Note to readers: this started off as just a post on CT Attorney General William Tong’s collaboration with Bloomberg’s global warming group and the placement of its une-elected, unannounced employees in Tong’s office, but each time I looked up one referenced NGO, I found more and more interlocking ties; and the more I dug, the more I found. None of this is particularly new, but it’s been an interesting early morning project.
This is all far more than most (all?) of you will want to read, but the basic takeaway is that when you hear the claim that it’s the evil Koch brothers and their “dark money” that’s ruining the world, know that their money is dwarfed by the funding of the left by not just by the boogey man George Soros and his son, but by people like Swiss billionaire, Wyoming resident Hansjorg Wyss, or Hong Kong-based, Chinese tool Neville Singham (married to the the founder of Code Pink. (A good source for tracking some of this is the Capital Resource Center’s website).
So off we go; stop when you hit the MEGO stage.
A group housed at the New York University School of Law and backed by billionaire climate activist Michael Bloomberg quietly closed its doors in late August amid congressional scrutiny into its funding and operations. The so-called State Energy and Environmental Impact Center's signature initiative involved placing paid, climate-focused "fellows" in Democrat-controlled state attorney general offices nationwide as those offices sued the oil industry and other energy providers.
….[P]rior to its closure, the center was coming under increased pressure for effectively paying the salaries of state law enforcement agencies that were pursuing lawsuits in line with the center's priority of going after energy providers.
…. The disappearance of the center comes as it faced multiple congressional and state-level investigations over alleged ethics issues related to its funding and its practice of paying the salaries of officials it placed in state attorney general offices. Media reports and lawmakers often referred colloquially to those officials as "Bloomberg fellows" because Bloomberg helped found the center in 2017 with two seed grants worth $2.8 million each. Tax filings show that Bloomberg provided the grants through his eponymous charity, the Bloomberg Family Foundation—one of the country's most influential charities—that focuses on climate activism.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee opened an investigation into the center last year, stating that its activities "raise questions as to whether participating state attorneys general are acting on independent judgement to best serve the interests of their states' citizens."
"The Bloomberg-NYU program effectively offers states partisan money from a billionaire to carry out official functions of their offices," the panel wrote at the time. Bloomberg, it continued, "disguises his donations as 'philanthropy'" and uses the impact center as a mechanism "to skirt legislative bodies and effect partisan policy."
In a statement to the Free Beacon, the Oversight Committee's chairman Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) said he remained concerned that the center "undermined public integrity and pushed radical Democrat policies that increase energy costs for Americans, despite billing itself as ‘nonpartisan.’"
"The Committee is glad to see that this center will no longer be in operation," he added.
Months after Comer initiated his investigation, a group of Wisconsin State Senate leaders opened their own investigation into their state's attorney general for employing a "special attorney general" whose $90,000 a year salary was paid for by the center.
The Wisconsin senate also created a committee to coordinate the investigation. "Outside influence from highly self-interested sources is unacceptable," that committee's chair, Wisconsin State Senate president Mary Felzkowski (R.), said at the time.
In addition to that probe, two Wisconsin groups that represent dairy farmers sued the state's attorney general over his office's arrangement with the center, arguing it gives the center "unique, insider access and influence over DOJ’s work on agricultural and other environmental issues." The February 2025 complaint suggested that the center's fellow had coordinated enforcement actions Wisconsin had taken against dairy farmers. An oral ruling in that case is scheduled for later this month, according to court records.
Overall, since its founding, the center has placed "climate fellows" in attorney general offices in Washington, D.C., and at least 10 states nationwide, including Minnesota, Maryland, and New York [and CT — Ed]. It has exclusively hired fellows to work for Democrats.
The officials it has placed in the state offices have worked on actions targeting the oil and gas industry, favoring wind and solar development, and opposing the Trump administration’s energy agenda.
The Free Beacon reported last year, for example, that Lauren Cullum, the center fellow embedded in the Washington, D.C., attorney general's office, has been behind a number of the office's high-profile climate-related actions since she was hired in 2022. Cullum, whose official title is special assistant attorney general, was listed as a prosecutor on multiple environmental justice lawsuits targeting chemical companies and has represented Washington, D.C., in federal comment letters arguing in favor of green energy initiatives.
