In the classic Hollywood western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the main characters played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford are followed by an organization of six horsemen after their momentary exercise flight. For the rest of the film, law enforcement officers harass the two outlaws as they flee the western United States and attempt to escape to Bolivia. We never see the hunting organization in detail, just the silhouettes of the runners in the distance, but every time Butch and Sundance look back, they are there.
“Who are those guys?” Butch helps keep repeating.
It’s essentially the same reaction I’ve had with the Shasta Freedom Coalition over the last year. The first time I became aware of the organization was last year, when they started running classified ads from the Shasta General Purpose Committee for the old District 2 retreat. The nine videos used in the classified ads were taken from the documentary series Red, White and Blueprint produced by local far-right provocateurs Carlos Zapata and Jeremy Edwardson.
“Who are those guys?” I still couldn’t wonder about the Shasta Freedom Coalition.
After Moty was effectively ousted in February, a new political action committee called the Freedom Committee made its impression on the scene, targeting a list of right-wing extremists in June’s number one election. Both the Shasta General Purpose Committee and the Freedom Committee were funded with more than $800,000 from the son of Connecticut billionaire Reverge Anselmo, who has been angry with Shasta County since his restaurant, vineyard and ranch near Shingletown were buried in an avalanche of building code violations a decade ago.
Meanwhile, after the retreat, the Shasta Freedom Coalition, which is registered as a political action committee, set about selling so-called medical debauchery events, raised the budget for local candidate Rachel Hamm’s failed bid for California Secretary of State, and organized a loose screening. from Dinesh D’Souza’s last fiction film, 2000 Mules.
D’Souza’s factless propaganda article falsely alleges that widespread electoral fraud occurred in 2020 through the manipulation of the ballot box. voter registrar Cathy Darling Allen in the June primary.
“Who are those guys?” Me again.
In June’s number one election, the list of five far-right candidates approved through Shasta’s General Purpose Committee, the Freedom Committee, and the Shasta Freedom Coalition lost their candidacies for Superintendent of Schools, Registrar of Electors, District Attorney, and two managerial seats.
The two overseeing candidates on the ultraconservative list, District 1 candidate Kevin Crye and District Five candidate Chris Kelstrom, survived to face a runoff with Erin Resner and Baron Browning respectively in the upcoming November 8 general election.
After the primaries, the Shasta Freedom Coalition changed gears again. On his Facebook page, he promoted the July 1 appearance of voter fraud conspiracy theorist Seth Keshel at Hillside Church. Keshel also believes in the debunked constitutional sheriff’s theory, which falsely holds that the county sheriff is the ideal law of the land and has to stick to state and federal legislation and regulations with which he disagrees.
Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson attended Keshel’s presentation in Redding and, according to Keshel, agreed that all national elections held in 2020 are uncertain. This makes President Joe Biden and Shasta County District Four Manager Patrick uncomfortable in the same boat.
“This is Sheriff Mike Johnson of Shasta County, California,” Keshel posted with a photo of Johnson on Telegram, one of right-wing extremists’ favorite social networking sites. “I’m thankful he attended Redding last night and even sat in the front row. Not only did he raise his hand when I asked the crowd to raise their hands if they thought the 2020 election could not be certified, either nationally or in the county. No more sheriffs like this, please. Now is the time to act.
But according to Johnson, that’s not how Keshel framed the consultation. Johnson argues that Keshel consultation is more generic and does not specify local and national voter fraud. The video of the occasion confirms the sheriff’s version.
“That’s not the query that was made if I didn’t forget correctly,” Johnson told A News Café via email. “The query was, ‘Who here believes the 2020 election was tainted by fraud?’It’s very different from the message. I don’t think any of the local elections have been tainted by fraud. I surely haven’t noticed any evidence of this. I never indicated that the national election or any local election had not been certified.
“What I raised my hand is that I believe the 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud,” Johnson continued. “However, that’s my opinion. Not as sheriff, but as Michael Johnson. I’m not saying it replaced the final election results, I’m not saying there’s evidence that can be prosecuted, I’m not drawing any conclusions. What is clear is that there is enough circumstantial evidence to motivate us (as a nation) to take a closer look at the process and make reforms/changes to better protect the integrity of elections in the long run.
In any case, thousands of others who saw the message were given the false impression that Sheriff Johnson is a fervent denier of the election.
