Reporter Tom Pappert: Goal of Tennessee Dark Money Group is to ‘Get Rid’ of MAGA Candidates

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said he believes that The Best of Tennessee Action Fund’s goal is to “get rid of anybody who will support” former President Donald Trump based on the political candidates the treasurer for the dark money group has donated to in the past.

Last week, Pappert reported that The Best of Tennessee Action Fund was formed to “elevate moderate voices and engage voters who feel alienated by major political parties.” The group consists of three strategically intertwined organizations – a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit, a political action committee (PAC), and a super PAC.

Pappert later reported that the treasurer of the dark money group is James Seabury III (pictured above, right), a Nashville businessman who has donated thousands of dollars to the presidential campaigns of Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, but nothing to the campaign of former President Donald Trump.

On Monday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert further revealed that Seabury also donated “substantially” to the political campaigns of George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, and the late John McCain.

Pappert said Seabury’s past donations, specifically to candidates once marketed to be the ones best-suited to defeat Trump, indicates that the dark money group’s goal is to “get rid of anybody who will support the former and hopefully future president.”

“If you look at this guy’s political donation history, some of his most recent donations are to the presidential campaign of Nikki Haley, who you could describe as an anti-Trump Republican,” Pappert explained. “Many have, but I don’t know many who would describe a war hawk, like her as a moderate. Now what’s interesting is Mr. Seabury also donated substantially to George W. Bush, Senator Mitt Romney, and the late Senator John McCain. No donations to former President Donald Trump, but there were donations to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who…is a culture war fighter. He’s a warrior for the right wing. Why on earth is this guy who loves moderates so much supporting Ron DeSantis? Then it, of course. It hit me. I think he donated to Ron DeSantis because DeSantis was marketed as the candidate most capable of stopping Trump from getting the nomination.”

“So I think Mr. Seabury’s existence in The Best of Tennessee in such a vital role as the treasurer is a good indication this is a never-Trump operation set up in Tennessee to get rid of anybody who will support the former and hopefully future president,” Pappert added.

Pappert went on to explain that the fundraising entity having Seabury as its treasurer “sends a message” to the donor community who are still looking to prop up non-Trump candidates before the November election.

“I think that it sends a message to the donor community, perhaps specifically the disaffected, right wing globalist, never-Trump donor community, which we saw during the first few months of the primary,” Pappert explained. “They still have their money. They gave a ton to Nikki Haley, a ton to Ron DeSantis, a ton to anybody who they thought could beat President Trump. So what I think they did by placing Mr. Seabury as the treasurer is they sent out an olive branch to these donors saying, ‘Look, we know there’s no presidential candidate for you to shovel money like coal to a fire, but shovel some money into Tennessee and maybe we’ll get rid of Ogles for you.’”

In regards to the dark money group’s interests in Tennessee, multiple sources have told The Tennessee Star that the fundraising entities will raise money for Metro Nashville Councilwoman Courtney Johnston, who recently announced she will be challenging incumbent Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) in the GOP primary.

– – –

Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “Best of Tennessee’s Chloe Akers” by Best of Tennessee and photo “James Seabury” by Enterprise Solutions.