The source of so-called dark money fueling the largest Democratic super PAC that supported Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential run passed off hundreds of thousands of dollars to companies partially owned by its leaders in 2023, newly released tax filings show.
Future Forward USA Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that pumped north of $100 million worth of untraceable cash into Future Forward PAC, a political committee that spent over half a billion dollars unsuccessfully working to elect Harris. In addition to using its anonymously sourced war chest to boost the Democratic White House bid, Future Forward USA Action also shuffled just over $700,000 to firms its leaders either co-own or helped launch — adding on to prior payments.
GCJ Research, which was founded by Future Forward USA Action Treasurer Gaurav Shirole, received $370,000 from the organization in 2023, documents show. PFB Media, a firm co-owned by Future Forward USA Action President Chauncey McLean and Secretary Jon Fromowitz, meanwhile, took in roughly $340,000.
This is far from the first instance of self-dealing in the Future Forward nexus. Future Forward USA Action, for example, paid these same companies $1.1 million in 2022, according to tax forms.
The Washington Examiner reported in late November that Future Forward PAC, which shares leadership with the affiliated 501(c)(4), paid at least $8.3 million to GCJ Research and PFB Media. Since then, the Federal Election Commission has released new campaign finance disclosures showing that the PAC doled out an additional $3 million to those two firms.
The public likely won’t know the full extent of Future Forward USA Action’s payments to GCJ Research and PFB Media until its 2024 tax forms are released next year.
Following Harris’s loss on election night, Democratic operatives have placed blame on a variety of factors. Some have argued that inefficient spending practices at major liberal organizations and the Harris campaign contributed to President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
“This is kind of an explanation for why Democrats are getting clobbered,” Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf previously told the Washington Examiner in reference to Future Forward’s finances. “They really don’t represent people at the bottom. They represent people at the top.”
In addition to paying out lucrative contracts to their companies, Shirole, McLean, and Fromowitz all took home salaries of a quarter million dollars or more in 2023.
“I don’t think any campaign makes perfect decisions across the board,” Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin said. “But I think in this case, questions should be asked, right?”
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“It’s like creating companies whose sole purpose is to give the money back to you,” he continued.
Future Forward USA Action did not respond to a request for comment.
