By Corinne Murdock |
Gov. Katie Hobbs selected as her spokeswoman a leader of two leftist dark money organizations and supporter of an FBI Most Wanted terrorist.
Hobbs’ spokeswoman, Josselyn Berry, served as leadership in two organizations that managed funds from Democratic dark networks. Berry served as the program manager for Arizona Wins from 2015 to 2016, and executive director for ProgressNow Arizona (now Progress Arizona) from 2016 through 2019.
Progress Arizona’s sponsor, Way to Win, launched in response to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory as a national donor network for defeating Republicans. It spent $110 million in key states, including Arizona, to ensure Democratic victories in 2020. Its major funders include George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and family, Stryker Corporation heiress Patricia Stryker, prominent D.C. consulting firm Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty (1630) Fund, and the Tides Foundation-backed One Arizona.
Specifics about Progress Arizona’s financials (filed under “ProgressNow AZ”) aren’t publicly available. IRS public documents for the 501(c)(4) nonprofit only include the organization’s tax-exempt notification letter. ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom site, was only able to obtain the extracted financial data for their fiscal year 2020 filing, but no specific details to reflect the $3.9 million revenue. An initiative of Progress Arizona, ProgressNow AZ Institute, had revenues of over $500,000 in 2020, but source documents weren’t available for that filing, either.
READ MORE ABOUT THE LEFTIST SECRETIVE DARK MONEY NETWORK
Of note, Hobbs’ campaign shared the same mailing address as ProgressNow and Arizona Wins: a UPS store in Phoenix shared over the years by several other Democratic political action committees (PACs), activist organizations, and even candidates. These groups also have ties to the political operative behind at least 50 political action committees or candidate campaigns over the last five years.
That operative, Dacey Montoya, had the email for her consulting firm, The Money Wheel, listed as a contact for Hobbs’ secretary of state and gubernatorial campaigns, and received about $188,500 over the past four years. Montoya’s PAC received $37 million from fallen crypto giant FTX leader Sam Bankman-Fried, as well as over $1 million from committees for Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Governor Katie Hobbs.
READ: LUCRATIVE ‘MONEY WHEEL’ FUNDING ARIZONA DEMS
While serving as the communications director for the Arizona State Senate Democratic Caucus, Berry quoted FBI Most Wanted Terrorist Assata Shakur in a tweet following George Floyd’s death. The Senate Democrats also shared the quote on their Twitter feed, but were forced to delete it and issue an apology after it stoked controversy.
The Senate Democrats claimed ignorance of Shakur’s criminal history and terrorist status. Shakur was a Black Liberation Army member sentenced to life in prison for murdering a cop and committing armed robbery, among other crimes. She escaped prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba; the FBI has a $2 million reward for her apprehension.
Berry, who was hired as an Arizona Democratic Party spokeswoman last year, never deleted the tweet.
Berry graduated from Arizona State University (ASU) Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, where she was also in the Barrett Honors College.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
