This Orange County investor is the man backing Newsom recall effort with his money
John Kruger is the man behind Prov 3:9 LLC, the elusive corporation that donated $500,000 to the campaign to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, an officer for the company said Tuesday in a statement to KQED News.
Kruger, an Orange County-based investor, is opposing the governor for his actions limiting religious gatherings during the pandemic.
“Prov 3:9 has funded charitable works in the past, using the proceeds of its single member John Kruger,” the organization’s officer Thomas Liu said in the statement to KQED. “Prov 3:9’s mission is Faith-based. Both Mr. Kruger and I believe that the Governor’s Executive actions prohibiting religious assembly and worship violated the constitutional rights of Californians to congregate and worship.
“This view was recently supported by the United States Supreme Court. For this reason, Prov 3:9 has exercised its right to contribute to the recall effort and help allow Californians to have a voice on this. I am voluntarily identifying Mr. Kruger’s funding of Prov 3:9, but note that he seeks no credit for having done so.”
The news comes a day after Ann Ravel, a Democrat and formerly California’s chief elections watchdog, called on state ethics leaders to launch an investigation into the company for its donation.
Kruger’s donation represents the biggest contribution to the recall effort. Without significant funding, supporters won’t be able to collect the 1.5 million signatures needed to put a recall on the ballot. Late last year, a judge gave the recall campaign an extension to collect the signatures by March 17.
Organizers had collected 911,000 signatures as of Dec. 28, the campaign reported.
According to state records, Kruger, an investor, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to various state campaigns over the past several years. He is a registered Republican, and most recently, in October donated $100,000 to the California Republican Party, according to state records.
Federal filings show he has also donated thousands of dollars to Republican congressional candidates from Michigan, North Carolina, and Arizona. In 2019, he donated $2,800 to South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s campaign.
Though Kruger frequently identifies himself as a retired investor on campaign contributions, his employer in 2019 was listed as Travis Matthew, a golf apparel company in Huntington Beach he helped found in 2007. In a 2015 Q&A with a Christian golf magazine, “Links Players,” Kruger described his involvement with the company as more of an investor and “creative guy.”
“I actually work full-time as a volunteer working to bring school choice to California, and fiscal reform, including religious school choice,” Kruger is quoted as saying in the 2015 interview. “That’s my full-time passion right now is to try to change that game in the state.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 2:39 PM.