Mandela Barnes Breaks Corporate PAC Promise During Contested Senate Primary

Wisconsin Democratic Senate candidate Mandela Barnes loves to tout his self-proclaimed “grassroots” campaign in which he promised not to take any funding from corporate PACs…

But an examination of Barnes’ campaign finance filings from last quarter proved his promise to be nothing more than empty words. According to reports from the Washington Free Beacon and Empower Wisconsin, Barnes raked in thousands of dollars in donations from PACs funded by corporate money.

Washington Free Beacon: “Barnes, the state’s lieutenant governor, said on April 12 that he hasn’t taken ‘one dime in Corporate PAC $$.’ But he has accepted at least $15,000 in donations from leadership PACs funded by the Boeing Company PAC, Pfizer Inc. PAC, the Lockheed Martin Corporation Employees’ PAC, and other corporate-connected committees—a campaign finance loophole that allows him to benefit from industry cash while still claiming to reject it.”

Empower Wisconsin: “Barnes’ Senate campaign received $5,000 from U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s Nutmeg PAC, a so-called Leadership political action committee richly funded by mega corporations like Microsoft, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin and Comcast.

“The Congressional Black Caucus PAC chipped in another $5,000 to Barnes’ elections efforts, which has received lots of money from corporations like Walmart, BP North America, Anheuser-Busch, General Election and PNC Financial Services.

“U.S. Rep. James Clyburn’s Bridge PAC gave Barnes $2,500 in the recently ended quarter. And Bridge PAC has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporations like Google, Charter, Toyota and JPMorgan Chase.

“And the beat goes on.

“Barnes may claim he’s not taking donations directly from corporate PACs, but thousands of dollars in corporate PAC money are financing his campaign.”

Bottom line: Mandela Barnes should take a good look in the mirror before accusing anyone of being beholden to corporate interests. If Wisconsin voters can’t trust him to be honest about his campaign finances, how can they trust him to be an honest member of the U.S. Senate?