Friends,

You paid for a lot of trouble these last two months. Here’s what it bought.

We put the Boebert family courtroom on your screen

In August we got court orders to broadcast Tyler Boebert’s Colorado hearings live. When they came, we streamed them on Muckrakers.Today, X, YouTube, and LinkedIn. No filter, no spin. Just the courtroom.

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September 4, Weld County: 20 days in jail with work release and 12 months probation after Tyler pleaded guilty to child abuse. September 10, Garfield County: 20 more days and two years supervised probation in his identity theft case, running concurrent. Congresswoman Boebert showed up at both hearings to beg for leniency. We showed up so her constituents could watch her do it.

We’ll be back with cameras for every hearing they’ll let us in.

Billboards are going up in CD-4

Around the hearings we ran a rapid-response campaign to fund billboards, radio spots, and broadcast court orders in Colorado’s 4th. Locations are mapped. The campaign is rolling. Boebert’s voters are going to learn who represents them whether she likes it or not. Please donate to that effort here:

BeetleJuice Boebert Billboards

Our FEC complaint against her (MUR 8390) is still pending. The book is still coming. More on that soon.

And Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert is out now. A coloring book for grown-ups who are tired of being played. Buy two, give one to a Republican.

Color the Crooks Book

Muckrakers.Today keeps swinging

Chuck Edwards quit his NC-11 re-election race after the Ethics Committee recommended censure. We covered it. The Putin Watch Index keeps counting. The Grifters docket keeps growing.

This month we also filed an ethics complaint against the president of the University of South Florida after USF handed game-day photo ops to two Republican statewide candidates and confirmed no plans to invite their Democratic opponents. A public university is not a campaign prop, and now Florida’s ethics commission gets to say so.

Read Muckrakers Today

DatumSignals is live

We launched Datum Signals at datumsignals.com. It forecasts elections from what voters actually do, not what they tell pollsters. In backtests it scored between 0.119 and 0.137 on the Brier scale, which matches or beats the big public forecasters. Built for 2026 and beyond. VoteROI.com is the first licensee.

Learn About Datum Signals

VoteROI is ready for 2026

VoteROI.com sits on 86.9M FEC records from 2000 to 2026, and the race pages for this cycle are live. The idea is simple: stop pouring money into races that are already over and put it where it moves the needle. Give through our pipes and processing runs about 2.75 percent instead of the roughly 6 percent the big platforms take. More of your dollar in the fight, less in their pocket.

Support Your Candidates Here

The bottom line

All of the activity is aimed at one thing: making the crooks answer for it. Cameras in courtrooms, billboards on highways, complaints on desks, and better tools for your money.

Want to keep it going? Chip in at

Donate to Win

Firing Fools Since 2021,

David B. Wheeler President, American Muckrakers

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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American Muckrakers won a court order to broadcast Boebert court proceedings LIVE. No filters, no spin. Voters saw it as it happened.

On Friday, Rep. Lauren Boebert begged a Weld County judge for mercy before her son Tyler was sentenced to 20 days in jail for child abuse and neglect, after his toddler was found wandering outside unsupervised three times.

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This Thursday, September 10, Tyler faces a second sentencing in Garfield County, and we expect the Congresswoman there again. He also faces five pending felony counts, including three child sexual exploitation charges.

The catch: our broadcast order covered one courtroom. Colorado requires a separate order from each judge, in each case. We have to win them one by one.

Help us hit $5,000 by Thursday to fund the court filings for broadcast orders at every remaining hearing, plus radio and billboards putting the footage in front of CO-04 voters.

CHIP IN NOW

We help fire her from one district once. Let’s finish the job.

David B. Wheeler
President, American Muckrakers

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Watch the boss of the Lauren Boebert Crime Family (aka BeetleJuice) make a pathetic plea to keep Tyler Boebert out of jail. It failed and the judge gave him a 20 day sentence in jail, with a work release daily.

Tyler has additional cases against him that could carry additional jail time and several are felonies.

