Yesterday, Ben Ray Luján bragged in the rabidly left-wing NM Political Report (which is run by ThinkProgress), that his “campaign for the U.S. Senate will not accept corporate PAC (political action committee) money.” Ben Ray is using this sad Democrat tactic to make him seem like he is a “man of the people” by bashing Mitch McConnell for what he thinks is his “refusal to address our broken campaign finance system.”
The Democrat-run group “End Citizens United” praised Luján’s “pledge,” calling it a “bold step towards restoring faith in our democracy and fixing a broken political system that allows special interests to block progress on affordable health care, prescription drugs, and protecting the environment.”
Well, first of all, the key word here that tells us that this move is a sham is the term “corporate” to qualify what PACs he will be taking money from. A corporate PAC would be that of a corporation, traditionally funded by its employees, to donate directly to a candidate.
However, that doesn’t mean Ben Ray has pledged not to take from all committees, just corporate ones. While this excludes corporations such as Verizon or Starbucks from giving to him, it leaves open a void for all ideological political committees to donate to him.
So by rejecting “corporate” donations, Ben Ray will still be taking money from ideological “one-issue” groups like Planned Parenthood, labor unions, gun-grabbing groups, and a slew of others, just not anything from a “corporation.”
Well, here’s some news for you: PLANNED PARENTHOOD, UNIONS, AND GUN-GRABBING GROUPS ARE SPECIAL INTERESTS! So, Ben Ray and End Citizens United don’t know what the hell they are talking about, or are blatantly lying to the people of New Mexico.
Also, the donation limit per committee, per election is still only $5,000, according to the Federal Election Commission, which isn’t much.
And rejecting a direct contribution from a PAC doesn’t mean they won’t support a candidate. PACs can spend as much money as they like independently in support of a candidate, as long as they don’t coordinate with the candidate or campaign. So, Planned Parenthood Action can spend $10 million if they like in support of Ben Ray Luján, as long as Ben doesn’t know about it.
The idiotic Democrat pledge to deceive voters by saying they will “reject PAC money” to focus on a “grassroots” campaign is total baloney, since extremist left-wing groups will still be spending millions of dollars on candidates that peddle their agendas, even if that means a corporation can’t give that candidate a tiny $5,000 donation.
If Ben Ray really wanted to reject PAC money, he would publicly state that he doesn’t want any PACs whatsoever spending directly to his campaign, or independently for his election to the United States Senate. Otherwise, his pledge is totally useless.
So, nice try Benny boy, but your fake pledge doesn’t mean a thing. Maybe try actually formulating a real policy position once in a while, or even better, try to pass an actual bill into law before trying to climb up the latter to the U.S. Senate, where you don’t belong.