Avenatti's "The Fight" PAC Files 2018 Year-End Financials, Let's Have a Look-See

[jberryhill]

With great fanfare some months ago, Michael Avenatti launched a Political Action Committee named "The Fight" in keeping with his theme that the next Democratic presidential candidate should be a "fighter" (and he doesn't seem to know any existing D politicians who qualify, apparently).

I had posted some notes on his first quarterly filings a while back, and the year-end report is now in.

Let's have a look under the hood of what it takes to be a "fighter":

http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00685966/1312975/#DETAILED

For the year, Avenatti took in $115,072.39 in donations, largely through ActBlue.

The PAC spent $104,944.70 and has $10,127.69 left over.

So, what does $100k of "fighting" look like? Well, it involves a lot of airfare, nice hotels, and some very nice restaurants, but there is one thing - during a mid-term election year - that "fighting" does not involve:

Donations or expenditures on behalf of any candidate whatsoever.

ALL of the disbursements - every single penny of what he got from donors - was for operating expenses. There were no direct contributions to candidates, and no independent expenditures on behalf of candidates, as shown in this part:

22. Transfers to Affiliated/Other Party Committees 0.00 0.00
23. Contributions to Fed. Candidates/Committees and Other Political Committees 0.00 0.00
24. Independent Expenditures (SCHEDULE E) 0.00 0.00
25. Coordinated Expenditures Made by Party Committees (SCHEDULE F) 0.00 0.00

30. Federal Election Activity
(a) (i) Allocated Federal Election Activity - Federal Share (SCHEDULE H6) 0.00 0.00
(a) (ii) Allocated Federal Election Activity - Levin Share (SCHEDULE H6) 0.00 0.00
(b) Federal Election Activity Paid Entirely with Federal Funds 0.00 0.00
(c) Total Federal Election Activity ( 30(a)(i)+30(a)(ii)+30(b) ) 0.00 0.00

So, "fighting" does not involve spending money to actually get anyone elected to any office anywhere.

But, you can't fight if you aren't well rested and well fed.

And to be well rested and well fed for fighting, you could do worse than to stay at any of these fine hotels:

Grand Hyatt San Francisco
Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale
SLS LUX Brickell (Miami)
The Condado Plaza Hilton (San Juan)

The SLS Lux Brickell is particularly nice, as it is a condominium hotel, with one-night "studio" units available starting at $619 per night.

or to eat at any of these places:

KOMODO 801 Brickell Ave, Miami
Cecconi's 8764 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood
Craig's 8826 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood

KOMODO is conveniently located near the SLS Lux Brickell (www.komodomiami.com) and features some great night life:



David Grutman, the powerhouse behind Miami Beach’s LIV and STORY, has taken the third floor of his popular Pan-Asian eatery, Komodo Miami, and turned it into Komodo Lounge. The intimate nightlife venue boasts a full bar, bold aesthetics and special weekend programming. The hip space is full of trendsetting art work including unique pop art inspired decor by renowned artists such as Mari Kim and Hebru Brantley. To no surprise, Grutman has top tier musicians and celebrities perform, as well as both big time headliners and up-and-coming DJs who drive the Lounge's weekend programming.

And what better cuisine for "fighting" than offered by Cecconi's of West Hollywood:

http://www.cecconiswesthollywood.com/

Cecconi’s serves hand-made pasta, seafood and dishes from Italy using the finest ingredients. In addition to the flagship restaurant in Mayfair, London, Cecconi’s has outposts in Miami, Istanbul, Berlin, Barcelona and DUMBO, New York.

Remarkably, all of this "fighting" involved incurring expenses on the same day at nearby Craig's:

https://craigs.la/

Jeff Ross calls Craig's "The Olive Garden for celebrities" - a great place to see and be seen, and of course to get that critical "fighting" nutrition.

In any event, this is posted as a friendly reminder that Avenatti has done $104k of fighting and only has $10k of fight left in him.

If you donated before, then it's time to re-up, quit wasting your money on Democratic campaigns and candidates, and make sure that Avenatti can check four bags on his Southwest Airlines flight to Puerto Rico (for two) in November.

You can make those donations here, so pay up, tightwads:

https://www.thefightpac.org/

[brooklynite]

1. His people reached out to me for support back in October...

I told them to follow-up after the Eleciton. They never did.

[jberryhill]

2. Well, they weren't finished spending what they had yet

I'm pretty sure he can use some more money after all the hard work he did with the $100k he spent.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. He's turned out to be even more of a grifter than I first suspected.

Initially I thought he was just an ambitious lawyer who'd managed somehow to stumble on a case with enormous possibilities for very advantageous publicity, which he milked to good effect for several months - despite losing every motion except for where he withdrew from his motion to intervene in the Cohen case in SDNY after the judge told him he couldn't go on TV. He was as ubiquitous on CNN and MSNBC as Russians in a Trump hotel for awhile last summer, leading his ego to inflate to Hindenburgian proportions - which, in turn, caused him to believe he should run for president.

But after a few legal and personal debacles (the Hindenburg analogy works here, too), he faded from the TV and, fortunately, from shiny-object status on DU. His fund-raising efforts included a scam whereby he used Act Blue to allegedly raise money for Beto O'Rourke, with 1/2 of those contributions going to his own campaign, such as it was. This lasted only about a day, ceasing when O'Rouke's campaign got wind of it. https://splinternews.com/michael-avenatti-is-duping-beto-orourke-supporters-into-1829697094 I hope the FEC looks into his dodgy PAC. And I hope Avenatti just goes the fuck away.

[jberryhill]

5. Ah, well, you see, when you warn about a scam....

This was the DU thread warning about the scam Avenatti pulled with the unauthorized use of Beto's name for donations:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211270809

But as you can see from the Avenatti PAC financials, he straight-up lied about donating a single dime to Beto.

[demmiblue]

4. K&R

[Generic Other]

6. Next Time Call Saul

Way cheaper.