Members of Seth Keshel’s Redding audience raise their hands in acknowledgment of the allegedly tainted 2020 election.
In the classic Hollywood Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the titular characters played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford are followed by a six-rider posse after their second train robbery. For the rest of the film, the lawmen dog the two outlaws as they flee the western United States and attempt to escape to Bolivia. We never quite see the chasing posse in detail, just the silhouettes of the riders in the distance, but every time Butch and Sundance look back, they’re there.
“Who are those guys?” Butch keeps repeating.
That’s basically the same reaction I’ve had to the Shasta Freedom Coalition for the past year or so. I first became aware of the group late last year, when it began posting Shasta General Purpose Committee advertisements in favor of recalling former District 2 Supervisor Leonard Moty on its Facebook page. The nine videos used in the advertisements were obviously lifted from the Red, White and Blueprint docuseries produced by local alt-right provocateurs Carlos Zapata and Jeremy Edwardson.
“Who are those guys?” I couldn’t help wondering about Shasta Freedom Coalition.
After Moty was successfully recalled in February, a newly minted political action committee called the Liberty Committee popped up on the scene, geared toward supporting a slate of right-wing extremists in the June primary election. Both the Shasta General Purpose Committee and the Liberty Committee were funded by more than $800,000 from Connecticut son-of-a- billionaire Reverge Anselmo, who’s held a grudge against Shasta County ever since his restaurant, winery, and ranch near Shingletown were buried in a deluge of building code violations a decade ago.
Meanwhile, after the recall the Shasta Freedom Coalition—which is not registered as a political action committee—shifted to promoting so-called medical freedom events, raising funds for local candidate Rachel Hamm’s failed bid for California Secretary of State and hosting a free viewing of Dinesh D’Souza’s latest fictitious film, 2000 Mules.
D’Souza’s fact-free propaganda piece falsely alleges widespread election fraud occurred in 2020 via ballot box manipulation. The viewing, held at Hillside Church in Redding, was a fundraiser for Bob Holsinger, a local member of Election Integrity Project California who ran against and lost to incumbent Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen in the June Primary.
“Who are those guys?” I wondered again.
Shasta Freedom Coalition hosted a viewing of 2000 Mules to raise money for election-denying candidate Bob Holsinger.
In the June primary election, the slate of five right-wing extremist candidates endorsed by the Shasta General Purpose Committee, the Liberty Committee, and Shasta Freedom Coalition lost their bids for superintendent of schools, registrar of voters, district attorney, and two supervisor seats.
The two supervisor candidates on the ultraconservative slate, District 1 candidate Kevin Crye and District 5 candidate Chris Kelstrom, survived to face a runoff with respectively Erin Resner and Baron Browning in the upcoming general election on Nov. 8.
After the primary, Shasta Freedom Coalition shifted gears once again. On its Facebook page, it promoted the July 1 appearance of debunked election fraud conspiracy theorist Seth Keshel at Hillside Church. Keshel also believes in the discredited Constitutional Sheriff theory, which incorrectly argues that the county sheriff is the supreme law of the land and doesn’t have to follow state and federal laws and regulations he or she disagrees with.
Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson attended Keshel’s Redding presentation, and according to Keshel, agreed that all local and national elections held in 2020 are uncertifiable. That puts President Joe Biden and Shasta County District 4 Supervisor Patrick uncomfortably in the same boat.
“This is Sheriff Mike Johnson of Shasta County, California,” Keshel posted along with a picture of Johnson on Telegram, one of the social media sites preferred by right-wing extremists. “I am thankful he attended in Redding last night and even sat in the front row. Not only that he raised his hand when I asked the crowd to raise hands if they believe the 2020 election to be uncertifiable, both nationally and in the county. More sheriffs like this, please. Now, time for action.”
July 2 Telegram post by election denier Seth Keshel.
But according to Johnson, that’s not how Keshel framed the question. Johnson contends that Keshel’s question was more generic and didn’t specify both local and national election fraud. Video of the event confirms the sheriff’s account.
“That is not the question that was asked as I recall,” Johnson told A News Café via email. “The question was, ‘Who here believes the 2020 election was tainted by fraud?’ That is far different than the post. I do not think any of the local elections have been tainted by fraud. I have seen absolutely no evidence of such. I never indicated that I felt the national election or any local election should have not been certified.
“What I did raise my hand about was that I think the 2020 presidential election was tainted by fraud,” Johnson continued. “However, that is my opinion. Not as the sheriff, but as Michael Johnson. I am not saying that it changed the outcome of the election, I am not saying that there is prosecutable proof, I am not drawing any conclusions. What I do believe is that there is enough circumstantial evidence to motivate us (as a nation) to look at the election processes closer and make some reform/changes to better protect the integrity of future elections.”
