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Person

Megan Lewis

Nationality:

American
Occupation:

Lobbyist and Activist

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Megan Lewis is a former lobbyist and the co-founder and executive director of the left-of-center Voting Rights Lab. Lewis has experience in state and federal government, in addition to many years of experience working on behalf of left-of-center causes. Most notably, Lewis worked as the executive vice president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a left-of-center lobbying group founded by former New York City Mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg that advocates for strict gun control measures. 1 2

After leaving Everytown under circumstances an anonymous source characterized as a firing to the right-leaning Daily Caller,3 Lewis founded the Voting Rights Lab, a left-of-center advocacy organization that supports the increased usage of absentee ballots. As executive director of the Voting Rights Lab, Lewis has supported calls to implement universal mail-in-voting. 4

Education

Megan Lewis received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1995. She graduated from New York University School of Law in 1999. 1

Family

As of February 2023, Lewis is married to Michael Farbiarz, the Port Authority General Counsel to New York City and New Jersey since 2016. In January 2023, Farbiarz, after being recommended by New Jersey Senator Corey Booker, was nominated to replace Judge Noel Hillman’s seat for the U.S District Court for the District of New Jersey. 5

Career

Early Career

Lewis has years of experience working in government, in addition to working for multiple left-of-center organizations. After graduating law school, Lewis worked as the fellow in public interest and constitutional litigation for Gibbons P.C., a New Jersey-based law firm with offices in multiple states and Washington, D.C. 6 During her fellowship, Lewis participated in litigation dedicated to advancing a number of left-of-center causes. 7

From 2007 through 2011, Lewis worked in the office of the New Jersey Attorney General. 1 Her tenure in the office coincided with the administrations of New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, appointed by Democratic Governor Jon Corzine, as well as New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow, appointed by Republican Governor Chris Christie. 8

In January of 2012, Lewis jointed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as a senior advisor. The government agency has long been criticized for its lack of accountability to Congress and the president. 9

Everytown for Gun Safety

In April 2013, Lewis joined Everytown for Gun Safety as its director of law and policy. In January 2014, she became the advocacy group’s executive vice president. 1 Everytown is a left-of-center lobbying organization founded by Michael Bloomberg that advocates for strict gun control measures and opposes laws that expand firearm ownership and carry rights. 2 Lewis oversaw Everytown’s 50-state strategy to advance gun control legislation at the state and local level. 10

Lewis also lobbied Congress on behalf of Everytown. She promoted bills to expand background checks for sale of firearms and restrict the sale of firearms to certain individuals. 11 Tax records reveal that Lewis made over $1 million working for Everytown, with her annual compensation as executive vice president regularly exceeding $300,000. 12 13 14 15

Under Lewis’s leadership, Everytown for Gun Safety gained a reputation for exaggerating its statistics. 16 17 PolitiFact ranked a statement that Lewis made regarding a firearm involved in the death of a police officer as “mostly false.” 18

Lewis left Everytown after the 2016 election. According to The Daily Caller, a series of departures from Everytown at the same time was prompted by the abrasive management style of Everytown advisory board member Shannon Watts; an anonymous source characterized Lewis’s departure as a firing. 19

Voting Rights Lab

Following her departure from Everytown, Lewis founded the Voting Rights Lab, a left-of-center advocacy organization that focuses on increasing absentee voting. As executive director of the organization, Lewis has advocated for universal mail-in voting. 20 Lewis has also advocated for states to increase opportunities for a voter to “cure” an absentee ballot if that voter failed to correctly fill out the ballot in accordance with state rules. 21 22

Controversies

Lawsuit Against Voting Rights Labs

On October 28, 2022, Sarah Walker, former executive director and vice president of advocacy for Secure Democracy, filed a lawsuit against Secure Democracy, Secure Democracy USA, and the New Venture Fund, as the fiscal sponsor of the Voting Rights Lab, seeking damages for alleged discrimination, civil rights violations, and wrongful termination. 23 24 According to the lawsuit, Secure Democracy worked closely with NVF’s Voting Rights Lab, and was “established in 2018 . . . in order to work with Republicans on voting rights issues and to maintain a distance from the Democratic Party–affiliated work of VRL [Voting Rights Lab].” Walker claimed that both Secure Democracy and the New Venture Fund had discriminated against female employees of color by paying them less than their white counterparts, denying them equal opportunity for advancement, and denying them equal access to benefits.” According to Walker, Secure Democracy and Voting Rights lab leadership “constantly reminded [Walker] of her racial identity,” were obsessed with “race and racial dynamics.”25 Within the lawsuit, there were several examples of discrimination that directly involved Lewis, with one instance occurring in mid-2020 when Lewis and Voting Rights Lab co-founder Samantha Tarazi lied to several employees by claiming they were eligible for disability and life insurance even when they were not. However, the suit alleges that even though at least one white employee was given the option of disability benefits by being hired full-time, “two non-white employees were reportedly not given that option.” 25 One other example was Lewis criticizing Secure Democracy employees of color by comparing them to white VRL employees, whom she claimed were, “getting strong favorable media stories,” and told the Secure Democracy employees, “they should be doing more work to get their issues in the media,” 25 However, Walker’s suit alleges that the “favorable media stories” Lewis alleged to, “came from one of VRL’s communications contractors who was paying reporters to write stories.” 25

