Excerpt from an article. Tom Steyer used fusion gps several times in the past
Years before Fusion GPS became famous for its work on the Trump dossier, the opposition research firm worked for Tom Steyer, the billionaire Democratic donor currently waging a $20 million TV campaign to impeach President Trump.
A Daily Caller investigation reveals that in 2012, Steyer, a hedge fund chieftain and environmental activist, hired Fusion GPS and its founding partner, Glenn Simpson, to conduct an investigation to help pass a ballot initiative aimed at closing a tax loophole for California businesses and funneling money to clean energy projects.
Steyer poured $32 million into “Yes on Prop 39,” a committee he formed to support ballot initiative Proposition 39. The successful campaign made Steyer a rising star in the world of Democratic politics. The party’s most generous donor in the 2016 election cycle — giving more than $90 million to various political action committees — Steyer is said to be considering running for political office.
The connection between Fusion GPS to Steyer and his “Yes on Prop 39” campaign has not been previously reported, and there is almost no public information linking them.
But a Sept. 24, 2012 press release shows that Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, was part of the “Yes on Prop 39” California Tax Transparency Project team.
The press release touted the Steyer-funded group’s hiring of a team of investigators “to conduct an in-depth inquiry to determine who is responsible for successfully lobbying the state legislature for a corporate tax loophole that rewards out-of-state corporations with tax breaks for creating jobs outside of California.”
In addition to Simpson, the team consisted of Jack A. Blum, an attorney with expertise in financial crimes, former San Diego Tribune reporter Bill Ainsworth, and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Russell Carollo.
Simpson, who worked at the Journal until 2009, is billed on the press release as an “investigative reporter” who was the “recipient of several journalism awards.” The announcement makes no mention of his affiliation with Fusion GPS or his occupation as a hired gun opposition researcher.
Simpson did not respond to several requests for comment.
Aleigha Cavalier, a spokeswoman for Steyer at NextGen America, his political action committee, declined to address specific questions for this story. Instead, she falsely alleged that “Republican operatives” leaked details of Steyer’s relationship with Fusion GPS.
Ainsworth, who now works as communications director at the California Department of Education, did not return phone calls seeking comment but responded in an email.
“I did a report in the form of a news article for the campaign while I was between state jobs,” Ainsworth told TheDC. “That’s all I know.”
Carollo, who won a Pulitzer in 1998, worked as a contractor for Fusion GPS filing Freedom of Information Act requests for the firm’s various projects. The arrangement allowed Fusion to keep its name out of the public record, preventing its targets from being tipped off that they were being investigated.
The lack of public information of Fusion’s work for Steyer is no surprise as Fusion has gone to great lengths to shield its involvement in its various projects.
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