George Soros
Expands Influence Over US Politics
Billionaire financier George Soros is
launching a super PAC ahead of the 2020 election and, at $5.1 million, he has already made
the single biggest contribution so far this election cycle
compared to any other megadonor.
Soros contributed $5.1
million to the new group, Democracy PAC, according to Paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Super
PACs, which are officially known as “independent-expenditure only committees,”
are not allowed to make contributions to specific parties or candidates. They
may, however, support initiatives independently of campaigns and do so by
engaging in unlimited political spending.
According
to Politico, Soros was one of the
Democratic Party’s biggest donors in the last presidential election, with the
party’s candidates and causes receiving Soros-sourced financial support to the
tune of over $20 million. Compared to the corresponding phase in the 2016
election season, Soros has in the 2020 cycle already doubled his donation
amount.
A
person familiar with Democracy PAC told Politico that Soros’s family members
may also support the initiative with their cash. Soros’s son, Alexander Soros,
has in recent years increasingly taken on the role of a Democratic megadonor.
The
Hill reported that Soros does
not plan to use Democracy PAC to set up an independent political group but
instead intends to funnel funds to other organizations.
“He has, unlike Tom Steyer or [Michael] Bloomberg, funded things
like Senate Majority PAC and Priorities USA and EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood
and expects to continue to do so,” a person familiar with Democracy PAC told Politico.
Soros
has not yet endorsed a candidate for president in 2020.
‘National Impact By and In 2020’
Soros
helped fund Democratic efforts to flip Georgia, Arizona, and Florida in the
recent midterm elections, The
Epoch Times previously reported, noting that the strategy of flipping Republican “red
states” to Democrat blue is laid out in his Open Society Foundations documents.
According
to a white paper called “U.S.
Programs 2015–2018 Strategy,” the progressive organization began funding activist
operations in Arizona and Georgia in 2015, with the ultimate goal being to
influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
“Beginning
in 2015 with initial investments, U.S. Programs anticipates seeking to have
national impact by and in 2020, through targeted work in a small number of
states. States such as Arizona, Georgia, or North Carolina, are quickly
changing demographically and rising in political significance,” the document states.
Known as the 2020 Project, Open Society’s funding efforts have
been aimed at “building the capacity of community-based organizations to
catalyze political engagement throughout the year and not solely around
elections,” and they feature coordination “with our anchor and core grantees,
Democracy Alliance partners and other donors, and field leaders, such as
Planned Parenthood, progressive labor, and other allies.”
According
to Epoch Times contributor William Patrick, “Democracy Alliance is a collective of
wealthy center-left and left-wing political donors with Soros as its
centerpiece. It supports a sprawling activist infrastructure with so-called
dark money, which hides donor identities, and requires
its grantees to sign
nondisclosure agreements.”
Zuckerberg, Soros, and Bloomberg Spent
Millions on Ballot Initiatives
According
to earlier
reports, Soros, Facebook
founder Mark Zuckerberg, and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg were
three of the dozens of billionaires who dropped millions of dollars into
campaigns for ballot initiatives ahead of the last year’s midterm elections.
An
analysis of state records by the Center
of Public Integrity revealed
just how much some elite political players want certain initiatives to pass.
The
group found that several weeks before the midterm election, 25 American
billionaires had invested more than $70.7 million in campaigns for
initiatives in states where they don’t actually reside.
More than $70 million has gone to ballot measure
campaigns this year from billionaires who live in different states.
See what issues they're trying to influence in your state as you cast your ballot.http://bit.ly/2PFkWLt
See what issues they're trying to influence in your state as you cast your ballot.http://bit.ly/2PFkWLt
Opponents
The
billionaires have backed a number of different campaigns, including a
ballot measure in Ohio that would soften penalties for people convicted of drug
possession.
“We
think setting criminal justice policy by constitutional amendment is a terrible
idea, and I think what makes it even worse is that it’s not being proposed by
Ohioans,” Louis Tobin, the executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting
Attorneys Association, told the Atlantic, which co-reported the story with the
Center of Public Integrity and Business Insider. “It’s being driven by money
from out of state.”
“We’re going to have to live with the unintended consequences of
this,” he added.
Tom Steyer speaks onstage during The People’s State Of The Union
at Town Hall in New York City on Jan. 29, 2018. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
In
Arizona, a
ballot measure would require
utilities to get 50 percent of their power solely from wind and solar sources
by 2030. Its backers include Tom Steyer, a billionaire who lives in California.
“We believe strongly that a California billionaire coming into
Arizona and spending $10 [million] to $20 million to cram this thing down our
throats is problematic,” said Matthew Benson, an opponent of the measure.
Others,
though, have said that it’s not unusual for ballot campaigns to have high-level
backing.
“The
fact is that you need a lot of money to even get one of these campaigns off the
ground,” said Josh Altic, ballot measures project director for Ballotpedia,
adding that the average cost for a campaign to get on the ballot in 2016 was
more than $1 million.
“It’s not very unusual to have really rich individuals or
financially influential corporations giving a lot of money.”
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