References

  1. “Megan Lewis.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-lewis-64b290179/.
  2. “The Fight.” Everytown For Gun Safety. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://everytown.org/.
  3. Picket, Kerry. “Major Gun Control Group Is Riven By Leadership Dispute.” The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller, May 12, 2017. https://dailycaller.com/2017/05/11/major-gun-control-group-is-riven-by-leadership-dispute/.
  4. John, Arit. “Signature Errors Could Disenfranchise a Record Number of Voters in the Election.” Los Angeles Times. October 13, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-13/signature-verification-rules-lawsuits.
  5. “Michael Farbiarz – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.” The Vetting Room, January 17, 2023. https://vettingroom.org/2023/01/17/michael-farbiarz/
  6. “Offices.” Gibbons. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.gibbonslaw.com/.
  7. “Gibbons Fellowship.” Gibbons. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.gibbonslaw.com/practices/gibbons-fellowship-practice.
  8. “Christie to nominate Dow for AG.” Observer. December 15, 2009. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://observer.com/2009/12/christie-to-nominate-dow-for-ag/.
  9. Hayashi, Yuka. “Consumer Agency Is NO Stranger to Controversy.” November 28, 2017. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.wsj.com/articles/consumer-agency-is-no-stranger-to-controversy-1511907774.
  10. “Out Team.” Voting Rights Lab. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://votingrightslab.org/our-team/.
  11. Lobbying Report: Megan Lewis for Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, 2016. Accessed March 12, 2021.  https://disclosurespreview.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2016/Q4/300852740.xml.
  12. Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Inc Form 990. 2013. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/208802884/2014_12_EO%2F20-8802884_990O_201312.
  13. Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Inc Form 990. 2014. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/208802884/2015_12_EO%2F20-8802884_990O_201412.
  14. Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Inc Form 990. 2015. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/208802884/2016_12_EO%2F20-8802884_990O_201512.
  15. Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Inc Form 990. 2016. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/208802884/12_2017_prefixes_20-22%2F208802884_201612_990O_2017121915035061.   
  16. Qiu, Linda, and Justin Bank. “Fact-Checking Claims About Gun Violence and Mental Illness.” The New York Times. February 16, 2018. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/us/politics/fact-check-parkland-gun-violence-mental-illness.html.  
  17. Cox, John Woodrow, and Steven Rich. “Analysis | No, there haven’t been 18 school shootings in 2018. That number is flat wrong.” The Washington Post. February 15, 2018. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/no-there-havent-been-18-school-shooting-in-2018-that-number-is-flat-wrong/2018/02/15/65b6cf72-1264-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.fbc69c3760f5.  
  18. Badertscher, Nancy and April Hunt. “Advocacy group overreaches with claim on NYPD shootings.” PolitiFact. May 12, 2015. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/may/12/everytown-gun-safety/advocacy-group-overreaches-claim-nypd-shooting/.
  19. Picket, Kerry. “Major Gun Control Group Is Riven By Leadership Dispute.” Daily Caller. May 11, 2017. Accessed March 21, 2021. https://dailycaller.com/2017/05/11/major-gun-control-group-is-riven-by-leadership-dispute/.
  20. “America is going to vote by mail in 2020, but changing our state election systems won’t be easy.” LinkedIn. March 23, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/america-going-vote-mail-2020-changing-our-state-election-megan-lewis/.
  21. Carlisle, Madeleine. “Have a Problem With Your Mail-In Ballot? Advocates Are Pushing States to Let You Correct It.” Time. October 15, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2021. https://time.com/5900567/mail-in-ballot-mistakes/.
  22. John, Arit. “Signature Errors Could Disenfranchise a Record Number of Voters in the Election.” Los Angeles Times. October 13, 2020. Accessed March 12, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-13/signature-verification-rules-lawsuits.
  23. “Walker v. New Venture Fund Et Al.” Justia Dockets & Filings. Accessed February 21, 2023. https://dockets.justia.com/docket/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2022cv03312/248723
  24. Ludwig, Hayden. “Breaking: Arabella-Aligned Groups Sued for Racial Discrimination, Violating Civil Rights Laws.” Capital Research Center. Capital Research Center, November 3, 2022. https://capitalresearch.org/article/breaking-arabella-aligned-groups-sued-for-racial-discrimination-violating-civil-rights-laws/.
  25. Ludwig, Hayden. “Breaking: Arabella-Aligned Groups Sued for Racial Discrimination, Violating Civil Rights Laws.” Capital Research Center. Capital Research Center, November 3, 2022. https://capitalresearch.org/article/breaking-arabella-aligned-groups-sued-for-racial-discrimination-violating-civil-rights-laws/.
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