People of all political stripes tend to believe politics is an ugly, dirty and nasty process, often focused too much on a quest for power and money above all else. Washington State’s Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal from Washington’s 7th Congressional District (which includes most of Seattle) proves, once again, that the people’s biases are generally accurate when it comes to politicians and their dishonesty. Specifically, we will discuss a particularly deceptive and dishonest Political Action Committee controlled by Jayapal which targeted the most gullible and often lower income people to give her millions of dollars which she could give to her friends. The claims she made for the fundraising effort? They were mostly lies.
Most of the research included in this report was done in collaboration with Cicero Intel and was stumbled on as part of an ongoing fraud investigation involving Washington state politicians and those who support them.
Pramila Jayapal background
Jayapal is a classic American success story in many ways. She immigrated to America from India in 1982 when she was 16 to attend college. She is well educated. She has worked in the public sector since 1991. She began her activism mainly as an immigrant rights attorney but ramped up her visibility in Washington State after the 9/11 attacks by founding an organization which was called “Hate Free Zone.” This organization changed its name to “One America” in 2008. Jayapal stepped down from her leadership role from that organization in 2012.
Jayapal successfully campaigned for the Washington State Senate in 2014 in the 37th Legislative District (Seattle), raising just over $300k in contributions (see here) from Unions, local Leftist Billionaires like Nick Hanauer (see here), and others. She was able to score an endorsement at the time from Democrat Seattle Mayor Ed Murray before he was forced to resign due to his child sex assault /preying on vulnerable young boys scandal (see here). Murray’s endorsement at the time probably helped Jayapal break through a 6-way primary with 51% of the vote (see here). Jayapal cruised to an easy victory in November 2014 (see here). Oddly enough, when we go back and look at her 2014 campaign, we can see campaign violations that were committed, which is typical, but for some reason I never filed any complaints against her before the statute of limitations expired in 2019. Somehow, this was missed back then, which is actually a little odd because I filed complaints against almost everyone else at the time (see here for examples). The Washington State Senator gig turned out to be a short term stop in Olympia on the way to the other Washington.
Jayapal’s campaign for Congress in 2018 for the 7th Congressional District was a rare political opportunity because the former occupant of this Congressional Seat was Jim McDermott had fossilized in this office since 1989. It seemed like McDermott would never leave, but his departure from the political scene gave Jayapal the chance to get to Washington DC and away from the JV political league in Olympia. Jayapal dominated the 9-way primary (see here) and coasted to win the election (see here) with a campaign war chest of about $3,000,000 (see here). Interestingly, due to Washington State’s top2 Primary system, this was the first time two Democrats faced each other in a general election (Republicans have a tough time in this district), although, this scenario is currently being repeated in the 10th Congressional District in 2020 (see here). After the 2016 election, Jayapal raised an additional $2.2 million in 2018 (see here), and so far in 2020, another $2.4 million (see here) for races against unfunded political “opponents.”
Here is how Wikipedia describes the 7th Congressional District in Washington State:
“The 7th is the most Democratic district in the Pacific Northwest and the most Democratic district on the West Coast outside the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles. It is also the most Democratic majority-white district in the United States. Democrats dominate every level of government, and routinely win elections with well over 70% of the vote. Al Gore won the 7th in 2000 with 72% of the vote while John Kerry won 79% in 2004. Barack Obama took 84% of the vote in 2008.”
Jayapal – Social Justice Warrior and Fundraising Scammer
Jayapal has made a name for herself in Washington DC. She coasted to election in 2016 with Bernie Sanders’ endorsement, which was cool. She hooked up with the other cool kids in the Progressive Caucus and is now the co-chair of this crew. Her district is safe, politically, no matter what crazy thing she does or says. This scenario can make a politician feel politically safe and willing to be more reckless than normal. She knows the voters won’t hold her accountable, and the Republicans have no answer in this district which is seriously lacking diversity of political thought.
Enter the Federal Political Action Committee (PAC) founded and run by Pramila Jayapal called “Medicare for All PAC.” This PAC was originally founded in 2017 (shortly after Jayapal settled into her new office in DC), but it didn’t start consuming serious cash until earlier this year. Despite its name, the fundraising campaign has been focused on exclusively raising big bucks to “Save the Post Office.” Which might seem weird, since the Post Office is not going away anytime soon (see here), but this campaign, in a perpetual panic and a barrage of psychological abuse, rained endless emails and fundraising requests and “surveys” or “interviews” for which you had to pay $3 to the PAC to submit them. These emails often appear to target low-income and low information people in a very deceptive manner. Of course, none of this money went to “the Post Office” or to “saving the post office.” Instead it went to Jayapal’s friends. To most effectively illustrate how this fundraising campaign appeared to recipients, here are excerpts on a timeline for the claims and statements for just one month from July 19 – Aug 18th, earlier this year (To this this list in one file go here) You can go to the end of the article to see the rest of the “saving the post office” sleazy fundraising claims:
I have copies of the entire barrage of these fundraising emails, and we’ve linked a few samples of them at the end of the article. The repetitive claims regarding the post office was impressively deceptive and mostly lies. Every time. Every email. These post offices were not being threatened or shut down. More significantly, none of the $1.5 million raised for the slush fund in this PAC was used for “the Post Office.” Instead the cash was transferred either directly to Jayapal’s political friends (see here) or to pay for large independent expenditures to help her political friends get elected (see here).
