In Chapter 1, I delved into Mike Johnson’s financial disclosure form and the real estate transactions it listed since he had no other indication of assets. 1 I found a real estate transaction in public records that shows he sold a house in 2020 that he originally purchased in 2013, on which he took out a mortgage. A mortgage from 2013 on what seems to be that same property is still appearing on his 2022 financial disclosure form. The house sold for $1,010,000 but the current Zillow estimate is $611,800. There are some other issues as well, but those seem the most concerning.
To delve into Speaker Johnson’s campaign finances, I went first to the FEC listing for the current Statement of Organization for his primary campaign committee MIKE JOHNSON FOR LOUISIANA filed on 8/26/22.2
It has three bits of information. The name of Johnson’s campaign treasurer, William Vanderbrook is the first. We all know from the George Santos saga how important a player a campaign treasurer could be. William Vanderbrook is a local part-time CPA who worked in his family’s HVAC business in Louisiana for 40+ years and likes to write short stories, according to his LinkedIn profile. I expect that, with Mike Johnson’s elevation to Speaker, his employment status will soon change.
The optional second email address on the form is jhaydenhaynes@gmail.com. Hayden Haynes is listed as the chief of staff and vice Chairman of the Republican Conference of the US House of Representatives.3 According to Legistorm, Haynes has been Johnson’s chief of staff since he took office in 2017 and was his campaign manager since his first campaign and is now the chief of staff for Johnson as Speaker. 4 Haynes is now the closest person to the third most powerful person politically in the United States. I am somewhat surprised that Haynes was retained as chief of staff. I think this is likely a placeholder appointment to get the Speaker’s Office up and running. Nonetheless, it is important to know his pedigree.
Before working with Johnson, Haynes had been a staffer for Sen. David Vitter of LA since interning with him in college. Vitter was Senator from 2005 to 2017, when he retired after losing the governor’s race to John Bel Edwards. Vitter was a hard-line conservative in the culture wars, although he himself was tarred in a prostitution scandal. After his Senate term ended, Vitter joined the Washington, D.C. lobbying firm Mercury LLC. As of October 2019, Vitter had lobbied for sanctioned Chinese surveillance company Hikvision as well as for the Libyan Government of National Accord and the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He also lobbied for the sanctioned Russian bank Sovcombank. According to their website, Mercury is a bipartisan consulting firm whose honorary Chair is Cheri Bustos.
The third piece of information on the Statement of Organization is the name of any connected organization, party committee, PAC, affiliated committee, joint fundraising representative, or leadership PAC sponsor. In other words, where are campaign funds going to come from other than as donations directly to the candidate committee Mike Johnson for Louisiana. Two sources are listed: the Johnson Leadership Fund and America Strong.
America Strong is telling. According to Axios, America Strong PAC was formed in 2021 to go after the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.5 Their treasurer was Jack Mantua, who was the Trump campaign's executive director of strategic coalitions. Once America Strong served its purpose, it has lain quiescent. According to Open Secrets, for the 2022 election cycle, the super PAC spent only $16,000 against Liz Cheney and Anthony Gonzalez out of the $52,000 it raised. 6 The rest of the money went to vendors. as also shown below. However, while data appears for it on Open Secrets, I cannot find the filings for “America Strong” on the FEC site and the website turns up error. Using the Wayback machine to look for updates, the website was only active in 2021 and just asked for contributions and had a video clip on ditching Liz Cheney.
It total donor list is below7
What is interesting is the large contribution from Americans for Limited Government Inc. According to Wikipedia, 8 Americans for Limited Government (ALG)
is a conservative 501(c)(4) non-profit organization "dedicated to restoring the constitutional, limited powers of government at the federal, state, and local level... by fighting to reduce the size and scope of government, protecting individuals rights, promoting federalism, and rolling back the tyranny of the administrative state." ALG is focused on "fiscal responsibility, regulatory reform, transparency and shedding light on overlooked issues that impact people's lives."[3]
The Koch-founded and supported 501(c)3 Donors Trust contributes to ALG.[4]
You can check out ALG’s website and its press release and get merch if you so desire here:
https://getliberty.org/
Here are the texts of their recent press releases related to Speaker Johnson:
Oct. 24, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement reacting to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) withdrawing his name from consideration for Speaker of the House shortly after winning the House Republican Conference nomination for the post:
“Tom Emmer made the right choice in discontinuing his bid for the House Speakership when he discovered there were dozens of members opposed to his candidacy. House Republicans need to set a threshold of 217 votes in conference that any nominee must attain in order to be Speaker. There are dozens of members who would be outstanding Speakers, and I am optimistic that a consensus will emerge.”
