Shadow group provides Sanders super PAC support he scorns

[RandySF]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders says he doesn’t want a super PAC. Instead, he has Our Revolution, a nonprofit political organization he founded that functions much the same as one.

Like a super PAC, which is shorthand for super political action committee, Our Revolution can raise unlimited sums from wealthy patrons that dwarf the limits faced by candidates and conventional PACs. Unlike a super PAC, however, the group doesn’t have to disclose its donors — a stream of revenue commonly referred to as “dark money.”

Now, with less than one month to go before the Iowa caucuses, Our Revolution appears to be skirting campaign finance law, which forbids groups founded by federal candidates and officeholders from using large donations to finance federal election activity, including Sanders’ 2020 bid.

A debate over big money in politics has riven the Democratic primary with Sanders and fellow progressive, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, leading the attack on rivals including former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who have relied on big-dollar donors.

But while Warren has come under fire for courting wealthy financiers in her past Senate campaigns, Sanders and Our Revolution have largely avoided scrutiny during the primary, even as he has accelerated his criticism of others, among them Biden, for relying on super PACs founded by their allies.

In the case of Our Revolution, which aims to boost voter turnout for Sanders, the Vermont senator was the founder.

As recently as last week, Sanders continued his criticism.

“I do not have a super PAC in which billionaires make contributions,” Sanders said during a town hall in Anamosa, Iowa. “I don’t want a super PAC because our campaign and administration is there to represent working families, not the wealthy.”



https://apnews.com/345bbd1af529cfb1e41305fa3ab1e604

[msongs]

1. same bernie who wants to tap into the big resource of the democratic party? nt

[Cha]

2. There's a word for that.. covers

it quite nicely.

[Tarheel_Dem]

3. Reminds me of..."do as I say, not as I do". n/t

[TidalWave46]

4. Sanders openly welcomes PAC's supporting him.

He received and endorsement an support of a PAC. He stood on stage with the guy who runs the PAC as he endorsed him. Literally onstage with the guy running the PAC who endorsed him.

How are people just letting this slide. It’s a huge FU to everyone in our field he has unethically attacked over

PACs. Yet the media blackout on vetting Bernie continues.

Who is the most prominent politician on the front page of this PACs website?

Did Sanders recently stand on stage with the guy who runs this PAC and accept his endorsement?

https://www.southpawmi.com/

Will the vetting of Bernie ever begin? He is literally doing that which he claims he doesn’t while trashing great democrats for doing the same.

[betsuni]

5. K&R

[Skidmore]

7. About time someone started looking at

Sanders' shell game.

[Sloumeau]

8. RandySF, thanks for posting this. :)

Why does the word "phony" keep popping in my head?

[Gothmog]

9. I am glad that Our Revolution is being looked at

Link to tweet

Bernie Sanders says he doesn’t want a super PAC. Instead, he has Our Revolution, a nonprofit political organization he founded that functions much the same as one.

Like a super PAC, which is shorthand for super political action committee, Our Revolution can raise unlimited sums from wealthy patrons that dwarf the limits faced by candidates and conventional PACs. Unlike a super PAC, however, the group doesn’t have to disclose its donors — a stream of revenue commonly referred to as “dark money.”

Now, with less than one month to go before the Iowa caucuses, Our Revolution appears to be skirting campaign finance law, which forbids groups founded by federal candidates and officeholders from using large donations to finance federal election activity, including Sanders’ 2020 bid. ….

Our Revolution has taken in nearly $1 million from donors who gave more than the limits and whose identities it hasn’t fully disclosed, according to tax filings for 2016, 2017 and 2018. Much of it came from those who contributed six-figure sums.

It won’t have to publicly reveal its 2019 fundraising until after this year’s presidential election. And money it raises between now and then won’t have to be disclosed until the following year.

“Any entity established by a federal officeholder can only raise and spend money under federal contribution limits for any activities in connection with a federal election,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert and attorney with the good-government group Common Cause. “Our Revolution was undoubtedly established by Sen. Sanders, is subject to these laws — and is seemingly in violation of them.”

[Hankee]

10. Looks like Bernie has his own wine cave

It's called Our Revolution.

[R B Garr]

12. lol, exactly!

[Gothmog]

11. Its about time someone in the media paid attention to Our Revolution

Link to tweet

[The Valley Below]

13. Isn't it illegal for a 501c4 to opperate in the fashion of Our Revolution?

What happened to enforcement of Federal tax and campaign finance laws and regulations?

[highplainsdem]

14. This needs a lot more scrutiny from the media.

[Gothmog]

15. People be demanding to know who donated tens of thousands of dollars "anonymously" to Our Revolution

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

16. Who gave sanders/Our Revolution $218,000??

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

17. Our Revolution is a dark money super pac

Link to tweet

[NYMinute]

18. Hypocrisy and deceit at their finest nt

[Gothmog]

19. Pro-Bernie Sanders group @OurRevolution raised $500,000 from 15 undisclosed donors

Link to tweet

These were his most detailed comments of the race on Our Revolution, an organization Sanders launched in 2016 before separating from the group. Though barred by federal laws from coordinating with his campaign, the group has emerged as a potent part of Sanders’s grass-roots army, with hundreds of thousands of members and activists working across the country to promote his presidential bid.

Tax filings show Our Revolution raised nearly $2.7 million in 2018, the most recent year for which records are available. That total includes more than $500,000 from 15 donors whose identities have been shielded. Two of those donors made six-figure contributions.

The scale of the group’s activities is small compared to other politically active nonprofits that have spent tens of millions of dollars trying to influence the election. And the money it collected in 2018 is dwarfed by the tens of millions Sanders and his rivals have hauled into their official campaign accounts.

Still, the group’s work shows how Sanders is benefiting from some of the types of donors he criticizes, as well as the kind of shadowy group he has decried.

Paco Fabian, a spokesman for Our Revolution, said the group follows all campaign finance rules and in some cases exceeds federal transparency requirements. But the group declined to identify its largest donors, saying it is respecting their wishes to remain private.

The Democratic primary has featured a vigorous debate about the role of money in politics. Buttigieg, the former South Bend mayor, has faced heat for raising money from rich patrons at a luxe wine cave in California. Former vice president Joe Biden has been chastised for benefiting from a super PAC launched by supporters that has no limits on what it can raise and spend. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has faced intense scrutiny over her past willingness to cater to rich donors, even as she eschews it now.

[Gothmog]

20. @BernieSanders funneled 8 million dollars illegally from his secret PAC/Super Pac "Friends Of Berni

Link to tweet

[Blue_Tires]

21. kick