Today, Americans for Public Trust Executive Director Caitlin Sutherland testified before the Michigan House Election Integrity Committee in support of House Bill 5197, which would ban foreign nationals from contributing to state ballot issue campaigns.
In her testimony, Sutherland explained how Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to liberal organizations like the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has in turn funneled $34 million into Michigan for state ballot campaigns. Sutherland urges lawmakers to close this loophole allowing foreign money to influence Michigan’s politics.
Read excerpts from Caitlin’s testimony below:
On Hansjörg Wyss and his goals…
“There is a foreign-funded group based in Washington, D.C. called the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and they are actively bankrolling ballot measure campaigns across the country. One of their top donors is a reclusive Swiss billionaire named Hansjörg Wyss. Mr. Wyss is not a U.S. citizen, but his goal is to “(re)interpret the American Constitution in the light of progressive politics.” According to the New York Times, Mr. Wyss’ “political activism is channeled through a daisy chain of opaque organizations that mask the ultimate recipients of his money. APT has been able to trace that one of those opaque organizations, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, has received almost $280 million in foreign money from Mr. Wyss and has then turned around and spent $130 million in ballot issue campaigns in 26 states, including Michigan.”
On Sixteen Thirty Fund spending in Michigan…
“No other state has seen a greater influx of Sixteen Thirty Fund’s foreign-backed money than your state. Over many years, Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent almost $34 million dollars in Michigan. Year after year, and initiative after initiative, the Sixteen Thirty Fund is consistently the number one donor. From over $11 million spent against protecting life, to over $20 million to radically change your state’s election laws, to over $2 million to mandate paid sick leave and everything in between, Sixteen Thirty Fund’s foreign coffers have been there.”
On what the donations fund…
“These nonprofits are using foreign money to fund many things. So as we’ve discussed, foreign money can only not be used in elections. The loophole that we’re discussing is everything else but elections. That is ballot issue campaigns, and that is protests as well. So yes, we have found that an incredible amount of foreign money — also from Hansjörg Wyss, also from these foreign charities that I outlined that we just unveiled last week — have gone to fund protests, No Kings rallies, and ballot issue campaigns.”
