EXCLUSIVE — Texas Republicans are raising concerns over ex-Enron executive and billionaire John Arnold bankrolling groups linked to the growing “censorship” movement aimed toward fighting purported “disinformation” and “misinformation.”
John Arnold’s LLC, Arnold Ventures, has donated more than $13.7 million to organizations tied to efforts to combat so-called disinformation and misinformation, the Washington Examiner reported. Now, two Texas lawmakers are slamming the wealthy donor for funding those associated with the movement, which they view as biased against Republicans while promoting censorship.
“This is another example of the dark money ecosystem pushing its own interpretation of disinformation,” said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), whose 22nd Congressional District lies in the suburbs of Houston, the city where Enron was based before going bankrupt in 2001 due to fraud and corruption.
“These groups will never stop funneling money to attack Republicans until they fully control the narrative,” Nehls told the Washington Examiner.
Arnold founded the LLC with his wife, Laura Arnold, and it manages financial giving for several entities, including the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Through the LLC, which says it is nonpartisan, the Arnolds have donated massive sums to a variety of causes, including more than $45 million toward New York criminal justice reform that Republicans say led to a crime spike.
One entity Arnold Ventures has sent grants to is MapLight, a left-leaning research nonprofit organization analyzing money and politics in elections. The George Soros-funded group published an eight-page memo ahead of the midterm elections called “How to Fight Disinformation and Safeguard Elections” that called on lawmakers to approve “criminal penalties for deceptive practices intended to intimidate voters.”
MapLight President Daniel Newman previously told the Washington Examiner that the group “no longer works in the disinformation area” and that Arnold’s prior grants were not for “disinformation initiatives.”
Arnold Ventures has also supported the American Journalism Project, which funds local news outlets and is partnered with the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund. In May, the journalism fund hosted an event that explored how right-wing “misinformation” can lead to “death and abuse.”
“Given the increased collusion over the past two years between Big Government and Big Tech to censor opposing views by labeling them disinformation, Texas and America would be better off if big donors spent their resources protecting free speech rights as opposed to funding groups that undermine them,” Brian Harrison, a Texas state House member who was chief of staff for the Department of Health and Human Services under former President Donald Trump, told the Washington Examiner.
Following the Washington Examiner‘s report on Arnold, the billionaire claimed on Twitter that he was the target of “well-funded attack campaigns run by professional firms.” It is unclear which firms he was referring to.
“So whoever is funding the current campaign, thank you for your vindication of our work,” tweeted Arnold on Dec. 22. “You inspire us to keep going. And I invite you to come out of the shadows and have these debates publicly. If you were confident of your stance, you wouldn’t hide.”
So whoever is funding the current campaign, thank you for your vindication of our work. You inspire us to keep going. And I invite you to come out of the shadows and have these debates publicly. If you were confident of your stance, you wouldn’t hide. 4/4
— John Arnold (@JohnArnoldFndtn) December 22, 2022
Another group Arnold Ventures has funded is the Philadelphia-based Lenfest Institute for Journalism, which funds media and news operations. The institute has published several reports in conjunction with Newsguard, a web browser extension that rates how purportedly trustworthy media outlets are and has been criticized by conservatives as biased.
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The institute also bankrolled a Pennsylvania news outlet called Spotlight PA, which, in April, published a “guide” for voters to spot “election misinformation.” The guide instructed voters to “report” any “disinformation” on the internet to social media platforms and search engines.
Matt Mackowiak, a Republican political consultant who splits his time between Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C., echoed lawmaker concerns about the ramped-up movement to combat alleged disinformation and misinformation. He said that a former Enron executive “claiming to be worried about ‘disinformation’ is a little rich.”
“The use of ‘disinformation’ is quickly morphing into a catch-all on the Left for censoring speech you don’t like from people you don’t like,” he told the Washington Examiner.