Who actually got the Cash?
Obviously, it was not the post office. Here is the list of the recipients of the cash:
| Recipient | Total |
|---|---|
| Balter, Dana (D-NY) | $5,000 |
| Clarke, Yvette D (D-NY) | $2,500 |
| DeFazio, Peter (D-OR) | $5,000 |
| Denney, Audrey (D-CA) | $5,000 |
| Doglio, Beth (D-WA) | $10,000 |
| Eastman, Kara (D-NE) | $6,000 |
| Frankel, Lois J (D-FL) | $2,000 |
| Golden, Jared (D-ME) | $5,000 |
| Gomez, Georgette (D-CA) | $5,000 |
| Harder, Josh (D-CA) | $4,000 |
| Harper, James (D-IN) | $5,000 |
| Hayes, Jahana (D-CT) | $5,000 |
| Hoadley, Jon (D-MI) | $5,000 |
| Johnson-Hostler, Monika (D-NC) | $1,000 |
| Jones, Mondaire (D-NY) | $5,000 |
| Kahele, Kai (D-HI) | $5,000 |
| Kirkpatrick, Ann (D-AZ) | $1,000 |
| Leger, Teresa (D-NM) | $5,000 |
| Levin, Mike (D-CA) | $4,000 |
| Newman, Marie (D-IL) | $2,500 |
| Omar, Ilhan (D-MN) | $5,000 |
| Porter, Katie (D-CA) | $3,000 |
| Rouda, Harley (D-CA) | $2,000 |
| Scholten, JD (D-IA) | $5,000 |
| Siegel, Mike (D-TX) | $5,000 |
| Wild, Susan (D-PA) | $5,000 |
| Williams, Nikema Natassha (D-GA) | $2,000 |
| Recipient | Total |
|---|---|
| Lujan, Ben Ray (D-NM) | $2,000 |
In addition, Another $190,000 was spent as an independent expenditure to support Democrat candidate Beth Doglio running for the 10th Congressional District in Washington State (see here) , another $85,000 was spent on two other independent expenditures to assist other Democrat candidates in New York and Nebraska (see here). No cash went to the Post Office, or to help “save” the Shelton post office as the email barrage originally clamed.
Who paid for Jayapal’s deceptive PAC Slush Fund?
When you look at the donations to this campaign, according to the FEC reports (see here), many of these donors appear to be lower income supporters who are being constantly badgered by this deceptive fundraising scheme and none of their money is being used to support the cause the campaign claims to support. None of it. If a private business or non-profit were to run a campaign like this, they would be exposed for deceptive practices and prosecuted under a variety of laws. However, for Jayapal and her political friends in DC (and Washington State), this is just how they roll. They continue to do this now, and it appears they will continue to do this in the future since there are no negative consequences.
If they are willing to lie like this to their supporters, how likely is it they are lying to the rest of us?
For more information about Cicero Intel, please visit www.cicerointel.com.
OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.” IT WAS THE FOUNDERS’ INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE. IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT. IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.” UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED…
Background articles and documents:
Jayapal’s PAC – Fundraising barrage and false claims for cash
Open Secrets – Medicare for All PAC
Seattle Times – Ed Murray resigns after 5th Child Sex Abuse Allegation
November 8, 2016 – General Election Results – Washington State Congressional District 7
August 2, 2016 – Primary Election Results – Washington State Congressional District 7
November 4, 2014 – General Election Results – Washington State Legislative District 37
August 5, 2014 – Primary Election Results – Washington State Legislative District 37
Pramila Jayapal’s 2014 Campaign Finance Reports – WA State Senate (37th LD)
Pramila Jayapal’s 2016 Campaign Finance Reports (FEC) – Congressional (CD7th)
Pramila Jayapal’s 2018 Campaign Finance Reports (FEC) – Congressional (CD 7th)
Pramila Jayapal’s 2020 Campaign Finance Reports (FEC) – Congressional (CD 7th)
Example fundraising email – “Save the Post Office” Bernie Sanders – August 14, 2020
Example fundraising email – “Only you can save post office” – August 25, 2020
Example fundraising email – “Post office interview” – September 2, 2020
