The Franklin Mint
The Ben Franklin Fellowship's shakedown dinner
Welcome back, KTB readers.
The Ben Franklin Fellowship - or BFF - is a semi-secretive, invite-only club of right-wingers who work in foreign affairs. Its mission is to MAGA-ize U.S. foreign policy and the agencies that execute it (e.g. the State Department, whatever remains of USAID, the U.S. Institute of Peace, USAGM, etc.).
Previous KTB posts have called out some of the bigots, conspiracy theorists, xenophobes, and Trump sycophants who belong to the BFF.
This week’s post is going to call out some of the BFF’s funders: in particular, some “sponsors” of the BFF’s yearly reception dinner.
That dinner was held January 16. A public invitation (screenshot below) had been posted to the BFF website a few weeks earlier - an invitation that solicited monetary donations at various levels of “sponsorship.”
“Sponsorship?” Or would the better word be “shakedown?”
Because the BFF’s invitation insinuated that becoming a sponsor could come with certain benefits other than the weak cocktails... It noted that “senior State Department officials” and “current White House officials” would be attending; and it mentioned the Department of State five times, which seems a lot given the BFF’s claim that it isn’t building a “MAGA deep state” within DOS.
No, not an explicit quid pro quo…but those things are never said explicitly…
The BFF sold at least $88K in sponsorships, and certainly some of that money came from sponsors who know how pay to play goes. Though some sponsors seem to be genuine supporters of the BFF’s mission. And maybe some had mixed motives - ideological zeal and base self-interest need not be at odds.
Whatever their reasons, the BFF’s sponsors have financially supported the MAGA-ization of U.S. foreign policy. For that, they deserve to be called out.
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth
The BFF sold its sponsorships to three types of sponsors: organizations, such as think tanks and advocacy groups; individuals; and businesses, including ones that do business before and with the federal government.
Of the organizations, the most generous was the Heritage Foundation - which awarded the BFF a separate $100K grant earlier in the year. At this event, Heritage was a “JUNTO sponsor,” meaning it gave the BFF another $15,000.
The Conservative Partnership Institute was also a big dollar sponsor. CPI is similar to Heritage but with better manners and less Nick Fuentes. It was a “Diplomacy sponsor,” the $6K level of sponsorship.
The John Quincy Adams Society and the Palm Beach Freedom Institute were “Table Host sponsors.” Each gave $3,000. The former is foreign policy network with chapters at many colleges and universities. The latter is run by BFF Fellow Paul du Quenoy and awards a yearly Paul du Quenoy Prize on Paul du Quenoy’s birthday to an individual who shares the far right views of Paul du Quenoy.
Another “Table Host sponsor” was the foreign aid/global development consortium Unlock Aid. Perhaps its sponsorship will help “unlock” the milestone payments for a $150M grant that Department of State recently awarded to Zipline, a business that one of Unlock Aid’s board members helps run.
And one other organization, the Westlake Foundation, also bought a sponsorship. It paid $1K to be a “Ben’s Friend sponsor.” Westlake is the family charity of Andrew Plofchan, President of Amplify Federal, an IT contractor/subcontractor that is currently doing millions of dollars of business with the government.
Individuals who bought sponsorships include several BFF Fellows; of those, Mark Biedlingmaier was the biggest spender: the “Biedlingmaier Family Endowment at the University of Scranton” was a $15K “JUNTO sponsor.” Mark and his siblings created that endowment to fund first-generation students at their alma mater; I’m not sure how using it to fund MAGA hacks satisfies that mission.
Paul Kanitra, a New Jersey pol mentioned in a prior KTB post, also bought a sponsorship. And so did George Alwan who is Nevada’s “special envoy to the Middle East.” I didn’t know that Nevada appoints “envoys,” but apparently it does, and it appointed George, a long-time law enforcement officer.
Businesses were the third type of BFF sponsor. The largest one to buy a sponsorship was ArcelorMittal, though it was a mere “Table Host sponsor.”
The business that bought the priciest sponsorship was Mercury Public Affairs. Mercury was a $6,000 “Diplomacy sponsor.” Mercury’s clients include foreign governments and other foreign interests that want to influence U.S. foreign policy - and would be delighted to be spending only $6K in order to do so.
Andromeda Ventures was a “Table Host sponsor.” It is a VC fund that claims to have “procurement relationships across NASA, DoD, CIA/IC, DHS, DoE, etc.” I wonder if it’s $3K sponsorship will get it a procurement relationship with DoS?…
Thor Dynamics, a drone defense start-up, and The Station Services, LLC, a firm founded by a former CIA officer, were also “Table Host sponsors.”
And so was Trewon Technologies, an IT provider for federal agencies. Trewon does millions of dollars of business with the federal government. In fact, this announcement is on Trewon’s home page:
This seems to be referencing 19AQMM25F0006, a contract with Department of State that has a $100M ceiling. That ceiling is spread over five years of performance, and at the end of every contract year, State must decide whether to renew the contract for the next contract year (“exercise the option year”) or let it expire.
So Trewon’s full $100M isn’t a given, is it?
Then, I bet Trewon could really use the help of a club that purports to be remaking the State Department and that flaunts its access to “State Department officials…”
And I bet the BFF knows that Trewon could really use its help...
Yeah, you can see where this is going.
But it doesn’t have get there. At least if the acquisitions bureaus, inspectors general, and ethics offices - at State and at other agencies - get word and take action.
They can caution the BFF’s sponsors to avoid pay to play impropriety.
They can also read the Procurement Integrity Act as prohibiting any BFFer from helping to award future federal contracts to any business that, by buying a sponsorship, has effectively gifted every BFFer cash.
And they can erect a strong “ethical wall” of concrete regulations between their agencies and the BFF, even if the BFF insists its grifting should be allowed because the BFF is not the government - which, fair enough, it is not, but let’s be real: favor seekers can always recognize a front when they see one.
Thank yous
First, thank you to [keeping your name anonymous] for becoming KTB’s 18th paid subscriber! Your financial support is appreciated!
And thanks to Non-Toxic Newsletter for recommending KTB to its subscribers!
Contact KTB
Got a hot tip? A recommendation? Additional info to add? A correction? Want to help write KTB? Click below or email me at KTB2025@protonmail.com.
Ben’s rolling over in his grave.
Keep the light shining on them. They can only scurry for so long 🙏