End Citizens United, a political action committee has recently filed a complaint against Governor Rick Scott of Florida for illegally using the funds of a super PAC in supporting his campaign for a senate seat. Scott denied this accusation.
ECU alleges that Scott is circumventing the limits that the federal government has placed on contributing directly to the campaign coffers of candidates. Scott has already raised approximately $78 million for his senate candidacy.
These recent charges would bring to mind the charges of fraudulent Medicare billings that were lobbied on Rick Scott in 1997 when he was still Columbia /HCA’s CEO.
Scott resigned his position as CEO of the company because of these allegations of financial improprieties. But his company has to pay a massive $1.7 billion in fines as a consequence of an FBI investigation.
The law states that a super PAC can spend the same amount of money that it can raise. However, it should not be working directly with a campaign or candidate in the process. The allegation of End Citizens United is that Rick Scott has violated this anti-coordination law using the New Republican PAC.
Before filing his senate candidacy, Scott was the chairman of this super PAC. The New Republican PAC has thrown its support to Scott’s efforts to get a senate seat.
Adam Bozzi, the communications director of ECU claimed that Scott’s interest in his political goals is stronger than his concern for the law.
He added that Scott was able to figure out how he can circumvent the law by channeling soft funds from the super PAC which is supposed to go its CEO. Bozzi claimed that this would reveal that The New Republican PAC is there just to help Scott go around the law, fund his campaign and escape disclosure laws.
End Citizens United was organized as a result of the decision made by the US Supreme Court on the Citizens United in 2010 which considered corporations as people or persons who can spend untraceable and unlimited amounts of funds or money in support of American congressional candidates. ECU subscribes to the mission of getting big or corporate money out of the U.S. political system.
As such, this organization is only supporting congressional candidates who are in line with this goal and who also support election measures that address this specific issue.
Members of ECU are also working with candidates who want to invalidate Citizens United so that campaign donations will no longer be unlimited or undisclosed. The headquarters office of ECU is currently located in Washington, D.C.
ECU has a strong leadership in the persons of Tiffany Muller as its Executive Director and President, Matt Burgess as its Executive Vice President and Adam Bozzi, who was already mentioned earlier. ECU’s Board of Directors also brings into the table a wide variety of experiences in political campaigns and critical issues that affect the country.
ECU has also named its ‘Big Money 20’ for 2018. These are the twenty members of Congress connected with the Republican Party that the organization is targeting for this year. According to ECU, these twenty members of Congress have shown their support to special interests instead of their constituents.
These people have opposed efforts for finance reform but supported bills that only benefitted their big sponsors. Among the Republican congressmen in ECU’s list are Sen. Ted Cruz, TX, Sen. Dean Heller, NV, Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Bishop, WI, Rep. Rod Blum, IA, and Rep. Mike Bost, IL.
