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Soros Consultant's PAC Could Influence DA Races in Oregon

Billionaire has funded PACs across country to aid far-left DA candidates

George Soros / Getty Images
April 13, 2018

A longtime consultant to liberal billionaire George Soros is listed on recently filed documents with the state of Oregon related to the formation of a political action committee that appears to be an avenue for Soros to influence yet another district attorney's race, state records show.

The paperwork was filed with Oregon's secretary of state's office in early April to launch the Oregon Law & Justice PAC, which intends to "support candidates advocating for justice."

Whitney Tymas, an attorney who acts as the treasurer of a number of Soros PACs, is listed as the director, correspondence recipient, and alternate transaction filer for the committee. The address listed for Tymas is the same address as Perkins Coie, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm.

No activity has been reported from the PAC other than its formation. However, Tymas previously expressed interest in criminal defense attorney Max Wall, who is running for district attorney in Washington County, the second largest county in the state.

Tymas did not return a request for comment.

The recent filings are another indication that Soros, who has quietly launched super PACs across the United States in recent years to fund numerous district attorney races—a position that decides who gets prosecuted for crimes and who does not—remains steadfast with his intent to "overhaul" the criminal justice system.

Soros's game plan varies little state by state: The wealthy financier will set up a PAC, push funds into the PAC, then use the money to provide his candidate of choice with an enormous financial windfall. Once the election is over, Soros refunds himself any excess cash and shuts down the committee.

The amount of money Soros pushes into district attorney races—which typically do not feature enormous campaign expenditures—makes it extremely difficult for the opponents of his preferred candidate to counter.

Last year, Soros pushed $1.7 million to back Larry Krasner, now Philadelphia's district attorney. Soros deposited the funds into a pop-up committee called the Philadelphia Justice & Public Safety PAC, which was established by Tymas.

Krasner, who had sued the police department more than 75 times and represented clients affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, joked during the election that he had built a career that has made him completely unelectable. The PAC backing Krasner was the first PAC ever created in Philadelphia for a district attorney race.

Krasner made his way out of a crowded Democratic field and defeated the Republican candidate by nearly 40 percentage points in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Just four days after being sworn in as Philadelphia's district attorney, Krasner purged 31 prosecutors without explanation. A number of the prosecutors were in the homicide division, drug enforcement, and civil asset forfeiture units.

Soros has operated this way in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia, among other states.

The Democracy Alliance, a secretive liberal donor network cofounded by Soros whose wealthy members each vow to direct hundreds of thousands in funding to groups approved by the alliance, spoke of ramping up efforts to elect far-left district attorney candidates in documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon last year at the alliance's fall investment conference.

A flier for an event at the gathering alluded to Soros wanting to focus on 30 district attorney races in 2018.

Published under: George Soros