We’ll stay on top of this story and keep bring you updates.

Help us fund this work so voters of Colorado learn more about the Boss. Please donate here:

Hold Boebert Accountable Fund

About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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SPRUCE PINE, NC: Polling asks voters what they think. Datum Signals (datumsignals.com), launched today by Parallax Advisory LLC, forecasts elections from what voters actually do: observable behavior that doesn’t depend on who answers the phone.

In back-testing against past elections, the model scored in the 0.119 to 0.137 Brier range (a standard forecast accuracy measure where lower is better), matching or beating leading public forecasters.

How it works: Datum Signals tracks observable voter behavior rather than survey responses. A fast model follows week-to-week shifts in that behavior while a slow model anchors on fundamentals like incumbency and district history. The two are blended with an error structure that assumes misses correlate across similar states, so one bad assumption can’t quietly wreck the whole map. Outliers are trimmed before they can distort the forecast.

Who it’s for:

• Newsrooms can use Datum Signals to pressure-test the polling narrative in the races they cover.

• Campaigns can see where a race actually stands before deciding where time and money matter most.

• Donors can use it to make sure their dollars go to races that actually need them, not races already won or lost, and VoteROI.com provides a direct way to act on that and donate.

• Platforms that need election probabilities, from media dashboards to prediction markets, can license the model directly rather than building their own.

“Every polling miss of the last decade came from the same root problem: you’re modeling answers, not actions,” said David B. Wheeler, founder of Parallax Advisory. “Datum Signals is built for the 2026 midterms and beyond.”

VoteROI.com is the platform’s first licensee. Licensing inquiries: david@parallaxadvisory.llc.

About Parallax Advisory LLC: Founded by five-time founder David B. Wheeler. Parallax Advisory builds data and accountability products including VoteROI.com and Datum Signals. Wheeler is also President of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc.

Contact: David B. Wheeler, david@parallaxadvisory.llc

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Lauren Boebert has spent four years trying to shut us up. A restraining order. Threats against our donors. Calling us liars on Fox. A federal judge sided with us and she settled.

Fund the Cameras and Team, $2,500 Goal

On August 19, Weld County Court Judge Michele Meyer granted our request to put a camera in the courtroom for Tyler Boebert’s sentencing on September 4 at 1:30 p.m. Here’s the order:

Lauren Boebert is expected to take the stand on her adult son’s behalf. Every word she says under oath will be on video, and we’re going to make sure every voter in her district sees it.

A TV ad buy to reach those voters costs $100,000. We need $2,500 to put a camera and a team in that courtroom and get the footage out the same day.

Fund the Cameras and Team, $2,500 Goal

Hit the goal before Friday and the cameras roll. Miss it and she testifies in an empty room.

She earned every damn frame.

Thanks in advance for your help getting this into the homes of voters.

Regards,

David B. Wheeler, President

American Muckrakers

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Some guys buy a park bench with their name on it.

Donald Trump became president and decided that wasn’t nearly enough.

So he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He brought back Mount McKinley because apparently mountains need branding. The Strait of Hormuz has reportedly been floated as the Strait of Trump, because nothing says “America First” like renaming a body of water we don’t own.

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And then there’s the Kennedy Center.

Trump’s board tried to put his name on it. A federal judge basically said, “No. Congress has to do that.”

So naturally they found a loophole.

They put up a plaque with Trump’s name.

Then they named the plaza after him.

Then they renamed the Kennedy Center Honors.

Because apparently if you can’t legally rename the building, you can just keep putting your name on everything around it until somebody gets tired.

So we thought: Fuck it. If Trump gets a Department of Renaming, so do we.

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THE DEPARTMENT OF RENAMING

gov.departmentofrenaming.com

Making Maps Great Again.

We have one employee, one Sharpie and absolutely no authority whatsoever.

Want to rename your hometown?

Do it.

Your street?

Done.

Your ex?

Obviously.

