Basic Instincts
Blanchard’s plan, according to these campaign sources, was to collect a commission from the campaign’s media buys. Essentially, these sources said, Blanchard believed she could strike an agreement with a media company that employed a friend of hers—and then collect a percentage of the profit through a private agreement.
“It was clear from that point that Julie was going to be in charge,” one former adviser told The Daily Beast, echoing staff observations in numerous news reports. “The dangerous thing is she had no idea about what the fuck she was doing. She’s also got the worst political instincts of anyone I’ve ever met, and that’s a dangerous combination. It was clear she was just motivated by, ‘How can I control it? What are the ways I can make money?’”
However, Blanchard never struck an agreement with the media company, and after months of twisting on the vine, the idea eventually died.
Credit Cardi B
Blanchard—who dated Walker for more than a decade before marrying him in March 2021, about five months before he announced his candidacy—was a powerful and ubiquitous campaign figure from the start. But her inexperienced advice more often than not made things more difficult for the campaign. The Daily Beast previously reported that campaign staff expressed immense frustration with her throughout the race, a theme echoed in postmortems from several outlets.
“Julie wanted Cardi B on the campaign trail,” a staffer previously told The Daily Beast, referring to the liberal hip-hop star from the Bronx. “The person who sings ‘Wet Ass Pussy,’ and you want to bring her on the campaign trail to appeal to conservatives, just because she tweeted that we’re in a recession?”
Short Circuit
But at the start, Blanchard first had to allay her concerns that a Senate campaign would damage Walker’s earning potential, according to two people with direct knowledge of those early discussions.
One of the chief concerns, all of these sources said, was the inevitable hit to Walker’s public speaking engagements and endorsement deals, which had provided the couple with a steady stream of income for years.
“There were a few concerns about that,” another official said, referencing the speeches. “First, the campaign had no ability to control what he said and there was a chance his remarks would be recorded. Second, there were scheduling challenges with a Senate campaign. Finally, it couldn’t be risked that he appear to use paid speeches to advance a campaign.”
The couple, however, mostly disregarded this advice, according to three campaign sources.
Walker’s financial disclosures showed that his speaking gigs continued through summer 2022, though the regularity waned a bit. In the months before announcing his candidacy in Aug. 2021, Walker reported nine payments for paid speaking appearances, totaling $236,000. In the same approximate time frame for 2022, he reported seven gigs, for $221,000.
Money Talks
Blanchard additionally had more general fears about Walker jumping into the race, four of the people said, most specifically that certain skeletons in Walker’s closet would come out.
“She was absolutely adamant that he not run in the first place,” a former Walker adviser told The Daily Beast. “Adamant.”
But two sources with direct knowledge of discussions in the campaign’s formative days said that once Blanchard understood the amount of money the campaign would raise, she changed her mind.
“In a meeting one day, she suddenly made clear to us that she thought she would be able to get points off of the media buys,” one source said, claiming that Blanchard had planned to funnel kickbacks to one of her companies. “If this was going to be a $100 million operation, then in her mind she deserved to get some of that money.”
Iconoclast
Four of the sources said Blanchard made repeated attempts to direct campaign contracts to ICON International, who employed a friend she knew from her days selling billboard ads at CBS Outdoor more than a decade ago. But while that friend—Andy Campbell—had media experience, neither he nor his company had experience in the political sphere, according to the four people.
“We kept telling her that it just didn’t make any sense to hire them for this,” a former top adviser told The Daily Beast.
The campaign never contracted with Campbell or ICON, opting instead for trusted political firms, as reflected in the campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission. However, on Dec. 18, 2022—12 days after Walker conceded his run-off defeat to Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock—Campbell received a $5,500 payment for “advertising” during the run-off.
Chicken Soup for The Soul
Walker and Blanchard didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.
Reached for comment, Campbell told The Daily Beast that he was “totally unaware” of Blanchard’s alleged plan. He added that it seemed “implausible” that Blanchard, with her own media background, would think she could take a commission from an international company like ICON. He also emphasized that ICON never conducted any business with the campaign.
But Campbell did acknowledge performing an independent review of campaign media strategy on Blanchard’s behalf. That review, he said, took place in the weeks before November’s general election—not, as the campaign’s expense report says, during the run-off.
“We have been best of friends for years. Julie asked me to check their buys to see my opinion on the quality of their work as a media professional,” Campbell told The Daily Beast, emphasizing that he never bought media for the campaign. “They were using outdated Nielsen books, and I told Julie they should use accurate ratings books.”
Legal Ease
Campaign finance expert Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of watchdog group Documented, told The Daily Beast that kickbacks to a candidate’s spouse could violate the ban on personal use of campaign funds, and might also constitute a reporting violation.
“Campaign funds cannot be used for anybody’s personal benefit,” Fischer said. “Candidates must tread cautiously when hiring family members or friends. Any payments to family members must be for fair market value.”
Either way, despite Blanchard’s wishes, the plan didn’t work, and therefore, there never was any kickback.
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