Tag Archives: Targeted Victory

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Missouri County Executive Candidate Using Deceptive Targeted Fundraising Tactics Nationwide


William C. (Bill) Eigel, a conservative former state senator from the 23rd District in Missouri’s St. Charles County, may have come in second place in 2024’s Missouri Republican gubernatorial primary.  And he may have lost in his push to be chairman of the state Republican Party in 2025. But he hasn’t abandoned his political drive or lost his fundraising bravado.

St. Charles Missouri County Executive candidate, Bill Eigel

 In October 2024, he filed paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) that let him raise money for a possible run for St. Charles County Executive. On February 3, 2025, shortly after he lost his bid to become chair of the Missouri Republican Party, he confirmed that he would run for St. Charles County Executive in 2026. The election will be held on November 3, 2026, following party primaries on August 4, 2026.

According to the Missouri Independent, “no one sees the move as evidence that Eigel is ready to step off the statewide stage. To the contrary, the campaign is seen by Jefferson City denizens as Eigel simply looking for a political perch to mount another primary challenge against Kehoe in 2028.”

To support his Charles County campaign, Eigel is soliciting contributions for his Believe in Life and Liberty political action committee, BILL PAC. Why doesn’t the PAC’s name say it’s connected to Eiger?

“Some states require PACs backing single candidates or with specific donors to include the politician or the funders in their name,” the Missouri Independent has explained. “Not Missouri. Instead, PAC names can be a set of initials used for a reason no one can remember, a feel-good name that doesn’t have anything to do with the interest being promoted or even the name of a favorite television character.

On his Facebook page, Eigel is highlighting that “over 200 patriots showed up to our campaign event” on Sept. 27, suggesting high local enthusiasm for his candidacy. But what stands out when you examine the contributions in BILL PAC’s July 2025 report is how few are from locals. Most, in fact, are coming in from out of state. I haven’t contributed, but Eigel’s email came to me in Oregon.

Eigel faced criticism during his gubernatorial campaign for relying on nationwide out-of-state donors pursued by Targeted Victory, a Virginia consulting firm. This time he’s using a different firm for the same purpose. 

In a July 2025 Quarterly Report to MEC, BILL PAC reported total receipts of $209,659.91.

In a list of itemized expenditures over $100, BILL PAC reported fundraising expenses of $93,304.66 paid to Nineonesix, 2311 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22201. Nineonesix defines itself as a “mobile marketing agency” that serves only Republicans. “We design and execute media plans with a focus on emerging digital platforms, using thumb-stopping mobile creative to drive results,” it says.

BILL PAC’s only other fundraising expense over $100 identified in its that quarter was $2,388.83 to the Old Hickory Golf Club in St. Peters, Missouri. 

The July report to the MEC lists by name and address donations to BILL PAC from persons giving more than $100 to BILL PAC. 

One interesting anomaly with the contributions to BILL PAC in the July report, some as small as $3 and some as high as $500, is that more than 99% of them came from people who identified themselves as retired. That suggests retired people have been Nineonesix’s primary online target. Seniors are a prime target for online scams due to factors like social isolation a trusting nature and declining cognitive function. Many also live alone and have no one overseeing their spending. (By the way, I’m retired, which is probably why I’ve been getting Eigel’s emails.)

The report also showed many donors made multiple donations over time, resulting in aggregate donations of as much as $2,000, which suggests multiple email appeals driven by repeated responses. 

One donor, a retired woman from Abilene, Texas, typically gave $3.50 each time, for an aggregate of $194.16 as of April 27, 2025. Not to be outdone, a retired man from North Prince George, Virginia, gave a total of $83.50 in eleven separate donations ranging from $4 to $23 spread out over the quarter. In another case, a retired man from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey made six separate donations ($10, $2.50, $2.50, $2.50, $2.50, $4.75) on  just one day, June 29, 2025. 

The PAC’s April and January 2025 quarterly reports to the Missouri Ethics Commission are similar in showing heavy reliance on retired out-of-state donors.

