paid for some of the attack ads on Porter so to minimize his competition in November.
So not "dark money," then?
I think what Schiff did was a bit shady but understandable as he and his team are trying to make sure he wins in November. Everyone expected him to be one of the two candidates and so he was trying to find the second candidate that he is guaranteed to win against (which is the GOP nominee).
I think we've seen other candidates do something similar in the past. If I understand this correctly, Schiff and other party elites "elevated" Garvey as his primary opponent by buying his ads to save DNC funds. Two Dems. fighting it out over one Senate seat in an overwhelmingly blue state would have cost a fortune. The funds are better served elsewhere.
I didn't see the attack ads, but I heard a lot about Schiff and his teams gave out that strategy to others that supported him.
In an underhanded, shady way, it sort of makes sense.