Susan Collins’ Campaign Is Being Helped by a Mysterious Hawaii Company

by Lachlan Markay, Daily Beast January 3, 2020 (excerpts)

The company, Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers LLC, was formed in late November, according to corporate records in Hawaii. Just over a month later, on December 31, the company donated $150,000 to 1820 PAC, a deep-pocketed super PAC with ties to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that was created to help reelect Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)….

There is scant public information about the company. It does not appear to have a website or any social media presence. Its listed address is a P.O. box in Honolulu (listed as a “unit” number in 1820’s FEC filings). Google searches turn up no information on the company. And there’s no record of prior political involvement by its sole officer, Jennifer Lam….

UPDATE -- CB: It's Navatek Money

UPDATE -- MB: Hawaii defense contractor behind strange contributions boosting Collins’ re-election

There are multiple people by that name in Hawaii and elsewhere in the United States. It was not immediately clear who the person behind the company is….

All of that suggests that the Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers was set up for the sole purpose of making political contributions, according to the Campaign Legal Center, which filed a complaint on Monday asking the Federal Election Commission to investigate its December contribution to 1820 PAC, which was named after the year Maine was founded.

“The available facts do not suggest that SYWSE conducted any business or had sufficient income from assets, investment earnings, business revenues, or bona fide capital investments to cover the $150,000 contribution to 1820 PAC at the time the contribution was made, without an infusion of funds provided to them for that purpose,” the group wrote.

CLC goes on to suggest that the group likely made an illegal straw donation designed to conceal the true source of the funds….

At the very least, CLC claims in the complaint filed on Monday that the Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers should be required to disclose the sources of the funds it used to donate to 1820 PAC.

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PDF: CLC Complaint to FEC Against Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers LLC  -- FEBRUARY 3, 2020 -- CLC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that “Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers LLC,” which gave $150,000 to the super PAC 1820 PAC just five weeks after incorporating, violated the ban on making political contributions in the name of another….

BREG: Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers LLC

PH: Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, called the recent FEC complaint a “retaliatory attack” by supporters of one of Collins’ main challengers, House Speaker Sara Gideon, D-Freeport. The Maine Republican Party has accused Gideon of improper fundraising multiple times, including in a formal complaint last week. 

According to a letter from Chairwoman Demi Kouzounas, the party has accused Gideon’s leadership political action committee – which she created to help Democratic State House candidates get elected – of failing to disclose expenditures for several Facebook ad campaigns.

That complaint will be heard by the Maine Ethics Commission in the next month.  

SA: Hefty campaign donation from Hawaii triggers federal complaint