Pledges against big money come with an asterisk
Some received funding from sources they decry
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., says he wants to crack down on outside groups involved in political spending, though one is allied with his presidential campaign.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-mass., has vowed no untraceable “dark money” will help her White House bid, even though she’s backed by an organization that doesn’t disclose some of its donors.
And Pete Buttigieg accepted lobbyist money — until he didn’t.
Virtually all Democrats running for the White House rail against the flood of campaign cash that courses through the political system. But as the primary unfolds, it’s becoming clear that those pledges come with asterisks.
“It’s easy to speak big,” said Sarah Bryner, research director for the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money on elections. “But they have to get elected, and they know that.”
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’rourke signed a pledge swearing off donations of more than $200 from the coal, oil and gas industries during his presidential run. But he did not mention that, during the 2018 midterms, his Senate campaign was one of the biggest recipients of contributions from the oil and gas sector, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
After Buttigieg faced blowback for accepting lobbyist contributions, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor cut loose fundraiser Steve Elmendorf, a lobbyist whose recent clients include Amazon and Facebook, and returned $30,000 in contributions.
And though former Vice President Joe Biden has sworn off federal lobbyist money, a campaign kickoff fundraiser was held at the Philadelphia home of David L. Cohen, who oversees Comcast’s lobbying efforts in Washington but isn’t required to register as one under the law.
Sanders said after defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 New Hampshire primary, “I do not have a super PAC, and I do not want a super PAC.” Yet he is backed by Our Revolution, a nonprofit founded by longtime allies that functions much like a super PAC.
Sanders spokeswoman Sarah Ford said Our Revolution has no direct involvement in his campaign.
During the Democratic primary, Warren has ruled out attending big-dollar fundraisers, says she isn’t taking “applications from billionaires” to run a super PAC and has repeatedly blasted “dark money” groups that don’t reveal their donors.
But her campaign is being kept afloat with $10 million transferred from her Senate account. Warren is also backed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
The group operates a complex web of interconnected organizations, including a PAC, two nonprofits that do not disclose donors and a super PAC.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail:
Democratic presidential contender Julian Castro joined a march to a Mcdonald’s restaurant in North Carolina on Thursday to draw attention to workers’ efforts to raise the minimum wage and secure other protections. Nearly all the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have expressed support for the idea that the federal minimum wage should be more than doubled, to $15 an hour, and several were joining actions around the country Thursday.
Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney is the latest 2020 contender to introduce a climate change plan, and he’s proposing a fee on carbon emissions that he says aims to reduce them by 90 percent by midcentury. That idea is part of the former Maryland congressman’s $4 trillion plan, which is similar to one he offered while in Congress and drew some Republican support.
Warren’s presidential campaign on Wednesday released information on dozens of bankruptcy cases the former law professor was involved in. The disclosure includes cases in which Warren served as a consultant, mediator or expert witness in addition to those in which she served as counsel.
Nearly two dozen progressive groups launched a new push to persuade Democratic presidential candidates to support dramatic spending cuts at the Pentagon. The liberal groups wrote Thursday to all candidates in the crowded 2020 Democratic primary, urging the White House hopefuls to support slashing $200 billion or more from the annual defense budget.