In an April letter to New Hampshire state legislators, Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, Republican Senate candidate in New Hampshire, outlined his position on campaign finance reform and the need to root out corruption in Washington.
In his own words: “We must stop those who have political machines financed by special interest groups, those that want to self finance, buy elections, and influence voters and organizations with money.”
According to a new report by WMUR’s John Distaso, Bolduc will now have the help of a single-candidate super PAC run by Phil Cox, a longtime political operative and former executive director of the Republican Governors Association. The super PAC, Granite Leadership PAC, will be able to raise and spend unlimited money, including being able to take contributions from dark money groups. Cox is also on the board of the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), Senator Mitch McConnell’s super PAC.
“No one is buying what Donald Bolduc is selling,” said ECU President Tiffany Muller. “After claiming he would stand up to big money, Bolduc has been mum since the formation of this single-candidate super PAC. Voters want a leader who will actually root out corruption and make government accountable to the people, which is why they elected Senator Shaheen in the first place, and why they’ll reelect her in November.”
Since the Citizens United decision, politicians have found ways to exploit loopholes in the law to create single-candidate super PACs. These are super PACs designed to serve as an arm of the campaign. Often, politicians signal to big donors that the super PAC has their support — or take time away from engaging voters and grassroots supporters to directly attend events where big money is raised for these super PACs. Candidates often send their top political operatives to run these super PACs and even offload certain campaign expenses onto the supportive super PAC.
ECU endorsed Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s reelection campaign in August 2019. Senator Shaheen has a strong record of rooting out government corruption and strengthening our democracy, including co-sponsoring a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and co-sponsoring the For the People Act (S. 949), the most comprehensive anti-corruption and reform legislation since Watergate.
ECU and Let America Vote (LAV) recently merged and established a field operation in New Hampshire for the 2020 election cycle. The joint operation will work to elect legislative candidates, provide volunteers and organizational support for endorsed candidates, and work with in-state partners to make voting safe, accessible, and fair. ECU and LAV are entirely grassroots funded, with an average donation of $14.
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