Speak Out Central New York

Founding and History

On April 3, 2018, Speak Out CNY announced its formation as a grassroots advocacy campaign specifically to target then-U.S. Representatives John Katko (R-NY) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) during their reelection campaigns for their votes on legislation regarding the Affordable Care Act and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The group’s advocacy board consisted of various leaders from left-of-center organizations, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Family Planning of South Central New York, the NAACP, and the Mohawk Valley Latino Association. The press release also stated that the group would be partnering with two national left-of-center organizations: Not One Penny and Protect Our Care. ²

The press release did not disclose the legal status of Speak Out CNY or its actual relationship with Not One Penny and Protect our Care. Speak Out CNY is a registered trade name of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a left-of-center lobbying and advocacy organization that has been criticized for its “dark money” practices. Speak Out CNY is only one of the at least 52 trade names that are registered to the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Not One Penny and Protect Our Care are also registered trade names of the Fund. ¹

In effect, Speak Out CNY is portrayed as a local grassroots organization, when it is a front organization for the Sixteen Thirty Fund. ¹  Its “national partnerships” are partnerships with other Sixteen Thirty Fund campaigns that exist as the same legal entity as Speak Out CNY. ¹

During the 2018 midterm elections, the group had mixed success. Rep. Katko retained his seat, while Rep. Tenney narrowly lost. Nonetheless, Rep. Tenney retook the seat during the 2020 election. ^{3 4 5}

Following the 2018 midterms, Speak Out CNY has been inactive, with no website activity or Twitter updates since before the 2018 election. ^{6 7} The Sixteen Thirty Fund did not renew the name registration, which expired on March 21, 2020. ¹

Finances

Because Speak Out CNY is not actually an independent legal entity, but rather a “doing business as” name for the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the financial information about the project is not differentiated in the Fund’s financial documents. Politico’s Scott Bland calculated that by the end of July 2018, Speak Out had spent $516,362 running advertisements. ⁸ Speak Out told Syracuse.com that it had spent $280,000 on various advertisements by July 2018, which focused on attacking Rep. Katko. ⁹

Priority Issues and Activism

While Speak Out CNY was functioning, it attacked Rep. Katko and Rep. Tenney for their votes on health care issues and tax policy, specifically dealing with the Affordable Care Act and the Tax Cuts and Job Act. Speak Out CNY ran TV advertisements, stationary and mobile billboards, protests, and activism events, including touring Rep. Katko’s district offices with a “tax chicken”. ^{10 11 12 13 14}