The Outside dark money group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which backs Democrats and liberal causes and which is trying to scare Alaska voters into voting “no” on the Constitutional Convention question, is also backing Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Congresswoman Mary Peltola as the “pro-fish ticket.”
Murkowski is a nominal Republican who has been asked by the Republican Party to vacate the premises. The party censured her and proceeded to endorse Republican Kelly Tshibaka for Senate. Peltola is a Democrat who is finishing out Congressman Don Young’s term of office and running for the two-year seat.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund is running under the name of Bristol Bay Action, and has given that group some $600,000 to work with. It is the only money that Bristol Bay Action has to work with, and the group has been sitting on the funds since March.
In Anchorage, Bristol Bay Action flyers began showing up at homes this week with both Murkowski and Peltola as the “fish” candidates.
Must Read Alaska has documented the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s persistent involvement in Alaska politics for years. The group is an offshoot of Arabella Advisers, the dark money hub of leftist politics in America. Arabella funds groups such as the new media upstart Alaska Beacon, and other left-leaning news organizations around the country, as the group tries to shape the news narrative in America with news organizations that appear to be neutral.
Other candidates funded by the Sixteen Thirty Fund are hardline leftists like Stacey Abrams of Georgia.
Read: Stacey Abrams dark money group hauled in $62 million following 2018 election loss
“The Atlantic, a left-leaning magazine, has called the Sixteen Thirty Fund ‘the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money’ which funneled ‘roughly $61 million of effectively untraceable money to progressive causes,’ making it the ‘second-largest super-PAC donor in 2020.’ Of Arabella Advisors, the Atlantic noted that the ‘mothership’ company runs a ‘massive progressive dark-money group you’ve never heard of.’ It added: ‘Democrats have quietly pulled ahead of Republicans in untraceable political spending. One group helped make it happen,’ reports InfluenceWatch.org.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund is just one arm of the Arabella political octopus. Others include the Hopewell Fund, and New Venture Fund, and dozens of other groups just like Bristol Bay Action, with local-sounding names.
“A single, cryptically named entity that has served as a clearinghouse of undisclosed cash for the left, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, received mystery donations as large as $50 million and disseminated grants to more than 200 groups, while spending a total of $410 million in 2020 — more than the Democratic National Committee itself,” The New York Times reported in January.
Lumping Murkowski with Peltola isn’t something that the very experienced political group Sixteen Thirty Fund would do by accident; it would be the result of polling and message testing. This pairing might help Peltola, while hurting Murkowski, although Alaska pollster Ivan Moore says Murkowski has alienated her right flank to the point that all she has is the left now. It appears doubtful Murkowski will distance herself from Peltola, but instead will ride her coattails for the Democrat vote.
Bristol Bay Action is not qualified with Federal Election Commission as a multi-candidate group, but is actively supporting two candidates on this flyer, a possible campaign violation.
