House Democrats who have decried “dark money” in politics were boosted during the midterm elections by a Biden-allied climate group with notable dark money connections, according to campaign finance disclosures reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Democratic members of Congress have raised concerns over the influence of dark money and co-sponsored legislation that aims to require greater disclosure of campaign spending. Still, a handful of these same lawmakers received support from ads and mailing services during the November elections from a super PAC affiliated with Climate Power, a project of a left-wing dark money group called Fund for a Better Future that has ties to Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.
SWISS BILLIONAIRE-BACKED DARK MONEY GROUP POURED MILLIONS INTO BIDEN-ALLIED GROUPS
“When it comes to political campaign finance, fundraising, and donations, everyone’s a hypocrite,” David O’Brien, policy director for the nonpartisan ethics watchdog RepresentUs, told the Washington Examiner. “That’s just the system we’ve got. Even if you really care about this stuff, you have to engage with the system to some extent. You have to make these compromises. And that’s the problem.”
Reps. Chris Pappas (D-NH), Dan Kildee (D-MI), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Susan Wild (D-PA), Sharice Davids (D-KS), Lauren Underwood (D-IL), Mike Levin (D-CA), Matt Cartwright (D-PA), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) all co-sponsored the DISCLOSE Act between 2021 and 2022. Climate Power Action spent over $800,000 on independent expenditures supporting them during the midterms, records show.
The DISCLOSE Act, which many Democrats have backed since 2010 but has not cleared the Senate, aims to target “dark money” in elections by making certain groups spending money on ads report their donors. It also seeks “to prevent foreign governments and their agents from interfering in U.S. elections, including in state and local ballot measures,” according to a press release.
At the same time, the 10 House Democrats have made various statements slamming dark money’s influence. Pappas, for instance, said in 2021 that the practice is “eroding our democracy” while signaling support for the For the People Act, a failed measure pushed by President Joe Biden that would require super PACs to say who gave them $10,000 or more during a given election cycle.
Voter suppression, partisan gerrymandering, dark money, and corruption are quickly eroding our democracy and making it harder for Americans’ voices to be heard.
That’s why we must pass #HR1 to protect our democracy and level the playing field #ForThePeople. #NHPolitics
— Chris Pappas (@ChrisPappasNH) February 22, 2021
Between August 2022 and September 2022, Climate Power Action shelled out roughly $46,000 to support Pappas through independent expenditures, according to disclosures. The super PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission in June 2022 and is linked to Climate Power, which receives fiscal sponsorship in the form of legal, financial, technology, and human resources from Fund for a Better Future, according to tax forms filed in 2021.
The Fund for a Better Future is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group that does not have to disclose its donors and works on issues related to climate, election integrity, healthcare, and immigration, according to its website. Climate Power Action paid it almost $161,000 for “staff time and overhead” between June 2022 and December 2022, campaign finance disclosures show. The fund steered roughly $5.8 million to the super PAC that same year, according to disclosures.
In turn, the Fund for a Better Future has received over $71 million since 2016 from the Berger Action Fund, a dark money advocacy group affiliated with the private Wyss Foundation, which Democratic megadonor Wyss has funded since 1998, tax forms show. Wyss has come under fire in recent years for his influence in U.S. politics and, as a foreign national, is barred from donating directly to political committees and candidates, according to the FEC.
Still, Kaptur, who has sought to fight “the flow of dark money into our elections,” received a boost worth $109,000 in ads and mailing services from Climate Power Action between September 2022 and November 2022, filings show. The super PAC boosted Underwood to the tune of more than $102,000, according to disclosures.
Climate Power Action also backed Schrier, who has called to “put an end to this decade of dark money, with almost $77,000 in independent expenditures. The PAC spent almost $120,000 supporting Spanberger, who has said she is focused on “rooting out dark money,” records show.
“If dollars are flowing into a campaign, people should know where it’s coming from,” the congresswoman said in 2019.
Meanwhile, multiple reports last week cast light on how the Berger Action Fund granted tens of millions of dollars to pro-Biden groups in 2021. The action fund has donated to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the advocacy arm of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, which counts Wyss as a board member, tax forms show.
The think tank co-founded Climate Power in 2020 to push back against the Trump administration’s environmental and energy policies, according to its website.
“Democrat crocodile tears about ‘dark money’ are one of the biggest punchlines in politics,” Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP House members, told the Washington Examiner.
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Campaigns for the 10 House Democrats did not respond to requests for comment.
The Fund for a Better Future declined to comment.
