A new chart reveals the expansive network of progressive organizations funded by wealthy liberal donors, calling attention to the same “dark money” practices for which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has publicly criticized conservatives.
The graphic, which was circulated by Senate Republicans, illustrates a vast web of nonprofits, think tanks and grassroots organizations encircling Democracy Alliance, which recommends various liberal organizations to influential political contributors.
>>> Click to the Chart Below to Enlarge
During a recent interview with The Washington Post, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said this flow of money from wealthy donors to liberal organizations is evidence of “stunning hypocrisy.”
“Senate Democrats have long been funded by a group of billionaires bent on maintaining their power, yet they pretend to be outraged,” Cruz told the Post.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Republican staffers circulated the chart prior to a press conference last week where Senate Democrats unveiled an amendment intended to overturn the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC.
The amendment would have granted Congress and the states the power to “regulate and set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections.” Last Thursday, it failed, 54-42, when it didn’t receive the 60 votes necessary to end debate in the Senate.
The vast network associated with Democracy Alliance includes at least 182 progressive organizations.
In June, internal documents obtained by Politico disclosed a plan to have 21 core groups within Democracy Alliance’s portfolio “spend $374 million during the midterm election cycle—including nearly $200 million this year—to boost liberal candidates and causes in 2014 and beyond.”
Altogether, the chart, which is based on a briefing book included in the aforementioned documents, included roughly 170 organizations ranging from Enroll America, Organizing for Action and Center for American Progress to Planned Parenthood, NextGen Climate Action and the NCAAP. Prominent labor unions SEIU and AFL-CIO, and left-of-center publications, such as Mother Jones and Washington Monthly, also were included.
Gara LaMarche, president of Democracy Alliance, told The Washington Post that despite not being pleased to see the list of organizations receiving significant financial support made public, the circumstances have prompted Democracy Alliance to be more open in the future.
“The strategies we wish to employ will be very transparent, the groups we wish to invest in will be very transparent,” LaMarche told the Post.
