Emails direct donors to a hidden website called proisraelnetwork.org operated through an organization founded by Jeffrey Jonathan Zucker. At least 25 hidden webpages solicited donations for AIPAC candidate Laura Fine in Illinois
By Matthew Eadie, reposted from Evanston Now, November 14, 2025
Despite denying having support from the American Israel Political Action Committee in her run for Congress, the president of AIPAC’s board of directors is set to host a private fundraiser in Los Angeles next month in support of State Sen. Laura Fine, according to hidden webpages reviewed by Evanston Now.
Fine’s campaign told the Loyola University Chicago student newspaper, the Loyola Phoenix, late last month that the Glenview state senator “has not received and is not seeking endorsement from JStreet, AIPAC or any Jewish organization,” after Evanston Now’s reporting in October revealing AIPAC encouraging support for her campaign.
But two separate fundraising emails sent in August and September, obtained by Evanston Now, name Fine as the organization’s choice for Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s congressional seat, explicitly urging email recipients to donate to her campaign, while criticizing her top two opponents and providing links for donors to a hidden webpage where they can donate.
The links included in both emails direct donors to a site called proisraelnetwork.org, operated through an LLC called Democracy Engine, an organization founded by former ActBlue executive director Jeffrey Zucker. In 2023, Zucker told Bloomberg that the company is a workaround for business interests strained by maximum political contribution limits.
The site, which is hidden from standard internet searches, appears to be a legal loophole for lobbying groups to avoid having to disclose their involvement in soliciting donations.
It means groups like AIPAC can keep their name off of candidates’ disclosure lists, despite explicitly facilitating fundraising from their network of donors to their preferred candidates.
Popular Democratic fundraising sites like ActBlue are organized differently, resulting in donors giving money through ActBlue being marked down, or “earmarked” as having done so in Federal Election Commission disclosure filings, an important transparency rule to track money in politics.
In the case of AIPAC, because it technically never touches donors’ money, Democracy Engine is not required to disclose AIPAC as having facilitated donations and Fine’s campaign is able to report donations as individual contributions, as if donors had simply written and mailed a check directly to the campaign.
As of Sept. 30, the only donation website listed among Fine’s over 700 individual donors is ActBlue, likely donors clicking her own fundraising emails or donating on her campaign website.
The extent of AIPAC’s support of Fine, which Evanston Now first revealed in mid-October, just days after Fine disclosed her July-September quarterly financial report with the FEC, appears to be more extensive than previously reported, with at least 25 hidden webpages soliciting donations for Fine’s campaign. The site is the same one linked in AIPAC’s August and September fundraising emails, although several pages have since been taken down.
Among the webpages, at least four include information about private fundraising events in New York and California next month, to which attendees are invited if they donate to Fine’s campaign using the site.
One of the events, set for mid-December in the Los Angeles area, is hosted by the president of AIPAC’s board of directors, Michael Tuchin, according to the donation page.
Fine’s campaign did not respond to several requests for comment regarding the fundraiser, if she would be attending in person or about AIPAC’s support of her campaign, something she told the Loyola Phoenix she did not have, despite emails suggesting the contrary.
JStreet, another pro-Israel lobbying group that Fine mentioned in her comments to the Loyola Phoenix, supports only Democratic candidates and is publicly supporting Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss’ campaign for Congress, according to its website.
Just this week, AIPAC accused JStreet of being “not pro-Israel,” in a feud on social media.
Evanston Now’s analysis of hundreds of her donors shows that Fine likely raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors with long histories of supporting AIPAC-backed candidates. Often the donors had only ever donated to candidates through AIPAC’s fundraising portal or its adjacent super PAC.
Many included out-of-state donors, including Republican party donors, who had donated via the controversial pro-Israel lobbying group directly.
Fine’s campaign also disclosed credit card processing fees for Democracy Engine LLC, suggesting donors had in fact donated through the linked pages provided in AIPAC’s emails.
At least one webpage soliciting donations for Fine’s campaign ahead of a “pro-Israel Network fundraiser for Laura Fine” on Dec. 8 in New York City is signed explicitly by “AIPAC Restructuring & Distressed Credit Political Network.”
The webpage URL has since been removed, taking visitors to a page that says, “The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.”
The New York Times reported in early October that Democratic lawmakers are beginning to distance themselves from AIPAC due to the increasing unpopularity of its support of the Israeli government’s military occupation of Gaza, calling it an “increasingly toxic brand for some Democrats on Capitol Hill.”
Fine addressed questions about AIPAC’s emails only once publicly, in a statement to Crain’s Chicago Business columnist Greg Hinz earlier this month, saying she “whole heartedly disagree[s]” with AIPAC’s email that labeled her opponents, both Kat Abughazaleh and Daniel Biss, “dangerous detractors.”
Another email from AIPAC, obtained by Evanston Now, called Abughazaleh’s stance on foreign policy, which she describes as a “humane foreign policy,” as “anti-American” and “anti-Israel.”
Fine reportedly told Crain’s, “We can’t be using hateful language,” but did not respond to inquiries from Evanston Now about her statement to Crain’s or for additional comment about her stance on AIPAC’s emails and its support for her campaign.
Her campaign told Evanston Now last month it was “aware” of additional questions regarding AIPAC that it had not yet answered.
A representative from AIPAC, including one who sent one of the fundraising emails, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the group’s support of Fine, which remains hidden from AIPAC’s own PAC fundraising and endorsement pages.
Tuchin, AIPAC’s board of directors president hosting the December fundraiser for Fine, did not respond to multiple requests for comment either.
NEW: AIPAC Caught Secretly Paying US Politicians
The Zionist lobby has just been caught hiding donations to pro-Israel candidates after Americans have gained awareness about them.
I interviewed the man who broke the story.
I’m speaking with Matthew Eadie, the journalist who… pic.twitter.com/miowA9iUyR
— YourFavoriteGuy (@guychristensen_) October 25, 2025
*Full tweet below, click on the tweet to view the 26 minute long video it includes.*
NEW: AIPAC Caught Secretly Paying US Politicians
The Zionist lobby has just been caught hiding donations to pro-Israel candidates after Americans have gained awareness about them.
I interviewed the man who broke the story.
I’m speaking with Matthew Eadie, the journalist who uncovered a hidden website AIPAC has been using to funnel donations to pro-Israel candidates without earmarking it as an AIPAC contribution.
They appear to be replicating a scheme of secret donations across many ongoing Congressional races.
How exactly is AIPAC hiding donations?
Is AIPAC breaking election laws?
Why is the Zionist lobby interested in this race?
Are they hiding money in any other races? & more will be answered in this interview.
*Update: The New York Times reported in August 2026: “After news reports showed the groups’ ties to AIPAC, Mr. Biss relentlessly hammered Ms. Fine for that support. Mr. Biss won the election.”*
Matthew Eadie has covered politics and local government for Evanston Now since 2024. He was previously a freelance reporter for the New York Times. He grew up in Cleveland and has a journalism degree from Boston University, where he worked and edited the independent student newspaper, The Daily Free Press.
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