Rantz: Democrat candidate slams big money while taking it

Democratic congressional candidate Dr. Shannon Hader sent a number of solicitation emails over the last three days decrying big money in elections. It’s an ironic message because she’ll happily accept big money herself.

Hader tries to have it both ways. In her three emails decrying “unlimited, undisclosed dark money,” she focuses her attention on Citizens United and super PACs, though shifts the focus subtly in order to give herself a pass. She argues that voters “cannot allow the unimaginably wealthy – the Koch brothers, the Adelsons, and others – to continue to wield political power that renders the individual nearly voiceless.” Noticeably absent, of course, are Tom Steyer and George Soros, who routinely use their ‘unimaginable wealth’ for liberal causes, but I guess that’s OK.

I should note that super PACs can’t coordinate with campaigns, nor donate directly to them, so decrying super PACs giving to opponents is a cheap and dishonest strategy; Hader herself could benefit from them unwillingly. Please don’t fall for this transparent strategy.

But she’s desperate for you to know: big money is evil! Though, she doesn’t necessarily practice what she preaches. In one of her emails, notice the subtle shift she takes, after calling out big money:

You can tell a lot about a candidate when you follow the money, which is why I will never take contributions from the NRA, Tobacco, Big Pharma, or any other PAC that doesn’t align with our shared principles here in Washington state.

So, in other words, she will take money from PACs, so long as it represents her values. Yet, we’re supposed to judge her opponents for taking PAC money from organizations that represent their values?

I confirmed with the Hader campaign that yes, they will, in fact, take PAC money; in fact, she already has, though not much. This double standard made me take a deeper dive into where her campaign funds have come from, particularly since she’s so sanctimonious about campaign funds.

It turns out, not only does she’s have one massive, very wealthy campaign contributor, but much of her money comes from donors not just outside of her district, but outside of the state of Washington, according to the non-partisan Open Secrets.

That wealthy person funding her campaign is herself. She’s self-funded over half her campaign donations so far, which kind of sounds like she’s a rich person trying to buy an election – the same thing Hader warns against. Now one might say this allows her to stay clear of special interests, but not in the context of where much of her non self-funded contributions are coming from.

On the Democratic side, she’s raised the most out-of-state money (which represents 92 percent of all her funds raised). She’s raised more money from the D.C. area than the Seattle area according to the latest disclosures on Open Secrets. Further, her Seattle-area dollars are just a tad over the dollars coming in from Raleigh, NC and Atlanta, GA. Compare that to her Democratic opponents Kim Schrier, Jason Rittereiser and Brayden Olson. They’ve all raised the majority of their funds from the Seattle area. No wonder she’s sending so many local campaign solicitation emails.

It’s also worth noting that the majority of Hader’s funding — aside from self-donations — come from large contributions.

These are some rather ironic stats given that she wants you to think she’s against big money from shady players who may not have Washingtonian interests in mind.

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