Speaker B traces "dark money" from a term for 501(c)(4) nonprofits like the NRA to a partisan slur the left uses to dismiss funding they oppose. Conservative groups get heavy media coverage while left-leaning Arabella-funded organizations like Demand Justice stay under the radar.
What does dark money mean?
It was invented about 10 years ago to describe 501(c)(4) nonprofits. Those are the political nonprofits like National Rifle Association, League of Conservation Voters. Now it kind of means anything the left doesn't like. It especially means support for speech that the left wants to silence, right? I say, ooh, you're supported by dark money, therefore we don't have to listen to you.
So their examples of our dark money would be what?
Uh, well, you know, court battles. This comes up a lot in battles over the Supreme Court. So both sides obviously support and oppose nominees to the court and make arguments about what the job of a judge is. But the conservative side gets reported on massively, not so much Arabella, which is funding Demand Justice and Fix the Court, two of the biggest groups on the other side.
Who are some of our biggest donors?
Well, in his day, Sheldon Adelson, of course, was a famous big donor for us, now gone to his reward. The Koch brothers are the boogeymen for the left, although, of course, they're not well aligned with the Republican Party or Donald Trump, really. Those would be some of the more famous on the conservative side.