The oddest thing about BILL PAC’s appeals is that they don’t mention Bill Eigel’s name or even what office he’s running for. Instead, they rely on highlighting all sorts of hot-button issues and inflammatory stories that have nothing to do with the St. Charles race and are about issues over which a St. Charles County Executive would have no jurisdiction

On Oct.15, I received an email from BILL PAC calling on me to sign a petition calling for mandatory nationwide voter ID and to send money:

“Without mandatory voter ID in ALL 50 states, your vote will be replaced by an illegal alien. We need 2,500,000 signatures to our SECURE THE VOTE Petition before midnight to make a strong push to secure our elections ONCE AND FOR ALL:“

Another email I recently received from BILL PAC, labelled a “Voter Identification Survey” asks a series of questions, such as ” Do you believe Democrats are opposed to Voter ID laws because they negatively affect their chances of winning elections?” and “Should illegal immigrants be included in the US Census?” before asking for donations.

Then here’s this message I got from BILL PAC:

Friend, you can’t make this crap up!

A CRIMINAL, illegal alien FUGITIVE became a superintendent of a public school in Iowa.

When law enforcement caught him after he attempted to evade arrest, he was found in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a hunting knife.

This was the SAME MAN who was the superintendent of a public school. Radical Democrats have put the safety and well-being of our children SECOND to an illegal alien.

How many other invaders are in positions of power in our country? The open-border invasion Biden helped cultivate is damaging our safety, schools, communities, and country.

We MUST ramp up deportations for these illegal criminals ONCE AND FOR ALL.

We need a strong wave of support before MIDNIGHT TONIGHT, demanding that all illegals are deported ASAP>>

END THE ILLEGAL INVASION

SPEED UP MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW

Click on “We need a strong wave of support…” and you go to a donations page that also allows you to make a single or monthly recurring donation. 

At the bottom of the email in small print is the following:

Paid for by BILL PAC
1020 S Benton Avenue
St. Charles, MO 63301

That’s all. A recipient would have to be motivated to do some digging to find out the email is from a PAC supporting Bill Eigel’s run for County Executive of St. Charles County in Missouri.

I also got this email message from BILL PAC, along with an appeal for a donation:

Friend, the fate of the $5,000 DOGE checks can go one of two ways:

They can be paid to YOU and the American people.

OR: They can be revoked, and continue to fund liberal pet projects.

I’D PREFER A $5,000 CHECK

KEEP FUNDING LIBERAL PET PROJECTS

And this message from BILL PAC urging me to sign a petition supporting deporting Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, along with an appeal for a donation:

“If America is “so terrible,” and Somalia is “so great,” then let’s send her back! Sign the petition ASAP in support of deporting Ilhan Omar >>

 And this email from BILL PAC, including an appeal for a donation:

We tried emailing you last week, but received no response. 

We hope this isn’t a dead email, so this is your FINAL ATTEMPT to finalize your personalized DOGE Audit.

We can’t pass this audit over to the next patriot in your neighborhood until yours is complete, so we’re hoping you can end this logjam and complete the DOGE census of your area by TONIGHT!

COMPLETE DOGE AUDIT

HELP GET THE DOGE AUDIT TO OTHERS
So far, 1,076 patriots have completed this audit, so don’t be the first person to refuse to complete it and leave DOGE in the dust!

On his Facebook page, Eigel describes himself as “Christian, Husband, Father, USAF Veteran, Small Business Owner, Former State Senator for St. Charles County, and the conservative candidate for St. Charles County Executive.” 

The deceit and inflammatory messaging in his fundraising campaign aimed at vulnerable seniors doesn’t seem very Christian to me. 

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The Manafort mess: I’m shocked, shocked!

casablanca-17

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!,” said Captain Renault in Casablanca, as a croupier handed him a pile of money.

I feel the same way about comments from political figures in the U.S., including Hillary Clinton, who have expressed astonishment and dismay over allegations that Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, provided campaign assistance to Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych was forced to flee from Ukraine to Russia in 2014 after violent several months of political crisis and violent protests.

I’m equally unsurprised by attempts to tar Manafort as a villain because he has lobbied in the U.S. for Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines

Hillary Clinton’s campaign leapt at the chance to draw blood. “Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort’s and all other campaign employees’ and advisers’ ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump’s employees or advisers are currently representing and or being paid by them,” said Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook.

Good grief. Everybody’s in such high dudgeon.

But wait a minute.

We’re not all rubes, as so many politicians and media outlets assume. We know that Washington, D.C. is packed with public relations professionals and lobbyists who work for foreign governments and special interests, many of them with reputations for corruption and human rights abuses.

