Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has crusaded against so-called dark money for years. He’s championed the DISCLOSE Act, which has remained in the legislative mud for nearly as long.
The Rhode Island liberal’s advocacy reached a fever pitch during the confirmation battles for Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, specifically Brett Kavanaugh, one of the nastiest in recent memory, and Amy Coney Barrett.
Both judges were confirmed, so Whitehouse is a loser, but a lengthy piece in The Washington Examiner by Gabe Kaminsky highlighted a predictable ending to Mr. Whitehouse’s anti-free speech struggle: he, too, has ties to dark money groups (via Washington Examiner):
…Washington Examiner review of the senator's donors, green energy affiliations, and efforts to transform the Supreme Court tell another story. He has for many years benefited from the influence of dark money and held certain ties to dark money groups.
Since 2010, Whitehouse has helped introduce the DISCLOSE Act, which has not been passed and would require 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups and super PACs spending money on federal elections to report their donors of more than $10,000 in a given cycle. More recently, Whitehouse has taken aim at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over the conservative's purported dark money affiliations, including with Leonard Leo, chairman of the public relations firm CRC Advisors, as well as co-chairman of the Federalist Society, a powerful right-leaning legal group. The senator has also slammed conservative Justice Samuel Alito over his relationship with hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.
Whitehouse accused Senate Republicans in 2022 of carrying water for "megadonors and secretive special interests to protect the most corrupting force in American politics — dark money," upon the lawmakers blocking the DISCLOSE Act. That sentiment hasn't deterred the Democrat's campaign, joint fundraising committee, and leadership PAC from taking over $192,500 combined over the last decade from the PAC arm of the League of Conservation Voters, an influential 501(c)(4) dark money environmentalist advocacy group, according to campaign finance disclosures.
Moreover, the Rhode Island Democrat took a $1,000 donation this year from the PAC for the NRDC Action Fund, the 501(c)(4) arm of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a left-wing climate charity, disclosures show. The action fund endorses Whitehouse, who has appeared at events alongside NRDC personnel, including at an environmental conference he organized in 2013 in Washington, D.C., records show.
Entities that have 501(c)(4) tax-exempt "social welfare" status are often called "dark money" groups because they don't have to disclose their donors to the IRS, may spend money on elections, typically in the form of independent expenditures, or advertisements, and can also engage in unlimited lobbying.
And Whitehouse's efforts to frame anonymous donors as peddling so-called dark money has continued to elicit eye rolls from top conservative groups, like the watchdog Americans for Public Trust, as well as Republican lawmakers, for two reasons in particular: the Right views the Left's crusade against "dark money" as contrary to a pro-free speech society, and is, secondly, perpetually frustrated with Democrats criticizing dark money despite relying on it to win elections.
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It's not as funny as the senator’s alleged rendezvous at a whites-only beach club, but getting busted for being a hypocrite is a fitting end since a) this always happens to folks in DC and b) the odds increase dramatically when it’s a liberal Democrat whose self-righteousness ends up getting the better of them. It’s not going to kill Whitehouse’s political career. Rhode Island is more left-wing than Cuba, so he’ll have a job if he remains in public life.
Also, not that it needs to be said; this is the most overblown issue liberals bark about every election cycle. The amount of money spent on these electoral contests pales compared to what Proctor and Gamble spent on their advertising campaigns, including presidential races.
If what liberals said was true about money and politics, then George Soros would have become lord protector and suspended the Constitution eons ago. You could make the same silly argument about the Koch brothers when they were political.
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