ALUMNI NEWS
Raxton: It became official as a legal entity in the state of Georgia in June 2021. The Krimson PAC been in the works and talked about I would say at least for several years. The current Fra- ternity’s national Political Action Chair, Britton Smith and I had been discussing the PAC since my involvement serving as the Southeastern Province Political Action Committee Chair. I mentioned to Brother Smith that hey, it would be great to have the opportunity to start a PAC and there's other D9 organiza- tions such as the Alphas, Sigmas, and Omegas that have this in place. My thought was to see if we could muster up the infrastructure, get this in place, get it stood up and then really solicit and obtain political capital to what the PAC is all about. And specifically, this is something now that the members of Kappa Alpha Psi could embrace and get behind.
But Kappa Alpha Psi was the impetus of the Krimson PAC and the Krimson PAC is facilitated, founded and primar- ily administered by members of Kappa Alpha Psi. Peebles: Ok, so is it sanctioned by the Fraternity? As the Fraternity does not endorse candidates or political parties, do they endorse the PAC? In other words, are they ok with you having the PAC and being somewhat loosely affili- ated with the Fraternity? Raxton : The Fraternity is aware the Krimson PAC and I have presented the PAC to the Grand Board of Directors of Kappa Alpha Psi. IHQ is in the process of putting together messaging which will be shared with members of the Fraterni- ty so members will know that when they see the Krimson PAC, that truly Kappa Alpha Psi is behind it and they are asked to support it even though formally the Fraternity financially cannot directly contribute to it. But they do support the Krimson PAC and will be out in force to assist our goals and aims of helping raise funds to support our candidates. Peebles: And to be clear, that's just like they would do for any organization, correct? Raxton: The Fraternity could do this for any organization. They could support any PAC if they wanted to or say, you know, brothers feel free. And again, this is not something that's being mandated. Kappa Alpha Psi cannot mandate for the brothers to financially support or that brothers give and contribute to the Krimson PAC. However, they can rec- ommend, suggest and hope that broth- ers will support. Our goals to that broth- ers will clearly know that not only when they see me and see our board as far as the Krimson PAC, they're also seeing Kappa Alpha Psi behind the scene. Peebles: When did the Krimson PAC become official and how long has it been in the works?
Peebles: And is anyone able to be involved in it or is it just members of the Fraternity? Raxton: Groups and individuals are able to get involved with the Krimson PAC. Anyone is able to provide advice and recommendations and provide strategic partnerships. As an example, we have conducted several onsite fundraisers with other PACs and organizations that are not affiliated with the Krimson PAC. We will partner with others and we will continue to do that moving forward. Peebles: If anyone wanted to become active as far as assisting in some of the things you're working on, how would they go about doing that? Raxton: I would recommend they go out and study our website at www. krimsonpac.org to learn more about us. They could also reach out to me, Martin Raxton at mraxton@krimsonpac.org and they could also give me a call at (404) 276-2121. We are also on Twitter and Facebook. Peebles: Can you tell us of any can- didates or legislation you've recently supported? Raxton: One of our what I like to call “early adopter” candidates were Andre Dickens who was elected Mayor, City of Atlanta in 2021 and who partnered with us through the Krimson PAC. We held several fundraisers with Brother Dickens and we believed in his platform early on. Mayor Dickens is an excellent example that here on a local level the Krimson PAC can make a difference. On the national level, there are three candidates that have just recently been endorsed by the Krimson PAC that includes Loretta Smith who is running for Congress out of the State of Oregon, Charles Booker who is running for U.S. Senate out of the State of Kentucky and Dana Nessel who is currently the Attorney General representing the State of Michigan. We have some of the most impressive can-
Peebles: Who all is involved in the Krimson PAC right now?
Raxton: The Krimson PAC has a board of directors. There are three individu- als on the board. And again, they're not all members of Kappa Alpha Psi. We have a diverse board and we also have three officers. I serve as the President & CEO. There is a CAO and a CFO and we also have senior advisors that assist with us with strategy and fundraising. One thing I want to point out is that fundraising is a profession and many of us are not professional fundraisers. So, we partner with those in political parties, social justice activities and civic organizations to assist us and to partner with us in our cause of raising money and awareness to the mission of the Krimson PAC.
Peebles: Is the Krimson PAC affiliated with a specific party?
Raxton: The Krimson PAC is in fact a non-partisan organization. We are not affiliated with any particular govern- mental party or political party. So, we are nonpartisan.
THE JOURNAL ♦ WINTER 2021 - SPRING 2022
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