Wikileaks, Ro & Super PACs
LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE: Wikileaks, Ro & Super PACs
Ro Khanna repeatedly stresses that he will not take PAC money, and will work to reverse Citizens United or reduce its impact.
Very Progressive Right? But what exactly is Ro's history with PACs?
Californians for Innovation: Ro's Personal PAC
During his campaign to unseat Mike Honda from CA-17, Ro Khanna himself relied on a PAC called Californians for Innovation. This was an independent Super PAC formed in support of Ro Khanna which helped him with almost $1.3 Million dollars in his primary fight against Mike Honda from 2014 to 2016.
The Super PAC raised $790,000 for the 2014 campaign, and $506,381 for the 2016 campaign. The treasure for the Super PAC is Ash Chopra, a Wealth Manager with more than $3 Billion in assets, whose minimum new client size is $10 Million.
More than half of the Super PACs expenditure was against Mike Honda.
The contributors to the Super PAC included many Silicon Valley VCs (2014, 2016). The biggest donor were John and Laura Arnold a former Enron Trader and a Hedge Fund Manager with a new worth of $3 Billion dollars.
Ro's dishonesty about PACs
Ro campaign relied on Super PAC money to unseat Mike Honda and win the CA-17 seat. After getting elected with the support of Big Money, Ro Khanna now preaches about reversing Citizen's United and the negative impact of SuperPACs.
This is yet another example of Ro's flip-flops. When he was challenging Mike Honda, he had no qualms in accepting help from Super PACs funded by the super-rich.
But now he preaches about how PACs are hurting the democratic process!
We deserve a representative with integrity.
#MakeRoGo #RoMustGo
Wikileaks: The Podesta Emails
Wikileaks released a collection of emails involving John Podesta, called the Podesta Emails. WikiLeaks series on deals involving Hillary Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta. Mr Podesta is a long-term associate of the Clintons and was President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff from 1998 until 2001
The Podesta emails reveal a very different side of Ro Khanna, compared to his public positions on campaign finance; especially on the role of Super PACs.
WikiLeaks series on deals involving Hillary Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta. Mr Podesta is a long-term associate of the Clintons and was President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff from 1998 until 2001
2014 Contest
In an email titled Mike’s Opponent has his own Super PAC sent by the Honda Campaign on August 12, 2014, stated:
Ro Khanna used to say he was against PAC funding, but now that he’s squandered more than $3 million and holds more than $200,000 in debt, he and his supporters are looking for other ways to leverage his millionaire and billionaire donors. Just last week, we saw that former Republican Congressman Ernie Konnyu is trying to organize $50,000 in mailers from the Tea Party Express to attack Congressman Honda.
Later, an email titled Under Attack! sent by the Honda Campaign on Oct 17, 2014, talked about Ro Khanna's SuperPac just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in a smear campaign.
In another email titled 16 vs 10,000, sent on October 21, 2014Mike Honda's campaign stated that
Mike has received donations from more than 10,000 supporters like you, but Khanna is relying on a SuperPAC that got almost a half-million dollars from just 16 fat cats and corporations, including a Texas billionaire former Enron executive.
A followup email titled Texas Energy Hedge Fund Billionaire, sent on October 22, 2014, Mike Honda's campaign stated that
“Californians for Innovation [Ro Khanna’s personal SuperPAC] has reported raising $390,000 in all. Of that, $250,000 came from Texas billionaire John Arnold and his wife, Laura, a former attorney and oil company executive. John Arnold made his initial fortune as a natural gas trader at Enron."
In another email titled BREAKING: Shocking News, sent on October 30, 2014, Mike Honda's campaign stated Ro Khanna’s SuperPAC just spent another $250,000 on ads against Mike.
2016 Primary
We cannot continue to allow anonymous right-wing Super PACs to flood money into our political system on behalf of candidates like my opponent, Ro Khanna. His support may stem from conservative millionaire backers, but my support comes from the people -- and that's where the true power of our democracy must always rest.
This was followed up by another email titled the real Ro Khanna? sent by Mike Honda's campaign on January 31, 2016 highlighted the big donors contributing to Ro's SuperPAC
-- a Texas billionaire who made his fortune at Enron-- Super PACs funded by a hedge fund manager at Merrill Lynch-- the same people donating to the Tea Party Express
