![]() During the same time, Chaney made about $101,800 in contributions to state campaigns, according to information on the Oklahoma Ethics Commission website. Jones filed a formal complaint with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission regarding Harris, Chaney, Holland and others, but Harris and Chaney’s cascade of political donations began long before this year’s election cycle.įor state-level candidates and committees between 20, Harris made about $104,296 in political contributions. “Now we know for certain (…) it’s not individuals giving money. “You follow the dots, and it’s a direct line,” former State Auditor & Inspector Gary Jones said during a June 24 press conference about the dark money. Harris and Chaney’s recent independent expenditure contributions aimed at retribution against Byrd underscore the political influence that Epic’s controversial founders attempted to sow by donating heavily in state and federal campaigns for years, even as they were under criminal investigation for allegedly embezzling money through Epic Youth Services, the private charter management company they co-owned. ‘You follow the dots, it’s a direct line’ “I’m not ashamed of the work we did there,” Parker said. I’ve done as much as I can to stay away from that, so that is something that I asked before I agreed to do the work.”ĬAMP chief operating officer Matthew Parker said he was told Harris and Chaney’s motivation was to “defeat Cindy Byrd.” “I make a rule, I don’t deal with public money. I can’t recall all the details,” Holland said. ![]() I believe it was their personal money and, again, I don’t know. Holland said “people are innocent until proven otherwise,” and he noted that a prior multi-county grand jury had investigated Harris and Chaney without returning indictments. We oblige in many cases, occasionally we don’t.” “I don’t really recall what the intent is,” Holland said. Holland said he remembers speaking with Harris about the independent expenditures, but he said he does not remember what Harris said motivated his PAC donations. Despite more than $500,000 of Harris and Chaney’s money being used to attack Byrd and support McQuillen, Byrd won reelection with more than 70 percent of the vote. Hundreds of thousands of dollars also were spent in support of Byrd’s opponent, Steve McQuillen, who did not run a campaign himself. ![]() ![]() Both committees are run by Campaign Advocacy Management Professionals (CAMP), a leading campaign firm founded by Fount Holland, a former newspaper reporter who has become arguably the top Republican political consultant in Oklahoma by mastering the art of both candidate campaigns and independent expenditure efforts.īy the conclusion of Oklahoma’s June 28 primary election, the two PACs orchestrated by CAMP and funded by Harris and Chaney had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in opposition to State Auditor & Inspector Cindy Byrd, who completed the damning audit of Epic Charter Schools that eventually led to Harris and Chaney’s prosecution. Within nine days, that Super PAC dispersed $581,000 to two other Super PACs: $300,000 to a national committee called American Values First, and $281,000 to Truth PAC, an Oklahoma committee. Two weeks before former Epic Charter Schools founders Ben Harris and David Chaney were arrested and charged with racketeering, conspiracy, embezzlement and other crimes, both men donated $375,000 on June 8 to a federal political action committee called Protect Our Freedoms, which had been formed 10 months earlier but had not received a single donation up to that point. ![]()
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