This is a screenshot of an ad that’s been circulating on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Aly Richards. But it didn’t come from her campaign; it was paid for by the (apparently) newborn Independent Expenditure PAC known as “Time for a Change.”

IE-PACs, for those just tuning in, can spend on behalf of favored candidates but can’t coordinate their activities with anyone’s campaign. And this one has a bucket of money to spend by Vermont standards— although it’s getting in gear awfully late in the game.

As of the July 1 reporting deadline, TFAC was in the Secretary of State’s campaign finance system but had yet to raise or spend a single dime. Its August 1 report is a different kettle of fish altogether. TFAC reported raising $230,025 in a single month. The bulk of the total, a flat $200,000, was donated by businesses, not individuals. What’s more, $225,000 came from out of state. Only $5,025 was donated to TFAC by Vermonters. Are anyone else’s hackles raised a little bit, or is it just me?

In its August 1 campaign finance filing, TFAC only reported spending $8,500 (to D.C.-based Liftoff Campaigns LLC for “Media – Consulting”), but that doesn’t tell the story. It has also filed FOUR separate Mass Media filings in the last three days, none of which are reflected in its August 1 report. TFAC sent $50,000 to D.C.-based Middle Seat for online ad buys; another $60,000 to Liftoff Campaigns for “text messaging”; $35,000 to Liftoff for “Online Advertising”; and another $56,500 to Liftoff for more “online advertising.” That’s a total spend of $210,000 in a matter of days!

In the political mind, this raises the obvious question, “WHY???” Why spend now? Why not sooner? If TFAC waited to make its big spends to avoid exposure, well, it waited far too long to get the most bang for its bucks. Many Vermonters have already cast their primary ballots, and the buys came with less than two weeks to go before the primary. That’s hardly enough time to spend the money wisely. If I were one of their big donors, I’d have some questions.

The only answer I can think of is that certain interests have realized that Richards’ rival, Amanda Janoo, might actually win the nomination and they’re trying to bring down the more progressive of the two candidates. Pure speculation on my part.

A visit to the TFAC website reveals precious little. It’s only one page, and features the group’s endorsement of Richards as having “a plan to lower costs for every Vermonter,” which sounds like pure unadulterated centrism to me. Scroll down and you see the option to give these anonymous folks your contact information — sorry, I mean “Join the movement for change.” TFAC describes itself as a group of “Vermonters who believe our state needs new leadership,” but its website contains not a single name of any Vermonter who professes such a bland, content-free belief. You can only reach them, which I have not tried to do, by writing an email to its Gmail account.

Also, as noted above, it ain’t “Vermonters” who are fueling this outfit. There’s pretty much only one Vermonter, in fact; Tom MacLeay, former CEO of National Life Group, donated $5,000. The rest, minus an unspecified $25, came from outside our green and pleasant borders.

The only name associated with TFAC that I could find is John Hollar, former Montpelier mayor and former black-hat lobbyist with the Burlington-based Dinse law firm. He’s listed on the group’s Secretary of State filings as its treasurer.

Okay, who chipped in the big bucks? Well, a Missouri-based “Hybrid PAC” called Family Security and Prosperity gave a cool $100,000 to TFAC. Family Security and Prosperity last reported its financials to the Federal Election Commission on July 1. At the time, it reported total receipts of $50.23 and total spending of $0.00. I guess it’s found some money in the sofa cushions since then.

(A Hybrid PAC, if you were wondering, is a relatively new beastie in the Child’s Treasury of Political Money Schemes. Per Wikipedia, “the hybrid PAC is the equivalent of a traditional PAC and a super PAC operating under the same roof. The first $5,000 given to a hybrid PAC is given to the traditional PAC, and any funds above that are channeled into the super PAC.” This allows traditional PACs to seamlessly operate in the no-holds-barred arena of the super PAC. Hybrid PACs spent a total of $1,376 billion nationwide during the 2024 campaign, so we’re talking big dollars.)

Up next in the police lineup is the Impact Fellows Action Fund, which gave $75,000 to TFAC. The IFAF does not show up in the FEC database but it does have a website. Interestingly, helping elect candidates for public office is not mentioned in its self-description. Indeed, it claims to engage in “nonpartisan advocacy,” which I guess is kinda-sorta true if you squint real hard because it’s not technically supporting a candidate as such. IFAF styles itself “a national 501(c)(4) grantmaking organization that provides funding and technical assistance to state-level advocates and grassroots organizations to advance advocacy and policy change that benefits young children and families.”

So why the hell is it giving big bucks to a Vermont-based IE-PAC that’s promoting Aly Richards?

It won’t take long to list the rest of TFAC’s donors, because there are only three more. The aforementioned MacLeay is at the bottom, because for these people $5,000 is a rounding error. In between IFAF and MacLeay we find the D.C.-based Government That Works PAC with a $25,000 donation, and Boston resident Carl Ferenbach with another $25,000. That’s it, besides the undocumented $25. (You don’t have to itemize gifts under $100.)

Government That Works has reported receiving more than $15,000,000 and spending about half that. Its donors include a laundry list of PACs and deep-pocketed individuals from out of state. I’m not going to dive into them all; the link is above if you want to engage further. The FEC database doesn’t seem to include Mr. Ferenbach, but apparently he has money to burn; he was one of five co-founders of the private equity investment firm Berkshire Partners.

So where does this leave us? A newly-created and very secretive IE-PAC has raised almost a quarter million dollars in less than a month and spent almost all of it on a last-minute advertising blitz in support of Aly Richards. The bulk of the money came from out-of-state businesses, and much of it emerged, like Swamp Thing, from the fetid ecosystem of our nation’s capitol. The only Vermonters openly associated with it are a former business-friendly lobbyist and the former head of Montpelier’s leading private employer.

Does any of that say “progressive Democrat” or “true agent of change” to you? It doesn’t to me.

Now, Richards is not directly responsible for TFAC’s fundraising and spending. It is, after all, an Independent Expenditure PAC, so I’m sure she knows nothing about its activities. (In the words of Dick Nixon, “That would be wrong.”) But this sudden rush of money does raise questions about whose interests Richards would serve if she became governor. Too bad there’s so little time before the primary to ask and get answers, hmm?