[PJ] Before cheering on more congressional spending for COVID "relief," the latest news out of Washington State may give you pause.
Your federal COVID "relief" dollars — $900 billion so far, with more on the way — are being spent by some states to fund far-Left political groups, such as The Bail Project—which, as its name suggests, doles out bail money—a soft-on-crime justice lobbying group. As I reported earlier in PJ Media, The Bail Project supports at least one antifa-related group.
In a story for My Northwest, Seattle radio talk host Jason Rantz reports that groups receiving the $12 million in federal COVID funds given to Washington State were required to be run by racial minorities.
Rantz reports that groups led by white people were not allowed to receive money.
Oregon, which has similar guidelines for disbursement, is currently the target of a class-action lawsuit for requiring an unconstitutional race test to receive federal dollars.
Groups that helped the entire swath of community members, but were led by white people, were not given priority for these funds. Rantz linked to a list of those groups, which one might assume would be helpful in divvying up the money for people hard hit by COVID. The groups not given money included an American Legion post, Alliance for Education, Big Brothers and Big Sisters groups, food banks, city ministries, museums, free clinics, and myriad others.
Which groups passed the race-based review? The Council on American Islamic Relations of Washington received $50,000. The Climate Justice Initiative also got some money.
We’re sure that the Seattle World Percussion Society is a great group, but how does giving it $25,000 help fight COVID again?
The Bail Project of Spokane received a $50,000 bail-out with the money indirectly used to post bail money for criminals, including a wife-beater, according to Rantz.
A lobbying group that advocates for lighter jail sentences got federal COVID dollars.
As you’ve likely divined by now, the groups that received funding appear to have gotten the money for political and not COVID reasons.
Based on the rationale explaining the funding, Bail Project Spokane was selected for its political cause, not for being impacted by COVID.
Rantz asks, "Excluding nonprofits on the race of its leadership is certainly controversial. But some nonprofits receiving federal tax dollars hold radical left-wing political views. Is this where COVID relief tax dollars should go?" 
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