At any rate, thousands of people who viewed the post were left with the false impression that Sheriff Johnson is an ardent election denier.
Shasta Freedom Coalition hosted election fraudster, Dr. Doug Frank, at Hillside Church on Sept. 13.
The next nationally debunked election fraud conspiracy theorist hosted by Shasta Freedom Coalition at Hillside Church, Dr. Doug Frank on Sept. 13, managed to turn up the extremism a notch or two.
Frank began the day attending the Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting, where his bullshit artistry was readily accommodated by wingnut supervisors Jones, Les Baugh, and Tim Garman.
“I wrote on social media today at city hall how inspiring it was,” Frank told the Hillside audience about that day’s BOS meeting. “Three minutes after 3 minutes after 3 minutes of amazing inspiring speeches. It was like we prepared or something. It was so good. Then I got to get up, they asked a lot of questions. I got to talk like 23 minutes or something like that. They asked a lot of questions and it was good. I understand that one of the commissioners is tilting more our way because of it, that’s good, we made progress.”
It wasn’t like they were prepared or something. Jones, Frank, and sundry public speakers pretty much planned the entire spectacle, as was obvious from A News Café publisher Doni Chamberlain’s reporting on the event.
“You guys are deep in commie land,” Frank informed the Hillside audience. A former Cincinnati math teacher who was raised in Shasta County for a period of his childhood, Frank embarked on his mission to disinform the American public about the 2020 election results some 20 months ago. Since then, he and his cohorts have folded simmering anger about the election results together with ongoing rage about COVID-19 mandates to gin up their easily irritable audiences.
Election denier Dr. Doug Frank speaks before the Shasta County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 13.
“During COVID the oppression and tyranny we were experiencing from our government basically created a whole army of supermoms across the country,” Frank said. Frank implied that public officials such as Darling Allen and District 2 Supervisor Mary Rickert as well as anyone else who doesn’t buy into the Big Lie about the 2020 election are intellectually, ethically, and morally inferior to such paragons of virtue as himself.
And, as has become popular on the far right with caustic figures such as Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Frank fully embraces Christian nationalism.
“If there is any hope of getting our country back, we need to return our eyes toward heaven and restore a more virtuous society,” he said. We’re in a war of ideas he insisted, a battle between good and evil, and he’s here to help the good side win. “You just need a few supermoms who are willing to take a stand and fight this war.”
On the morning of Frank’s Redding appearance, the cell phone of his good friend and fellow conspiracist Mike “My Pillow” Lindell was confiscated by the FBI, which is investigating Lindell’s alleged participation in the January 6, 2021 insurrection perpetrated by Trump supporters in Washington, D.C. The next day when Frank returned to Ohio after his appearance in Redding, his cell phone was confiscated by the FBI at the airport for the same reason.
According to Frank’s unsubstantiated election fraud conspiracy theory, Trump is the real president of the United States, not Joe Biden. Frank claims rather bizarrely that the election results were influenced by a mysterious computer algorithm that he has talked a lot about but never actually identified.
Watching Frank’s spiel is like viewing one of those “Dr. Pimple Popper” videos on TikTok where the pustule is squeezed every which way but never actually pops before the end of the video. You wind up feeling cheated, especially if you’ve invested a lot of time watching the video—or paid the $20 admission fee to attend Frank’s event.
All of this political activity Shasta Freedom Coalition has been participating in since its inception once again begs the question.
Who are those guys?
Like her cohorts, Shasta Freedom Coalition Chief Financial Officer Kaylyn Hipple declined to comment on this story.
Now, at long last, the answer can be revealed. It’s not guys at all. Shasta Freedom Coalition is headed by three Redding women.
According to documents filed with the California Secretary of State in July, Shasta Freedom Coalition’s CEO is Tami Dwinell-Nisbet, its CFO is Kaylyn Hipple and its secretary is Camille King.
All three women declined to answer questions before this story was published.
According to the filings, Shasta Freedom Coalition is “a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person.”
“The specific purpose of this corporation is to encourage civic engagement in local and county government, educate the general public on government processes both historical and current, promote understanding of and adherence to the U.S. Constitution, and promote economic prosperity and physical well-being,” the document says.
According to Shasta Freedom Coalition’s website, the group is “a political advocacy organization lobbying for freedom of choice and respect for civil liberties within all areas of life. We seek to find Constitutional solutions which promote freedom.”
Such political advocacy organizations are permissible under state and federal law with a caveat: Their political activities must be as neutral and nonpartisan as possible to maintain their nonprofit status.
