Washington, D.C. – In what appears to be a move to bolster Hillary Clinton’s election campaign, the Democratic National Committee has reversed a ban on donations from federal lobbyists and political action committees introduced by presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.
“It is a major step in the wrong direction,” longtime reform advocate Fred Wertheimer told The Washington Post. “And it is completely out of touch with the clear public rejection of the role of political money in Washington,” during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
The rule change was quietly enacted by the DNC within the past few months, as to not alert a public that’s already fed up with an unresponsive elite-dominated system. There’s a general view that the DNC’s action was meant as a means of bolstering the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who receives massive amounts of special interest money, against the insurgent populism of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.
According to a report in The Washington Post:
“In recent months Sanders’s supporters have accused the DNC of trying to prevent more primary debates, trying to tilt the race in Clinton’s direction. Just this week, his backers were enraged that the DNC allowed the senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus to use the committee’s Capitol Hill headquarters to announce that their PAC had endorsed Clinton over Sanders. DNC officials have said they had no involvement in the black caucus event. As dues paying members, the caucus can reserve shared meeting space at the DNC.”
“Some Sanders backers have also expressed concern that the DNC is not playing a more vigorous role in checking out disputes over voting in the recent Iowa caucuses, which Clinton narrowly won. The DNC has declined to comment on this in the past.”
One of the most fascinating aspects of this move by the DNC is that the decision only highlights the stark difference between the candidates and whom they truly serve.
While Sanders has continually spoken out against the influence of lobbyists, particularly those that represent the financial industry, Clinton has instead pandered to the special interests, raking in over $2.9 million in speaking fees from 12 speeches given to Wall Street financial powerhouses between 2013 and 2015.
When requested to release transcripts of those speeches, Clinton flatly refused.
So much for transparency, eh?
The Democratic political elites are pulling out all the stops in an attempt to install their preferred candidate, regardless of the will of the American public. Democratic party operatives will utilize virtually any means necessary to achieve their goal of installing Clinton as their nominee – even changing the rules of the game while it is being played.
