Super PACs: how a company that opposes them came to create one
CREDO Mobile, a cellphone company that describes itself as 'America鈥檚 only progressive phone company,' announced this week that it is mobilizing a super PAC to target tea party candidates.
Washington
Marshaling unlimited corporate contributions to support or topple candidates, a defining feature of the 2012 presidential campaign cycle, isn鈥檛 a tool just for groups on the right, it turns out.
CREDO Mobile, a San Francisco-based cellular phone company that describes itself as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 only progressive phone company,鈥� announced this week that it is mobilizing its fledgling "super PAC (political-action committee)" for a $3 million campaign to 鈥淭ake Down the Tea Party Ten鈥� in November elections.
It鈥檚 a reach for a group that, on principle, opposed the US Supreme Court鈥檚 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which opened the door to unlimited corporate money in political campaigns and the advent of super PACs to distribute it.
Since its founding in 1985, CREDO Mobile has mobilized its 2.5 million members on issues ranging from reproduction rights and opposition to war, to fighting the death penalty, climate change, and construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline 鈥� all funded by customers of the phone company. The CREDO website urges consumers to switch cellphone providers because AT&T 鈥減lays on the same team鈥� as the billionaire Koch brothers, whom it describes as 鈥渢he dark side of corporate America.鈥�
So, how does a company that opposes super PACs come to create one? In short, you don鈥檛 refuse a weapon that can help in a battle over principles. There is, for instance, a super PAC dedicated to President Obama's reelection, Priorities USA Action, set up by former White House staffers.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 support super PACs, but we also saw that progressives can鈥檛 unilaterally disarm in this fight,鈥� says CREDO SuperPAC president Becky Bond. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a company. So, just like the Koch brothers, we want to start something.
鈥淭his allows us to directly advocate for defeat of these [tea party] candidates, instead of talking about defeat of issues," she adds. "This is something we could not have done before Citizens United.鈥澛�
The first six targets of the campaign include GOP freshmen Reps. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, Allen West of Florida, Joe Walsh of Illinois, Frank Guinta of New Hampshire, and Chip Cravaack of Minnesota. Five-term Rep. Steve King (R) of Iowa, an early supporter of the tea party movement, is also included. They were chosen for a voting record that the CREDO super-PAC website characterizes as 鈥渁nti-woman, anti-science, and downright racist鈥� 鈥� and because the incumbents are running in districts where 鈥済rassroots activism can ensure their defeat.鈥�
The aim is to use super-PAC seed money to establish grass-roots campaigns in 10 congressional districts with vulnerable, tea party-backed incumbents.聽 CREDO Mobile claims to have the second largest e-mail list of liberals outside of MoveOn.org. "Only Stephen Colbert鈥檚 satirical super PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, has more individual contributions,鈥� says Ms. Bond. 聽
鈥淎 normal super PAC will take money from the [Republican-affiliated]聽Koch brothers and spend millions on broadcast TV ads,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to take that money and spend it on creating a structure to help people get involved locally.鈥�
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to have TV ads. We鈥檙e going to have a local organization set up.鈥