Last week, two Republican senators said they would decline to spend political contributions from billionaire financier John Childs and would instead direct the money to charity, now that Childs has been charged with soliciting prostitution in Florida. Two GOP senators to return money from John Childs:
Childs, 77, has donated about $17 million since 2007 to support conservative politicians and causes, federal records show. For decades, he has ranked as one of the most generous GOP donors in the country, giving six-figure sums to the national party, the Senate and House campaign operations, and super PACs working to elect Republicans.
He was one of 165 people charged on Feb. 21 with solicitation of prostitution as part of a six-month sex trafficking investigation of massage parlors in Florida. A clerk at the Indian River County Court said Thursday Childs had not yet answered the warrant.
Childs could not be located for comment, but he has previously denied the allegations.
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The charges against Childs have raised particular questions because he has been such a large donor.
Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), who has made combating sex trafficking a top focus (oops!), on Thursday made a donation of $8,100 — the same amount she’d received from Childs — to a veterans’ charity, Freedom Alliance, after her office was contacted by The Washington Post.
She had previously transferred to charity contributions from former Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who asked two female employees to bear his child as a surrogate. A McSally spokeswoman, Katie Waldman, said she also returned money from casino magnate Steve Wynn, a former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, who has been accused of sexual misconduct and coercion by multiple women. Wynn has denied wrongdoing.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) also announced he would be donating the $5,400 he received from Childs.
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For their part, Democrats hope to put Republicans on the defensive with the Childs matter. The Florida Democratic Party has called on the state’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, another recipient of Childs’s donations, to redirect the money.
The Democratic National Committee on Thursday called on the Republican National Committee to return its donations from both Wynn and Childs.
“The RNC refuses to return donations from former RNC Finance Chair Steve Wynn, and now they refuse to return donations from Republican donor John Childs even after a federal indictment that he solicited prostitution as part of a human trafficking ring,” said spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa, in a statement to The Post. “This is disgusting and unacceptable, and does not reflect the values of voters across the country.”
A spokesman for the RNC, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Childs, including about $175,000 in the last cycle, declined to comment for this article.
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America First Action, a super PAC that supports President Trump, received $250,000 from Childs in the 2018 election cycle.
“The contribution was spent in 2018,” said America First Action President Brian Walsh when contacted by email. “No further comment.”
Club for Growth Action, a conservative group that received $100,000 from Childs in the 2018 cycle, declined to answer questions about the fate of his contributions. “We have a policy that we don’t discuss our donors,” spokeswoman Rachael Slobodien said.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which coordinates GOP campaigns for the U.S. House, did not respond to questions on what it would do with the $123,900 the committee received from Childs in the last cycle.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee also declined to comment about the nearly $250,000 Childs gave to the committee in the last cycle.
The NRSC joined McSally’s 2018 campaign in attacking Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) for not immediately returning campaign donations from the founders of Backpage, a classified advertising website that was seized by federal agents as part of a child sex-trafficking investigation.
There is plenty of hypocrisy to go around.
So McSally redirected money to the Freedom Alliance; I suggest readers Goggle the Freedom Alliance and see for themselves what this group really is. Here’s a sample from the web page:
“How does Freedom Alliance protect American sovereignty?
Freedom Alliance uncovers threats to American sovereignty, brings them to the public’s attention, and offers solutions to our nation’s leaders. Over the years, we have been instrumental in defeating the United Nations’ International Tax Office; convincing the U.S. government to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC); ensuring legal protections for U.S. military threatened by the ICC; preventing ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty; and exposing the UN’s plans to undermine our 2nd Amendment, among other accomplishments.”
They also seem to have a particular fondness for Oliver North.
Thanks, William. I think I read that Oliver North actually started Freedom Alliance. (North is also the current President of the embattled NRA.
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