For Our Families is an advocacy project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a funding and sponsorship organization managed by Arabella Advisors, a left-of-center consulting firm based in Washington, DC. The project, which mainly targets voters in Virginia, is critical of Republican-backed health care and tax reform policies.

Background

The For Our Families website was copyrighted in 2018. ¹ Its first post, on March 7 of that year, advocated in support of the Affordable Care Act (better known as “Obamacare”) and opposed Republican attempts to repeal it. ² Subsequent posts on the For Our Families Website focused almost exclusively on criticizing then-U.S. Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) for voting in line with policies supported by the Trump administration, especially with regard to bills lowering taxes. ³

Activities

In March 2018, For Our Families created a political advertisement criticizing then-Rep. Taylor for supporting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The 30-second video featured Marine Corps. veteran Kyle Green discussing alleged implications of the bill and urging listeners to call Rep. Taylor’s congressional office and voice their disapproval. The video is not publically available on the For Our Families official YouTube account, but is still accessible as an ‘unlisted’ video through a link posted on the For Our Families website’s news section under the title “Veteran.” ⁴⁵

In July 2018, For Our Families created another political advertisement criticizing Taylor for his support for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, citing reports that Taylor had unpaid federal taxes. Unlike For Our Families’ other video, this video is publically accessible through the project’s YouTube page. The video runs one minute and nine seconds long and is titled, “Veterans Pay Their Debts – Rep. Scott Taylor.” A corresponding post on the For Our Families website identifies the video’s narrator as Michael Link, a resident of Virginia Beach and former Air Force linguist. ⁶⁷

The Sixteen Thirty Fund

For Our Families is a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund (sometimes styled “1630 Fund”), a left-progressive lobbying, funding, and advocacy organization managed by Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy that caters to left-leaning clients. Among its other activities, the Fund manages dozens of projects, which appear to be independent organizations despite not being registered in their own right. These organizations, as with For Our Families, typically do not list staff members, have independent offices, or engage in regular and consistent activity. ⁸ Organizations known to be such projects of the Fund include Colorado United for Families, Arizonans United for Health Care, Floridians for a Fair Shake, Keep Iowa Healthy, Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity, and Michigan Families for Opportunity. ⁹¹⁰

1. “Homepage.” For Our Families. 2018. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.forourfamilies.org/
2. “Making Sure Our Coverage Is Never Threatened Again.” For Our Familes. March 7, 2018. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.forourfamilies.org/news/making-sure-our-coverage-is-never-threatened-again/
3. “News.” For Our Families. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.forourfamilies.org/news/
4. “Veteran.” YouTube: For Our Families. March 23, 2018. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J90TrbMudTA&feature=youtu.be
5. “News: ‘For Our Families: Veteran.’”For Our Families. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.forourfamilies.org/news/
6. “Veterans Pay Their Debts — Rep. Scott Taylor.” YouTube: For Our Families. July 3, 2018. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ui6bjMBoI
7. “Vet says Rep. Taylor ‘Unpatriotic for Pulling the Rug Out From Under Hard-Working Americans’.” For Our Families. July 6, 2018. Accessed June 19, 2020. https://www.forourfamilies.org/news/vet-says-rep-taylor-unpatriotic-for-pulling-the-rug-out-from-under-hard-working-americans/
8. Ludwig, Hayden. “Big Money in Dark Shadows: Arabella Advisors’ Half-billion-dollar ‘Dark Money’ Network.” Capital Research Center (DarkMoneyATM.org). Accessed June 20, 2020. https://darkmoneyatm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CRC_Arabella-Advisors-Dark-Money_small.pdf
9. Bland, Scott; Maggie Severns. “Documents reveal massive ‘dark-money’ group boosted Democrats in 2018.” Politico. Novemeber 11, 2019. Accessed June 22, 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/19/dark-money-democrats-midterm-071725
10. “Sixteen Thirty Fund.” OpenCorporates. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/EXTUID_2696217