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CRC Advisors

Website:

crcadvisors.com/
Type:

Public Relations and Political Advocacy Firm
Formation:

2020
Founders:

Leonard Leo and Greg Mueller

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CRC Advisors is a right-of-center public relations and political advocacy firm based in Northern Virginia. Founded in 2020 by Leonard Leo and Greg Mueller, the group aims to be the conservative counterweight to Arabella Advisors. 1

The firm grew out of Creative Response Concepts, or CRC Public Relations, founded in 1989. 2 3 CRC Public Relations was involved in Supreme Court nomination battles, represented the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 election cycle, promoted conservative books, and conducted other right-of-center advocacy campaigns. 4 5

Background

CRC Advisors is a conservative public relations and political advocacy firm based in Northern Virginia. The existing entity was formally founded in 2020, when conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, the longtime co-chair of the Federalist Society, joined with conservative communications executive Greg Mueller. 6

The CRC Advisors’ founders’ stated aim was to be the conservative counterweight to Arabella Advisors, which oversees a network of nonprofits that raised and spent billions on left-wing causes. 7

According to its website, CRC Advisors says it wants to “build winning ventures” and “incubate public policy projects, coalitions, and groups.” The company also connects nonprofits and forges partnerships. 8

History

CRC stands for Creative Response Concepts. The current CRC Advisors grew out of CRC Strategies, later called CRC Public Relations, that was founded in 1989 by Leif E. Noren, a former director of the National Conservative Political Action Committee. Greg Mueller was with the firm from the beginning. 9 10

The firm promoted conservative organizations, political causes, conservative books, and right-leaning media organizations. Notably, it promoted the “Contract with America” in 1994, the campaign document pushed by then-House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-GA) to achieve a Republican House majority for the first time since the 1950s. 11 12

In 2004, CRC Public Relations worked to promote the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that questioned then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s Vietnam War record. 13 14

Outside the conservative realm, the firm was hired to promote director Oliver Stone’s 2006 film World Trade Center, which depicted a team of New York police officers who were trapped in one of the office towers attacked on September 11, 2001. 15

In 2017, CRC Public Relations bought the Polling Company from Kellyanne Conway after Conway went to work for then-President Donald Trump at the White House. 16

During the 2018 confirmation process of then-Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh, CRC Public Relations helped conservative legal activist Ed Whelan advance a speculative exculpatory explanation to the claims by Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh had attempted sexual assault against her when they were teenagers. Whalen theorized that Ford made a mistaken identification and named someone other than Kavanaugh as being to blame for Ford’s alleged attack before retracting the speculation. CRC Public Relations also arranged a news conference of women who rejected the claims against Kavanaugh. 17

Before joining together to form the new entity, Leo and Mueller studied tax filings that led them to Arabella Advisors, which advises liberal donors and has ties to numerous left-wing nonprofits and front groups. Axios reported that the pair “saw the opportunity to build a replica on the right.” 18

CRC Advisors was set to work with two nonprofit groups, the Concord Fund and the 85 Fund, to send tens of millions of dollars to conservative causes. 19

Upon founding the new venture, Leo resigned as the Federalist Society executive vice president, but remained co-chairman of the group’s board. 20

CRC Advisors made one of its first projects a $10 million issue-advocacy campaign focused on judges during the 2020 election cycle. 21

CRC Advisors has coordinated a multimillion-dollar campaign against ESG, an acronym for environmental, social and governance investment and activism practices, coordinating with Marble Freedom Trust, a nonprofit run by Leo. 22

Clients

CRC Advisors does not publicly disclose its clients. But many of the clients were named in resumes that applicants submitted in a jobs bank to the Conservative Partnership Institute that were exposed online. The clients accidentally disclosed included the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity, and Eli Lilly. 23

In February 2024, the left-wing group Accountable.US released a report that claimed that nonprofit organizations that were either founded by or affiliated with Leo paid about $100 million to CRC Public Relations or CRC Advisors over the last decade. This included the years before Leo joined Mueller in 2020 to form CRC Advisors. Leo has called the criticism of CRC’s payments from nonprofits “baseless.” 24 The Campaign for Accountability, a left-wing watchdog group, asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate nonprofit groups the report linked to Leo. 25

Barre Seid made a $1.6 billion gift in 2021 to the Leo-led Marble Freedom Trust. The New York Times called it “among the largest — if not the largest — single contributions ever made to a politically focused nonprofit. 26

Americans for Public Trust (APT), a conservative watchdog group, made more than a quarter of its expenses to CRC Advisors in 2022, according to a tax filing that Accountable.US publicized. APT paid CRC Advisors $470,092 in 2021 and $480,905 in 2022. 27

Leadership

Leonard Leo is chairman of CRC Advisors. 28 Leo worked for the Federalist Society for more than 25 years. Leo advised then-President Donald Trump on the Supreme Court nominations of Justices Neil Gorsuch Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. President George W. Bush appointed Leo to three terms as chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Leo was also a U.S. Delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. 29

Greg Mueller is the CEO of CRC Advisors. Mueller was a senior aide to the primary campaigns of Republican presidential candidates Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996 and Steve Forbes in 2000. 30

Jonathan Bunch is president of CRC Advisors. 31 Bunch is a former vice president of the Federalist Society and previously was executive director for Better Courts Missouri. Before that, Bunch was a speechwriter for then-Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt (R). 32

