Can you imagine the Post ever hiring a member of a “far right” group? Or a group that, say, opposes the mass murder of jihad and the oppression of women in sharia? The Post would never dare. But there is free and frequent movement between the government, far-left activist groups and the established media. They are all on the same side and see everything in the same way.
“New Washington Post Communications Chief Lights Up As Board Member Of Far-Left Activist Group,” By Joseph Simonson, Washington Free Beacon, Dec. 3, 2022:
Tea Washington Post announced in October that it would welcome a new head of communications. The official newspaper announcement praised Kathy Baird, a veteran of Nike and public relations giant Ogilvy, as a “key strategic partner” positioned to “realize our ambitious vision for the publication.”
He also noted his membership in the “Rosebud Sioux Tribe” and his service on the board of IllumiNative, which he described as “a non-profit organization working toward accurate and authentic representation of Native people.”
That’s one way of saying it. IllumiNative is a self-described “racial justice organization” funded by a dark money giant that encourages elementary school students to fight for Democratic Party initiatives like universal health care. Its purpose is similar to that of various far-left activist groups, focusing on “disrupting white supremacist systems” and “organizing the grassroots,” according to the IllumiNative website.
IllumiNative is funded in part by the New Venture Fund, which is in turn funded by left-wing dark money giant Arabella Advisors. New Venture Fund recorded nearly $1 billion in grants in 2021 and was called “a leading vehicle for [dark money] to the left” by the New York Times. It’s unclear how much money the New Venture Fund has given to IllumiNative since its founding in 2018, and federal financial disclosure laws don’t require the organization to disclose it. Other left-wing charities, such as the MacArthur Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, have donated millions of dollars to IllumiNative over the years.
Baird’s role at IllumiNative raises questions about the place of political activism in newsrooms and to what extent it undermines a news product that is supposed to be nonpartisan. It is unclear if Baird will refrain from topics related to coverage of dark money Democratic groups, including Arabella.
Tea Washington Post declined to comment on Baird’s affiliations. Asked if he would refrain from engaging in Arabella-related issues, a spokeswoman said Baird “is a member of the executive team, overseeing communications, events and brand marketing and is not part of the editorial team.”
Tea Mail has almost entirely avoided coverage of Arabella Advisors, a curious editorial move given the group’s central role as a dark money hub for the Democratic Party. Tea free beacon he was only able to find two instances where Arabella Advisors is mentioned in the newspaper. Both were articles by fact checker Glenn Kessler aimed at Republicans. In one of them, Kessler describes the dark money group as a “back-office processor.”
Educational materials distributed by IllumiNative obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show the group working to influence school children, in part through classroom posters depicting American Indians demanding “tribal sovereignty” and “pre-constitutional rights” and advocating for Democratic Party policies like universal health care . IllumiNative did not respond to a request for comment or clarification on how the group defines “pre-constitutional rights.”…