Democratic congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib, running in Michigan's 13th Congressional District, knows hypocrisy when she sees it, and she sees it within her own ranks. Last week, the Democratic National Committee reversed course on whether candidates can accept donations from fossil fuel companies. Tlaib told she told "Pod Save America" this week that she’s “disappointed” in decisions like that.
“I think it’s hypocritical when we say we’re for the people, but then we’re taking money from the very people that leave our families in poverty, put those kinds of structures in place and processes that don’t allow our families to equally thrive with the rest of the country.”
The DNC decided to reverse course on fossil fuel donations after fielding concerns from Big Labor, the committee explained. Their new resolution "acknowledges the generous contributions of workers, including those in energy, who organize and donate to Democratic candidates.”
The big irony, Tlaib explained, is that Democrats are now embracing Citizens United vs. FEC, the 2010 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled the government restriction on “independent” political spending by corporations and unions was unconstitutional.
Last year, DNC Chair Tom Perez complained that that court decision can account for why they were pacing so far behind the GOP in fundraising in Montana's special House election.
"Chuck, you've run campaigns, so you understand in the world of post-Citizens United, we're never going to match the Republicans dollar for dollar," Perez said. "That's why we need to overturn Citizens United. All the dark money that goes there and elsewhere."
So many Democrats say they want to end Citizens United, Tlaib observed, "but then they practice the very essence of what Citizens United was about.”
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