JACKSON, Wyo. — Conservative megadonor and Gore-Tex heiress Susan Gore is back in the news this week for funding a project to manipulate the American political landscape, specifically in Wyoming.
The New York Times reported new details about the operation intended to target Republicans seen as insufficiently conservative, also known as “RINOs.”
The operation attempted to, and planted, informants to “provide insights, help expose corruption and assist with eventual placement of undercovers,” within Wyoming political organizations.
Those targeted by operatives included Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, who was viewed as a RINO in some conservative circles.
A document from January 2019, the same month Gordon took office, said that Seddon’s operatives had “identified three potential sources in the new governor’s administration and have begun accelerated cultivations with a view to early recruitment.”
Wyoming Speaker of the House, Steve Harshman was also targeted for “not sufficiently supporting” former president Trump.
According to The Times, one of the documents indicates that Marti Halverson, a former Wyoming state lawmaker, provided a list of people for the operatives to target.
The list included John Cox, then the director of Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, and Scott Talbott, then the director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The document is dated December 2018 and said that Mr. Talbott was “another of the names of corrupt individuals from Marti.”
The Times reached Halverson by phone. “Frankly, I have nothing to say on the subject,” she said and hung up.
The project was overseen by Erik Prince, founder of the private military firm Blackwater, and brother of Trump’s former education secretary Betsy DeVos and Richard Seddon, a former British spy.
Prince took on the role of raising money for Seddon’s spying operations to “research, penetrate and infiltrate the radical left networks.” Wyoming was the first state allegedly targeted with plans to expand.
According to The Times report, it is unclear how many potential donors Prince might have approached for money for Seddon’s venture besides Gore. Separately, Gore unsuccessfully tried to raise money for the project from the late Foster Friess, a billionaire Wyoming businessman, during a January 2019 meeting.
