WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has sworn off special-interest money to pay for his re-election bid. But it turns out those dollars are fair game for congressional Democrats — to the tune of millions.
An Associated Press analysis of campaign fundraising found that Democrats who are trying to regain control of the House next fall have raked in more than $15 million from political action committees this year. They are raising money from special interests even as Obama, the Democratic standard bearer, promotes his ban on such funds.
More than $1 million of that money flowed to the re-election committees of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; and the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
Democratic leaders gloss over that when they pressure Republican presidential candidates to disclose their top donors, and even go so far as to trumpet the fact that Obama’s campaign and the DNC don’t take money from registered federal lobbyists and political action committees.
“The refusal to accept donations from federal lobbyists and PACs is critical to limiting the influence of special interests in the political process,” Wasserman Schultz said in a recent conference call with reporters. “Unfortunately, every single Republican candidate for president today happily accepts donations from lobbyists and PACs.”
Yet the checks still flowed to congressional Democrats, AP’s analysis found, at roughly the same pace as they did in the election cycle two years ago.
“Democrats have broadly supported campaign finance reform and disclosure for outside groups, while Republicans continue to oppose them,” DNC spokesman Alec Gerlach said in statement responding to AP’s questions. “The DNC has refused PAC and lobbyist money since President Obama was elected, and Wasserman Schultz has refused it as well since she was elected DNC chair” in May.
AP’s analysis, drawing upon campaign records from the Federal Election Commission, found donations to House Democrats this year included big checks from unions, sugar producers and defense contractors — all PACs that filed notices with the FEC stating they were active in lobbying.
Indeed, it is a bipartisan money game, with top Republicans also cashing checks from special interests in 2011. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has pulled in more than $500,000 from PACs since Jan. 1, as has his deputy, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