You can even rename yourself and receive an official certificate that is completely meaningless but looks fantastic in a frame.

I am now officially David the Magnificent Trump Wheeler of Spruce Pine.

My dog is still Poppy.

For now.

You can also visit the Trumplandia Atlas, where we’ve documented the real renamings, the proposed renamings, the court-blocked renamings and the ones Trump presumably came up with while sitting on the toilet.

And yes, you can buy a seat on our Board of Directors.

$500 for chairman.

$250 for vice chairman.

$100 for a regular seat.

No qualifications. No background check.

Money talks.

We’re calling it the Trump Model of Governance.

And there’s a gift shop.

Every dollar goes to American Muckrakers, because somebody has to keep track of this shit.

The joke, of course, is that this isn’t really about names.

It’s about power.

If you can put your name on everything, you get to pretend everything belongs to you.

Trump understands that.

So do we.

The difference is we’re making fun of him.

Get renamed before he gets to you.

gov.departmentofrenaming.com

David the Magnificent Trump Wheeler is the founder of American Muckrakers and co-host of the MUCK YOU! podcast, and editor of Muckrakers.Today

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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What Happened at Tyler Boebert’s Advisement Hearing

Tyler Boebert appeared (remotely) before a Colorado judge for a formal advisement hearing. No plea was entered. The judge made that explicit: “Today’s not the day where you plead guilty, not guilty, anything like that.”

The court advised him of five counts, all alleged to have occurred between January 1 and February 29, 2024:

Counts 1 and 2: Sexual exploitation of a child, both class 3 felonies. Count 1 alleges he knowingly caused, induced, or enticed a child to engage in explicit sexual conduct for the making of sexually exploitative material. Count 2 alleges possession with intent to deal, sell, or distribute such material. Each carries 4 to 12 years in the Department of Corrections, three years mandatory parole, a fine of up to $750,000, and mandatory sex offender registration under C.R.S. 16-22-103.

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Count 3: Sexual exploitation of a child (accessing, viewing, possessing, or controlling sexually exploitative material, including video), a class 4 felony. Two to six years DOC, three years parole, $2,000 to $500,000 fine, sex offender registration.

Counts 4 and 5: Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, alleging he induced, aided, or encouraged a child to violate a felony victims rights act crime, namely sexual exploitation of a child. Two to six years DOC each, three years parole, $2,000 to $500,000 fine.

Boebert confirmed on the record that he understood the charges and penalties: “Yes, I do, Your Honor.”

The judge then entered a mandatory protection order naming two protected parties (not named in open court). Boebert must not harass, intimidate, retaliate against, or tamper with any victim or witness; must vacate and stay away from their home and any location where they are likely to be found; and must have no direct or indirect contact with them. He confirmed he had a copy of the order and understood its conditions. The hearing ended with the court setting the next court date.

The Judge issued an Order allowing us to post the video from the hearing. In addition, we made a transcript. Both can be viewed here:

Hearing Video and Transcript Here

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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I keep coming back to one number.

$194 million.

That is how much was spent on advertising in Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary this year. Nobody had ever spent that much on a state midterm primary before.

About $64 million of it went toward helping Haley Stevens try to defeat Abdul El-Sayed.

Two Democrats.

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In the closing stretch, the Stevens side was outspending El-Sayed’s campaign on television by 12 to 1.

Stop and think about that for a minute.

Michigan was going to nominate a Democrat either way. Meanwhile, Republicans control the White House, the House, the Senate, and the courts. Faced with that little national emergency, some of the smartest and richest people in Democratic politics decided the most urgent use of $64 million was settling a family argument.

I have been around politics long enough that very little surprises me anymore.

This did.

Whose money was it?

I did what I usually do when somebody tells me not to worry about the money.

I pulled the filings.

You should too. In fact, please do, because some of this sounds made up.

The biggest spender behind Stevens was United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC. It spent roughly $30 million on this one race, a record for the group.

