‘Zuckerbucks’-Type Offer of Funding for Election Office Divides One of the Richest Towns in America

Quite a donnybrook erupts after tony Greenwich, Connecticut, gets an offer it is trying to decide whether to refuse.

The dust hasn’t completely settled on the 2020 “Zuckerbucks” controversy. That involved a group called the Center for Tech and Civic Life. It distributed more than $340 million of Mark Zuckerberg’s money to local election offices around the country.

The majority of the funds went to Democratic districts. With 2024 around the corner, a CTCL program called the Alliance for Election Excellence is accused of using similar tactics to insinuate itself into local registrars’ offices, under a new name.

This past December, the registrar’s office in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut, was notified that it would receive an AEE grant totaling $500,000 over a two-year period. The office is led by Fred DeCaro, a Republican, and Mary Hegarty, a Democrat.

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Some have suggested that the AEE’s offer should be turned down to preserve town unity as well as the public’s trust in the election process.

Whether AEE has partisan goals may never be agreed upon by Greenwich residents. The optics of accepting unusually administered grants, funded by private sources via a public charity to local election offices, are challenging for those arguing there is nothing to worry about.

Additionally, there is the concern that setting this precedent may invite a partisan funding race, by Democrats and Republicans alike, to assert local influence. When asked if this was a concern, Mr. DeCaro declined to comment.

https://www.nysun.com/article/zuckerbucks-type-offer-of-funding-for-election-office-divides-one-of-the-richest-towns-in-america