InfluenceWatch Friday

InfluenceWatch, a project of Capital Research Center, is a comprehensive and ever-evolving compilation of our research into the numerous advocacy groups, foundations, and donors working to influence the public policy process. The website offers transparency into these influencers’ funding, motives, and connections while providing insight often neglected by other watchdog groups.

The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interested parties research to use in reporting on significant topics that are often overlooked by the American public.

CRC is pleased to present some of the most significant additions to InfluenceWatch in the past week:

• Accelerator for America (AFA) is a public policy think tank that promotes research into infrastructure development. As of February 2024, several of its programs were either funded or authored by left-of-center organizations including the Clinton Global Initiative, the Brookings Institution, and the National Association of Counties. In 2023, the Biden Administration praised AFA for being one of several organizations promoting its “Investing in America and Climate Action” agenda.
• Renaissance Technologies (RenTech) is an investment management firm that manages over $106 billion in assets as of early 2024. Co-founder James Simons is a major Democratic Party and left-of-center advocacy group donor. During the 2024 election cycle, contributions associated with RenTech or its employees were made to several organizations linked to Democratic candidates including Senate Majority PAC, American Bridge 21^st Century PAC, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
• Blockchain Alliance International (BAI) is a network of financiers and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) utilizing blockchain, or the technology used in creating cryptocurrency and other non-fungible digital items. BAI seeks to use blockchain to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations (UN). In 2023, the BAI released a write up for an event it held advocating in favor of using clean energy in bitcoin production.
• Brennan Bilberry is a partner with the law firm of Fairmark Partners, who previously served as campaign communications director for former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe (D). He also previously worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Priorities USA, and the Messina Group, a consulting firm started by political strategist Jim Messina. As of 2024, he is a registered legal agent for Our American Future Foundation (OAFF), which was reportedly incorporated by Ezra Reese, the political law chair of the Elias Law Group started by Democratic attorney Marc Elias.
• Committee for the Republic is a right-of-center anti-interventionist foreign policy group which claims that all Middle East conflicts the United States is engaged in are illegitimate under the War Powers Clause of the U.S Constitution. In January 2024, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the group hosted an event in Washington, DC, with guest speakers that included left-wing activist Max Blumenthal and pro-Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement activist Miko Peled. The Beacon further reported that both speakers called for the “dismantling of the Jewish state” while denying that Hamas terrorists raped women and killed babies during the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks against Israel.