Kynan Thistlethwaite

Co-Founder of Declaring Independence podcast, Schiller Institute volunteer, Semi-Professional Troublemaker 😈

[Kynan Thistlethwaite @Noggatone]

.@anneapplebaum @radeksikorski What was the joke? 🧐

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

A Vega For Congress Campaign Update https://t.co/3sbU5S03XN

[Mel @Villgecrazylady]

⚡️Campaign Finance 🧵: Ritchie Torres and the Equality PAC

It’s been over 24 hours since Politico’s Jason Beeferman decided to take a swing at Jose Vega and tried to poor shame him over Jose’s meager $2,100/month salary he pays himself from his campaign.

Since Mr. Beeferman and his employer have expressed an interest in the NY-15 race and a concern with proper campaign finance compliance, I took the liberty of combing Mr. Torres’ finances today.

I look forward to seeing Politico use its considerable influence and resources to help expose the mind blowing corruption that Ritchie Torres and his associates are engaging in.
—————————

First things first: the setup (stick with me, and I’ll do my best not to bore you to tears)

Ritchie Torres, like most members of Congress has a principle campaign committee “Torres for Congress,” a Joint Fundraising Committee “Torres Victory Fund,” and a Leadership PAC “La Bamba PAC”

Torres raises, transfers and spends money under each of them.

But unlike other members of Congress Ritchie Torres has significant links to another PAC, a hybrid PAC, called the Equality PAC, which is the official fundraising arm of the Congressional LGBTQ Caucus. According to their website Equality PAC pledges to use all the money they raise to help elect LGBTQ members of Congress.

Ritchie Torres is the co-chair of the Equality PAC and he’s also its largest funder- his Torres Victory Fund has transferred over $2.27 million to the Equality PAC so far this cycle.

Because the Equality PAC is a hybrid PAC, it functions as both a Joint Fundraising Committee (JFC) and an independent expenditure fund.

Equality PAC has dozens of shell PACs operating underneath it, whose only purpose is to increase the amount of money donors can give to the JFC side of Equality PAC.

Last time I counted there were 28. I’ll drop the list below.

The person in charge of Equality PAC and all the “Equality” PACs umbrella’ed under it, the executive director, is a man named Jeff Laviree.

In 2024 Advocate Magazine identified Jeff Laviree as Ritchie Torres’ campaign finance director. Which makes sense since Ritchie Torres’ name and campaign committees are tied to every single one of these shell PACs as “affiliated committee.”

[GenXGirl @GenXGirl1994]

🚨CAMPAIGN FINANCE SCANDAL: Ritchie Torres

Ritchie Torres co-chairs Equality PAC.

Torres’ finance director, Jeff Laviree & husband own Rambleside LLC, which bills Equality PAC $12k–$23k/month for rent + $100k for furniture & renovations on their brand-new $2M DC mansion!

PAC cash bankrolling their private luxury home in what appears to be a money laundering scheme but the pathetic pro-Israel “journalists” like @JasonBeeferman at @politico are out here attacking Jose Vega.

There’s so much more! See 2nd post for link to @Villgecrazylady article on Substack.

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

Hands Off Vega! Epstein Class Out Of Congress!

On Monday afternoon, Politico published a hit piece against me, denouncing me for paying myself a monthly salary of $2,419.66 from January to May of 2026. The author, Jason Beeferman, describes this as a “modest salary.” What a condescending bastard!

For those of you that happen to have a calculator on your phone, or otherwise, multiply that figure of $2,419 over the 11 months from January until November—the full length of the 2026 Congressional campaign cycle. That’s $26,609 for the year, gross. I’m supposed to be “enriching myself?” The poverty line for a single adult in New York City is $23,304. And my “job,” so to speak, for more than a year has been to run for office on a full time basis against AIPAC candidate Ritchie Torres, who had $14 million dollars before the campaign started.

So, what does that tell you this Politico hit piece against me is actually all about? It’s all about stopping me, and Americans like me, particularly who are young and poor, from speaking the truth against the killing in Gaza; the illegal annexation of the West Bank; against the Epstein Class which is carrying out these crimes, including the late Lindsay “Ladybug” Graham; and about the LaRouche Oasis Plan solution to war in Southwest Asia and poverty in the South Bronx.

My opponents in the Epstein Class hate working people, especially the poor working people of the Bronx, 29% of whom live at or below the poverty line. The median rent in the Bronx is $3100-$3200 a month. Politico and podcasters, journalists and media platforms like them, are far more interested in ‘poor shaming’ me—and you—for barely making minimum wage, than they are in exposing the corruption that Rep. Ritchie Torres and his associates are openly engaging in.

You can give anything up to the maximum limit: $3,500. Every dollar you give, no matter how poor or non-poor you are, is one more dollar against the Epstein Class and their mouthpieces. We are about to release, with a little help from our friends, more truth about Ritchie Torres and the corruption of the Epstein Class.