For example, under state law established by the Political Reform Act in 1974, any organization that receives contributions of $2000 or more per year for political purposes must register as a recipient committee with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Shasta Freedom Coalition has been promoting and raising funds for political candidates and issues since at least late last year and has almost undoubtedly exceeded the $2000 in contributions threshold. Yet it has failed to register as a recipient committee with the FPPC.
Shasta Freedom Coalition held a fundraiser for Secretary of State candidate Rachel Hamm in April.
Neither has Shasta Freedom Coalition registered as a nonprofit with the IRS. According to the IRS, “organizations exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which include charities and churches, may not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.”
The following activities are considered intervening in an election by the IRS and are prohibited for nonprofit organizations:
- Making or soliciting contributions to or for candidates or political organizations.
- Endorsing a candidate or rating the candidates (no matter how objective such rating may be).
- Publishing or distributing partisan campaign literature or written statements.
- Having representatives speak out about a candidate.
- Using its resources to influence an election.
Shasta Freedom Coalition has participated in virtually all of those bullet points during its near year of existence. Unfortunately, the IRS regulations are not so cut and dried. Charities are “allowed to conduct nonpartisan activities that educate the public and help them participate in the electoral process.” Such valid educational purposes include voter education guides, voter registration, and get-out-the-vote drives, and candidate forums.
“But take heed!” the IRS warns. “An educational activity can cross over into political campaign intervention, depending on the context of how it is used.” Charities engage in campaign intervention when they participate in the following activities:
- Issuing a statement that mentions a candidate for public office.
- Expressing approval or disapproval of a candidate’s positions or actions.
- Mentioning voting or the election.
- Raising an issue on which the candidates disagree.
- Publishing such information during the campaign.
The IRS regulations apply to advocating for political issues as well as candidates.
“A charity risks intervening in a political campaign when its message invites the recipient to compare a candidate’s position on an issue with the organization’s own views,” the IRS states. “The message need not expressly urge a vote for or against a candidate, nor need it even mention a candidate by name. Candidates can be conjured up by substituting party labels or code words for names like, ‘conservative,’ ‘liberal,’ ‘pro-life,’ ‘pro-choice’ or when the message concerns an issue that figures prominently in the campaign and on which the candidates hold opposing views.”
Shasta Freedom Coalition may be masquerading as a nonpartisan nonprofit organization but in reality, it’s as hard right as they come. For instance, the “resources” tab on its website features links to a cavalcade of MAGA election deniers such as Keshel and Frank, the aforementioned alt-right Red, White and Blueprint docuseries and the secessionist State of Jefferson movement, QAnon-centric Bethel filmmakers Matt and Joy Thayer and lunatic fringe medical freedom advocates such as America’s Frontline Doctors, which has made millions of dollars hawking ineffective ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 cures to its gullible conservative audience.
There’s no attempt to provide any balance at all on the website. It’s all hard right, all the time. According to the IRS:
“Statements posted on a website are treated no differently from statements appearing in print or over the television, and a charity that posts a statement on its website that favors or opposes a candidate for public office is at as much risk of political campaign intervention as if it had communicated in print or made oral remarks. It may be at risk, as well, if it posts links to other websites that advocate for or against a candidate.”
Some elements of the coalition’s website are more subtle. The categories listed on the “Find Your Passion” tab include church, government, business, education, media, family, and entertainment and are obviously derived from Bethel Church’s dominionistic Seven Mountain Mandate. I had planned to explore the potential Bethel connection with Shasta Freedom Coalition’s executive officers, but they chose not to reply to A News Café’s questions.
Shasta County Registrar of Voters/County Clerk Cathy Darling Allen.
When informed about some of the political activities listed in this report, Shasta County Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen filed a complaint against Shasta Freedom Coalition with the FPPC for potentially failing to file as a political action committee. Last month, Darling Allen had to issue a public warning after her department received complaints from residents about strangers knocking on their doors and inquiring about their voter registration. Keshel, Frank, and the coalition have heavily promoted such impromptu canvassing of the electorate which according to Darling Allen might violate state law.
Motivated readers interested in filing a complaint against Shasta Freedom Coalition with the IRS can find instructions on how to do so here. At the very least, Shasta Freedom Coalition could be asked by the IRS to cease and desist its overt political activities. At the most, they might have their nonprofit status revoked.
“As we are primarily interested in educating organizations and promoting compliance, in most of these cases, we alerted the organization to the violation and strongly cautioned them not to repeat the activity,” the IRS explains. “Because the tax law forbids charities to participate or intervene in any political campaign for or against any candidate for public office, the IRS could revoke the exempt status of a charity that engages in political campaign intervention. We have proposed revocation in a few egregious cases.”
Whether Shasta Freedom Coalition is one of those egregious cases remains to be seen. For now, we’ll have to settle for finally knowing who those guys are.
