PHILADELPHIA, PA — Bloomberg Politics is out with a report today on the untraceable torrent of dark money being spent on political campaigns this cycle. Notably, it finds that since the beginning of 2015, “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Chemistry Council and Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit with links to the network of organizations created by Charles and David Koch, spent almost $2.4 million touting aspects of [Senator Pat] Toomey’s record.” Pennsylvanians don’t know the specific individuals responsible for funding these ads, but this revelation speaks to the type of special interests on team Toomey.
“The big banks and the Koch brothers know Pat Toomey is their guy,” said Preston Maddock, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “Most of his career, he’s either worked on Wall Street or for it in Washington. It’s a shame that unaccountable special interest groups are helping Toomey’s re-election by deceiving Pennsylvanians about his record. But it’s hardly a surprise given the Senator’s loyalty to their agendas.”
BACKGROUND:
TOOMEY HAS A 96% LIFETIME RATING FROM AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY
Toomey Had A 96% Lifetime Rating From Americans For Prosperity And Had A 100% Rating For The Current Congress. [AFP Scorecard, Accessed 11/13/15]
TOOMEY RECEIVED NEARLY $60K IN KOCH CASH & WAS SUPPORTED BY KOCH-BACKED CAMPAIGN ADS
Members Of The Koch Family, Including Charles And David Koch, Have Contributed $17,100 To Toomey. [Influence Explorer, Accessed 11/15/15]
Koch Industries’ PAC And Employees Contributed $39,000 To Toomey And His Leadership PAC. [Influence Explorer, Accessed 11/15/15]
David Koch Contributed $2,000 To Toomey’s Leadership PAC. [Influence Explorer, Accessed 11/15/15]
Koch-Back Veterans Group Pledged Spent $1.5 Million To Prop Up Toomey’s Re-Election Campaign. “Sen. Pat Toomey will be getting a very public pat on the back for his work on holding the Department of Veterans Affairs ‘accountable for its failures.’ Concerned Veterans for America are spending $1.5 million on a digital, TV and mail campaign to thank Toomey for being ‘a leader in the fight to hold VA bureaucrats accountable for failing Pennsylvania veterans.’ ‘Sen. Toomey’s actions make it clear that veterans issues are a top priority, and CVA wants Pennsylvanians to understand and appreciate his efforts to fix the VA and hold the VA accountable for failing America’s veterans,’ CVA CEO Pete Hegseth said in a statement announcing the ad campaign.” [PoliticsPA, 8/5/15]
- Concerned Veterans For America “Was Funded Almost Entirely By” The Koch Dark Money Group The TC4 Trust. “The Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics identified a coalition of allied conservative groups active in the 2012 elections that together raised at least $407 million, backed by a donor network organized by the industrialists Charles and David Koch. Most of the funds originated with two groups, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and TC4 Trust, both of which routed some of the money through a Phoenix-based nonprofit group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR). […] Concerned Veterans for America, which in 2012 held events spotlighting the unemployment rate among veterans and the difficulties members of the military face in casting ballots. The group was funded almost entirely by TC4 in 2012.” [Washington Post, 1/5/14]
TOOMEY HAD A NEAR 90% LIFETIME RATING FROM THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Toomey Had An 87% Lifetime Rating From The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce. [U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Accessed 1/28/15]
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WAS A TOP SPENDER IN SUPPORT OF TOOMEY IN 2010 AND PLANNED TO HELP TOOMEY AGAINST IN 2016
The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Spent Nearly $1.7 Million In Support Of Toomey’s 2010 Senate Campaign, Was 4th Biggest Spending Outside Group Of The Campaign. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $1,692,056 in support of Toomey or against his opponent. The total made the group the fourth-biggest spending outside group of the campaign. [Center for Responsive Politics, Accessed 1/28/15]
The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Planned To Get Involved In The 2016 Pennsylvania Democratic Primary, In Order To Make It Easier For Toomey To Be Re-Elected. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is weighing a major role in Democratic primaries in key congressional races nationally, which could produce weakened nominees who would be more easily defeated by Republicans, according to an internal memo obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. The unorthodox strategy could heighten Democratic upheaval in battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania where the party is struggling to unite around a nominee as it fights to retake the Senate — and that appears to be precisely the Chamber’s goal. It comes as the business lobby has already begun spending aggressively on behalf of select Senate Republicans more than a year before the 2016 elections, where the GOP is fighting to hang onto its newly won majority. […] Pennsylvania, where Republican Pat Toomey is running for re-election against former Rep. Joe Sestak, whose reputation for erratic campaigning sent Democratic leaders to recruit another Democrat, Katie McGinty, former chief of staff to the governor.” [Associated Press, 8/20/15]
The Chamber Of Commerce Launched TV Ads To Promote Toomey’s Record For His 2016 Re-Election Campaign. “Chamber of Commerce is jumping in early to help Republicans hang onto control of the Senate in 2016, and going immediately on the attack. The Chamber is paying for new television ads starting Monday in Ohio and Pennsylvania, home to two of the Senate’s most endangered GOP incumbents. The ad in Pennsylvania promotes Sen. Pat Toomey as a practical conservative who’s “not afraid to reach across the aisle to find solutions.” [Associated Press, 7/6/15]
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