{"id":1248342,"date":"2023-10-05T17:48:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T17:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=446727"},"modified":"2023-10-05T17:48:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T17:48:27","slug":"as-2024-looms-democrats-campaign-tech-crumbles-under-private-equity-squeeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/10\/05\/as-2024-looms-democrats-campaign-tech-crumbles-under-private-equity-squeeze\/","title":{"rendered":"As 2024 Looms, Democrats\u2019 Campaign Tech Crumbles Under Private Equity Squeeze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The company in<\/u> charge of the Democratic Party\u2019s prized campaign technology tools announced its second round of layoffs in <\/a>just under a year<\/a> on September 6, slashing a total of nearly 350 jobs this year just as the 2024 elections ramp up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent years, the privately owned monopoly<\/a> over the Democratic Party\u2019s voter data has changed hands from one for-profit company to another. Apax Partners, a global private equity firm, currently owns<\/a> EveryAction and NGP VAN, the firms that house the Democrats\u2019 suite of voter file, compliance, and organizing tools. Apax acquired them from another private equity firm in 2021, creating a new merged entity called Bonterra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, according to current and former employees, Bonterra cut at least 20 percent of its staff, more than 200 employees. Staff members across EveryAction and NGP VAN, which hold the Democratic Party\u2019s most sensitive data, were cut. At least a quarter of the people laid off belonged to the union, 51 of them unit members from EveryAction and NGP VAN. At least half of the developers at ActionKit, a fundraising and customer relations management software acquired by EveryAction in 2019, lost their jobs. (Bonterra did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n The myriad challenges facing Democrats ahead of 2024 include lagging fundraising<\/a>, low voter enthusiasm<\/a>, and potential challengers<\/a> to President Joe Biden. Neglect of long-standing issues with the party\u2019s campaign tech infrastructure could further complicate those challenges, as could staff cuts at the firms Democratic campaigns rely on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For insiders, the decision to make deep cuts at certain parts of the operation suggests changes could be in store for the even more crucial parts of the company. There are alternatives to ActionKit, but fewer to NGP VAN, where Bonterra could cut more staff with little notice, said Tara Harwood, who was laid off from her role as ActionKit lead quality assurance engineer last month. \u201cI really think that Bonterra is a menace to the sector,\u201d Harwood said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to prevent Bonterra from doing to NGP VAN what they did to us,\u201d she added. \u201cWhat\u2019s happened to ActionKit should be a cautionary tale to every NGP VAN customer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The recent cuts at Bonterra come after layoffs earlier in the year, which preceded a wave of contraction in the Democratic-aligned campaign industry. In the two years since Bonterra\u2019s creation, at least 340 people have been laid off. Cuts in January were followed three months later by layoffs at other Democratic and progressive consulting, media, and polling firms like Middle Seat<\/a> and ActBlue<\/a>. Last month, EMILY\u2019s List laid off eight people, including most staff working on grassroots candidate outreach and training, and shut down its national training and recruitment program. The leader of the group who oversaw the cuts, Laphonza Butler<\/a>, was just appointed to represent California in the Senate on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats\u2019 main concern should be with who owns the party\u2019s most important campaign tech tools, said Michael Podhorzer, the assistant to the president for strategic research at the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the nation\u2019s largest union federation. \u201cThe problem,\u201d Podhorzer said, \u201cis when the monopoly is owned privately, like NGP VAN was, and can be sold to another company that doesn\u2019t have the founder\u2019s original commitment to the party or progressives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n