'Height of Hypocrisy': Senate Dems Target Conservative Groups, Turn a Blind Eye to Their Own Dark Money Funding
Senate Democrats released a 54-page report on Wednesday criticizing the role conservative dark money groups have played in confirming President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees.
But the report failed to mention the Democratic Party’s own ties to dark money.
The report, which was prepared by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, rails against conservative dark money groups, including the Federalist Society, that have pumped at least $250 million into funding “Republicans’ court capture machine.”
“The Senate has confirmed 200 new life-tenured federal judges, most of whom were chosen not for their qualifications or experience — which are often lacking — but for their allegiance to Republican political goals,” the Senate Democrats’ report reads.
“This court capture has been perpetuated through a complex network of anonymously-funded groups like the Federalist Society and spearheaded by right-wing activists like Leonard Leo,” the report went on.
Former Republican Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt told Fox News that the Senate Democrats’ report “shows the height of hypocrisy.”
He noted that the Democratic Party is propped up by its own dark money juggernauts such as Arabella Advisors, which operates a network of left-leaning organizations that raised a combined $582 million in 2017 alone from mostly anonymous donors.
One of Arabella’s most notable groups is Demand Justice, a leading liberal group that advocated against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination in 2018.
Over the last 3 years instead of focusing on legislation to help Americans:
Sen. McConnell & Pres. Trump have dedicated almost every ounce of energy to packing the courts with right-wing ideologues who they know will do their bidding#CapturedCourtshttps://t.co/XRfnuAGBch
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 27, 2020
“This latest report is an unhinged attack on Republicans for using ‘dark money,’ without mentioning that the authors of the report and the Democratic party are the biggest beneficiaries from massive organizations like Arabella Advisors,” Laxalt, who now serves as outside counsel for the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, said in a statement.
“Unless Sen. Schumer and his colleagues want to continue to deceive and manipulate the American people, they need to be frank and upfront about their own ‘dark money’ practices,” Laxalt said.
In fact, 54 percent of all dark money spent during the 2018 midterm elections was from liberal groups, while conservative groups only accounted for 31 percent of dark money spending, according to Issue One.
Schumer is tied to Majority Forward, a 501(c)(4) dark money group whose president is Schumer ally J.B. Poersch.
Majority Forward shares what OpenSecrets called a “ridiculously cozy” relationship with the Schumer-affiliated Senate Majority PAC.
The group spent $46 million supporting Democrats during the 2018 midterm elections, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
