While PACs can do good things, they are a mess of money and deciding which ones to accept money from is a slippery slope. Money comes from sources all over the map and then goes to candidates and/or causes that may or may not be fully in line with the mentality of the group on the whole. When you take money from a PAC, it’s like fucking the PAC; you’re taking money from all the people who gave to the PAC and are now fucking all the other PACs and candidates those people gave to. You can’t just raw dog and bail; there are always consequences and there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
I do not have an intimate knowledge of all the 419 contested Congressional races across the US, but I am following a bunch. Out of those I’m reading up on, I can’t think of a single one that is PAC free, not even Sen. Russ Feingold who wants to push for the public financing of elections, except for the guy I’m volunteering for, Chuck Pennacchio. I helped to dig into the FEC report of Pennacchio’s primary opponent, Bob Casey and one PAC in particular, the Delaware Valley Political Action Committee. What we found were some seriously disgusting STDs shared money trails.
Let’s take a look at the Delaware Valley Political Action Committee. Since 1999, they’ve taken in $86,000 in individual contributions, plus another $1K from some Hercules Inc. And what have they been doing with this money?
First off, let’s make it clear whose in charge of the PAC’s disbursements, it’s the Buttonwieser family, some PA monetary heavy hitters. They’ve given $55,500 to the PAC, 63.79% of the total, a controlling share if you will. So they’re the ones running the show for this PAC, saying where the money goes.
The Buttonwiesers have been behind pushing money, through the DelVal PAC, to the following candidates since the 2000 election cycle:
- $7000 to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)
- $4000 to Sen. Man on Dog (R-PA)
- $3000 to Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- $1250 to Sen. Michael Crapo (R-ID)
- $1000 to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- $500 to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
- $500 to Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)
- $250 to Sen. John Warner (R-VA)
- $250 to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA07)
That’s $17,750 to some pretty nasty people. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see what these people are about leaving out Sen. Specter and Sen. Man on Dog for now because I think most of us know more than enough about them.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
When now Justice Samuel Alito was being grilled during the confirmation hearings on his statement that he’d recuse himself from any case where he had some kind of personal stake, say Vanguard stock. Brownback justified Alito not recusing himself saying that Alito shouldn’t have to remember everything that he’s said and that if every politician were to be held to their promises, there wouldn’t be any Senators. More from the Anti-Sam Blog.
Sen. Michael Crapo (R-ID)
On the issues, Crapo voted to ban late-term abortion, has a 0% rating from NARAL, voted to loosen restrictions on cell phone wiretapping, voted against to expand hate crimes to include sexual orientation… the list goes on.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
The Senate Majority Whip. On the issues he’s voted against late term abortion, a 0% rating from NARAL, voted against same-sex marriage, a 20% rating by the ACLU, voted for $75M in abstinence education, voted for BushCo’s Energy Bill and for drilling in ANWR…
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
On the issues, a 0% rating by NARAL, voted for drilling in ANWR, a 16% rating from the League of Conservation Voters, voted against funding for the National Endowment of the Arts, a 0% rating from the AFL-CIO…
Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)
On Strom Thurmond who ran on a segregation platform in 1948: “I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.” A 0% rating from NARAL, a 20% rating from the ACLU, a 18% rating from the National Endowment of the Arts, a 0% rating from the League of Conservation Voters, a 0% rating from the AFL-CIO…
Sen. John Warner (R-VA)
On the issues, a 21% rating from NARAL, a 20% rating from the ACLU, supported a Constitutional amendment for school prayer, voted to drill in ANWR, voted against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, a 0% rating from the Association of Retired Americans…
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA07)
Where to begin with this guy… He praised Rev. Sun Myung Moon “as humanity’s Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent” and then there is the Able Danger idiocy. And then the attacking of Joe Sestak. BooMan has written about this scumbag previously here and yesterday here.
So there ya go. Follow the money. They gave $10K to Bob Casey. The Buttonwiesers have been saying that everything must to be done to beat Sen. Man on Dog and then they turn around and give $2K through the PAC to him this election cycle? Now isn’t that a tad hypocritical and biting your own tail? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. But I guess it makes sense that they’re now backing an anti-choice, anti-universal healthcare, pro-war / anti-withdrawal, anti-embryonic stem cell, pro-extremist SCOTUS nominees candidate in Casey, he seems to fit the mold for them.
A solution to the nastiness? Public fincing of elections. And Chuck Pennacchio wants to fight for it in the US Senate. Chuck Pennacchio is the only PAC-free candidate in the PA Senate race [and I think in all Congressional races]. He is the only candidate not beholden to special interests. He will be bound to us, the voters and his palms will not be greased.
