Biden campaign says it doesn't want support from super PACs

[highplainsdem]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/440950-biden-campaign-says-it-will-not-accept-support-from-super-pacs

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign said Saturday it does not welcome support from super PACs after a report from The Hill revealed that Biden allies are launching a political action group to boost his campaign.

“.@JoeBiden does not welcome support from super PACs,” Biden campaign communications director and deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield tweeted Saturday.

The tweet came in response to news first reported by The Hill that Democratic fundraiser Matt Tompkins has filed paperwork to create the For the People PAC, with hopes of raising tens of millions of dollars to back Biden’s presidential bid.

Biden's campaign distanced itself from the effort, which comes as several of his primary opponents like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) who have eschewed donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists.

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Biden has previously said his campaign will not take money from corporate PACs or federal lobbyists.

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[nolabear]

5. Do tell us your sources for that last claim.

[Celerity]

7. his first big fundraiser had co-hosts like Dan Hilferty who's group spent 100m to block Obamacare

Also a major union-busting attorney, and the lobbyist and Comcast exec, Cohen (it was at his home). This year over 90 percent of Cohen’s political spending has gone to Republican groups, according to campaign finance disclosures.



Who was at Biden's kickoff fundraiser in Philadelphia?

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2019/04/26/who-was-at-bidens-kickoff-fundraiser-in.html

Later, he came to Philadelphia for his first official fundraiser at the home of Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen in the city's Mt. Airy neighborhood. The invitation, posted widely on social media, asked for a contribution of $2,800 to attend the event or $250 for a "young professional."

Attendees included former Philadelphia Mayor and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former Mayor Michael Nutter, Independence Blue Cross CEO Daniel J. Hilferty and high-profile lawyers Stephen A. Cozen, Kenneth M. Jarin and Alan Kessler. In all, about 150 people attended, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.


Comcast executive to host Joe Biden fundraiser

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/comcast-executive-to-host-joe-biden-fundraiser/


Biden Boasts Strong Support From Unions, Union Busters

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/biden-boasts-strong-early-support-from-unions-union-busters.html


Union-Busting Lawyer to Host Biden’s 1st Fundraiser Thursday

http://paydayreport.com/union-busting-lawyer-to-host-bidens-1st-fundraiser-thursday/

PITTSBURGH, PA. – On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden intends to launch his presidential campaign at the Teamsters Local 249 in Pittsburgh with United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard appearing alongside him.

However, first, on Thursday, Biden is hosting a $2,800 dollar-a-plate fundraiser at the mansion of Comcast Executive President David Cohen in Philadelphia. Among the dozen select political power players on the host committee for Biden’s 1st fundraiser are Steven Cozen, founder and chairman of the union-busting law firm Cozen O’Connor.

According to Cozen O’Connor website, the firm specializes in union busting advertising that it helps employers to “avoid unionization through positive employee relations and regain nonunion status when employees indicate they no longer wish to be union-represented”.

The firm also boasts on its website that it helps employers to lock out their unionized workforce. The inclusion of Cozen on Biden’s first fundraiser raises lingering questions about Biden’s continued commitment to organized labor and why so many labor leaders are eager to hop on board with Biden.

snip



Daniel Hilferty is the CEO of Independence Blue Cross. He is on the board of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade association working to defeat the progressive push for Medicare for All. In national politics, Hilftery has exclusively donated to Republicans this year, records show. The health insurance executive gave $5,000 to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., along with smaller donations to other congressional Republicans (see below).

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?two_year_transaction_period=2020&contributor_name=Hilferty%2C+Daniel+&min_date=01%2F01%2F2019&max_date=12%2F31%2F2020





Hilferty's group America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), pumped in $102 million in 14 months to try and block Obamacare, now they are doing the same with MFA and even the much milder buy-in option.


Health Care Insurers Spent $100 Million To Defeat Obamacare


https://www.democraticunderground.com/1002805314

As the Supreme Court readies to announce their decision on the individual mandate portion of the health reform, it has emerged that the largest health care lobbying group in the country spent a total of $102.4 million in just 15 months to prevent Obamacare from becoming law in the first place.

In 2009 alone, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) pumped $86.2 million into a conservative lobbying group, the US Chamber of Commerce, to combat President Obama’s health care reform plan. But with the added months of 2010 prior to the ACA’s March passage, AHIP piled on an additional $16 million to be used against the bill.

That staggering total, which the National Journal’s Influence Alley uncovered today, was not out in the open — rather, the funds were transferred through a secretive process and listed only by the organization as ‘advocacy’ spending:

The backchannel spending allowed insurers to publicly stake out a pro-reform position while privately funding the leading anti-reform lobbying group in Washington. The chamber spent tens of millions of dollars bankrolling efforts to kill health care reform.


more at link
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/06/13/499093/health-care-insurers-spent-100-million-to-combat-the-affordable-care-act/




https://www.opensecrets.org/search?order=desc&q=daniel+hilferty&sort=D&type=donors

[Celerity]

6. Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon were the two Biden advisers going around floating a pre-cooked VP

ticket and a 1 term-and-out run.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/us/politics/joe-biden-2020-election.html

Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, Mr. Biden has not spent years building a muscular digital operation aimed at stimulating online supporters to give money. So his team is mulling a host of unconventional steps, including several related to fund-raising, transparency and the mechanics of a campaign.

But none would carry the impact of naming a running mate early or vowing to serve just one term.

Two of Mr. Biden’s closest advisers, Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon, have floated both possibilities in recent weeks. And they have been egged on by some Democratic lawmakers, who have urged the Biden associates to strongly consider the one-term pledge to immediately defuse the question about his age.

snip

[BlueFlorida]

3. K&R

Another Biden-bashing meme goes down in flames.

[Cha]

4. Good.