And the Free Beacon later reported that the center had expanded by placing fellows in state-level public service commissions, oft-overlooked agencies that regulate utility companies and permit energy infrastructure like pipelines and power plants. That development suggests the center and its funders sought to play a more active role interfering with traditional fossil fuel infrastructure development at the local level.
The center's advisory council, meanwhile, included the CEO of a major wind energy developer and the vice president of the green energy industry group the American Clean Power Association, an archived copy of its website shows. Green energy interests stood to gain from the state-level work conducted by center fellows.
AI Overview
The State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at NYU School of Law placed paid "climate fellows"—operating as special assistant attorneys general—in the District of Columbia and at least 10 states.
Placements by Location
As for Tong in particluar:
AI Overview (with its standard liberal tilt)
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong actively collaborates with the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center to challenge rollbacks of federal environmental rules, oppose utility rate increases, and defend clean energy initiatives.
Key Collaborative Actions & Legal Work
Challenging Utility Costs: AG Tong filed briefs opposing attempts by utilities like Eversource to pass unvetted and unapproved storm-recovery costs onto everyday ratepayers. [1]
Defending Clean Energy: He joined multi-state coalitions and legal efforts to protect offshore and onshore wind developments—such as fighting stop-work orders on the Revolution Wind project—and challenged federal freezes on renewable energy reviews. [1, 2]
Pushing Back on EPA Rollbacks: Tong co-led multi-state comment letters and lawsuits challenging the EPA's deregulatory actions, attempts to rescind vital endangerment findings, and rollbacks of carbon pollution standards for power plants
Protecting State Funding: He successfully fought unlawful federal caps on state energy program reimbursements to safeguard local clean-energy funding and keep utility bills affordable.
Tong also collaborates with the “New Venture Fund” in his various lawsuits against fossil fuel companies. Who is the New Venture Fund? A branch of the dark money, for-profit organization Arabella Advisors, which in November 2025 transferred its assets and employees to “Sunflower Services”.*
AI Overview of The New Venture Fund
The New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) public charity administered and managed by the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Arabella Advisors. [1, 2, 3]
Key Details Behind the Organization
Administration: It is part of a prominent network of left-leaning "dark money" fiscal sponsors managed by Arabella Advisors, which provides operational support, staffing, and management. [1]
Leadership: The organization is led by President Lee Bodner and overseen by an independent board of directors. [1, 2, 3]
Function: Founded in 2006, it operates as a fiscal sponsor, meaning it acts as an administrative umbrella (handling legal, HR, and accounting) to incubate and manage public interest, conservation, and advocacy projects without disclosing individual underlying donors.
Funding: It draws massive financial support—raising close to $1 billion annually—from major grant-making foundations and anonymous contributors.
*Sunflower Services:
In November 2025, Arabella Advisors officially closed down and transitioned its entire fiscal sponsorship and administrative services business into a newly formed Public Benefit Corporation called Sunflower Services. [1, 2]
➡️ The Rebrand & Transition
Why the change happened: Arabella Advisors faced years of intense GOP-led congressional investigations into its multibillion-dollar progressive "dark money" network. The firm took a massive financial blow in mid-2025 when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—one of its most high-profile clients—quietly cut ties and halted grants to the Arabella-managed funds.
[1, 2, 3, 4]
The New Structure: To distance the network from the "radioactive" Arabella brand, the company dissolved. More than 200 of Arabella’s operational and administrative staff were moved directly into Sunflower Services. [1, 2]
Owned by the Funds: Unlike Arabella Advisors (which was an independent for-profit consultancy), Sunflower Services is directly owned and financed by the nonprofits themselves—specifically with the New Venture Fund serving as the lead investor alongside the Windward Fund and Hopewell Fund. [1, 2]
Critics and watchdog groups note that while the network adopted a "sunnier," less controversial name, the fundamental system of funneling massive, anonymous donations into progressive advocacy projects remains functionally the same. [1, 2]