Oct. 25, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in support of U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) for Speaker of the House:
“The House GOP nominated Rep. Mike Johnson for Speaker last evening with a vote scheduled for noon today. Rep. Johnson is a solid supporter of limited government principles who is the former head of the center-right Republican Study Committee. Americans for Limited Government strongly urges every House Republican to rally around Rep. Johnson and elect him the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
Oct. 25, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement congratulating House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on his election as Speaker today:
“Speaker Mike Johnson introduced himself to the American public today as a man of faith and conviction in one of the most impressive acceptance speeches in memory. It is easy to see why the House Republicans came together to trust this native of Shreveport, Louisiana with the speakership of the House of Representatives, and a position third in line to the presidency. Americans for Limited Government looks forward to rolling up our sleeves and working together with Speaker Johnson on the critical issues facing our great nation.”
Oct. 25, 2023, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement congratulating House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on his election as Speaker today:
“Speaker Mike Johnson introduced himself to the American public today as a man of faith and conviction in one of the most impressive acceptance speeches in memory. It is easy to see why the House Republicans came together to trust this native of Shreveport, Louisiana with the speakership of the House of Representatives, and a position third in line to the presidency. Americans for Limited Government looks forward to rolling up our sleeves and working together with Speaker Johnson on the critical issues facing our great nation.”
Nov. 2, 2023, Fairfax, Va.–Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the U.S. House of Representatives for approving $14.3 billion of military assistance to Israel:
“Americans for Limited Government applauds the House of Representatives for approving a $14.3 billion military aid package to Israel in the wake of the horrific Sabbath Attack by the government of Gaza (Hamas) that targeted civilians. Israel’s 9/11 was horrifying in its brutality and utter inhumanity, and the U.S. has a responsibility to support our Israeli allies. Speaker Mike Johnson took a necessary step to protect the American taxpayer by offsetting the $14.3 billion with immediate cuts to the Internal Revenue Service, taking money that was appropriated to expand the agency and redirecting it to support Israel. The aid package also eliminated the Biden administration’s demand that billions of dollars be provided to the Palestinian Authority and Gaza for humanitarian aid. Thankfully, the House rejected sending U.S. tax dollars to those who are perpetrating and cheering the mass slaughter of Israelis. We urge the Senate to pass the House version of the Israel aid package and send it to President Biden for his consideration. This targeted spending to provide needed resupply of missiles for the vaunted Iron Dome missile defense system among other items should be passed immediately with the spending offset by cuts in existing federal government programs.”
In 2022 the only candidate donation by Americans for Limited Government was $15,000 to Paul Gosar. 9
It is unclear why America Strong is appearing on Speaker Johnson’s FEC forms as an associated entity when it is unfindable on the FEC website (at least by me). But it is clear that the funders (Americans for Limited Government) of America Strong in the 2022 cycle, according to Open Secrets, are now fans of Speaker Johnson and the bill he introduced to link Israel Support and the IRS defunding. Small world.
Chapter 3 will be upcoming and involve a deep dive into the donors and expenditures in Speaker Johnson’s Campaign Committee for the 2023-2024 current election cycle. I can’t close without a shout-out to Barbara M on Substack for her feedback.
https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/197/202208269528249197/202208269528249197.pdf
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayden-haynes-27469143/
https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/220522/Jeffrey_Hayden_Haynes.html
https://www.axios.com/2021/05/30/liz-cheney-america-strong-pac
https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00778761&tab=targeted_candidates
https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00778761&tab=donors_all
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Limited_Government#:~:text=Americans%20for%20Limited%20Government%20(ALG,individuals%20rights%2C%20promoting%20federalism%2C%20and
https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C90011883&tab=targeted_candidates
Georgia, Katharine and Barbara, you’ve all done great in-depth research and posts. I’ve added a second follow-up comment to Chapter 1 regarding Mike Johnson’s capital gains tax liability for selling the house in 2020. Katharine, since you took a local deep dive regarding parish records, you might want to see my Chapter 1 comments. Regarding “one document entitled Request for Notice of Seizure Real Property”, this might be related to the 2007 Trustees Deed from the county sheriff to Jaj Properties. County sheriff sale would imply sale maybe due from unpaid taxes or criminal forfeiture; it’s likely the former. Jaj Properties is a small local nonresidential property management company LLC operated by Thomas Brice (registered Republican). Jaj Properties were the sellers to the Johnson’s in 2013. Georgia’s research shows Thomas P. Brice Jr. and wife, Mary Brice as the 2013 sellers.
Hey Georgia,
I’ve spent way too much time on this today. Louisiana records by parish (similar to county?) so I actually paid to search one of them. I found some deeds there and was making progress but started getting the message “The service is low on memory. Try again in a few minutes.” You might want to get a local searcher, and I was able to see that M&M Title LLC was involved on one transaction. Of interest was one document entitled Request for Notice of Seizure Real Property, but I was unable to study it further. Enough for me today. TTFN