DNC Pledging $2 Million To 'Buy' Hillary's 2016 Data
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to earn money from her own party for the data her most recent presidential campaign collected.
According to a recent report by The Intercept, organizations aligned with Democratic Party campaigns ahead of the 2018 midterm elections have agreed to pay a total of more than $2 million for email lists, proprietary software, voter data and other campaign information.
The largest portion of that payment came from the Democratic National Committee, which has pledged $1.65 million. That money has been pledged to Onward Together, a Clinton-backed political action committee.
An additional $700,000 came from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the right to rent access to the campaign’s email list.
The investment is just a small part of the party’s overall strategy to take back the reins of Congress in November.
However, as Fox News reported, Clinton is receiving some backlash for accepting the Onward Together donations, especially in light of the fact that President Barack Obama offered the party his email list in 2015 as an in-kind contribution. His list was valued at $2 million.
A Clinton spokesperson defended the campaign, estimating the actual value of the information available to Democrats because of access to the information far exceeds what any organization spent on it.
“Putting the DNC on a strong footing is something that Secretary Clinton was very focused on during the campaign,” said Nick Merrill.
He said renting out campaign information “is common practice” and has previously defended Clinton as fiscally responsible with the party’s resources during her 2016 White House bid.
“She was the first presidential candidate in decades to leave the DNC in the black after a presidential cycle,” he said. “The campaign turned over an unprecedented amount of campaign data and resources.”
Merrill said the DNC was able to raise more than $30 million with the data it paid Clinton’s PAC to access, which he said represented a roughly 1,800 percent “return on their investment.”
The Intercept report revealed details about the payments to Onward Together, including the assertion that former DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile initially negotiated with the Clinton campaign to make payments for the information.
It was Brazile’s successor, Tom Perez, whose renegotiation of the terms led to payments being redirected to the Clinton-aligned PAC.
In the first three months of this year, public records show the DNC has paid Onward Together a total of more than $700,000 over a series of four payments.
DNC spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa confirmed the payment schedule to The Intercept. She said the remaining money owed to Onward Together will be payed in full with a final installment scheduled for October.
While the amount Democrats spent for Clinton’s data is just a fraction of its overall expenditures ahead of the midterms, it also represents roughly how much debt the party has incurred so far this election cycle.
As Open Secrets reported, the DNC has raised just over $88 million while spending about $90.5 million.
In comparison, the Republican National Committee has raised almost twice as much as Democrats, representing a surplus of about $17.6 million. Republicans currently have about $43 million on hand.
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