{"id":580175,"date":"2022-03-29T19:31:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T19:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/?p=209619"},"modified":"2022-03-29T19:31:45","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T19:31:45","slug":"congressional-leadership-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/03\/29\/congressional-leadership-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressional Leadership Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Political leanings:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Republican<\/strong><\/p>\n

2020 total spending: $165.9 million<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Congressional Leadership Fund\u2019<\/a>s sole purpose is to win a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

The super PAC was formed in October 2011 as the conservative counter to the liberal\u00a0<\/span>House Majority PAC<\/a> and is endorsed by House Republican leadership. As a super PAC<\/a>, technically known as an <\/span>independent-expenditure-only committee<\/a>, CLF advocates the election or defeat of federal candidates without coordinating with candidates, campaigns or political parties. It can accept unlimited contributions, but it must disclose its donors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dan Conston<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>serves as CLF\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>president<\/a>, as well as the president of its sister 501(c)(4), the\u00a0<\/span>American Action Network<\/a>. Conston has managed communications for several successful Republican congressional\u00a0<\/span>campaigns<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and served\u00a0<\/span>as communications director for former\u00a0<\/span>Rep.\u00a0Peter Roskam<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>He is president of the media consulting firm\u00a0Conston Communications<\/a>\u00a0and a partner at the consulting firm\u00a0GCG Solutions<\/a>, both of which specialize in media production and project management.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to OpenSecrets, the super PAC spent nearly\u00a0<\/span>$143 million<\/a> <\/span>on advertising advocating the election or defeat of specific candidates during the 2020 election cycle<\/span>. It spent more than $7 million to support Republican challenger Claudia Tenney\u2019s successful<\/a> bid to unseat\u00a0<\/span>Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in New York\u2019s 22nd Congressional District, and more than $6 million to help\u00a0<\/span>Republican Troy Nehls<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>win a seat held by\u00a0<\/span>retiring<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Republican Rep. Pete Olson in Texas\u2019 22nd Congressional District.<\/p>\n

In all, the CLF spent $131 million<\/a> against 68 Democratic House candidates, and 42 <\/span>of <\/span>the targeted candidates<\/a>\u00a0went on to lose their races.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CLF\u2019s\u00a0largest individual donors in 2020<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>were casino owner Sheldon Adelson<\/a>, who died<\/a> in January 2021, and his wife, Miriam. The couple \u2014 longtime Republican backers \u2014 contributed $50 million to the group, and\u00a0<\/span>Timothy Mellon<\/a>, chairman and owner of the transportation holding company Pan Am Systems,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>gave $20 million.<\/p>\n

As of Dec. 31, 2021, CLF has raised about $65.5 million and spent $4.7 million,\u00a0<\/span>Federal Election Commission records show<\/a>. In 2020, CLF raised a total of $165.7 million and spent $165.9 million. The group’s spending in 2020 had increased from 2018, when CLF raised a total of\u00a0<\/span>$157.8 million<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and spent\u00a0<\/span>$158.7 million.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Major donors for the 2022 campaign cycle include\u00a0<\/span>Kenneth C. Griffin, <\/a>Citadel founder and CEO, who has donated $11 million<\/a>, and Patrick G. Ryan<\/a>, founder, chairman and CEO of the Ryan Specialty Group, who has donated just over $10 million.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

CLF released its first ads of the 2022 election cycle in early January 2021. The five-figure digital ad campaign<\/a> targeted 21 Democrats who voted for Rep. Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House. Since then, CLF has launched a series of ads<\/a> attacking Democrats on crime, cost of living and education.<\/p>\n

FactCheck.org Undergraduate Fellow Tess Hancock contributed to this article.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Congressional Leadership Fund<\/a> appeared first on FactCheck.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on FactCheck.org<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conservative super PAC aiming to win a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

The post Congressional Leadership Fund<\/a> appeared first on FactCheck.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1725,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37957,44545],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":580176,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580175\/revisions\/580176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}