Who is CGCN Group And Why Have They Created A Fake Grassroots Campaign?

The powerful K Street Lobbying Group behind "Moms for What Matters" and the targeting of content creators to push Conservative agendas

Photo by Aman Pal on Unsplash

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My trip into the depths of today’s special brand of Republican foolishness began as I was scrolling on TikTok. A user who goes by @yourstrulydevon, was questioning a PR deal that came to her. The company had offered to pay her $1000 for one video in support of the flavored vape ban currently being decided in the Denver city council. They also requested the video mention that people should care about the issue of homelessness and the “real drug” problem. (anti-homeless propaganda, basically). That company was representing a group calling themselves Moms for What Matters. She made a point to say that they had requested to be pitched to her specifically. This is what initially raised her suspicions. She is a creator known for being outspoken on several pieces of the Republican agenda and President-elect Trump. She also supports services for the homeless populations.

Initially, I assumed that they were very much in line with Moms for Liberty and other such citizen lobbying groups. Devon had too, as she explained in the video. I Googled them, curious what their mission statement might be, what their policy directives were, or anything else I could find out about the organization. Any group that can afford to pay $1000 for one video is certainly well established. Yet, I had never heard of them.

I was not disappointed.

When I arrive on the landing page, which is the only page of their web-site, we are greeted with two pieces of information: You can sign up to get involved, and they are a registered 501(c)4.

One single page web-site with no information on what the cause actually is was the first red flag. There is also no social media for the group. It is as though they don’t really exist. Second red flag.

501(c)4 is a subclass of non-profit that exists for lobbying purposes, in simple terms. They have a different set of rules to follow than those with a 501(c)3 designation. Yet, they are still a registered non-profit. I tried to do a search in both Guide Star and the IRS, and I was unable to locate a non-profit with that name. It is entirely possible that the name is slightly different for the purpose of IRS filing, or that this is the campaign of a larger organization, the web-site was just misleading. But, this was the third red flag.

So, I did what any rational and reasonable person would do when in need of information. I signed up for the email list.

Within seconds I received an email asking me to confirm my subscription. I did. So far that has been the only email I have received from them. The interesting part is what email address it came from. The sender was not a general email, but rather that of someone with the last name Meyers, a media buyer, once employed by Koch Industries and now part of a company called CGCN Group.

If you are unfamiliar with CGCN Group, I don’t blame you. They are a boutique Republican lobbying firm, representing such clients as American Airlines, Duke Energy, MasterCard, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and Emergent BioSolutions. Emergent, you may remember. The company was at the center of a New York Times expose in July 2021. The article centered on the government’s Covid response, and shortages of emergency equipment (masks and protective gear) to hospitals, due to government mismanagement of funds. Those funds, $626 million over a decade, were given to Emergent BioSystems to create and stockpile a highly controversial anthrax vaccine.

All said and done, per Open Secrets, the firm took in 63 clients for a total of $7 million dollars in fees during 2024 alone.

It didn’t take me long to find the face and first name of the Meyers in question, from whom the email had come. The first surprise is that he was, in fact, a he and not a mom. It would stand to reason that a group with ‘Mom’ in the title, would or should be run by someone who is not a 40 something year old man, and actually represents the cause they are promoting.

Dakota Meyers is an ad man. He graduated from Yale, before taking a a role as Director of Media Buying and Research for Koch Industries. In October of 2023, the Great Bend Tribune ran a story highlighting the ribbon cutting for Meyers Enterprises, LLC in Hoisington, Kansas. (Dakota’s home town.) It appears the advertising agency is still operational.

Following in the footsteps of people like Edward Bernays, considered to be the ‘Father of modern propaganda”, and Edward G. Lansdale, of the famed Philippines CIA campaign that included a fake vampire attack, it appears Dakota Meyers is trying to pull a fast one, masquerading as a homegrown movement of conservative moms.

The organization, which has made several statements regarding their desire to remain solely Republican, features several partners or managing partners with ties to the Trump White House during the President-elect’s first term in office. Going through the partners’ past positions, reads like a who's who of prominent Republican Congress members and committees, including positions with the Republican National Committee, several presidential campaigns, and several high ranking former Congress members.

What is their end goal? That is unclear. As I said, they have zero information on their web-site. Not a single issue, and nary a drop down menu. It appears that their end goal at the moment, is simply to bribe unsuspecting women to make videos for a large sum of money only weeks before Christmas, on issues that are very localized.

While there may be nothing wrong with that, in a legal sense, it is definitely less than honest.

There are no moms involved. At least not directly. There is no clear answer to “what matters” either. Finally, there is some shadiness with the way they have chosen to lay claim to the non-profit status. Although it does appear they are registered in Colorado, there is no mention of Federal non-profit registration. Having started a non-profit myself, this could mean that this is a very new organization and the paperwork simply hasn’t cleared the necessary hurdles to be publicly available.

CGCN Group is a lobbying group, and it is very likely that they are a registered 501(c)4. I was not able to find them formally registered, and there is no mention of it on their main site. However, the likelihood of them being registered as a non-profit is high, given that the 501(c)4 registration does come with some pretty significant tax breaks, and most lobbying firms are registered under this designation. Yet, I can’t help but be leery that there is no mention of non-profit status, as well as lack of any mention of Moms for What Matters on the CGCN Gorup website.

Either way, as this new marketing campaign continues to try and bait unsuspecting creators, it is important that we recognize that this is not a grassroots campaign of misguided mothers. In this campaign, they are targeting creators who do not agree with any of the ideals that CGCN Group represents. It is the well funded and well oiled brain child of a man and lobbying firm which has been pushing conservative propaganda for years, masquerading as a grassroots movement.

As creators, writers, and pundits, we need to be aware. Not everything is as it first appears.