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AIPAC itself supplied about $30 million of UDP’s roughly $100 million cycle haul. Because AIPAC moves its money through a nonprofit, the public cannot see where a dime of that money originally came from.

It is a black box wearing a blue jersey, supposedly.

The money we can trace is not especially reassuring.

Paul Singer gave to UDP.

Yes, that Paul Singer, one of the largest Republican megadonors in America.

Robert Kraft gave. Marc Rowan gave.

Jan Koum gave Trump’s super PAC $5 million in Meta stock in 2024, then moved another $1.6 million into UDP through a pass-through organization.

When researchers examined UDP’s large contributions, they found that barely one-third came from people who reliably support Democrats. Nearly a quarter came from donors with Republican giving histories.

Then there was A Stronger Michigan, the second-largest spender in the race. It poured in about $16 million. Almost all of its money came from Center Forward, a dark-money group that tells the public essentially nothing about where its money originates.

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Another organization, the Center for Democratic Priorities, spent roughly $6.5 million and apparently never bothered reporting its activity to the FEC at all.

And while all of this was happening, AIPAC sent a joint fundraising email for Haley Stevens and Susan Collins.

The same email.

A Michigan Democrat and a Maine Republican.

The biggest so-called pro-Democratic spender in the biggest Democratic primary in America was simultaneously raising money to protect a Republican Senate seat.

You do not need me to explain what that is.

The ads barely work

Here is the dirty little secret everybody in this business knows but few people with invoices are willing to say out loud.

Television persuasion in large federal races barely moves voters.

I am not saying every television ad is worthless. I am saying the research has been remarkably consistent. The effects are small. They fade quickly. And the more saturated the market becomes, the less each additional dollar accomplishes.

Michigan was the most saturated midterm advertising market in history.

By the end, the last $50 million might as well have been fed through a paper shredder.

So why keep spending?

Because consultants get paid from the ad buy. The larger the buy, the larger the check.

There is no commission on restraint.

There is certainly no commission on investigative journalism.

The ads are not merely the strategy.

The ads are the business.

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Here is what about $305,000 did

I will use our own books because I know them cold, and every line is sitting at the FEC for anybody who wants to check my math.

Madison Cawthorn

We broke the video of him humping his cousin’s face. Roughly half a billion people saw the story worldwide. A sitting member of Congress lost his own primary.

Our cost was about $150,000.

Mark Robinson

We put his own NudeAfrica.com comments in front of North Carolina voters.

His words. His account. His history.

He was wiped out in November.

Cost: about $25,000.

Chuck Edwards

We exposed his messages to female staffers, the casino trips, and the late-night texts.

He is resigning.

Cost: about $5,000.

Five grand.

Lauren Boebert

Beetlejuice.

The theater’s own security cameras did most of the testifying. She survived her next election by 546 votes and then fled to another district to preserve her career.

We spent about $125,000.

And we are not finished with her.

Add those numbers together and you get approximately $305,000.

For roughly that amount, we helped defeat a sitting congressman, helped expose a statewide Republican candidate who was subsequently crushed, exposed another congressman who is now leaving office, and pushed a fourth into political survival mode.

The pro-Stevens operation in Michigan spent about 210 times that amount fighting another Democrat.

Yes, I know. A Senate primary is not the same thing as investigative work. Michigan is not North Carolina. Television advertising is not opposition research.

That is precisely the point.

Donors should stop comparing budget categories and start comparing results.

The part that makes me angry

That $305,000 did not come from billionaires.

It came five dollars at a time. Ten dollars. Twenty-five dollars.

It came from regular people who have mortgages, grocery bills, children, medical expenses, and plenty of better things they could be doing with their money. They gave anyway because they believed corrupt politicians should be exposed and removed from office.

Then we have to go back and ask those same people again.

Not because the institutional money does not exist. It plainly exists.

The foundations, megadonors, and political organizations sitting on nine-figure accounts simply will not fund this kind of work.

I do not mean they will not fund us specifically. That would be a complaint, and I am not interested in complaining.

