Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas has violated his campaign pledge to not accept any money from political action committees, a stance that he has frequently promulgated while campaigning for Senate.
Since before his campaign first launched, O’Rourke has repeatedly touted his no-PAC guarantee. “I’m one of two members of Congress out of 535 that takes no corporate cash, no political action committee money,” O’Rourke told a crowd of supporters at a campaign kickoff event in March 2017. (RELATED: Beto O’Rourke’s New Hill To Die On: Impeaching Donald Trump)
Even as recently as July, O’Rourke bragged about not accepting any PAC money in a video he tweeted discussing his fundraising “without PACs or corporations or special interests.”
However, filings from the Federal Election Commission show that O’Rourke has not been completely honest and his campaign has in fact accepted PAC money. Since being in Congress, the anti-zionist J Street PAC has raised over $170,000 on behalf of O’Rourke.
“Rep. Robert ‘Beto’ O’Rourke travels all over Texas claiming that PACs are corrupt, and he’s made his alleged rejection of PAC influence a cornerstone of his campaign,” Emily Miller, a spokeswoman for GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, said in a statement. “But now we know that O’Rourke’s actions have not matched his words, and he has accepted significant fundraising support from the extremist, yet influential, anti-Israel J Street PAC to aid his candidacy.”
“If O’Rourke does believe that PAC support is corrupting, then he should immediately return the $172,285 raised for him by J Street PAC,” Miller continued. (RELATED: Ted Cruz Challenger Campaigning in Hollywood … Again)
J Street’s motto is “pro-Israel, pro-peace,” however, the organization has been consistently slammed as anti-Israel by both pro-Israel and pro-Jewish groups including American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Hillel, among others. J Street has even stated in the past that it only supports candidates who back aiding a Palestinian government, according to The Hill.
Contrarily, Cruz is often considered one of the most pro-Israel politicians due to his extensive past defense of the Jewish state and its people.
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