Summary: The Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania is a shallow front group with close financial and personnel ties to a broad network of PACS and frontgroups funded by a hedge fund billionaire. CAP’s finances are impossible to discern, and their failure to disclose political activity likely violates the law.
The Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania is an extreme, far-right, dark money front group that exists mostly on paper, appears to have only one employee, and is a funnel for several wealthy dark money groups and affiliated PACS whose primary focus is winning elections for hard-right, anti-union, anti-environment, anti-minimum wage, anti-government republicans. CAP is a cog in a much bigger far right machine of at least 8 affiliated political organizations and well-funded political action committees. CAP also maintains a political action committee with 2-3x the budget of the c4.This network of sister PACS and orgs is designed to shield donors and confuse.
Depending on the year, most of CAP PAC’s funding comes from a network of right-wing political action committees and orgs whose funding is largely provided by Jeffrey Yass, a Pennsylvania based Libertarian billionaire.
These affiliated groups include:
- Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives
- Commonwealth Allies
- Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs
- Students First PAC
- Commonwealth Children’s Choice Fund
- Commonwealth Leaders Fund
- CAP PAC
At least four of these groups, including Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, share an address and board members. The Citizens Alliance does not disclose its clear political activity on filings to the IRS. The group’s failure to disclose donors and coordination with right candidates are so suspicious that Pennsylvania Senate Republicans called for an ethics investigation.
Of these affiliated groups, CAP has been the main attack dog on TCI. In 2019, the group issued an action alert for citizens to demand that Pennsylvania withdraw from TCI. And in 2020, CAP released a “No Gas Tax”’ video that isan exact copy of the Yankee Institute of Public Policy’s video released in Connecticut.