They will not adequately fund anything like this.

There is a comparatively inexpensive, proven, public method for exposing corrupt politicians and helping remove them from office. The people controlling the largest pools of political money would still rather burn through $64 million choosing between two Democrats.

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Even Kamala Harris said it

At the Louisiana Democratic Party gala in New Orleans, Kamala Harris said voters want leaders who know how to fight. She said the Democratic Party needs to become comfortable with “a certain kind of ruthlessness.”

She is right.

But ruthlessness is not a speech.

Ruthlessness is a budget line.

Ruthlessness means funding the work that removes corrupt Republicans from office instead of writing nine-figure checks to fight your own voters.

The machine heard Harris.

It applauded.

Then it went right back to billing.

Until Democratic donors, especially the real ones giving five, ten, and twenty-five dollars, demand that their institutions fund what demonstrably works instead of what reliably generates commissions, the results will not change.

The receipts are public.

The model works.

The excuse is gone. Help us defeat a couple more terrible politicians. Subscribe. Donate. Contact us with tips about nefarious actions.

DBW

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About the Author

David B. Wheeler is the president and co-founder of American Muckrakers, the Western North Carolina accountability organization best known for helping end Madison Cawthorn’s congressional career in 2022, the rare instance in modern politics of a sitting incumbent losing his own primary because somebody bothered to do the homework. Since then, American Muckrakers has turned its attention to Lauren Boebert, Ken Paxton, and a growing roster of politicians who confuse public office with a personal ATM. He publishes accountability journalism at Muckrakers.Today.

Wheeler co-hosts the MUCK YOU! podcast with Col. Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel and former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay. He is the author of Color the Crooks, Case File #001: Lauren Boebert, the coloring book James Carville endorsed with the words “She earned every damn page. Buy it.” *He is also the founder of VoteROI.com, a political data company built on 86.9 million FEC records that helps donors figure out where their money actually goes, which, as this essay makes clear, is a question more people should be asking.

Before all that, Wheeler spent three decades in politics, elections, and event production in more than 50 countries on all seven continents. Along the way he lowered the Mississippi River, produced the first professional sports event ever held in Moscow, and produced the first marathon ever run on Antarctica. His political education started early: Page for the Iowa House of Representatives, intern in the United States Senate, and National Committeeman for Iowa on the Young Democrats of America national committee. David was the lead advance guy for then Senator Obama in Iowa City, Iowa, in October of 2006, and then again during his presidential announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, in February 2007. And, he has some good stories from both experiences.

An Iowa native and proud Hawkeye, Wheeler is a father of three and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, in the district Chuck Edwards is currently failing. He believes sunlight is the best disinfectant, filings don’t lie, and the loudest guy in the room is usually the one with the most to hide.

And, Beetlejuice Boebert claimed she was going to sue him. She never did, so David sued her in Federal Court in Denver and partially won.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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While Rep. Lauren Boebert prepares to testify on her son’s behalf at two criminal sentencing hearings next month, a new case has landed on the docket.

On August 14, 2026, a petition for a protection order was filed against Tyler Boebert in Mesa County Court (Case No. 2026C925). Three days later, on August 17, Judge Matthew B. Hardin granted a Temporary Protection Order against him.

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Here is what the court record shows:

The timeline

• August 14, 2026: Complaint filed and protection order registration paperwork submitted

• August 17, 2026: Temporary Protection Order GRANTED, plus an accompanying order

• August 28, 2026: Temporary Restraining Order hearing, 9:00 AM, Courtroom 6, Judge Matthew Bryson Hardin presiding

The petitioner is a private individual, and out of respect for her privacy and safety we are not amplifying her name, though it appears in the public record.