Take John Podesta, the Chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

In 1988, he and his brother, Tony, founded Podesta Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C., government relations and public affairs lobbying firm. The firm later changed its name to the Podesta Group, Inc.

According to the Sunlight Foundation, which works to make our government and politics more accountable and transparent, the Podesta Group has been a registered agent, or lobbyist, for a number of foreign governments, including the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the National Security Council of Georgia, the Republic of Kosova, the Government of Albania and the Kingdom of Thailand.

In 2013, for example, the Podesta Group reported being paid $840,196.21 by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The previous year, the corruption watchdog Transparency International awarded the crown of “Corrupt Person of the Year” to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. “Despite its massive oil resources, … Azerbaijan is plagued by endemic corruption that prevents ordinary Azerbaijanis from sharing in their country’s natural wealth and is a significant barrier to Azerbaijan’s development,” the organization said.

That same year, public protests against human rights abuses led to brutal crackdowns, arrests, and undemocratic trials.

2013 was another awkward time for the Government of Azerbaijan when election authorities released vote results re-electing Aliyev – a full day before voting had even started. The announcement followed intimidation of activists and journalists and free speech restrictions.

Freedom House, a promoter of global human rights, lambasted the country’s government. “Azerbaijan is ruled by an authoritarian regime characterized by intolerance for dissent and disregard for civil liberties and political rights,” the organization said in 2013.

The federal  Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. There are about  2,000 foreign agents registered under the Act representing more than 100 countries.

Late last year, the Center for Public Integrity released a study, “The hired guns who advocate for the world’s worst human rights abusers” – a research report that highlighted the PR firms that make the most money representing clients that violate human rights.

The study said FARA records revealed that “that the 50 countries with the worst human rights violation records have spent $168 million on American lobbyists and public relations specialists since 2010.”

The study said the leader of the pack was Omnicom-owned Ketchum PR, which made $37 million representing human-rights violators, followed by Qorvis Communications/MSL Group at $20.6 Million dollars.

In 2013, Ketchum was behind a Vladimir Putin-led PR push tied to Syria. When the New York Times ran a highly visible op-ed about Syria submitted by Russian President Putin in Sept. 2013, Ketchum arranged it (and likely wrote it).

“From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future,” Putin said. “We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law.” The op-ed went on to say, “Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force…”

According to ProPublica and Ketchum reports, Russia paid $1.3 million for Ketchum’s professional services for the period ended in May 2013.

In 2014, the New York Times reported how Angus Roxburgh, a former Ketchum consultant and journalist for the BBC and The Economist, recounted his experiences working with Ketchum. “The Russian officials…were initially convinced they could pay for better coverage, or intimidate journalists into it,” Roxburgh told the Times. “They were eventually persuaded to take reporters to dinner instead.”

According to the Times, Roxburgh told The Daily Beast that Ketchum’s aim “means helping them (Russia) disguise all the issues that make it unattractive: human rights, invasions of neighboring countries, etc.”

Last year, Saudi Arabia, under fire for human rights abuses, hired a cornucopia of U.S. PR/lobbying firms to tell its story in a favorable way and influence legislation.

In March, the Saudi Royal Embassy retained DLA Piper and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. That same month, it also hired Targeted Victory, which uses expansive data to put together digital campaigns for political clients, and Zignal Labs, which uses big data analytics, media monitoring and business intelligence to provide insights that drive public outreach efforts. In September 2015, the Saudi government expanded its efforts further by signing contracts with PR leviathan Edelman and the Podesta Group.

Just a few things to remember when attack dogs and establishment politicians, including Hillary Clinton, feign surprise and horror at amoral U.S. PR and lobbying firms doing business with foreign governments and foreign leaders with bad reputations.

Don’t be shocked.

 

Addendum

On 8/25/16, PoliticoPlaybook reported that the FBI and DOJ are looking into the Podesta Group’s work in Ukraine:

K STREET WATCH — The FBI and DOJ’s probes into the Podesta Group’s work for a non-profit tied to the former Ukrainian government are sending shockwaves downtown, where the investigation into the firm’s work for the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine has led to widespread nervousness. Reps from multiple firms who lobby for foreign entities think this might be a tipping point, and the feds might take a much broader look at other firms and clients. “It’s right in the purview of the DOJ – they don’t need a referral,” said one lobbyist.