Should Progressives Stop Contributing To Candidates Who Take AIPAC Money?
The people who run AIPAC aren’t dummies and they’re well aware how toxic their brand has become. Just the phrase “Backed by AIPAC” is enough to persuade millions of Democratic voters to look for another candidate to vote for. Rule of thumb: AIPAC, which is funded primarily by Republican multimillionaires and billionaires— and is credibly suspected of illegally laundering Israeli money— finances conservatives, regardless of party, never progressives. The top dozen recipients are all corrupt, for-sale, corporate Democrats, including incumbents that they bought long ago and continue to support, Hakeem Jeffries, Ritchie Torres and Josh Gottheimer being the most egregious example.
Late last week, Sludge published a list of the politicians of both parties who have taken money from the pro-Likud, pro-genocide lobbyists. 26 of them had then over $300,000 in the current cycle— from Jan. 1, 2023 until March 31, 2024. Numero uno, George Latimer, is the candidate they recruited to run against Jamaal Bowman, their top target of 2024. The $1.3 million they have put directly into his campaign, seems gigantic, but it’s a pittance compared to the $20-25 million they are preparing in independent expenditures between now and the June primary. These are the 26 who have taken over $300,000 so far this cycle:
George Latimer (D-NY)- $1,317,454
Jacky Rosen (D-NV)- $1,147,275
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)- 1,087,981
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)- $770,636
Ritchie Torres (D-NY)- $597,618
Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)- $585,675
Wesley Bell (D-MO)- $554,892
Pete Aguilar (D-CA)- $478,196
Jon Tester (D-MT)- $424,688
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)- $399,700
Bob Casey (D-PA)- $399,282
Joanna Weiss (D-CA… lost primary)- $394,849
John Barrasso (R-WY)- $388,859
Michael McCaul (R-TX)- $381,227
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)- $372,493
Lucy McBath (D-GA)- $353,161
Ken Calvert (R-CA)- $345,710
Mike Rogers (R-AL)- $342,502
Deb Fischer (R-NE)- $335,270
Ted Cruz (R-TX)- $327,597
Roger Wicker (R-MS)- $325,721
Greg Meeks (D-NY)- $320,536
Don Bacon (R-NE)- $311,510
MAGA Mike (R-LA)- $311,03
Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)- $306,375
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)- $303,175
Other notable AIPAC whores include pro-genocide members of the House like Illinois Democrat Brad Schneider ($288,107), Florida Republican Maria Salazar ($282,456), New York Republican Elise Stefanik ($280,312), Maine Blue Dog Jared Golden ($275,419), Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise ($245,363), Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick ($224,595), Florida Republican Brian Mast ($134,014), Azerbaijan Blue Dog Henry Cuellar ($131,321), New Jersey Democrat Rob the son Menendez ($128,784), Florida Zionist Jared Moskowitz ($110,274), Republican Mike Lawler ($107,062), Oregon Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer ($84,185), New Jersey Republican Tom Kean ($63,953), Arizona Republican David Schweikert ($48,252)… 8 more pages worth.
“AIPAC PAC,” explained Sludge, “operates as a conduit that allows individual donors to earmark contributions to candidates of their choosing. By operating this way, the PAC is able to give donations to candidate committees that far exceed the $10,000 per year limit set by the FEC.”
And that doesn’t account for other tricks AIPAC uses to secretly finance pro-genocide candidates against progressives while keeping their own paw-prints off the money. Let’s look at Portland, Oregon (OR-03), a very well-educated and politically sophisticated area where AIPAC contributions would be considered a taint. AIPAC is determined to defeat pro-peace candidate Susheela Jayapal, the front-runner, and elect a less progressive, more malleable, more pro-Zionist candidate, Maxine Dexter. As Primary School noted last week, Dexter, a moderate state Rep was endorsed by the conservative Oregonian, which tried claiming that Dexter isn’t really that far right of Jayapal— someone The Oregonian’s editorial board finds too progressive. “The idea that there’s not much difference between Dexter and her opponents is belied by the heavy involvement of dark money in this race on Dexter’s behalf.”
Two PACs, Voters for Responsive Government, just invented by pro-AIPAC, pro-genocide operatives, and the notorious grifter/scam PAC, 314 Action, which absurdly bills itself as “pro-science,” are funneling immense amounts of AIPAC (and Israeli) money into Dexter’s campaign against Jayapal, whose campaign you can contribute to here.
On Friday, Ryan Grim blew the cover off the stealthy AIPAC operation in Portland. “314 Action Fund, which is not known for spending big in congressional primaries, has spent $1.7 million’ to support Dexter, an amount “equal to what the political action committee spent on independent expenditures supporting or opposing candidates during the entire 2022 election cycle... By waiting until April to launch its spending blitz, 314 Action is able to delay disclosure of its donors until May 20. The election is scheduled for May 21, but ballots have already begun arriving to voters by mail. In other words, the identity of the donor or donors won’t be documented in campaign finance reports until it’s too late.”
Grim went on to explain is that AIPAC “is secretly funneling money into the race by washing it through 314 Action, according to two Democratic members of Congress familiar with the arrangement. The pro-Israel community telegraphed its intent to target Jayapal early on, primarily for suspicion that her politics on Israel–Palestine may align with her younger sister’s, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who called for a ceasefire early.”