The bigger picture

This TPO does not exist in a vacuum. Tyler Boebert already faces:

• Sentencing in Weld County on September 4, 2026 (Case 2025M2424, 1:30 PM, Courtroom 8)

• Sentencing in Garfield County on September 10, 2026 (Case 2024CR57, 1:30 PM, Courtroom C)

• Pending felony charges in Garfield County (Case 2026CR234)

Rep. Boebert is expected to testify on her son’s behalf at the September sentencing hearings. She has spent years lecturing America about law and order. Her family’s court calendar tells its own story.

What happens next

The August 28 hearing will determine whether the temporary order becomes a permanent one. We will be watching, and we will report what happens.

For full coverage, court documents, and ongoing reporting on the Boebert family’s legal troubles, visit muckrakers.today.

Paid for by American Muckrakers PAC II (americanmuckrakers.com). Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Donations made to American Muckrakers, Inc. are not deductible for federal or state tax purposes.

This publication is First Amendment protected speech and commentary on matters of public concern. All individuals referenced are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. No portion of this publication may be used for commercial purposes without the written consent of American Muckrakers PAC, Inc. and David B. Wheeler.

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Colorado court records show a new felony case filed August 6 in Garfield County District Court: The People of the State of Colorado v. Boebert, Tyler J, case 2026CR234.

Five counts. Three of them felony sexual exploitation of a child charges, including induce/entice and possession with intent (both Class 3 felonies). Two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

A warrant issued August 7. Bond set at $10,000. He walked out of jail August 9.

And in four weeks, his mother, Rep. Lauren Boebert, is scheduled to testify on his behalf at his sentencing hearings in two SEPARATE cases (Weld County Sept 4, Garfield County Sept 10).

He is presumed innocent. The court records are public. We published them. But the question has to be asked: WHERE THE FUCK IS THIS YOUNG MAN’S MOTHER AND FATHER?

👉 Read the full story with source documents at Muckrakers.Today

We broke this…

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American Muckrakers has obtained a county jail “Recent Releases” log showing Tyler Jay Boebert, 21, released from custody on August 9, 2026.

The timing matters. Tyler Boebert faces two sentencing hearings next month: Weld County on September 4 (case 2025M2424) and Garfield County on September 10 (case 2024CR57). His mother, Rep. Lauren Boebert, is expected to testify on his behalf at both.

A release log means a booking preceded it. We are pulling the intake records now to confirm when he went in, why, and on what charges.

We will publish the documents as soon as we have them.

🔴 Full story coming on Muckrakers.Today 🔴

If you value this work, it runs on reader support. Chip in at americanmuckrakers.com or mail a check to American Muckrakers, 237 Rockledge Rd, Spruce Pine, NC 28777.

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Yes, that's really MTG via Cameo. Yes, we'll do it again. Help us take down the next Chuck Edwards and others that think staff are playthings.

Give Here For Accountability

Tuesday we published his texts and told him to resign. Wednesday, 5 a.m., he quit his campaign. And no, I don’t think it was our headline that did it. It was his own thumbs. A thousand pages of his messages, produced to the Ethics Committee, sitting there in black and white. All we did was make sure the people of Western North Carolina got to read what he wrote.

Since Wednesday my phone hasn’t stopped. Reporters, donors, a couple of old friends from Iowa, all asking some version of the same question: how did it happen so fast?

It didn’t. That’s the answer nobody wants. What you saw was the last 48 hours of a file that took years. The boring years are the whole trick.

Which brings me to the file I’ve been keeping longer than any other.

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Our reasoning then was simple math, and we published it. South Dakota was never going to elect two challengers over Mike Rounds. Beaudion, the Democratic nominee, had $3,078 in the bank as of this week. Independent Brian Bengs, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, had the resources, the profile, and the only realistic path. A split field was a gift to Rounds. We said consolidate. It took months, but the field just consolidated.

South Dakota now joins Nebraska and Idaho, where Democrats also stepped aside for independents, in the one-on-one model that gives red-state challengers an actual chance. Rounds against Bengs, head to head. That is a race.

