Jacobson- Rabid fox in the hen houseOn Sunday we looked at a relatively new phenomenon happening in American politics right now: conservative-- usually Republican-- billionaires investing huge sums of money in Democratic primaries. We spoke specifically about how the web of shady SuperPACs that prop up the Republican-lite organization, No Labels, is pouring hundreds of thousands of last minute dollars into the Orlando-area seat that progressive Alan Grayson is trying to reclaim from right-of-center New Dem Darren Soto.It's a district too blue for a Republican so big right wing money wants to make sure it's at least represented by a DINO with GOP tendencies-- like Soto. And certainly not by a skilled and effective progressive warrior like Grayson. Last week, for example, James Rupert Murdoch put another half million dollars into the battle through the No Labels web. And he isn't only only right-wing billionaire doing the same thing this cycle-- nor is the Grayson v Soto fight the only one where wealthy Republicans are testing out their ability to take over the Democratic Party with cash.As I mentioned, No Labels head honcho, Nancy Jacobson, who is widely considered one of the most vicious and destructive players in American politics, runs a dark web of 8 of the most pernicious and sleazy SuperPACs in the country, United for Progress, United Together, Forward Not Back, Progress Tomorrow, Patriotic Americans PAC, Citizens for a Strong America, etc, entirely funded by contributions from 5 and 6-figure right wing donors, such as Rupert Murdoch, his son James Murdoch, Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, hedge fund manager Louis Bacon, former Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan Selig and Wheels Inc. executive Jim Frank. Jacobson, failed in her bid to insert right-wing faux-Dems John Morgantelli (PA) and Damon Martinez (NM) in their races against progressives Susan Wild and Debra Haaland. But she was very successful in rescuing the failed campaign of right-wing Blue Dog Dan Lipinksi in Chicago.A young progressive businesswoman, Marie Newman had been steadily gaining on Lipinski-- a Republican-lite fake Dem-- and by the week before the election it looked like she had the win in the bag. Suddenly a Republican SuperPAC in South Carolina that funds No Labels with cash from conservative donors like Jerry Reinsfeld and Dick Duchissois, started pouring money for a wave of false ads into the district. Newman's grassroots campaign was swamped with a flood of cash and she lost the election, albeit closely:
• Dan Lipinski (No Labels Blue Dog)- 48,675 (51.1%)• Marie Newman (D)- 46,530 (48.9%)
Yesterday I asked her what had happened. "No Labels," she told me, "is widely known as a true PAC-bully for conservatives. To be clear, they are not centrist in any way. No Labels only supports conservatives. During my campaign they made up ridiculous lies-saturated ads and executed horrifying things on the ground to beat me. I am incredibly proud of all of my partner Non-profit PAC supporters. My campaign and supporters were honest, fair and ethical. No Labels was the opposite in every way."No Labels and its affiliated PACs smeared her with $987,742 worth of ads, primarily with a contribution from United For Progress, Inc ($975,894), which gets it's money from the same kind of right-wing criminal types trying to take down Grayson and bolster Soto in Florida:
• Louis Bacon (Moore Capital Management)- $500,000• Howard Marks (Oaktree Capital)- $375,000• Christopher Stadler (CVC Stadler)- $250,000• Jerry Reinsdorf (Chicago White Sox)- $200,000• Michael Sonnenfeldt (Tiger 21 LLC)- $125,000• Carl Ferenbach (High Meadows)- $125,000• Craig Duchossois (Duchossois Group)- $100,000• Jim Frank (Wheels)- $100,000
Should these plutocrats, primarily corrupt Wall Street banksters, get away with taking over the Democratic Party nominating process? They've already taken over the GOP but with the rise of Trump, conservative Republicans are looking for an alternative and they see No Labels as exactly that-- a viable alternative and an opportunity to insert more Wall Street-friendly "Democrats" into Congress in blue districts where the GOP would have no chance to win anyway. Please consider helping Alan Grayson stop them in Orlando by clicking on the Blue America 2018 congressional thermometer on the right. Grayson was the most effective member of Congress while he served. Soto is an inept, ineffective, backbencher party boy who votes the way he's told to vote-- a complete waste of a blue seat. His record is anti-Choice, pro-NRA and "neutral" on protecting Social Security from the Republicans and the greedy Wall Street monsters who want to "privatize" it.Although it isn't the exact same thing, it's worth mentioning that Paul Ryan couldn't bear the idea of being defeated by a union construction worker, Randy Bryce... so he announced an early retirement and fled from the battlefield. Yesterday Mark Leibovich of the New York Times Magazine blamed it all-- somewhat brutally-- on Trump, not Bryce. "Ambitious 48-year-old politicians at the peak of their powers don’t suddenly just decide to quit because they’ve discovered that their teenage children are growing up fast back in Wisconsin. Ryan should, by rights, be riding out of town at the pinnacle of his starlit Washington career. Yet he remains a distinctly awkward match to a moment-- and president-- that seem certain to define much of his legacy." I've seen the same internal polls and focus group results Ryan has. Independent voters are done with him. He knew, Trump or no Trump, he has no chance against Bryce. The GOP isn't prepared to give up the southeast Wisconsin seat without a fight, so they have been pumping large amounts of money into the Democratic primary campaign to defeat Bryce and replace him with a pretend-- or vanity-- candidate that would be incredibly easy for them to defeat. It isn't working but it is forcing Bryce to put some attention into a primary he shouldn't have to think about instead of concentrating all his resources and firepower against the Paul Ryan clone that Ryan chose as the November candidate. So far No Labels hasn't weighed in on this one yet.