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The Hill: New campaign finance reform group lands pro-Clinton PAC’s email list

Aug 11, 2015

New campaign finance reform group lands pro-Clinton PAC’s email list

By: Jonathan Easley | August 11, 2015

A new group supporting Democrats committed to campaign finance reform will officially launch this week with a boost from a valuable network of Hillary Clinton supporters.

The End Citizens United PAC will become the first group outside of the pro-Clinton orbit to land a huge email list from Ready PAC, the independent political action committee created to support Clinton’s presidential bid.

“These are the most active and engaged liberal grassroots supporters around the country,” said Richard Carbo, a spokesperson for the group.

Ready PAC has also lent its email list of millions of supporters to the Clinton campaign, as well as to Correct the Record, the pro-Clinton rapid response group.

End Citizens United says that since its soft launch earlier this year, it has raised more than $2.1 million through more than 136,000 donations, for an average gift of under $15 dollars.

The group says it has over 325,000 signatures on a petition to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which paved the way for the super-PAC era of campaign fundraising.

End Citizens United has endorsed 11 Democrats so far, including Sen. Michael Bennet, who is up for reelection in Colorado, and former Sen. Russ Feingold, a campaign finance reform champion who is running to reclaim the seat he lost in Wisconsin in 2010.

Carbo said the group will launch its independent expenditures arm later this year, and that it plans to spend in the neighborhood of $25 million to $30 million on Democrats in the most competitive House and Senate races in the country.

“We will do what we can to support candidates who are champions for meaningful campaign finance reform,” the group said in a statement. “We can’t afford to stand idly by while the Koch Brothers and the ultra-rich use SuperPACs — and even shadier dark money organizations — to rig our elections. They’re buying our local representatives. They’re buying U.S. Senators. And now, they want to buy our next President. They’ve got to be stopped.”

The group is led by Valerie Martin, a veteran of Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-Mo.) 2006 Senate campaign, and Reed Adamson, who worked on Rep. Brad Scheider’s (D-Ill.) successful 2012 House run.