The hidden $250K machine of 9 paid vendors behind the ‘flagship’ #NoKings protest in St. Paul, Minnesota
I followed the money behind the No Kings protest in St. Paul, Minn., and uncovered an estimated $250,000 paid to 9 vendors to produce an event that was about the size of a Def Leppard concert.
Sources said that the Democratic nonprofit Indivisible paid the bill. It didn’t respond to numerous requests for comment.
How did I piece this together?
Well, I have a rule when reporting on the protest industry: be the first there and one of the last to leave.
That’s how I met Slamhammer Sound & Roadcase Co. production manager Matt Svobodny, one of the very nice hard-working members of the production crew behind the scenes in St. Paul, as they were breaking down the set for the No Kings protest, long after Bruce Springsteen and most of the anti-Trump protesters had left.
He was straightforward, candid and matter-of-fact about what it takes to throw a protest and, a few days later, guided me — and you — through the warehouse where Slamhammer stores the equipment it pulled out for the protest.
He provided the kind of transparency that the secretive nonprofits behind the protests should actually be providing to citizens and the media.
—-
More:
NoKings flagship event,” in a post on LinkedIn after the protest. He takes credit on LinkedIn for developing the “thematic strategies and program frameworks” for No