Dear Friend,  

Earlier this week, the recall organizers started promoting a newly-formed campaign committee called the “DC Neighborhood Alliance” to take in shady, big-dollar donations for the recall with zero limits. Their webpage helpfully suggests a donation of up to $5,000 (!) and lists a PO box at a UPS store as their address. Legally, the recall committee can’t accept more than $500 per donor, but this new group can turn to limitless outside money with little transparency - the very definition of dark money. 

How do we know the recall and this new "independent expenditure committee" are connected and likely illegally coordinating? The same person is sending emails from both the recall campaign and this new group. And within hours of their launch, a nasty digital ad campaign hit the Washington Post, Vox, and even a Caps blog, misleading viewers on Charles’ record with Republican-style fearmongering ads saying, "Charles loves criminals". Clicking on the digital ad then takes you to the recall campaign's website, not the new group’s.

These are national right-wing tactics, and they're not welcome in DC. 

We don’t have to guess who's bankrolling this. It’s national Republicans and big corporate interests with deep pockets. They needed a legal vehicle for hidden, limitless money, while working overtime to make people think this is a bipartisan, grassroots effort. That’s nonsense! Grassroots campaigns don’t set up shady independent expenditure committees run out of a PO box. 

We need you to help fight back! You can donate or put up a yard sign to combat misinformation and show your support for Charles: a thoughtful, solutions-oriented leader with integrity.  

Setting up this dark money committee is a deliberate tactic to get around contribution limits and boost the recall effort’s misinformation. But why? Because their paid canvassers are finding Ward 6 neighbors stand with Charles. So they’re turning to deep national pockets to throw mud. If they could do what they needed to with the recall committee, they would have already. This is a serious escalation in their efforts, and it opens the door to a lot of money coming from who knows where. I need you with me. 

And if you’ve got a friend who’s been waiting to see whether their recall efforts are serious, please forward this email and ask them to get involved now. Our campaign has enormous support from Ward 6 and DC residents, but we can’t take anything for granted with this new maneuver. There's too much at stake. 

Tommy Wells
Campaign Chair, Neighbors United for Ward 6

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