Over at
Vice, Lee Fang, an investigative fellow with The Nation
Institute,
looks at some of the “dark money” flowing around Democratic
political circles. Turns out some secret sources of Democrat
campaign funding are the very mega-companies many progressives rail
against, especially when they’re donating to Republican
causes.
From Fang:
“While much of the talk about a progressive revival revolves
around populist figures like New York City Mayor Bill de
Blasio and Senator Elizabeth Warren, there are other, better funded
efforts afoot. Corporate titans from finance to natural gas to big
retail and telecom are attempting to steer the party, and as the
midterms shape up, these interests are pushing to ensure they
continue to have wide sway over America’s only viable outlet for
center-left expression at the polls. Which brings us to the latest
venture in corporate-centered party-building and the group hosting
a chat in (the America’s Natural Gas Alliance’s) headquarters: The
NewDEAL.”
The NewDEAL was
created by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Sen. Mark
Begich (D-Alaska) to support pro-business progressives (DEAL stands
for “Developing Exceptional American Leaders”). Led by Sen. Cory
Booker (D-New Jersey) and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, the NewDEAL is a 501(c)(4) issue
advocacy non-profit, allowing for campaign activity without
disclosure of donors. But Vice claims to have
uncovered a NewDEAL donor list:
“VICE has obtained a ‘supporter list’ showing donors of the
NewDEAL, which reads like a who’s who of corporations seeking
government access: Comcast, Fluor, Merck, Microsoft, New York Life,
Pfizer, Qualcomm, Verizon, Wal-Mart, the Private Equity Growth
Capital Council, among others, including, of course, the host of
Tuesday’s event, ANGA.[…] the same corporate forces that Democrats are leaning on
are propping up the far right tilt of the Republicans as well. On
the local level, meaning state legislative races, there are two
competing committees, the RSLC for the GOP and DLCC for Dems. A
VICE review of recent campaign filings show that the two committees
share many of the same top 25 donors: Wal-Mart, Pfizer,
tobacco giant Reynolds America, PhRMA (a drug industry trade
group), AT&T, and Comcast cut the biggest checks for both the
RSLC and the DLCC.”
Obviously, corporate-funded Democrat activists are nothing new.
And I guess you could say this highlights the influence of
corporations on the political process, but that’s a point already
pretty well illuminated. So, mostly, I just find this news
delightful because the recent push from Democrats to paint the
Republicans as somehow uniquely influenced by secret corporate
money is so sickeningly disingenuous.
Read the whole
thing here.
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