Real Justice PAC

Real Justice PAC is a San Francisco political action committee that works to elect county and municipal prosecutors. It registered with the Federal Election Commission on February 7, 2017, as committee C00632554, a hybrid PAC with a non-contribution account, unauthorized by any candidate. Its treasurer and custodian of records is Rebecca (Becky) Bond, at 3041 Mission Street, and the FEC lists "Grassroots Law PAC" as its affiliated committee.¹ In early 2017 it also registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State to operate in Pennsylvania.²

Mission and Staff

Its 2018 website stated that it "works to elect reform-minded prosecutors at the county and municipal level who are committed to using the powers of their office to fight structural racism and defend our communities from abuse by state power," and that it would test "the 'big organizing' approach outlined in the book Becky Bond co-authored," Rules for Revolutionaries, developed on the 2016 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. It cited "the 2017 success of Larry Krasner in Philadelphia" as having "raised the bar for what reformers could demand once in office." Digital work was to be run with the consultancy Middle Seat, "a consulting firm created by former top Bernie Sanders campaign staffers," with an "email fundraising in a box" program "created by Middle Seat and supervised by Up PAC."³

The site listed its team. Bond had been a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign, president of CREDO SuperPAC and political director of CREDO Mobile. Michael Kieschnick had been national campaign manager for NextGen Climate's 60-million-dollar federal election programs in 2016 and was "the cofounder and former CEO of CREDO." Shaun King, then writing for The Intercept and affiliated with the Justice Collaborative of Harvard Law School, was described as a man who "has raised over $20 million for grassroots causes," and was to lead the PAC's social media. Zack Malitz had helped lead the Sanders campaign's digital organizing department, and Hector Sigala, its national social media director, was "a principal and co-founder of Middle Seat."³ By 2022 the PAC stated that "18 prosecutors we supported have won elections."⁴

Receipts

FEC totals by two-year cycle are (in dollars):⁵

Its largest itemized sources were Cari Tuna, the wife of Dustin Moskovitz, who gave 653,480 dollars on March 9, 2017, 350,000 dollars on May 22, 2018, and 850,000 dollars on August 27, 2018, listing herself as self-employed; the Open Philanthropy Action Fund, which gave 750,000 dollars on October 29, 2019; and Grassroots Law PAC, FEC committee C00712109, which gave 200,000 dollars five times between May 2021 and December 2023, plus 100,000 dollars on September 13, 2023, and 65.18 dollars in January 2021, for 1,100,065.18 dollars in all. Other large receipts were 200,000 dollars from The Action PAC (October 22, 2020), 100,000 dollars from the Sixteen Thirty Fund (July 31, 2019), 100,000 dollars from a Robert Smith who listed Vista Equity Partners as his employer (January 28, 2021) and 78,635 dollars from the Accountable Justice Action Fund (November 17, 2020).⁶

A receipt of 86,229 dollars itemized as from Wells Fargo Bank on May 11, 2020, was a loan: the PAC's disbursements show a repayment of the same amount on April 11, 2024, described as a loan repayment from the non-contribution account, and a further 50,000 dollars to Wells Fargo on January 12, 2022, described as a "PPP LOAN PAYABLE" from the same account.⁷

Grassroots Law PAC, the committee that became Real Justice's second-largest identified source, is also treasured by Bond. Money ran in both directions: Real Justice paid Grassroots Law PAC 125,000 dollars on October 18, 2024, recorded as a "TRANSFER BETWEEN AFFILIATED COMMITTEES," and paid 36,196.64 dollars to the Grassroots Law Project on June 22, 2021, recorded as "PAYROLL."¹⁷

Candidates

Its FEC disbursements to candidate committees include 450,000 dollars to "Run George Run: George Gascon for LA DA 2020," for George Gascón, in February and October 2020; 159,400 dollars in eight payments from 2018 to 2024 to committees of the Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner, including 25,200 dollars in December 2023 and January 2024 to the "Lawrence Krasner for District Attorney Litigation Fund," one payment described as a "CONTRIBUTION TO LEGAL DEFENSE FUND"; 60,000 dollars in 2018 for Joe Gonzales in Bexar County, Texas; 57,500 dollars in four 2018 payments to Friends of Wesley Bell, for Wesley Bell in St. Louis County, Missouri; 11,675 dollars in 2018 for Diana Becton in Contra Costa County, California; and 75,000 dollars on June 30, 2021, to the civil-rights lawyer Lee Merritt, whose Texas attorney general campaign the PAC promoted.⁴⁷ Against the recall of the San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin, it paid 150,350.65 dollars in 2021 to "San Franciscans Against the Recall of Chesa Boudin, Sponsored by Real Justice PAC" and 4,995.35 dollars in December 2022 to "Friends of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall."⁷

Its vendors included Top Political Action Committee (637,308.89 dollars in 2018), Bernal Alto LLC (287,943.68 dollars in 2018 for "non-federal organizing services & consulting"), The Movement Cooperative (77,000 dollars in 2019), Middle Seat Consulting for digital advertising, and SEIU Local 221 (30,000 dollars in 2018). Legal payments included 98,965.16 dollars to Levan Muhic Stapleton LLC in 2021, 46,346 dollars to Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders in 2021, and 134,000 dollars in 2023 and 2024 to The Beasley Firm, LLC, described as "settlement for disputed claim."⁷

Philadelphia Ethics Settlement

On January 20, 2021, Krasner's reelection campaign and the PAC entered an agreement "whereby Real Justice PAC staff would perform work for the Krasner Campaign, paid for in advance by the Krasner Campaign." Krasner announced his candidacy on February 21, 2021. Between March and May 2021 the PAC invoiced the campaign 48,165.59 dollars in staff time, "$31,492.40 of which was for the embedded campaign manager for the Krasner Campaign who is employed by the PAC," plus travel and a 1,000-dollar voter-file committee expense. The campaign reported its payments only as "Political Consulting," which the Philadelphia Board of Ethics found "insufficient to identify what the expenditures were for."⁸

The PAC's own Philadelphia reports omitted these expenditures and 2,618 contributions. Its amended reports, filed in August 2021, listed payments for "Campaign management services provided to Krasner for District Attorney paid by campaign" to Brandon Evans and staff time for field organizing and social media. The PAC stated that it had relied on campaign-finance counsel who advised that spending prepaid by a candidate was not reportable. In a settlement approved on December 8, 2021, Real Justice PAC and Bond were held jointly liable for 30,000 dollars in penalties; the board's chair, Michael H. Reed, did not participate.²⁹ Krasner's campaign and its treasurer, Vernon Anastasio, agreed in a separate settlement to pay 10,000 dollars, having also spent 1,000 dollars in excess pre-candidacy contributions.⁸⁹