any view of opening them.” 

Snyder also donated $15,000 towards the Open FCPS Coalition in Virginia, which is a coalition of parents that support in-person education.

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