ORGANIZING NOTES
July 22, 2026
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How To Put Politcal Money in the Dark: A Lesson from Massachusetts
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What makes money spent in a political campaign “dark”? Political money is dark when the person or persons who contribute it are unknown. It is possible to hide the names of donors, despite all the legislation designed to make donations transparent; however, you must know how to do it and plan carefully. The idea is to take advantage of gaps in campaign finance law. The method is to form a politically active not for profit organization. Under tax law, such an organization can be a “social issue” organization with an interest in any issue or set of issues that registers as what is termed a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization or a 501(c)(6) trade association. These organizations can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on elections, but do not have to disclose their donors publicly. They are legally required to operate primarily for social welfare, not politics. Therefore, these organizations are careful to spend no more than 49% of their money on political activity. And it is big money, in the hundreds of millions each year and growing. It is also possible to aggregate dark money and funnel it into a Political Action Committee or SuperPAC. While Super PACs must disclose their donors, the funds can be reported as coming from an anonymous nonprofit organization rather than any person or corporation. How this operates is illustrated in the work of MA Progress Action. It has been circulating an ad which attacks Ed Markey for “Chronic Reelection Disorder”. It is a dark money group, apparently run by a big supporter of Seth Moulton, Todd Kanter, who runs the Silver Asset Management Group. The latest information about dark money in politics can be found on the website OpenSecrets Dark Money Basics: . Here, you will find who is benefiting from dark money and how much of it there is. Another resource is theBrennan Center for Justice, which studies the impact of Dark Money on political outcomes. Getting rid of dark money in elections is a challenge because it will take legislation to do it. That won’t happen quickly. However, because primaries are elections that are governed by parties, which are private entities, they can be regulated by party decisions. That is why Platform in Action, the people who successfully retained to 2021 Platform at the Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention in September, are campaigning to have the Party end the use of dark money in Massachusetts Democratic primaries. You can join the campaign to diminish dark money by going tonodarkmoney.com, signing the petition, and volunteering to work on the campaign.
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Join the rally on Thursday, July 23 at 12:00 pm (noon) with guest Attorney Geoffrey Pipoly at Boston City Hall – Circle Plaza calling on all U.S. Senators to sign S. 4841 protecting TPS families. TPS for Haitian and Syrian families, per the SCOTUS, is set to expire on Friday, July 24. Make your opposition heard!
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The LUCE network and community organizations invite everyone to join the 24-hour vigil on July 24 and 25 in front of the Massachusetts State House (24 Beacon Street, Boston) to honor those who have died in ICE detention and in encounters with immigration enforcement.
The vigil will honor the lives of those who have been killed, support communities impacted by immigration enforcement, and affirm our collective power to grieve, organize, and demand justice. Gather to remember our loved ones, stand with one another, and call for ICE OUT!
Participants are invited to bring flowers or a small symbol of remembrance of someone impacted by immigration enforcement, such as a poem, art work, picture, or message to display.
RSVP to attend or donate.
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Join Mass Power Forward to sing and chant in the State House for the last 5 days of the formal session beginning on Monday, July 27 at 1:00 pm. Gather each day at Nurses’ Hall inside the State House. They will be highlighting their priorities that must be part of energy policy for clean affordable energy. Corporations are pushing dirty polluting energy and profiting off us. Stand for clean affordable energy for all!
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The formal legislative session for the MA State House is ending soon: Friday, July 31. Both the MA House and MA Senate have passed important bills to protect our immigrant communities and strengthen data privacy protections. But for them to become law, the MA House and MA Senate need to agree to final text to send over to the Governor for her to sign. Urge your state legislators to pass strong versions of the PROTECT Act and data privacy bill before July 31! Find more information and the email templates here!
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“Bigger Than Dobbs: Stop the MAGA War on Women” is a statewide week of action organized by IMC’s Feminist Action Team to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and to highlight broader threats to women’s rights beyond abortion access. We are pushing back on the rollback of reproductive rights, which is part of the larger MAGA agenda affecting bodily autonomy, gender equality, education, healthcare, economic opportunity, and women’s participation in public life.
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Local Visibilities Schedule
Watch for weather and wind chill cancellations here! But another good way to keep up with day to day and weekly changes is to join a Signal Group
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Folks can sign up for De-ICE Hanscom’s contact list at this link.
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Join other Progressive Mass members on July 25 from 3:00 to 6:00 pm (rain date: Sunday, July 26) for some fun at our summer potluck in Watertown (location sent after RSVP)! Everyone is welcome. Whether you are a long-time Progressive Mass member or new to the movement, join PM for an afternoon of great conversation and good food.
RSVP here!
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City Life / Vida Urbana is throwing a Rent Party for Rent Control on Saturday, August 1 beginning at 2:00 at The Muse Gallery in Grove Hall (336 Blue Hill Ave, Roxbury), a people’s celebration of our housing movement, past, present, and future. Join the party! Register here.
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If you would like to work with ORMA Members on
- Climate Change
- Housing Justice
- Medicare for All
- Communications/InformationTechnology
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ORMA depends on your support to continue Bernie’s Political Revolution to create a society, a politics, and an economy that works for everyone, not just billionaires, corporations and the political elite.
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Please send requests for action items, articles or upcoming events
for the next Organizing Notes to
beccobrien.orma@gmail.com by Saturday, July 19th.
We’d love to have you send us your favorite pictures of Bernie here in MA!
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Campaigns End, Movements Endure
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