Click here to listen to the 2 interviews we’ve had with Brian Bengs …

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He says it was prayer and reflection. Sure it was. The House Ethics Committee dropped its report Monday finding substantial evidence that he made repeated unwanted advances toward two young female staffers, and recommended the full House censure him. That is one step short of expulsion. By Tuesday, per CNN, his own party’s leadership was working the phones to shove him out. By Wednesday he was gone. That is not prayer. That is math.

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I have spent this week inside the document production his own office handed the Ethics Committee. Nearly a thousand pages of his texts. His words, not mine. We published them yesterday, and if you missed that piece, go read it, because the man told on himself better than we ever could.

He offered, in writing, to skip House votes to decorate a staffer’s Christmas tree. He cancelled a constituent tele-t…

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That is not a characterization. That is what the documents say.

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American Muckrakers has reviewed the text messages Rep. Chuck Edwards produced to the U.S. House Committee on Ethics. His own words, spanning two years and two 20-something female staffers:

The House Ethics Committee has now found Edwards violated the House Code of Official Conduct and recommended the full House CENSURE him. We publish the screenshots, the full timeline, and the case for why censure is not enough. Chuck Edwards must resign.

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I’ve spent years chasing accountability in Congress. Boebert. Cawthorn before her. This morning it landed in my own backyard.

Chuck Edwards is my congressman. NC-11, Western North Carolina, the mountains I live in. Today the House Ethics Committee, chaired by a Republican, recommended the full House censure him over his conduct toward two young female staffers. One was 19 when she started working for him. Censure means standing in the well of the House while the Speaker reads your shame out loud. Only expulsion is worse.

And here’s the part most outlets will skip: Edwards filed a 14-page counterattack written by Stanley Brand, one of the most experienced ethics lawyers in Washington. It doesn’t deny the gifts or the trips or the letters. It says the Committee broke its own rules to get him.

We’re hosting every page at Muckrakers.Today. Don’t take my word for anything. Read it yourself:

Full report: https://muckrakers.today/docs/edwards-ethics-committee-report.pdf

The exhibits: https://muck…

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I don’t need to look far for proof. I see it right from my front porch.

Exhibit A: North Carolina’s 11th District

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Meet Chuck. I live in NC-11, tucked in the mountains west of Asheville. Our congressman is Chuck Edwards. Edwards is currently under investigation following allegations he was sleeping with, or trying to sleep with, his own staff. Beyond that, he presided over a Hurricane Helene disaster recovery that left his constituents stranded without debris removal, housing funds, or basic answers while he cut ribbons and posed for photo ops. And yes, Chuck has the single worst comb-over in the United States Congress. That’d be…

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So here’s the bill. April 23, 2026, Lauren Boebert puts her name on the Surveillance Accountability Act as the lone cosponsor behind Thomas Massie. And it asks the government to do the almost insultingly obvious: get a warrant. From a judge. On probable cause. Before it goes digging through your life. Shut the loophole that lets the feds just buy from a data broker what the Constitution says they can’t take. Kill the warrantless face scans. Choke the license plate readers quietly clocking everywhere you drive.

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It’s actually a pretty good bill. I’ll say it twice so nobody misquotes me: good bill. The data-broker dodge is a real, deliberate, years-running scam on the Fourth Amendment, and Congress has spent every one of those years looking anywhere else.

But chew on one word. Notice.

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The numbers came in this week, and they are worse than anything in four years.

The United Nations confirmed on July 14 that June 2026 was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022. At least 293 civilians killed. Another 1,990 injured. May had already set a four-year record. June broke it.

Since Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022, the UN has verified at least 16,431 civilian deaths in Ukraine, including 803 children, with more than 48,000 injured. The UN says the real number is far higher, because it cannot count the dead in places Russia occupies, like Mariupol, where thousands are believed buried under rubble no investigator can reach.

And July is not letting up. In the first seven days of this month alone, 93 civilians were killed. On July 6, Russian missiles and drones hit Kyiv overnight and killed at least 14 people in their apartment buildings. That strike came four days after another attack on the capital killed at least 30.

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