One of Claire McCaskill’s favorite subjects to grandstand about has long been “dark money.” But it’s Claire and her allies who are keeping Missourians in the dark.
Just yesterday, Patients for Affordable Drugs began airing tv ads on McCaskill’s behalf. That organization receives 99.45% of its funds from a dark money group, Action Now Initiative, founded by billionaire former Enron executive John Arnold. This latest dark money spending for McCaskill joins Majority Forward, Chuck Schumer’s dark money organization, which is spending heavily on McCaskill’s behalf this election cycle.
And who can forget the darkest money of all – McCaskill and her husband’s taxpayer-funded fortune. Even after stories detailing the $131 million in taxpayer subsidies received by her husband’s companies, and the millions in profits from a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands, a well known tax shelter for the wealthy, Claire still refuses to release her family’s tax returns.
“When it comes to dark money and transparency, Claire McCaskill is a hypocrite,” said NRSC Spokesman Bob Salera. “If McCaskill were truly concerned with transparency, she would call on these dark money groups to stop airing tv ads on her behalf and release her family’s tax returns.”
Background:
Patients For Affordable Drugs Is Funded By A Dark Money Group Founded By A Billionaire Who Got Rich From Enron
99.45 Percent ($3,100,000/$3,117,239.50) Of The Money “Patients For Affordable Drugs” Has Raised During The 2018 Campaign Cycle Came From A Group Called “Action Now Initiative” (Federal Election Commission, Accessed 9/12/18)
Action Now Initiative Is A 501(c)(4) (Dark Money Group) Founded By John And Laura Arnold. “The Action Now Initiative, the Arnolds’ 501(c)(4) organization, has spent more than $1 million on pension reform efforts. Like every other (c)(4), one of the main things that makes it different from the 501(c)(3) foundation is that it can engage in direct advocacy. ANI has, for instance, contributed to campaigns in support of pension-reform ballot initiatives in a number of states as well as San Jose and San Diego—generally with six-figure investments. “All of this work is local,” Laura Arnold emphasizes, noting that every jurisdiction has its own advocacy needs.” (Philanthropy Roundtable, 1/2014)
Action Now Initiative’s Website Is Just A Landing Page That Says “Action Now Initiative Seeks To Improve The Lives Of Individuals Through Political Advocacy.” (Action Now Initiative, Accessed 9/12/18)
John Arnold Made “Colossal Profits” From Enron. “Arnold has the brain of an economist, the experience of a veteran gas man, and the iron stomach of a riverboat gambler. Perhaps most notable, though, is his uncanny ability to extract colossal profits from catastrophic circumstances. He began his career as a wunderkind twentysomething trader at Enron — and escaped that disaster not only with his reputation intact but also with the biggest bonus given to any employee, which he used to seed a new fund.” (CNN, 11/24/09)
“The official story of Arnold is well-known: a star Enron trader who rose from the ashes of one of the most scandalous corporate bankruptcies in American history, launching his own Houston hedge fund in 2002 with the help of an $8 million bonus and a handful of early investors. While many were wary, Arnold took pains to distance himself from Enron’s blackened legacy and, within a few short years, extracted frothy profits, propelling himself to unprecedented fame and celebrity.” (Fortune, 5/4/2012)