References

  1. Swan, Jonathan and Treene, Alayna. “Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network.” Axios. January 7, 2020. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2020/01/07/leonard-leo-crc-advisors-federalist-society
  2. Merida, Kevin. “The GOP Town Crier: Got a Tax Cut But Don’t Know Whom to Thank? A Small PR Firms is Eager to Tell You.” Washington Post. July 9, 1997. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/07/10/the-gops-town-criers/5cd071ce-fff3-441a-9c5f-60ade6f61ed3/
  3. Schlumpf, Heidi. “Leonard Leo, architect of conservative Supreme Court, takes on wider culture.” National Catholic Reporter. January 4, 2024. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.ncronline.org/news/leonard-leo-architect-conservative-supreme-court-takes-wider-culture
  4. Johnson, Eliana. “PR firm helped Whelan stoke half-baked Kavanaugh alibi.” Politico. September 21, 2018. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/21/ed-whelan-kavanaugh-tweets-pr-firm-836405
  5. Merida, Kevin. “The GOP Town Crier: Got a Tax Cut But Don’t Know Whom to Thank? A Small PR Firms is Eager to Tell You.” Washington Post. July 9, 1997. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/07/10/the-gops-town-criers/5cd071ce-fff3-441a-9c5f-60ade6f61ed3/
  6. Swan, Jonathan and Treene, Alayna. “Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network.” Axios. January 7, 2020. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2020/01/07/leonard-leo-crc-advisors-federalist-society
  7. Swan, Jonathan and Treene, Alayna. “Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network.” Axios. January 7, 2020. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2020/01/07/leonard-leo-crc-advisors-federalist-society
  8. CRC Advisors. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://crcadvisors.com/
  9. Merida, Kevin. “The GOP Town Crier: Got a Tax Cut But Don’t Know Whom to Thank? A Small PR Firms is Eager to Tell You.” Washington Post. July 9, 1997. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/07/10/the-gops-town-criers/5cd071ce-fff3-441a-9c5f-60ade6f61ed3/
  10. Schlumpf, Heidi. “Leonard Leo, architect of conservative Supreme Court, takes on wider culture.” National Catholic Reporter. January 4, 2024. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.ncronline.org/news/leonard-leo-architect-conservative-supreme-court-takes-wider-culture
  11. [1] Tucker, Jeffrey. “The Contract.” Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. July 1995. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://chroniclesmagazine.org/vital-signs/the-contract/
  12. Easton, Nina. “Taking the Hill : Emboldened by Their Sweep Into Office, Congressional Republicans Are Full of Revolution.” Los Angeles Times. January 8, 1995. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-08-tm-17459-story.html
  13. Johnson, Eliana. “PR firm helped Whelan stoke half-baked Kavanaugh alibi.” Politico. September 21, 2018. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/21/ed-whelan-kavanaugh-tweets-pr-firm-836405
  14. Robertson, Lori. “Not So Swift.” FactCheck.org. May 18, 2009. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.factcheck.org/2009/05/not-so-swift/
  15. Halbfinger, David. “Odd Bedfellows Align to Market Oliver Stone’s Film About 9/11.” The New York Times. July 27, 2006. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/movies/odd-bedfellows-align-to-market-oliver-stones-film-about-911.html
  16. Shepard, Steven. “Kellyanne Conway’s polling firm sold to GOP PR shop.” Politico. September 28, 2017. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/28/kellyanne-conway-polling-firm-sold-243256
  17. Johnson, Eliana. “PR firm helped Whelan stoke half-baked Kavanaugh alibi.” Politico. September 21, 2018. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/21/ed-whelan-kavanaugh-tweets-pr-firm-836405
  18. Swan, Jonathan and Treene, Alayna. “Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network.” Axios. January 7, 2020. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2020/01/07/leonard-leo-crc-advisors-federalist-society
  19. Swan, Jonathan and Treene, Alayna. “Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network.” Axios. January 7, 2020. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2020/01/07/leonard-leo-crc-advisors-federalist-society
  20. Swan, Jonathan and Treene, Alayna. “Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network.” Axios. January 7, 2020. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2020/01/07/leonard-leo-crc-advisors-federalist-society
  21. Swan, Jonathan and Treene, Alayna. “Leonard Leo to shape new conservative network.” Axios. January 7, 2020. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2020/01/07/leonard-leo-crc-advisors-federalist-society
  22. Bykowicz, Julie and Au-Yeun, Angel. “Conservatives Have a New Rallying Cry: Down With ESG.” Wall Street Journal. February 26, 2023. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.wsj.com/articles/conservatives-have-a-new-rallying-cry-down-with-esg-2ef98725
  23. Perez, Andrew and Rawnsley, Adam. “Supreme Court Puppet Master’s Consulting Firm Clients Exposed in Leak.” Rolling Stone. April 29, 2024. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/supreme-court-leonard-leo-crc-advisors-leak-1235011906/
  24. Birnbaum, Emily. “Leonard Leo Groups Paid CRC $100 Million for Services, Report Says.” Bloomberg. February 2, 2024. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-02/leonard-leo-groups-paid-crc-100-million-for-services-report
  25. Smith, David. “Rightwing legal activist accused of misusing $73m from non-profit groups.” The Guardian. April 6, 2023. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/06/leonard-leo-watchdog-complaint-investigation
  26. Vogel, Kenneth and Goldmacher, Shane. “An Unusual $1.6 Billion Donation Bolsters Conservatives.” New York Times. August 22, 2022. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/republican-dark-money.html
  27. Fuchs, Hailey and Przybyla, Heidi. “Leonard Leo’s firm got nearly $500K from conservative nonprofit, tax filing shows.” Politico. November 15, 2023. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/15/leonard-leo-firm-conservative-nonprofit-00127488
  28. “CRC Advisors.” Ballotpedia. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/CRC_Advisors
  29. “Leonard Leo.” Catholic Information Center. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://cicdc.org/speakers/leonard-leo/
  30. “CRC Advisors.” Ballotpedia. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/CRC_Advisors
  31. “CRC Advisors.” Ballotpedia. Accessed May 3, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/CRC_Advisors
  32. “Jonathan Bunch.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 4, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanbunch/
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