Controversial activist Shaun King’s progressive political action committee paid a California breeder more than $40,000 for a hulking guard dog — but he apparently returned the powerful pooch because it had “too much energy,” according to a report Monday.
The Grassroots Law PAC made a pair of payments to Potrero Performance Dogs that included a $10,000 “contractor deposit” on Dec. 6, Federal Election Commission Records show.
About two months later, the PAC — which seeks to “end oppressive policing, incarceration and injustice” — paid Potrero another $30,650, the records show.
Within days, King posted on Facebook that he’d welcomed a “new member of the King family” — a mastiff named “Marz,” the Washington Free Beacon said.
King’s post, which is no longer publicly accessible, said Marz would serve double-duty providing “alertness and protection” and as a family pet, according to the Free Beacon.
But another since-deleted post on Potrero’s Instagram page earlier this month reportedly showed the dog at an American Kennel Club competition where it won “Best in Show,” with the breeder noting that “he’s got a little too much energy to be a family dog so he came back.”
According to Potrero’s website, it specializes in breeding Cane Corsos, an Italian breed of mastiff which the AKC says trace their lineage to ancient Rome, where the dogs were used as bodyguards.
The “intimidating creatures” stand nearly 28 inches at the shoulder and often weigh more than 100 pounds, “with a large head, alert expression, and muscles rippling beneath their short, stiff coat,” according to the AKC.
The $40,000-plus that Grassroots Law PAC apparently spent on Marz is nearly equal to the $56,000 in contributions it made to non-federal political candidates in 2021, according to the Free Beacon.
