Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Activists target ‘big money’ Meehan and Costello
End Citizens United claims representatives are recipients of ‘dark money’
End Citizens United, a national organization dedicated to getting big money out of politics, is targeting “the big money 20” incumbent Republicans in the 2018 election cycle.
Aiming to raise and spend $35 million from small and grassroots donors to support Democratic candidates running for Congress in 2018, U.S. Reps. Pat Meehan, R-7 of Chadds Fords, and Ryan Costello, R-6 of West Goshen, are among those in the crosshairs.
End Citizens United Executive Director Tiffany Muller hosted a conference call Tuesday to detail the targeted incumbents whom she claimed were recipients of “dark money.”
“Rep. Costello, has taken more than $300,000 in campaign donations from Big Pharma. At the same time he helped spearhead a bill that made it harder for Drug Enforcement Administration to control the supply of prescription narcotics, making the opioid epidemic even worse,” Muller said.
Costello addressed the controversy surrounding the bill, known as the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016, back in October.
“The legislation’s clear and stated intent was to have the DEA and distribution companies establish a clear understanding of enforcement standards, allowing for greater collaboration among stakeholders to address modern challenges to prescription drug abuse while still allowing patients with medical needs to have reasonable access. If the purpose of the law is now not being realized, then we need to fix it,” Costello said.
Meehan, Mullen claimed, is being “rewarded by the special interests backers of the tax bill, like the Kochs and the U.S. Chamber (of Commerce), and AAN (American Action Network).
“He’s already received almost a million dollars from them, as he helped write that tax bill,” Muller said.
Meehan has raised more than $1 million this cycle and has $2,463,684 cash on hand, which is more than quadruple the Democratic candidates’ funds combined. Among the top donors to Meehan according to OpenSecrets.org are PACs in the names of Comcast, Goldman Sachs, and AmerisourceBergen, a wholesale pharmaceutical company.
Among the top industries that have contributed to Meehan are insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, health professionals and services, HMOs, hospitals and nursing homes through both PACs and individual contributions.
Meehan was targeted for criticism after his vote in favor of the Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act. He voted in favor of moving the American Health Care Act out of the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this year. The AHCA bill was pulled before a vote in the full House and Meehan, who had indicated he was undecided in the days leading up to the vote, said he would have voted against it – but only after it was pulled.
Named for the landmark case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which prohibited the federal government from restricting independent expenditures by nonprofit corporations, for-profit corporations, labor unions, and other associations, Citizens United is regarded as the catalyst for allowing corporate interests to manipulate elections.
While a political action committee is used to pool campaign contributions and donates those funds for or against candidates, the so-called Super PAC, or independent expenditure-only committees, can raise unlimited funds from corporate donors and spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates.
Often the commercials seen on television around election-time that advocate for a candidate or against an opponent have been funded by PACs. And while the Super PACs are unable to communicate directly with campaign beyond strategy, it offers corporations a vessel to make a political impact based on ideological biases.
According to OpenSecrets.org, 1,691 groups organized as super PACs have reported total receipts of $108,273,169 and total independent expenditures of $30,224,351 as of Nov. 27 for the 2018 cycle.
Muller said of going up against the deep pockets of the 7th District incumbent Meehan, “We are going to mobilize our members, help the challenger in the race, and make sure the voters know who he’s actually working for.”
She said End Citizens United extended an endorsement to Pennsylvania state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17 of Lower Merion, for being a “real champion” and “outspoken on the issue” of campaign finance reform.
Five democratic challengers will vie for the nomination in the 7th District at the primary elections on May 15, 2018 — Leach, Molly Sheehan, Drew McGinty, Elizabeth Moro, Dan Muroff.
As of the most recent filed on Sept. 30, Muroff had been edging Leach in campaign donation with $220,416 cash on hand to Leach’s $200,015. Sheehan is close behind with $181,201 cash on hand.
A spokeswoman with Costello’s re-election campaign, Andrea Bozek, issued the following response to End Citizens United’s statements.
“Are we are surprised that a left-wing special interest group like Ending (sic) Citizens United would support greedy Chrissy Houlahan, who paid her workers just 35 cents an hour, made them work 18-hour-days and as multiple independent reports confirm made her workers suffer inhumane working conditions?” she said. “Clearly, Ending Citizens United’s values are disgraceful and are out of touch with Pennsylvania families.”
She was referring to one of the Democratic candidates who have announced their intention to run against Costello for the 6th Congressional District seat in 2018, Houlahan, and charges made about her athletic show company’s business practices. End Citizen’s United did not mention Houlahan in its statements targeting Costello. Another candidate, Bob Dettore, is also running as a Democrat for the chance to oppose Costello.
In addition, a spokeswoman for Costello’s congressional office, Natalie McLaughlin, disputed the group’s charges. ”These false allegations were disproven by the DEA during testimony to Congress, and Congressman Costello continues to be a leader in supporting legislation to combat the opioid epidemic,” McLaughlin said.
Costello and Meehan, who represent portions of Chester County and other counties in the Philadelphia area, have been targeted by opposition groups who see their seats as vulnerable because their districts favored Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, even as the state went for GOP candidate Donald Trump.