The next nationally discredited voter fraud conspiracy theorist organized through the Shasta Freedom Coalition at Hillside Church, Dr. Doug Frank on September 13, has managed to escalate extremism one or two levels.
Frank began the day by attending the Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting, where his artistic skill was well received by butterfly supervisors Jones, Les Baugh and Tim Garman.
“I wrote on social media today at City Hall how inspiring it was,” Frank told the Hillside audience about that day’s BOS meeting. “Three minutes after 3 minutes after 3 minutes of inspirational speeches. It was like we got ready or something. It was too good. Then I stood up, they asked me a lot of questions. I have to communicate like 23 minutes or something. They asked me a lot of questions and that was good. I perceive that one of the commissioners leans more towards us. That’s why it’s good, we’ve made progress. “
It wasn’t like they were ready or anything like that. Jones, Frank and the public speakers planned virtually the entire show, as evidenced by A News Café editor Doni Chamberlain’s report on the event.
“You’re deep in coconut country,” Frank told the Hillside audience. Frank, a former Cincinnati math instructor who grew up in Shasta County during a time of his childhood, embarked on his project to misinform the American public about the effects of the 2020 election on 20 months ago. Since then, he and his minions have combined latent anger over the effects of the election with constant anger over COVID-19 mandates to mitigate their irritable audience.
“During COVID, the oppression and tyranny we experienced at the hands of our government necessarily created an all-out army of super moms across the country,” Frank said. Frank implied that officials like Darling Allen and District 2 Supervisor Mary Rickert also since the others who don’t adhere to the big lie about the 2020 election are intellectually, ethically, and morally inferior to distinctive feature models like him.
And, as he is popular on the far right with caustic figures like Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Frank fully embraces Christian nationalism.
“If there is any hope of taking back our country, we will have to turn our eyes to heaven and repair a more virtuous society,” he said. We are in a war of ideas, he insisted, a war between intelligent and evil. And he’s there to help the smart side win. “You just need some supermoms who can take a stand and fight this war. “
On the morning of Frank’s appearance on Redding, the mobile phone of his smart friend and fellow conspirator Mike “My Pillow” Lindell was seized by the FBI, which is investigating Lindell’s alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021 insurrection perpetrated by Trump supporters in Washington. The next day, when Frank returned to Ohio after his appearance in Redding, his mobile phone was confiscated through the FBI at the airport for the same reason.
According to Frank’s unfounded voter fraud conspiracy theory, Trump is the real president of the United States, not Joe Biden. Frank claims rather bizarrely that the electoral effects were influenced through a mysterious set of computer rules that he talked about a lot about but never identified.
Looking at Frank’s nonsense is like one of those “Dr. Pimple Popper” videos on TikTok where the pustule is squeezed on all instructions but never appears until the end of the video. You end up paying scammed, especially if you spent a lot of time watching the video or paid the $20 admission fee to attend Frank’s event.
All this political activity that Shasta Freedom Coalition has been in since its inception once again raises the question.
Who are those guys?
Now, finally, the answer can be revealed. They are boys at all. The Shasta Freedom Coalition is led by 3 women from Redding.
According to documents filed with the California Secretary of State in July, the executive director of the Shasta Freedom Coalition is Tami Dwinell-Nisbet, its chief monetary officer is Kaylyn Hipple and its secretary is Camille King.
The 3 women refused to answer questions before the story was published.
According to the documents, the Shasta Freedom Coalition is “a non-profit public enforcement corporation and is organized for the personal benefit of anyone. “
“The express goal of this society is to inspire civic participation in local and county government, to teach the general public about past and existing governmental processes, to promote respect for the U. S. Constitution, and to promote respect for the U. S. Constitution, and to promote and to promote respect for the U. S. Constitution, and to promote respect for the U. S. Constitution, and to promote respect for the U. S. Constitution, and to promote and to promote respect for the U. S. Constitution, and to the U. S. Constitution, and to promote and to promote respect for the U. S. T”Promote economic prosperity and physical well-being,” the document said.
According to the Shasta Freedom Coalition website, the organization is “a political advocacy organization that advocates for freedom of choice and respect for civil liberties in all spaces of life. We seek constitutional answers that announce freedom. “
Such political advocacy organizations are permitted by state and federal law with a caveat: their political activities must be as impartial and nonpartisan as possible to maintain their nonprofit status.
