GOP PAC far ahead of Democrats in fundraising.
A Super PAC supporting Republican candidates for the General Assembly has amassed a war chest of $1.14 million while a similar political action committee dedicated to Democratic candidates has collected just $45,000.
The difference is striking and makes clear outside contributors are doing all they can in the final two weeks before the election to tip the scales for the governor’s race and turn the state’s General Assembly from blue to red. Democrats now have a 79 to 72 advantage over Republicans in the state House. The state Senate is tied 18-18.
On Monday, the Republican State Leadership Committee — with former Gov. Jodi Rell on the board of directors — dumped another $335,000 into Change Connecticut, a PAC targeting Democrats in four close state Senate races, making the total spent on state Senate races more than 2.5 times the amount spent in 2016.
Most of the ads — targeting Senate Democrats Matt Lesser, James Maroney, Norm Needleman and Steve Cassano — attempt to play on the unpopularity of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is not running for re-election.
“Connecticut voters deserve to know who raised their taxes to these unbearable levels,” Bill O’Reilly, a spokesman for Change CT PAC said. “Change Connecticut will make sure they learn that. Hartford politicians need to be held accountable.”
To date, Change CT has spent $97,000 against Lesser, a Democrat from Middletown, $88,000 against Cassano, $86,000 against Maroney and $100,000 against Needleman. The state’s Citizens Election Program provides grants of $85,000 to state Senate candidates who raise $15,300 in contributions of $250 or less.
“That’s my entire campaign budget,” Lesser said. “That’s all I have. That’s what they’ve spent to date … it looks like they could spend up to $350,000 to buy this seat.”
A mailer sent to homes in the 14th Senate District, which includes Milford, Orange, parts of West Haven and Woodbridge, calls Maroney a “legislative ally” of Malloy. Maroney represented Milford in the state House from 20132015, and decided to run for office after state Sen. Gayle Slossberg announced her retirement.
“Maybe it has motivated us to work harder,” Maroney said. “But we’re focused on the race that we want to run and the message we want to deliver about opportunity and innovation.”
A study by Common Cause Connecticut and the Connecticut Citizen Action Group of all Super PACs spending money on the 2018 election shows 80 percent of money spent to date has been to the benefit of Republican candidates, and 97 percent of all the money contributed — mostly from out-of-state donors — has gone to Republican PACs.
Governor’s race spending
In the case of Bob Stefanowski, the GOP candidate for governor, Super PACs have spent more money on his behalf — at least $4 million — than his campaign has raised from individuals.
Change PAC, which is funded by the Republican Governors Association and not affiliated with the Change Connecticut PAC, has spent almost $2.6 million to support Stefanowski, and Protect Freedom PAC, which has not spent money since the primary, poured at least $1.2 million into Stefanowski’s primary campaign.
In contrast, a PAC supporting Democrat Ned Lamont has taken in just $125,000. Lamont himself has spent close to $8 million on his campaign. Neither candidate is participating in the CEP, which Stefanowski has decried as a “waste of taxpayer dollars.” CEP grants for governor candidates would have been $6 million in the general election.
“The increased use of Super PACs by wealthy interests will create a level of corruption worse than the Rowland administration if we are not vigilant,” said Tom Swan, executive director of CCAG, which has endorsed Lamont.