Did the publisher of the Dallas Express also fund Keep Dallas safe

1. Who is the publisher of the Dallas Express and what has he said publicly about civic causes

The Dallas Express names Monty Bennett as its publisher and the site’s own pages profile him as a civic-minded hospitality industry leader active on public-safety and education issues ^{[4] [5]}, and Bennett personally discussed his public-safety advocacy on a Dallas Express podcast ^[6].

2. Reporting that connects Bennett to Keep Dallas Safe

Investigations by the Texas Observer and other local outlets report that Bennett was a self-admitted donor and an alleged backer of Keep Dallas Safe and a broader network of groups seeded with help from a California firm, Crowds on Demand, which critics describe as planting “astroturf” organizations ^{[1] [3]}. Those outlets trace coordinated activity—group formation, messaging favoring stricter policing, and synchronized advocacy around the Dallas HERO amendments—to a network that reporting links to Bennett’s political and media activities ^{[3] [1]}.

3. How the Dallas Express covered the groups and why that matters

The Texas Observer and other outlets documented that the Dallas Express ran extensive coverage amplifying Keep Dallas Safe, Dallas Justice Now and allied organizations—112 pieces referencing those groups since 2021 according to one account—and that the publication frequently omitted disclosure of ties between the groups and right‑wing donors when quoting or featuring them ^{[7] [3]}. Media critics characterize the relationship as one where a publisher’s outlet provided consistent favorable coverage that helped legitimize local advocacy tied to his political aims ^[1].

4. Transparency claims and contested responses

The Dallas Express publishes a code of ethics that asserts a commitment to funding transparency and governs donations and editorial independence ^[8], and the paper’s about page highlights the publisher’s business interests while promising some disclosure ^[5]. At the same time, reporting shows that the advocacy groups in question often refused to disclose their funders, and Bennett did not provide clarifying responses to some media queries—leaving investigative outlets to rely on his own admitted donations and patterns of activity ^{[1] [2]}.

5. What the evidence does — and does not — conclusively show

Multiple independent local investigations state Bennett served as a donor and amplified Keep Dallas Safe and allied campaigns, and they document operational links between Bennett, Crowds on Demand, and a cluster of right‑leaning groups active in Dallas politics ^{[1] [3] [2]}. What the available reporting does not fully document in public filings presented here is an exhaustive ledger of every dollar from Bennett to Keep Dallas Safe or a direct line‑item trail in official nonprofit disclosures in the sources provided; instead, the conclusion rests on Bennett’s admitted support, journalistic reconstruction of coordinated activity, and the groups’ refusal to fully disclose funders ^{[1] [3]}.

6. Verdict and competing framings

On balance, the published reporting supports the direct claim that the Dallas Express’s publisher, Monty Bennett, funded and backed Keep Dallas Safe and that his outlet promoted those efforts—an alignment characterized by critics as astroturfing—while the publisher and his outlet counter with stated commitments to transparency and civic advocacy ^{[1] [8] [6]}. Independent confirmation via detailed public accounting of every contribution is not presented in the documents provided here, and several actors declined to comment to reporters, which leaves a gap between investigative findings and forensic donor-level proof in the referenced reporting ^{[1] [2]}.