Ethics complaint, campaign finance hypocrisy firestorm round out rough week for McGaffe as she heaps praise on Senator McConnell’s wins for Kentucky
Amy McGaffe is embroiled in a campaign finance firestorm as the people of Kentucky – as well as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) – learn more about the depths of her hypocrisy.
Here’s how we got here: as a new FEC complaint details, Amy McGrath For Senate’s campaign manager “knowingly and willfully solicited illegal soft money contributions for a pro-McGrath super PAC. In his words, ‘people who are interested in contributing beyond the legal limits …should have confidence to contribute to the Super PAC.'”
The Courier Journal subsequently chronicled McGaffe’s flagrant campaign finance flip-flop – the latest issue on which she has wavered:
After Previously Trashing Them, McGrath Now Fully Embraces Super PACs
- The Courier Journal‘s Phillip Bailey: “@AmyMcGrathKY talked a lot of trash about Citizens United and super PACs when running for Congress in 2018. Two years later versus @Team_Mitch, however, she’s fully embracing an outside group’s pledge to spend big money on her behalf.”
- The Courier Journal: McGrath is “still critical of ‘unlimited corporate donations’ on her Senate site. This time, however, she says only that the country must ‘work to end Citizens United’ with no specific way how. The old website also had a detailed issues page outlining very specific support for four bills to curtail cash in U.S. elections. The Senate page is scrubbed of that too. This comes as the news dropped Tuesday that McGrath will be assisted by a new super PAC…”
- “Democratic Senate candidate Mike Broihier, also a retired Marine, is among McGrath’s primary opponents. He said seeking money from people who are interested in donating beyond the legal limit is a ‘stunningly anti-Democratic sentiment’ for her to embrace.”
Mere days later, meanwhile, Team McGaffe’s overeagerness to help their own super PAC collect hypocrisy-soaked cash “beyond the legal limits” resulted in the foregoing ethics complaint filed with the FEC:
The Courier-Journal: FEC Complaint Accuses McGrath Campaign Of “Illegally Soliciting Political Contributions”
- The complaint “claims McGrath’s campaign manager, Mark Nickolas, violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 as well as FEC regulations by soliciting ‘illegal soft money contributions’ for Fire Mitch Save America, a type of political action committee known as a super PAC. As evidence, RPK’s complaint cites a quote from Nickolas that was included in a recent Lexington Herald-Leader story where he said: ‘I think the signal is for people who are interested in contributing beyond the legal limits, they should have confidence to contribute to the super PAC.'”
- The Washington Free Beacon: “The GOP’s claim has merit, according to one ethics expert. Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust executive director Kendra Arnold said that federal law bars candidates from directing donations to super PACs. ‘Federal law only allows candidates to solicit contributions within amount and source limitations, and specifically prohibits candidates from encouraging people to donate funds above the legal contribution limit to super PACs. It appears the McGrath campaign violated this rule,’ Arnold said. ‘The actions of McGrath and her campaign committee should be investigated thoroughly in order to uphold the integrity of campaign contribution limits and contribution source prohibitions.'”
- “Republicans are not the only critics of McGrath’s approach to fundraising. Progressive primary opponent Mike Broihier…attacked McGrath for her use of big money. ‘Doubling or tripling the amount of money raised by a candidate that has failed to gain traction in the commonwealth will do nothing to enthuse the people who matter — the voters of Kentucky,’ Broihier told the Louisville Courier Journal.”
McGaffe’s campaign finance hypocrisy was also on full display on Monday night when she mustered up the might to rail against “excessive money in politics” with a straight face:
The Washington Free Beacon: “McConnell Challenger Denounces ‘Excessive Money In Politics’ Days After Soliciting Super PAC Donations”
- “Kentucky Democrat Amy McGrath’s Senate campaign solicited super PAC donations just days before McGrath denounced ‘excessive money in politics’ at a campaign event…[McGrath] told attendees at a Bowling Green, Ky., campaign event on Monday that the elimination of big money in politics is ‘really important to me personally,’ adding that such donations threaten the future of the United States.”
- “McGrath’s campaign has benefited from the support of two super PACs, Fire Mitch Save America and the Ditch Mitch Fund. Those groups can raise and spend unlimited funds and were endorsed by McGrath’s campaign manager just days before the Democrat condemned the role of money in politics. ‘Dark money and the rapid growth of the excessive money in politics is going to absolutely crush our country,’ McGrath said at the Monday event. ‘I’m telling you we’re not going to be able to solve any of our problems … unless we can get the money in politics under control.'”
WATCH: Super PAC Beneficiary Amy McGrath: “Excessive Money In Politics Is Going To Absolutely Crush Our Country”
For all of her hypocritical flip-flops, however, McGaffe did speak with a refreshing level of candor this week about one topic in particular – her admiration for Senator McConnell’s wins for Kentucky:
The Washington Free Beacon: McGrath “Praises McConnell-Backed Jobs Program, Then Deletes Tweet”
- “Kentucky Democrat Amy McGrath deleted a tweet praising a jobs initiative that her opponent, Sen. Mitch McConnell, has championed for years—the second time she has unwittingly lauded the GOP majority leader’s effort to help struggling Kentucky residents. McGrath on Tuesday tweeted in support of a McConnell-backed program that helps recovering opioid addicts learn job skills, calling it ‘innovative’ and ‘promising.’ The tweet was deleted minutes later. ‘Kentucky communities are supporting innovative programs to assist in addiction recovery… and the results are promising,’ McGrath wrote.”
- “The now-deleted tweet linked to a New York Times article profiling an eastern Kentucky guitar factory that employs recovering drug addicts. McConnell has been instrumental in securing funding for the factory, steering hundreds of millions of dollars into local agencies that helped launch it. McGrath praised the program in October, calling it a ‘great initiative’ that she would ‘fight’ to replicate—that tweet remains active on her official account.”
- WOWK: “Recently, McConnell secured one-billion dollars of federal spending for Kentucky.”
- MCGRATH: “Bringing money to Kentucky is always good.”
Great to have you as such a vocal supporter of Senator McConnell’s work.
###