TURBULENCE IN CRYPTO PAC-LAND: “Top Democratic donor Ron Conway vowed to break away from a network of cryptocurrency’s most powerful super PACs after they announced they would spend $12 million to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) without informing him,” our Eleanor Mueller reports. — “Conway, a tech billionaire who donated $500,000 to one of the PACs in December, said the group’s money pledge would undermine efforts to pass crypto-friendly legislation in Congress by alienating Democratic lawmakers.” — “‘$12M to [Sherrod] Brown’s opponent at a time when [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer is doing his best to get a bill passed in the Senate in the lame duck,’ Conway wrote in an email Wednesday to dozens of other associated donors, excerpts of which POLITICO viewed Monday. ‘You all know that is “slap in the face” to Sen Schumer And a “slap in the face” to me when you know Im meeting him in SF tomorrow. How short sighted and stupid can you possibly be?’” — “‘NOT ONE PERSON BOTHERED TO GIVE ME A HEADS UP THAT YOU WERE DOINIG [sic] THIS,’ Conway wrote to allies of the network, known as Fairshake, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Andreessen Horowitz founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. ‘Im the one using my 25+ year old personal relationships to help this movement the most significantly and not one person bothered to inform me. Sadly, I’m even a donor to Fair Shake.’ That support is over, Conway said.” FOOD FIGHT: “The food industry is hitting back at claims it is ripping off U.S. consumers after Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris called for a federal ban on “price gouging,’” per the Wall Street Journal’s Jesse Newman and Sarah Nassauer. — “Harris, set to formally accept her party’s nomination this week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, has blamed corporate greed for food-price inflation. Executives say costs ranging from labor to cocoa have surged in recent years and that profit margins must be maintained to fund the development of new products.” — “‘We understand why there is this sticker shock and why it’s upsetting,’ said Andy Harig, a vice president at FMI, a trade group representing food retailers and suppliers. ‘But to automatically just say there’s got to be something nefarious, I think to us that is oversimplified.’” — “Americans now spend more of their income on food than they have in decades. Many food companies have posted their biggest profits in years and fielded complaints from consumer advocates over rising prices. Some retailers are pushing to curb further increases, fearing consumer backlash.” — “‘The proposal calling for a ban on grocery price gouging is a solution in search of a problem,’ said the National Grocers Association, adding that its members are hurting from the same inflation pain points as customers.” THESE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES: The New York Times’ Teddy Schleifer writes that “for the first time in modern presidential fund-raising, neither the Democratic nor the Republican nominee has disclosed the names of so-called bundlers, the people who amass large financial contributions for presidential campaigns and, in the eyes of transparency advocates, wield significant power in campaigns and presidential administrations.” — “The disclosure of bundlers is not required by law. The modern bundling era began in 2000, when President George W. Bush professionalized the world of campaign fund-raising with a program that was heavy on nicknames, calling some big-money chasers Rangers and others Pioneers.” — “Democratic presidential nominees have disclosed their bundlers in some fashion in every cycle since then,” while Republican nominees did so up until 2012. “The Harris campaign has so far not disclosed the names of its bundlers, nor did President Biden’s campaign before he dropped out of the race” — though both did so during the 2020 race. — “Asked this week if the Harris campaign planned to disclose its bundlers, a campaign spokesman declined to comment. Trump campaign spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment on whether they planned any disclosure.” GOFUNDME PROMOTES TRUMP AIDE: GoFundMe is elevating Jalen Drummond to senior director of public affairs. Drummond, a former Trump White House spokesperson, was brought on as director of public affairs in 2022 amid Republican accusations that the crowdfunding platform was censoring conservative viewpoints. — That anger appears to have dissipated, with Trump’s campaign launching a fundraiser on GoFundMe for the victims of the assassination attempt at his Butler, Pa., rally last month that has raised more than $6 million. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another GoFundMe critic, has also promoted fundraisers on the site this summer. SPOTTED on Monday at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies’ sponsor luncheon at the Chicago Marriott Marquis, per a tipster: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Madalene Mielke of APAICS.
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