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A popular right-wing news website is giving favorable coverage to a leading conservative candidate in an upcoming North Carolina special election as the candidate steers business to a consulting firm owned by the site’s publisher.
Republican Jeff Moore “is a strong constitutional conservative and supporter of Trump’s agenda, particularly in the arena of border security and free-market capitalism,” declared the site, Big League Politics, in a story on the Republican candidate to succeed the late Rep. Walter Jones, who died in February. The article, which covered Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) endorsement of Moore, did not mention that that campaign is paying Big League Politics’ sister company, Capital Square Funding Group.
Moore has yet to file a quarterly financial report with the Federal Election Commission, but fundraising emails sent by his campaign show that it’s hired Capital Square, a fundraising firm owned by Republican consultant Reilly O’Neal. Another of O’Neal’s firms, Mustard Seed Media, owns Big League Politics, which often gives favorable coverage to O’Neal’s clients without disclosing the relationship, and the author of its piece on Moore has even gone so far as to entirely delete an unfriendly story about an O’Neal client.
O’Neal, who didn’t respond to questions about Moore’s campaign, also owns First in Freedom Daily, a North Carolina-centric news site that Moore himself edits. He has continued writing for the site since he declared his candidacy, and additional favorable coverage of his campaign has neglected to disclose his work with O’Neal’s campaign vendor.
The special election in North Carolina’s 3rd District is shaping up to have a crowded field of candidates. But Moore has distinguished himself both through Paul’s endorsement and through the support of the only outside political so far to disclose independent expenditures in the race.
Revive America PAC, a group run by former Pat Buchanan aide Bob Adams, reported spending $41,000 to produce pro-Moore this week. But if past cycles are any indicator, the group will likely do more to line Adams’ pockets than to support Moore’s candidacy. Of the nearly $2 million Revive America PAC spent during the 2018 election cycle, about $1.25 million went to a pair of companies owned by Adams.
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