About ten high-power black executives have joined forces and plan to launch major political efforts to advocate for the interests of black Americans, the New York Times reports.
The effort got underway at a dinner with Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris in July. “Many attendees had long been part of an informal group of friends and associates who raised money for philanthropies or policy issues on an ad hoc basis,” the Times reports. “At the dinner, they decided it was time to use their wealth and stature in a more formal way.”
The 10 or so core organizers have been meeting every other Sunday and have hired a lawyer to get the official ball rolling. They plan to move on three parallel paths:
- A Super PAC to run political ads or host events
- A Federal PAC to support candidates
- A 501(c)(4) Group (or social welfare nonprofit) to do a combination of the two.
They’ve agreed that their efforts will be officially nonpartisan. They haven’t raised any money yet, but are almost ready to get started.
“What we’ve been doing is just writing checks for years, and we don’t know what happened” once the money was received, Infor CEO Charles Phillips told the Times. “We’ve got to learn from the Koch brothers, do what they do, have them sign pledges.”