Poverty will not condemn us to obscurity, silence, or consent.

Donate at https://t.co/nyu0KbQFRh

[Mel @Villgecrazylady]

Here Jason, I’ll answer your question. Yes, the payments are legal and the compensation is averaged out at the end of the cycle- not month by month. Jose could’ve made over $1,000 more per month simply collecting unemployment.

Now perhaps you can answer a question for me?

Why is it that POLITICO is more concerned with Jose Vega paying himself a mere pittance for his work on his campaign than it is with the fact that Ritchie Torres is operating over 30 PACs, all of them umbrella’ed under the Equality PAC. And the Executive Director of the Equality PAC, Jeff Larivee, has paid himself over $3.8 million in consulting fees from the Equality PAC and its affiliates in the last 18 months?

Does it make you feel powerful to hound working class people like Jose Vega bc he pays himself $2,000/month for his 60 hour weeks working on his campaign? What is it you’re hoping to accomplish here?

Ritchie Torres’ FEC filings are a virtual carnival of graft and shenanigans. His former campaign manager was literally sent to federal prison for PPP fraud last August. She’s the one who set up all these scam PACs. How many articles did POLITICO publish on that?

Did you learn to punch down in journalism school or did they teach you that POLITICO?

[CODEPINK @codepink]

For once, the Senate refused to fast-track a $1.15 trillion Pentagon budget.

After sustained grassroots pressure, senators blocked debate on the 2027 NDAA, demanding the right to vote on amendments to stop funding for an unauthorized war on Iran and challenge deeper U.S.-Israel military integration. People power made this vote possible. Now let’s make sure senators hold the line.

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

Anyone who supported Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House is a complete and utter disgrace. This man has now said he will NOT be supporting the Khanna-Massie Amendment to strip Section 219 from the NDAA, which would marry the U.S. military to that of a genocidal state, Israel.

The NDAA did not pass the U.S. Senate today. We must keep up the pressure and mobilize the House to strip Section 219 entirely from the NDAA. We must not allow the AIPAC plantation—Hakeem Jeffries, Ritchie Torres, Gregory Meeks, and others—to surrender our sovereignty to a foreign government.

Support my campaign, and donate!

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

Only getting started. All out war for the next 4 months. Now we know the number to turn out.

In the last 2 weeks, we had an explosion of donations, volunteer signs up, and massive momentum built up.

There’s no slowing down. We petitioned to get our name on the ballot for November.

Only 12 percent of the registered bronx NY-15 pulled up to vote.

We will change that.

[Kynan Thistlethwaite @Noggatone]

Voted for @votevega26 today in the 15th CD, and my mother voted for @chuckforqueens in the 6th CD. Today was a good day…

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

Tonight at 6pm! I'm being joined by Brian McGinnis, @Villgecrazylady, @guychristensen_ @rexjonesnewz @russelldobular and more!

As we enter the final leg of the Primary Season, we are hosting one more Fundraiser drive to get us across the finish line!

Live on X and Youtube at 6pm!

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

Once again, the Democratic Party is about to send another $8 billion aid package to Nazis in Ukraine.

Congressman Gregory Meeks has proudly introduced the Ukraine Support Act. He wants to allocate another $8 billion we don’t have to spend in what is actually an expanding NATO war with Russia.

We must defeat the War Party, and declare our independence

[Thomas Massie for Congress @MassieforKY]

I filed with FEC for the 2028 House race.

This allows me to raise funds to continue my political operations supporting my position as a current office holder and as a potential candidate for federal office.

I haven’t made a final decision about which office to seek, if I run.

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

The last day to register to vote in the democratic primary is June 13th!

[Maria @Maria45799605]

https://t.co/mkBM5xwlW1

[Gray Area @GrayAreaTalks]

Trump shooter EXPOSED | Jose Vega LIVE | Gray Area LIVE #67 https://t.co/7YJDeopYlK

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

The Democratic establishment backs Ritchie Torres...And now Michael Blake is running cover.

I break it down here.

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

Live with Garland Nixon, Harley and Dennis https://t.co/8MwCdPFvTn

[Drew Ponder @drew_ponder]

LEGO What Shall We Do with the Drunken Hegseth? 🍺 🤮

[Jose Vega — Vote Vega! @votevega26]

The FEC reports make the choice in NY-15 clear: Torres has PACs, Blake has insiders, and I have people.

Ritchie Torres is sitting on nearly $15 million, powered by PAC money, AIPAC-aligned money, and a national donor machine.

Michael Blake has the establishment resume, the consultant class, and LOANED HIMSELF 40 thousand dollars.

But my campaign is being built the authentic way: person by person. More than two-thirds of my disclosed contributions were $200 or less, compared to less than half for Torres and barely a quarter for Blake. If we’re going to defeat the machine, we can't appease it by paying for overpriced consultants that are out of touch with everyday people.

I'm proud to say the only consultants I seek are the everyday people of the Bronx!