Politico learned that the Due Diligence Group, a Democratic-aligned firm, tried to retrieve the military records of Republican New York state assembly member Colin Schmitt last year when he ran for the U.S. House.
Schmitt is still an active member of the U.S. National Guard, serving as a sergeant.
Schmitt lost to Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan by 1.5% in New York’s 18th District. He is the third former GOP House candidate Due Diligence tried to obtain records but failed. The other two are Sam Peters of Nevada and Kevin Dellicker of Pennsylvania.
Politico’s report is the latest in a saga over how the military has handled records belonging to Republicans. We know of 11 people who had their records released without permission, but only five have been named.
The request form came from Abraham Payton:
Payton, a former research director for the Democratic group American Bridge, sought Bacon’s personnel information, according to an official letter first reported by POLITICO. It is unclear if Payton was behind all of the 11 Air Force requests, however; Nunn has not publicly disclosed if Payton was the individual who sought his military personnel records, and Green has confirmed only that Due Diligence sought hers.Due Diligence did not respond to requests for comment. Payton, whom POLITICO attempted to reach at an email address connected to the firm, did not respond to a request for comment. The DCCC did not respond to a request for comment.—Payton indicated on the form requesting Schmitt’s records that he sought them for benefits and employment purposes. The form also indicates that Payton had Schmitt’s social security number at the time of his request.—According to a copy of the military records request Payton filed, he sought to obtain Schmitt’s “releasable/redacted copy of Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF)” in August of last year.Payton sought the information for the stated purpose of “Benefits,” “Employment,” and “Other,” to which he explained in the line below: “Services, awards, disciplinary history/records relevant to applicant’s qualifications for (potential) position’s duties, pay, and benefits.”
The Air Force identified Due Diligence Group as the firm that received the unauthorized release of other House Republican candidates’ records last year. At least 11 individuals had their records released to a third party.
Schmitt accused the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) since it paid Due Diligence Group over $110,000 between 2021-2022:
And Schmitt is pointing a finger directly at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the attempt to obtain his personnel data. The House Democratic campaign arm paid Due Diligence just over $110,00 between January 2021 and December 2022, according to Federal Election Commission records.“It appears that a coordinated campaign to target myself and other Congressional Republicans across the country who serve or have served our nation was for political gain,” Schmitt said in a statement, blaming the DCCC for “the illegal use of my social security number to attempt to gain access to my private military records.”
Schmitt thanked the New York Army National Guard for notifying him that someone tried “to illegally access” his information and the steps they took to protect him
We only know of five people who had their records released:
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