ALUMNI NEWS
Southeastern Province Political Action Committee Chairman Martin Raxton Leads Krimson Political Action Council (PAC)
By Damon Peebles
M artin Raxton (Delta Pi 1984) is a Life Mem- ber of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and the Southeastern Province. Brother Raxton is a past Polemarch of the Alpharetta- Smyrna (GA) Alumni Chapter, Chair- man of the Metropolitan Atlanta Coali- tion of Kappas (MACK) and Chairman of the Southeastern Province Political Action Committee. He is a recipient of the Joseph R. Jenkins Award from the Southeastern Province. Currently, Brother Raxton is the President of the Delta Pi Foundation and member of the Alpharetta-Smyrna (GA) Alumni Chapter.
elections; we're doing all different levels of government.
Peebles: Who came up with the ideal and what was the need to come up with the Krimson PAC? Raxton: In serving as the political action committee chair with Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. for the Southeastern Province, what necessitated my thirst and drive for establishing and getting the Krimson PAC up and going was that the Fraternity, which is registered with the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) as a 501c7, cannot endorse candidates or financially contribute to candidate’s campaigns and their other organiza- tions. Several Greek letter organizations have been successful in creating PACs and that they are in effect now able to support candidates and campaigns and policies with their membership. Even though their membership is not giving funds directly from those organiza- tions, the members are contributing out of pocket and supporting fundraisers that these PACs can now effectively be provided to candidates. And oh, by the way, a lot of their candidates and a lot of these individuals running are D9 members. Now, it’s great that we have a vehicle in place, that we can financially support members of our organization as well. Peebles: The Krimson PAC is not an actual arm of Kappa Alpha Psi but it's affiliated through working with its mem- bers. Is that correct? Raxton: Yes, we are not a committee of Kappa Alpha Psi. You will not see Kappa Alpha Psi reflected in any of our materials, social media on our website.
Martin Raxton (Delta Pi 1984)
Peebles: What is the Krimson PAC?
lizing diverse representation in various levels of government, they will give us a seat at the table because we're going to help them by raising capital for repre- sentation. This will help raise political capital whereby, as I like to call it, we're “now taking the hinges off the door: and we're having access into policy that’s impacting individuals and communities. With that, we have a cadre of 15 to 20 candidates in 2022 we're financially supporting their election campaigns. My goal within five years is that there will be regional Krimson PACs that will report in and feed into the national Krimson PAC and that these regional entities will be focused on the state and local elections while the Krimson PAC’s parent company will be aligned on na- tional campaigns and elections.
Raxton: The Krimson PAC, which was formed in 2021, is a vehicle that will assist us in raising financial support to political candidates that align with our strategic progressive platform in improv- ing the lives of millions of individuals.
Peebles: So, it's a political action com- mittee?
Raxton: It is a political action commit- tee. We are certified through the FEC which is the Federal Election Commit- tee on a national level as well as on state levels. Peebles: What is the overall goal? I know you said to mobilize, but what are some of your short and long-term goals? Raxton: Well, as far as short-term goals, we have a cadre of candidates that have been vetted by the Krimson PAC that believe in the same platform of improv- ing lives of residents living within un- derserved communities and that by uti-
Peebles: So right now, this is the na- tional Krimson PAC, correct?
Raxton: Right now, we're doing local, state and national level campaigns and
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