Disputed Fact
[Disputed Fact – As to Hatch Act nexus] Across CTCL grant jurisdictions reviewed, grant agreements included enforceable contractual clawback provisions authorizing CTCL, in its sole judgement, to demand the return of all or part of disbursed funds if recipients failed to comply with the grant’s conditions. In the Wisconsin five-city agreement, this provision applied to the entire $6,324,527 disbursed to Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Racine. Recipient cities were prohibited from sub-granting any portion of CTCL funds to another organization “unless CTCL agrees to the specific sub-recipient in advance, in writing.” A senior city official in Green Bay documented that she was “taking all of my cues from CTCL,” reflecting the degree of operational direction these grant conditions imposed on elected and appointed municipal officials.
Citations
Wisconsin Election Commission Complaint (Fox11/WEC), State of Wisconsin v. Green Bay et al.State of Wisconsin v. Green Bay et al., filed April 8, 2021, ¶¶ 39, 55, quoting City of Green Bay–CTCL Grant Agreement (July 24, 2020), pp. 017–019, https://fox11digital.com/PDFs/WEC-Complaint-FINAL-Draft-4.pdf. Verbatim grant text: “CTCL may discontinue, modify, withhold part of, or ask for the return of all or part of the grant funds if it determines, in its sole judgement, that (a) any of the above conditions have not been met”; “The City of Green Bay shall not use any part of this grant to give a grant to another organization unless CTCL agrees to the specific sub-recipient in advance, in writing.”
Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society, press release (Dec. 16, 2020), as reported in Michael Patrick Leahy, Breitbart NewsBreitbart News, Dec. 18, 2020, https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/12/18/report-mark-zuckerbergs-419-million-non-profit-contributions-improperly-influenced-2020-presidential-election/. Secondary source reporting on the Amistad Project’s findings regarding CTCL clawback provisions. Note: this article is a secondary report of an Amistad Project press conference; the underlying primary report has not been independently retrieved and verified.