No Labels originated in 2010, calling itself “a refuge for sensible centrists”, which motivated a caucus called “Problem Solvers” on Capitol Hill.
According to an article on Mother Jones, No Labels refuses to disclose the donors who are contributing to the possible prospect of a third-party presidential candidate for 2024. The organization claims to be bipartisan and while several wealthy donors have given money in the past for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, conservative candidates seem to be favored a little more. For the 2024 election, most contributors gave $5,600. The founder and CEO of No Labels, Nancy Jacobson, called it a “mixed pool of individual contributors including people that want to help our country.”
Well, if they want to help our country, what or who are they hiding?
No Labels hold conference calls regularly with Sen. Joe Manchin (D.-W.Va.) joining in one this past April. If we recall he was just here in Manchester this past week talking up the No Labels organization. During one of those fundraising conference calls in 2022 Jacobson talked of Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Az.) as possibly headlining their ticket.
According to a former Federal Election Commission (FEC) lawyer, Adav Noti, if No Labels is considering possible candidates during meetings with contributors, that could open the organization to legal inspection. “If they’re going around naming potential candidates and somebody donates in response to that, that clearly presents” legal concerns. Current case law says organizations supporting or opposing a “clearly identified candidate” may be regulated as political committees, Noti said.”
Now on to some of the No Labels donors . . .
In 2021, an IRS filing disclosed longstanding GOP lobbyist Charlie Black, former associate general counsel of the FEC. Kenneth Gross whose specialty is campaign finance and counsels Fortune 500 corporations, and recurring donor John Catsimatidis who contributed more than $600,000 to the Trump Victory Committee around the 2020 election.
Harlan Crow, the billionaire who allegedly “bought” himself a Supreme Court justice with expensive trips and gifts, has been a megadonor while bringing in nearly two dozen other donors by 2021. Crow, who is a Republican stated, “I support No Labels because our government should be about what’s best for America, not what’s best for either political party. That’s also why I’ve supported candidates from both sides of the aisle who are willing to engage in civil discussions to move our country forward.” Having a Supreme Court justice as a “friend” is apparently what’s best for Harlan Crow, also.
Michael Smith, the billionaire founder of the enormous natural gas company Freeport LNG. Not too much of a stretch to figure out where his sentiments lie. He has supported Republican senators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.). However, he has also donated smaller amounts to Democrats who are seen as moderate, Jon Tester (D-Mn.) and Manchin.
Speaking of Manchin, the Senator who drives around in a $90,000 Maserati Levante and occasionally charters his 65’, $250,000 yacht named “Almost Heaven”, coal country seems to have been very good to him. His daughter, Heather Bresch is the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Mylan, and she had donated the maximum allowed to the Mylan PAC ($5,000) during both the 2010 and 2012 elections. Her father received $10,000 in 2010 from Mylan. From 2007 to 2016, Mylan increased the price of EpiPens by 461 percent, from about $100 for a package of two pens to about $600. Remember that?
Iris Smith, wife of billionaire Michael, has donated to No Labels. More than $500,000 went to Joe Biden’s presidential victory fund, which splits the money between the Biden campaign and other Democratic groups. But weeks before she made this donation, she donated to the reelection campaigns for Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Thom Tillis (R-NC). She has donated to Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ar).
Another Republican donor is Tom McInerney, a private-equity investor, who regularly donates to the Republican National Committee and GOP-linked super-PACs.
Florida real-estate developer, Allan Keen, is a donor who in the past contributed to Trump. Additionally, he had supported the campaigns of the family Bush, father and two sons, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. Recently he’s contributed to Manchin and Sinema.
Peter Resnick, an investor from Connecticut, gave No Labels Action, a super-PAC, $93,000 in 2018. He also supported the presidential campaigns of Obama and Biden, in addition to contributing to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) last year.
Other donors: Thomas McLarty III, who was Pres. Bill Clinton’s first White House chief of staff.
Alfred Spector, a noted computer scientist who was once vice president of research at Google, then a top executive at Two Sigma Investments, a tech-oriented hedge fund.
Martha Ehmann Conte, a San Francisco-based investor and philanthropist who co-founded WomenRun, which identifies and supports “center-right Republican women to run for federal elected office”.
Dennis Blair, a former US director of national intelligence and a No Labels board member.
People with money. Part of the problem. Don’t be fooled by “No Labels”. Or “Americans for Prosperity” either. A Koch (billionaire) brothers super PAC. Although only one brother is left now . . .