I decided to go back and redo my breakout of David Hogg's "Leaders We Deserve" PAC filing with the FEC for the 2023-2024 election cycle. Here's what it looks like visually. www.fec.gov/data/committ...
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Dems are unfortunately addicted to high priced consultants, usually the same ones each cycle regardless of results, just another thing the party needs to break itself of and use those funds to fight everywhere possible. Also, working for a PAC sure does pay well.
may 17, 2025, 4:46 pm • 5 1 • view
It's not a good read. I believe Hogg has shot himself in the foot. He needs to run for anmoffice and get some experience before he tells lawmakers how to do their jobs. I wouldn't say this if he hadn't made so much out of the publicity that came his way.
may 17, 2025, 1:21 am • 13 0 • view
This is what happens when you're a noisemaker that's never put in the groundwork Start at the bottom, work your way up Experience is how you let people know that you know what you're talking about They want positions they've never earned or put in the groundwork for, and it falls apart
may 17, 2025, 7:57 pm • 4 1 • view
I 100% agree.
may 17, 2025, 10:55 pm • 1 0 • view
Thank you. Send this directly to Hogg and hope he reads it. If he slows, he can see that he CAN win a race,perhaps state rather than Fed, but win something. He could run a district very well AND keep being a spokesman. So both can be done.
may 17, 2025, 8:54 pm • 1 0 • view
I would like to know how that 28% that goes directly to candidates compares to other PACs and ActBlue … seems low
may 17, 2025, 2:45 am • 4 0 • view
bsky.app/profile/char...
may 17, 2025, 2:47 am • 7 2 • view
Great work Charles!
may 17, 2025, 2:03 am • 2 0 • view
If many of the representatives would stop only regurgitating/reposting the news of the day on social media and post their proactive suggestions for solving problems-- time, money and patience would be saved - not to mention problems solved.
may 18, 2025, 2:15 am • 1 0 • view
Paid a million for our email addresses? I deleted/blocked his emails instantly.
may 17, 2025, 1:13 am • 10 0 • view
United we stand - divided we fall…
may 17, 2025, 2:28 am • 2 0 • view
I am not sure of the purpose of the OP. I find the information interesting, but it seems that we cannot afford to pig pile on a democratic activist. I would like to see a republican PAC breakdown. #unite #resist
may 18, 2025, 12:37 am • 0 0 • view
I would like to compare the percentages to several pacs including GOP pacs and the DNC
may 17, 2025, 1:58 am • 8 0 • view
The DNC isn't a PAC & mainly operates the presidential primary & convention.
may 17, 2025, 7:29 pm • 2 0 • view
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may 17, 2025, 1:23 am • 2 0 • view
They raised ~$11.9 million last cycle and "disbursed" just under $11.0 million, although the detailed breakout adds up to around $11.76 million; I'm not sure what accounts for the ~$760K discrepancy. 1/
may 17, 2025, 1:12 am • 59 9 • view
Regardless, they actually donated around $3.2 million to various Democratic candidates, Dem Party committees & other PACs (including themselves...$116,000 went to "Leaders We Deserve Florida"). A whopping $1.23M of it went to a single legislative candidate in Texas.
may 17, 2025, 1:15 am • 49 13 • view
They spent nearly $1 MILLION on "consultants." "Digital consultants" "Fundraising consultants" "Compliance consultants" "Research consultants" "Strategic consultants" "Finance consultants" "Communications consultants" "Administrative consultants" "Operations consultants"
may 17, 2025, 1:23 am • 70 19 • view
I guess that makes sense if you don't know what the hell you're doing.
may 17, 2025, 2:28 am • 2 0 • view
They spent ~$450,000 on direct mail, though I don't know if that was to help elect candidates or marketing for themselves. They spent ~$1.7 million on "digital ads"...again, I don't know if those are ads for candidates or for themselves.
may 17, 2025, 1:26 am • 59 8 • view
They spent $128,000 on travel (airfare, hotels, trains, gas, car rental, Lyft/Uber, etc). $166,000 to rent office space (they only list 5 employees). $184,000 in legal fees (lawyers can be expensive I know).
may 17, 2025, 1:28 am • 52 9 • view
Speaking of those 5 employees, the payroll for them was $490,000 (this was for 18 months FWIW).
may 17, 2025, 1:30 am • 55 13 • view
Now look at "Leaders we deserve Florida" and see how much Hogg is paying himself there as well! Guaranteed he's pulling in 300k+ from all sources which makes his unwanted dick even more embarrassing.
may 17, 2025, 1:52 am • 1 0 • view
The nearly $2.5 MILLION they paid for "SMS Texting", "List Acquisition" and "EveryAction Software" is exaclty what you think: They bought your/my email addresses & phone numbers & spammed the shit out of them, just like many other PACs/campaigns.
may 17, 2025, 1:34 am • 75 17 • view
I still don't understand how a payroll of $490,000 can have payroll TAXES of $318,000, but I'm neither an accountant nor a lawyer, so (shrug).
may 17, 2025, 1:36 am • 65 9 • view
This is a list of where they pay money to, right? My guess would be that because they are remitting to both the employee and the government those are listed separately, but combined represent pretax salaries. So in total salaries are $808,000
may 17, 2025, 3:32 am • 0 0 • view
Actually ignore that. The numbers seemed normal to me because I'm Canadian 😂 Looked up Florida's tax rates and that doesn't seem to add up.
may 17, 2025, 3:49 am • 1 0 • view
I’m a payroll accountant and I don’t understand it either.
