Rep. Claudia Tenney Reintroduces Bill to End ‘Zuckerbucks’ Grants to Election Offices

Claudia Tenney, a Republican from New York, has introduced a bill to ban tax-exempt entities from donating to electoral bodies. This is after institutions linked with billionaire Mark Zuckerberg funnelled hundreds of millions of dollars towards such offices in 2020.

“In the 2020 election, Mark Zuckerberg, under the guise of the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL)—a liberal non-profit group—flooded left-leaning county governments in Texas, Ohio, Nevada, Minnesota, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania with opaque private funding to influence election administration for their own purposes,” Tenney stated this in a Wednesday statement to the press.

“CTCL used this money as leverage over cash-strapped election agencies, forcing them into advancing its own partisan agenda. Millions of dollars from Zuckerbergs’ wallet flooded the field under the guise of ‘making voting safer amid the pandemic,’ yet less than 1 percent of those funds were spent on PPE, and 92 percent of the funds went to left-leaning districts,” Tenney was also added.

Critics say that Zuckerberg funneled the money to election offices in left-leaning districts. “Zuckerbucks” Or “Zuckbucks.” Tenney borrowed this term for the title a new bill that she introduced on Wednesday. It was called the “End Zuckerbucks Act” (pdf).

Tenney’s bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code specifically to prohibit tax-exempt organizations (501(c)(3)) from funding official elections through donations or donated service. Tenney co-sponsored the bill with Representatives Elise Stefanik, Tom Tiffany (R–Wis.), Scott Fitzgerald(R–Wis.), Lauren Boebert and Tom Cole (R–Okla.), Barry Moore and Ralph Norman (R–S.C.), Mary Miller (R–Ill.), Dan Bishop, Paul Gosar (R–Ariz.), Bill Posey (R–Fla.).

Tenney introduced another bill in opposition to the so-called “Zuckerbucks” practice in June of 2021, but the bill never moved beyond its initial introduction in the then-Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. Although the Republicans have a better chance of the bill moving now, the Senate will be more difficult to support.

State legislators have passed similar bans on private contributions to election offices. Arizona lawmakers passed legislation prohibiting private donations to state election officials in April 2021. Similar legislation was approved by Florida lawmakers in May 2021.

NTD News reached CTCL for comment regarding Tenney’s legislation. The organization did not respond to the request before this article was published.

Allowedly tilted 2020 Election Results

According to reports, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan donated $419.5 million to the 2020 election cycle. This money included $350 millions to CTCL. “Safe Elections” $72.5 million to the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

Critics have suggested that CTCL’s preference for left-leaning district was designed to drive voter turnout among Democratic strongholds and make less effort to drive turnout into Republican districts. This created an imbalance that favored Democrats during the 2020 election.

The Thomas More Society’s Amistad Project brought suit against CTCL over $6 million CTCL provided to officials in Fulton County (Georgia) and five cities of Wisconsin. These lawsuits claimed that the funding from Georgia was used for payments “ballot harvesters” for political activists to manage the ballots. It stated that the money was used for consolidating counting centers in urban areas to allow people to move. “hundreds of thousands of questionable ballots in secrecy without legally required bi-partisan observation.”

Phill Kline, Director of Amistad Project, told The Epoch Times CTCL’s practices could have violated the Constitution. “Equal Protection Clause” In the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

A pdf report by Wisconsin’s special counsel last year alleged that CTCL’s election grant violations of Wisconsin law prohibited election bribery. CTCL disputed the findings of the Wisconsin special counsel in comments to NBC 15, last year. They claimed that the report rehashed claims made in lawsuits already dismissed.

Zuckerberg Discontinues Election Grants

Ben LaBolt (ex-Switzberg spokesperson) stated that Zuckerberg and Chan donated money to CTCL last year. “one-time donation” To “help ensure that Americans could vote during the height of the pandemic.”

LaBolt was previously the White House communications director and was a spokesman for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. “no plans to repeat that donation” In future elections.

Zuckerberg said that he would not resume election-related donations for CTCL. However, the organization announced last January that it had launched an $80-million, five-year program called U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence that will assist all US election offices.

NTD News