For example, under state law established through the Political Reform Act of 1974, any organization that receives contributions of $2,000 or more consistent with the year for political purposes will have to register as a receiving committee with the Fair Policy Practices Commission. The Shasta Freedom Coalition has been selling and raising funds for applicants and political issues since at least last year and has almost certainly exceeded the $2,000 contribution threshold. However, it has not registered as a beneficiary committee with the FPPC.
The Shasta Freedom Coalition has also not been registered as a nonprofit with the IRS. According to the IRS, “organizations are exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which come with charities and churches, possibly would not participate or interfere in any political crusade on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.
The following activities must intervene in an election through the IRS and are prohibited for nonprofits:
Shasta Freedom Coalition has been involved in virtually all of these issues in its nearly year of existence. Unfortunately, IRS regulations are not that simple in the election process. ” These valid school goals come with voter education guides, voter registration, voter incentive campaigns, and candidate forums.
“But be careful!” warns the IRS. ” An educational activity can be transformed into a political crusade intervention, depending on the context in which it is used. “Charities interact in a crusade intervention when they engage in the following activities:
IRS regulations apply to advocacy for political issues as candidates.
“A charity risks intervening in a political crusade when its message invites the recipient to compare a candidate’s position on a factor with the organization’s own views,” the IRS said. “The message is expressly urging people to vote for or against a candidate, or even to mention a candidate by name. Candidates can be evoked by substituting party labels or keywords for names such as “conservative”, “liberal”, “pro-life”, “pro-choice” or when the message is a prominent factor in the crusade and on which applicants have opposing views.
The Shasta Freedom Coalition would possibly pose as a nonpartisan nonprofit, but it’s actually as difficult as it can be. For example, the “Resources” tab on your online page links to a cavalcade of people who deny MAGA elections. like Keshel and Frank, the aforementioned right-wing Red, White, and Blueprint docuseries, and Jefferson’s state secessionist movement, Bethel’s filmmakers didn’t focus on QA. millions of dollars touting useless ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine while COVID-19 cures its gullible conservative audience.
There is no need to provide any balance on the website. Everything is difficult, all the time. According to the tax authorities:
“Statements posted on an online page are treated no differently than those appearing in the press or on television, and a charity that posts one on its online page that promotes or opposes a candidate for public office is very likely to suffer political interference as if it had communicated in writing or made oral comments. They would possibly also be in jeopardy if they post links to other Internet sites that defend or oppose a candidate.
Some elements of the coalition are more subtle. The categories indexed in the “Find Your Passion” tab include church, government, business, education, media, family, and entertainment and are clearly derived from the Dominionist mandate of the Seven Mountains of Bethel. Church. I had planned to explore Bethel’s possible connection to the leaders of the Shasta Freedom Coalition, but they chose not to answer A News Café’s questions.
When informed of some of the political activities indexed in this report, Shasta County voter registrar Cathy Darling Allen filed a complaint against the Shasta Freedom Coalition with the FPPC for not running as a political action committee. Last month, Darling Allen had to heed a public warning after his branch won citizen court cases about foreigners knocking on his doors and asking about his voter registration. Keshel, Frank and the coalition strongly encouraged such an impromptu voter solicitation that Allen said could violate state law.
Motivated readers interested in filing a complaint against the Shasta Freedom Coalition with the IRS can find instructions on how to do so here. At a minimum, the IRS can ask the Shasta Freedom Coalition to stop and refrain from its overt political activities. At most, their non-profit prestige may be revoked.
“As we are primarily interested in educating organizations and selling compliance, in most of those cases we alerted the organization to the breach and strongly warned them not to repeat the activity,” the IRS explains. in any political crusade for or against any candidate for public office, the IRS can simply revoke the exempt prestige of a charity participating in a political crusade of intervention. We have proposed revocation in some cases that are appalling.
It remains to be noted whether shasta Freedom Coalition is one of those heinous cases. For now, we’ll just have to figure out who those guys are.
R. V. Scheide is an award-winning journalist who has covered news, politics, music, art and culture in Northern California for over 30 years. His paintings have appeared in tenderloin times, Sacramento News
Posted: October 12, 2022 at 9:09 am
By Dave Bogener
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