Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Establishment-Backed Democrats Accused of Campaign Finance Violations

VoteVets has spent tens of millions of dollars backing Democrats in key 2020 Senate races, including Cal Cunningham in North Carolina and M.J. Hegar in Texas.

In February, Sen. Elizabeth Warren accused the group of "Exploiting our broken campaign finance laws" through its support of former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Sen. Gary Peters was also accused of illegally coordinating with the group in December.

The FEC has largely failed to enforce coordination complaints in recent years, and both Cunningham and Hegar have vowed to fight the same campaign finance loopholes they are now accused of exploiting.

Cunningham's corruption plan promises to reform the FEC "So it can carry out its watchdog function over our elections, instead of letting the current gridlock create loopholes for those willing to violate campaign finance laws and get away with it." Hegar has touted an endorsement from End Citizens United PAC, a liberal group that focuses on campaign finance reform.

While the group characterizes itself as a "Grassroots" organization, a Center for Responsive Politics review of VoteVets' 2014 tax documents revealed that the group receives most of its funding from labor unions and fellow liberal dark money groups.

Though VoteVets downplays its progressive nature-its mission statement makes no mention of a partisan goal and prioritizes "Matters of national security"-the group has spent tens of millions of dollars backing Democrats and no money supporting Republicans.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/establishment-backed-democrats-accused-of-campaign-finance-violations/

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