may 17, 2025, 4:04 am • 1 0 • view
The other two big ticket items I don't understand: 1. $758,000 for "Allocation of Administrative Expenses" (this is almost exactly the same as the $760K gap between the "disbursements" total on the summary page and the disbursements in the detailed view, so perhaps that's the explanation?)
may 17, 2025, 1:37 am • 52 7 • view
Charles. You are out here doing great work and providing FACTS! You are a hero like Marc Elias and your followers appreciate you beyond words.
may 17, 2025, 1:53 am • 9 1 • view
You'd find similar spending ratios for non profits like St. Jude's and Shriners
may 17, 2025, 2:09 am • 0 0 • view
2. $131,000 for "Credit card payment" ...except it doesn't list what the $131K was *for*...it says "see below" but there's nothing "below" in the spreadsheet version. It's possible that this shows up elsewhere in the report & I just don't know enough about how to read it.
may 17, 2025, 1:38 am • 47 8 • view
They sure wasted money getting my info because I blocked the first email.
may 18, 2025, 12:09 am • 1 0 • view
Damn!!! I want a job there! Just kidding
may 17, 2025, 5:50 pm • 0 0 • view
I was told that Hogg's salary was within the normal range for the President of a PAC of this size. Is this true?
may 17, 2025, 3:12 am • 0 0 • view
I honestly don’t know.
may 17, 2025, 3:13 am • 1 0 • view
People like to shit on consultants and it is warranted at times but they are often necessary, particularly if you don’t know how to do something or simply don’t have the bandwidth. I would not want to chance screwing up an FEC filing so it makes sense to pay for someone knows what they are doing.
may 17, 2025, 1:38 am • 4 0 • view
Disclosure: I worked in the consulting world, including at one firm who at least did their site. (I didn’t work on it as it was after I left.)
may 17, 2025, 1:40 am • 1 0 • view
Digital has retainers, ad commissions, or things like building a website. Comms consultants may be a firm that has relationships with reporters and pitch on your behalf, track media coverage, draft materials. It’s very time consuming.
may 17, 2025, 1:43 am • 1 0 • view
If you didn’t have any experience in these areas, you’re probably screwed on these fronts. A poor web presence will hurt an organization’s credibility. Often times, a retainer will get a client access to several people at far less than if they hired in house and covered salary and employee benefits.
may 17, 2025, 1:46 am • 1 0 • view
Scrutiny is always good and the industry is not without need for reforms. But I think there’s a reflexive “ew consultants!” thing that persists for some people on a very surface-level understanding.
may 17, 2025, 1:52 am • 1 0 • view
As I note later in the thread, I recognize that there’s a big difference between a PAC (which has serious tax/legal/FEC compliance rules) and what I do…but that’s kind of my point: 10% overhead may be naively low, but you’re saying 70% isn’t too high??
may 17, 2025, 2:07 am • 1 0 • view
Did any of the supported candidates win? I see Carranza did not?
may 18, 2025, 12:33 am • 0 0 • view
Unfortunately the IRS has been depleted so that they are like 8 yrs behind in their audits. There are so many red flags with this PAC, I've posted the payroll tax issues on your first post on this. The other 🚩is the credit card line. Is that on the Income Stmt or Balance Sheet? 1/
may 17, 2025, 1:52 pm • 1 0 • view
If on IS, that's incorrect way of reporting, all expenses should be dispursed to the proper expense line. If on the BS, the line should be zero, used as a pass through account to be disbursed. I'm not going to go into debits and credits here, but it's another thing that's weird and could 2/
may 17, 2025, 1:52 pm • 1 0 • view
Be hiding all sorts of personal items paid via the PAC's credit card. It looks like most of the lyft, food and misc charges are personal too. Basically PACs are a grift and Hogg has taped into it.
may 17, 2025, 1:52 pm • 1 0 • view
Those food, ride share and travel expenses really cause my eye. Seemed extremely excessive. Like if a teenager got a hold of their parents credit card and went on a year long vacation. I would love to know more about those, but 🤷🏻♀️.
may 17, 2025, 2:00 pm • 1 0 • view
The 1.2M was wasted on Kristen Carrenza because she lost. That's not something to brag about, yet Hogg's fans think he is the savior of the Democratic Party.
may 17, 2025, 3:08 am • 0 0 • view
Looks like a nice slush fund for him.
may 17, 2025, 1:19 am • 2 0 • view
Based on this it's clear you'd make a better Vice Chair than Hogg. You raise more money and don't grift off the top.
may 17, 2025, 1:37 am • 9 0 • view
THANK YOU AS ALWAYS
may 17, 2025, 2:35 am • 2 0 • view
JC Superstar all that $$$ for Act Blue processing fees? I’m not doing any of that shit anymore.
may 17, 2025, 1:13 am • 1 0 • view
Act Blue takes 4%. That’s…not that much?
may 17, 2025, 1:24 am • 6 0 • view
Really? THAT'S what you're upset about? ActBlue takes less than 4% for credit card processing, which is pretty standard, actually (it's a bit high but they also provide the infrastructure for every Dem candidate)
may 17, 2025, 1:16 am • 23 2 • view
Sorry I was upset about the wrong thing. Lesson learned.
may 17, 2025, 1:35 am • 3 1 • view
📌
may 17, 2025, 5:49 pm • 0 0 • view
A whole lot of that is nebulous terms for stuff the goes into people’s pockets
may 17, 2025, 5:47 pm • 4 0 • view
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may 17, 2025, 1:59 am • 0 0 • view
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may 17, 2025, 7:22 pm • 0 0 • view
@technomagius.bsky.social
may 18, 2025, 12:30 am • 1 0 • view
You’re the best Charles. Thank you for all the thorough work you did.
may 17, 2025, 5:32 am • 2 0 • view