End Citizens United // Let America Vote President Tiffany Muller released the following statement regarding Delegate Kathy Szeliga’s response to her op-ed in Maryland Matters challenging Governor Hogan to take a stand against Mitch McConnell’s dark money promise by supporting reforms to end dark money in politics:
“Delegate Szeliga wrote a lot about dark money spending in her recent op-ed, but one thing she made clear is that she has no problem with Governor Hogan relying on dark money special interests to boost his political prospects.
“Not once did Delegate Szeliga dispute the point that Senator Mitch McConnell is actively recruiting Hogan to run for Senate with promises of ‘significant’ outside spending to boost his campaign and we still don’t have a response as to whether the Governor has accepted the offer. We’re also still waiting for Governor Hogan to respond to our challenge to show independence from McConnell by siding with Marylanders over the Kentucky Senator and supporting reforms to end dark money in politics by endorsing the For the People Act.
“Szeliga attempts to deflect from Hogan’s shortcomings by attacking Senator Chris Van Hollen, but she grossly misses the mark. Senator Van Hollen has been a longtime leader in standing up to dark money. Just a month ago, he voted for the For the People Act, an anti-corruption bill that would end dark money and put in place ironclad ethics rules. Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, led the filibuster to block the bill, which Senator Van Hollen is still working to pass.
“Senator Van Hollen was also the original author of the DISCLOSE Act, which would require organizations that engage in electioneering – including super PACs and 501(c)(4) dark money groups – to disclose the identities of donors who have given them $10,000 or more during an election cycle and to report all election-related expenditures above $10,000 within 24 hours of purchase.
“It is time for Governor Hogan to stop avoiding answers and stand up to Mitch McConnell and his dark money allies. Marylanders are waiting for Governor Hogan to announce his support of ending dark money and condemnation of Senator McConnell’s efforts to protect it in Washington.”
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