Knoxville lawyer’s PAC to fight political extremism, spent one-third of the money with own firm

Knoxville attorney Chloe Akers launched Liminal Plan, a political action committee (PAC), in March 2023. Its intent seemed simple: fight political extremism and promote moderate candidates supporting reproductive rights, Medicaid expansion and gun safety legislation. 

But just over one year later, Akers disbanded the Liminal Plan — after spending $134,307 of the $439,461 raised, or about 30%, with a consulting company she owns, Tennessee campaign finance records show.

She charged the PAC over seven months, averaging out to nearly $19,200 per month in consulting fees.

Campaign finance records also show the Liminal Plan did not donate a single dollar to any candidate running for office in Tennessee; instead, it used the rest of the money to pay other media, legal and political consultants.

The Liminal Plan PAC officially closed in March 2024, but by October 2023, almost all of its funds had been exhausted, and Akers started pivoting to a new group she formed called The Best of Tennessee. The Liminal Plan had about $2,200 remaining in March, most of which it donated to Akers’ new group.

Knoxville Republican political activist Madge Cleveland donated $5,000 to the Liminal Plan and told the Lookout she thought Akers’ concept for the group was smart but now she has reservations. 

“I’m not feeling good about the donation,” she said. “There was a real lack of transparency with the Liminal Plan. For a while, nobody could reach [Akers] and then she just showed up with a new group.”

Akers responded to questions from the Lookout by email, saying The Best of Tennessee is the “evolution” of the Liminal Plan. She declined a request for a phone interview. 

The Best of Tennessee’s founders include Akers and Republican political operatives Tom Ingram, also a prominent lobbyist, and Kim Kaegi, known for political fundraising.

Kaegi helped run Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty’s 2020 campaign fundraising apparatus before leaving the Hagerty organization. With current Gov. Bill Lee term-limited, Hagerty is one of several Republicans thought to be considering a run for governor in 2026.

Fighting dark money with dark money

The Best of Tennessee publicly launched in April, saying it has raised $660,000. The Best of Tennessee is not just a PAC but operates three separate entities, according to its website. 

The group runs The Best of Tennessee Action Fund for its independent expenditures, The Best of Tennessee Victory Fund for donations to candidates and The Best of Tennessee Inc. for everything else. 

The Best of Tennessee Inc. has a 501(c)(4) Internal Revenue Service designation, allowing it to raise money without disclosing its donors and spend money without detailed expense reports. Campaign finance experts refer to these organizations as dark money political groups. 

The Best of Tennessee’s structure is similar to that of the state’s education reform groups, such as the Tennessee Federation for Children and TennesseeCan, which have advocated for school vouchers and backed more extreme candidates in Republican primaries to achieve this goal. 

Akers said she is not taking a salary from the group, but her consulting firm could still get paid through this structure without any disclosure required. 

The group’s website says it does not plan to participate actively in the 2024 state election cycle, in which all the state House and half the state Senate districts are up for re-election.

Instead, the Best of Tennessee says it will start in January 2025, focusing on the 2026 election using a “quantitative and qualitative model” to “evaluate districts in the state most affected by government dysfunction.” 

Background on Akers

Akers first made headlines in 2022 after she quit her job at a law firm to form Standing Together Tennessee, a nonprofit to provide legal resources to anyone trying to navigate Tennessee’s strict abortion ban. 

Standing Together Tennessee no longer exists, and its website has been deactivated. The website for the Liminal Plan also no longer works. 

Akers told the Knoxville News Sentinel in 2023 state lawmakers’ refusal to add exemptions to Tennessee’s strict abortion law convinced her the system was “flawed.”

Instead of focusing on an organization to fight the state’s abortion law, she created the Liminal Plan to advocate for several issues that receive high polling approval from Tennesseans but that lawmakers refuse to pass. 

“For the lawmakers that absolutely refuse to do the will of the people and remain completely tied to and working on behalf of extreme special interests, the Liminal Plan, as a super PAC, will support challengers to their seats in the primary election,” Akers told the newspaper. 

“We will support moderate Republicans challenging extremism. We will support moderate Democrats challenging extremism.”

Akers’ formation of the Liminal Plan and The Best of Tennessee has also drawn positive attention from The Tennessean and Axios’ national bureau.

The Best of Tennessee’s future

No state campaign finance laws specifically ban Akers from running a PAC and spending those dollars with her own consulting firm. 

But former Republican mayor of Knoxville and local columnist Victor Ashe said it calls into question how The Best of Tenessee’s money will spend its money going forward. 

“If you want to fight polarization and say you raised $660,000 for this new group, aren’t people entitled to know who donated the money to you and see if you’ve spent it on the things you said you would?” Ashe said. 

The Lookout asked Akers if she planned to release the donors to The Best of Tennessee, and she responded by email that the group “will comply with all state and federal rules regarding disclosure of donors.”