Type of organization: Super PAC
Supports candidate: Republican
Founded: October 27, 2011
Website: http://ygaction.com/
Social Media: YouTube Facebook Twitter
Principals:
John Murray (president and treasurer): Deputy chief of staff to Rep. Eric Cantor R-Va. President and founder of YG Action Network, a 501 (c)(4) nonprofit and YG Policy Center, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit.
- Brad Dayspring (adviser): Served as aide in the second President George W. Bush administration. Former deputy chief of staff to Eric Cantor.
Profile:
YG Action Fund — the super PAC of the conservative “Young Guns” movement — has spent nearly $3.5 million on independent expenditures boosting Republicans in congressional races this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, are the group’s primary financial backers. The Adelsons donated $5 million — the group has attracted $5.6 million this cycle— to YG Action in April.
The group also received $250,000 in donations from billionaire New York hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner and his wife, Suzanne.
The “Young Guns” is a group of Republican congressmen who got their nickname from a Weekly Standard magazine cover five years ago. They are led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and candidate for vice president Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
The movement’s super PAC is associated with a non-disclosing nonprofit group, YG Network, organized under section 501 (c)(4) of the U.S. tax code as a “social welfare” organization.
The super PAC is run by two Cantor aides, John Murray and Brad Dayspring. Murray, Cantor’s deputy chief of staff, founded and currently runs all three components of the “Young Guns” brand: YG Action Fund, the nonprofit YG Network and YG Policy Center, a 501 (c)(3) that pens studies and provides educational programs, it says.
The group recently targeted three congressional districts, spending $2 million in television ads opposing Reps. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., Bill Enyart, the Democrat running in Illinois’ 12th District and Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass.
This latest wave of independent expenditures appear to be the super PAC’s first activity since it helped former congressional aide Richard Hudson win a contentious GOP runoff in North Carolina against Rep. Scott Keadle in July.
Advertisements:
- Two Mikes” says McIntyre “talks like a conservative” but has voted like a liberal.
- “Something New” paints Enyart as out of touch and reminds voters he was appointed by disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Last Updated: Oct. 1, 2012