The last-minute spending in the race is enormous: on track to climb north of $3 million in a short period of time in an inexpensive media market. On Friday, a brand-new super PAC got involved with nearly $1 million worth of negative ads against Jayapal.
Some of the money directed to 314 Action— close to a million dollars by early April— had come from a single Los Angeles-based AIPAC donor, according to the members of Congress, who asked for anonymity to preserve professional and political relationships. The plan was openly discussed at a recent AIPAC fundraiser in Los Angeles, as well as a fundraiser in the Pacific Northwest, said the members of Congress, who learned about it from colleagues in attendance or were themselves in attendance.
…[Another AIPAC-adjacent candidate, Eddy] Morales and Jayapal issued a joint statement following the press event, saying, “Maxine Dexter claims to be for transparency in politics, but she and 314 Action are engaged in a dishonest and cynical ploy to obscure the donors propping up her campaign until just one day before the primary. At a time when MAGA Republican mega-donors are interfering in Democratic primaries across the country, particularly against qualified candidates of color, voters deserve to know who is trying to buy this seat for a centrist candidate who doesn’t even live in the district.”
…Last month, a coalition of local groups — Jewish Voice for Peace Portland, Healthcare Workers for Palestine Portland, Jewish-Palestinian Alliance of Oregon, American Council for Palestine, and Portland Democratic Socialists of America — organized a forum on the conflict and invited all the candidates. Dexter’s campaign manager responded that Dexter was busy that evening and couldn’t attend. The group offered to move the date, asking him to offer any available date. He declined. “Between her commitments at the hospital and the number of existing scheduled events, she is not able to add an additional forum at this time,” her campaign manager responded in an email provided to The Intercept.
The coalition asked if she would instead fill out a questionnaire laying out her positions. Her campaign manager stopped responding. Jayapal did respond to the questionnaire, saying she supports putting conditions on military aid to Israel, supports an immediate ceasefire, and would reject money from AIPAC or its affiliates.
On Thursday, campaigns in the district were informed by consultants who buy television ads that a brand-new political action committee, this one with the practically satirical name “Voters for Responsive Government,” had purchased nearly $1 million worth of airtime. There is no prior record of the PAC existing. It was registered on April 1. Had it been registered one day earlier, the PAC would be required to disclose its donors by now. Instead, it can withhold that information until May 20.
On Friday, the PAC went live with a website. The “About” page links to its Federal Election Commission filing, listing Los Angeles as the city where it was registered and attorney Cary Davidson as its treasurer. The PAC and Davidson did not respond to a request for comment.
“Voters for Responsive Government” launched with two negative ads targeting Jayapal on Friday. Neither ad mentions Israel or Gaza; one of them literally accuses Jayapal of abusing and starving cats and dogs, with a heartrending image of a suffering puppy and kitty. The attack ads set the new PAC’s strategy apart from 314 Action, which has so far spent only on positive ads boosting Dexter, apparently unwilling to be the vehicle for attack ads against a popular Democrat.
314 Action Fund’s largest disclosed contribution this cycle came from Ray Rothrock, who donated $500,000 on February 15. Rothrock, a venture capitalist, has said that the investment he’s “most proud of” has been in Check Point Software, an Israeli cybersecurity company where he serves as a board director. He was also an early investor in Toka, a startup geared toward fighting “terror and crime” that is backed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. (Rothrock did not respond to a request for comment.)
At the end of March, 314 Action Fund reported having just $1.4 million in cash on hand, meaning new contributions were required to cover the spending underway now.
Relying on “pro-science” or vaguely named, brand-new PACs in order to obscure a donor’s true agenda blows a gaping hole in campaign finance law, which is based on the idea that donors should be able to give and speak freely, but voters have a right to know where the money is coming from, and on whose behalf they are speaking.
AIPAC previously pulled such a maneuver in Manhattan during the 2022 cycle, routing at least $400,000 through a super PAC called New York Progressive, attacking Yuh-Line Niou in a successful effort to elect Dan Goldman, now a [plutocrat] member of Congress. Only after the race was over did AIPAC claim credit for the spending.
…In Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, Democratic Majority for Israel [DMFI], an AIPAC-aligned group, has endorsed Janelle Bynum but has not spent on her behalf. Instead, 314 Action Fund has spent $180,000 supporting her. The link to science is even more tenuous with Bynum than it is with Dexter. Bynum previously studied to be an engineer, though is now a McDonald’s franchise owner.
At this point, the pro-genocide PACs have put a million dollars worth of attack ad spending against Jamie McLeod-Skinner, laundered under various other organizations. Keep in mind, AIPAC has already contributed to Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Jamie needs sufficient resources to push back and put those ads in perspective. She’s being massively outspent, not by her opponents but by AIPAC and its satellite groups. Again, please consider
Jamie: “One of the greatest threats to our democracy is the millions of untraceable dollars being spent to sway our elections. Transparency is the cornerstone of democracy, and the lack of transparency undermines the integrity of our electoral process. It’s unacceptable for out-of-state actors to inundate voters while hiding their political agenda behind a cloak of anonymity. Oregonians deserve answers and should know the truth about who these out-of-state actors are and their agenda behind trying to buy this election.”
