Siblings go after backers
The siblings of Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., have a new target in their efforts to oust their brother from Congress: dental associations that have been significant financial supporters. Gosar’s siblings believe he helped incite the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
Some of Rep. Paul Gosar’s siblings are wading deeper into an effort to oust their brother from Congress by putting pressure on the dental associations that have been his most significant financial supporters.
On Tuesday, three of his nine siblings appeared in a video for a Democratically aligned group painting Gosar, R-Ariz., as an extremist who helped incite the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that killed five people, including one police officer, and wounded 140 other officers.
Now the Gosar siblings, who live outside Arizona and unsuccessfully have urged the state’s 4th Congressional District voters to reject their brother in the 2018 and 2020 elections, are targeting the organizations that gave him at least $50,000 in the past two years, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The groups and their members have given the former dentist’s campaign or his affiliated political action committee more than $224,000 over his six terms, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
In their latest effort, the siblings describe Gosar as “my extremely dishonest brother who lied about the election being stolen” and who “was key to inciting the traitorous riot at the Capitol.” They note that the American Dental Association members and political action committee are top donors over his career.
“It’s time to let them know we don’t want money supporting insurrection,” Jennifer Gosar says in the video.
Paul Gosar has benefited from the financial support of at least four dentalrelated organizations: the ADA PAC, American Association of Orthodontists PAC, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry PAC and the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons PAC.
In an interview with The Republic, Jennifer Gosar said the ADA’s PAC supported Gosar when he backed Senate Bill 1070, Arizona’s immigration-enforcement law and through his many controversies.
“They’ve been his principal supporter. I think it’s really important for them to face public attention about it because Paul doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” she said. “What is their point with that? ... I think it’s really high time that the public knows about that.”
Representatives for the ADA and two other groups did not immediately respond to The Arizona Republic’s request for comment. Gosar’s chief of staff also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the American Association of Orthodontists provided The Republic with “a message on PAC activity” from the association’s president, Chris Roberts, that was sent to members after the Jan. 6 riot.
Roberts’ statement did not directly reference Gosar. It denounced the “actions of the violent mob” at the Capitol and said it was imperative to remain engaged in the political process. The PAC has advocated on behalf of members to influence business tax reform, the elimination of the medical tax device, and health insurance policies, his message said.
“Given the recent events, we are asking our PAC to examine our giving guidelines to ensure our funding is aligned with our legislative agenda and is in keeping with the democratic process,” Roberts’ statement said. “Please be assured that your PAC contributions are only spent after careful forethought. Now is not the time to disengage from the political system.”
The Gosar siblings encourage the public to contact the ADA and their dentists to register their concerns with Paul Gosar.
“All these Republicans want to talk about personal responsibility. What about corporate responsibility? Now that the Supreme Court says that they’re people, I suppose it’s personal responsibility for them, too,” said David Gosar in an interview. “I’ll do anything, as long as it’s legal, to end this disgrace to our family.”
Whether it has any financial effect will only become clear over a two-year campaign cycle that began in January. The siblings’ effort comes after more than 100 corporations and organizations have said they were pausing or ending their contributions to those in Congress who sought to set aside the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Paul Gosar formally challenged Arizona’s election results on Jan. 6 and was outlining his reasoning when authorities halted the debate in the U.S. House of Representatives because of the advancing mob.
Before that day, Gosar was among the most outspoken members of Congress claiming the election was riddled with fraud. Ali Alexander, the man who claimed to organize the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, described Gosar as the “spirit animal” of that effort.
In the wake of the violence, Democrats in Arizona and the Campaign for Accountability, a left-leaning government watchdog organization, have called for investigations to determine whether Gosar, and others, including Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., broke criminal laws or House ethics rules.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., said in a letter Monday to fellow Democrats that she expects the House to authorize an investigative commission, similar to the one that probed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to examine the origins of the Jan. 6 siege.
The pressure campaign is affiliated with Prescott Indivisible and involves Jay Ruby, a Prescott Democratic activist who was part of David Brill’s failed 2018 campaign against Gosar.
That campaign is most remembered for the siblings’ first commercial against their brother.
Ruby said the goal now is to get the dental organizations to uphold their own ethics standards.
“What is important is they realize the people of the United States don’t want to fund insurrection,” he said. “Most people don’t realize the ADA supports people like Paul Gosar.”