Monday, October 28, 2024

Patricia Morgan's mystery mailer

Attack postcard against Sheldon Whitehouse sent from Alabama PAC, Roosevelt Society Action

By Will Collette

We received an interesting postcard (above) promoting Patricia Morgan (R-MAGA) in her bid to unseat incumbent US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. It raises several MAGA issues such as immigration and blaming VP Kamala Harris for the influx of fentanyl into many local communities by means they leave to your imagination. It holds Whitehouse responsible for rising local property taxes - how a US Senator affects local property taxes is NOT explained.

Channel 12's Ted Nesi spotted the fine print, circled above, and tried to find out who is backing Morgan. Here's what he wrote in his weekly Nesi Notes:

6. Rhode Island’s U.S. Senate race has been a lopsided fight financially, with incumbent Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse vastly outspending GOP nominee Patricia Morgan so far. But Morgan is now getting some outside help. Roosevelt Society Action, a super PAC with an Alabama address that was established last month, just spent $54,000 on a pro-Morgan mailer that is now hitting mailboxes. The group has also posted a 30-second ad on YouTube attacking Whitehouse and talking up Morgan, though it’s unclear if it will air on broadcast TV or just be a digital spot. Who’s paying for all this, and do they plan to spend more? That’s unclear. The super PAC’s only reported income to date is a $200,000 contribution on Sept. 17 from an entity called The Roosevelt Society. It has an address in Hudson, Wisconsin, that pops up in the FEC database tied to other conservative political donations.

I followed the tracks Nesi laid down to see if I could find out more. Mostly, I confirmed what Nesi wrote and found a few more details that interested me.

The postcard makes the claim that "Patricia Morgan stands for Rhode Island, not DC politics" (whatever that means.) However, the Roosevelt Society super PAC uses a DC bank, the Chain Bridge Bank of McLean, VA.

There are no names of who gave the money the Roosevelt Society gives out to MAGA candidates like Morgan. The only name in their FEC paperwork is Kayla Graze. On her Linked In page, Graze describes herself as a CPA working for the Birmingham, AL firm of Crosby Ottenhoff Group. 

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Crosby Ottenhoff is linked to 80 far-right politic candidates as well as a variety of right-wing Super PACs. 

I'm glad Ted Nesi followed one of the important rules of research - always read the fine print - to give us some insight into Patricia Morgan's dubious qualifications to become Rhode Island's US Senator.