Dark money group spending nearly $2 million to stop critical voting rights and anti-corruption legislation
While the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration takes up the For the People Act (S. 1/H.R. 1)––a critical bill that will protect Americans’ freedom to vote, end dark money, and put in place ironclad ethics laws––Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s aligned dark money group, One Nation, is launching a seven-figure wave of TV and radio ads pushing misinformation about the bill in an attempt to prevent its passage. The ads are the first spending from the outside group so far in 2021, demonstrating Republicans’ focus on opposing the anti-corruption and voting rights legislation.
After dedicating his career to protecting his corporate & special interest donors, Mitch McConnell is doing everything he can to protect the status quo and stop a bill that would end his donors’ ability to hide behind their dark money and that would crack down on political corruption. So far, over $42 million has been spent by GOP dark money groups to oppose the bill and to support state-level attacks on the freedom to vote. We know these dark money-fueled efforts won’t work because the American people overwhelmingly support this bill.
As the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported, polling done by dark money groups and shared with McConnell’s staff showed Americans, including Republicans, overwhelmingly support the anti-corruption and voting rights legislation, and there was no message that would change the minds of voters who don’t want billionaires buying elections. They decided their only strategy is to deliberately ignore the will of the American people and use shady “under the dome” tactics to try to stop the bill.
A recent poll, commissioned by End Citizens United // Let America Vote Action Fund and National Democratic Redistricting Committee, conducted by Global Strategy Group and ALG Research, found the same results––83 percent of Americans, including three quarters of Republicans, support the For the People Act.
Click here to read Jane Mayer’s full article in The New Yorker.
Rachel Maddow: “Let me just ask you if this is their MO. If this is the type of call, the type of research that these groups generally do. The type of message testing that they do when they set out on a new political objective?”
Jane Mayer: “Absolutely. This is the complete playbook. I mean, you have to understand that these groups are funded by some of the wealthiest people in the country. Billionaires… They tried testing against a bill where the other argument was it will stop billionaires from buying elections. Billionaires like themselves. And they could not find an argument that convinced the public that it was the better thing for the billionaires to be buying the elections––that included not just liberal Democrats or event moderates but amazingly, it also included conservatives––who it also turns out don’t really want billionaires buying American elections.”
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