Real Clear Politics
RealClearPolitics and Newsweek coverage of TBOR’s efforts to disclose potential pay-for-play politics follow the iconic “Follow the Money” line uttered by Hal Holbrook (playing Deep Throat) to Robert Redford (playing reporter Carl Bernstein) in the Watergate movie (All The President’s Men). We now know the money in this story included: $68 million from China to UPenn (President Amy Gutmann, Trustee Chair David Cohen) $4 million salary to Gutmann, and $911,000 Professor Salary to Joe Biden, who never taught a UPenn […]
Read MoreSusan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics, which previously featured TBOR Executive Director John Pudner, ran this follow-up story regarding if officials will be willing to put limits on dark money now that Democrats are in charge and dominating dark money in the 2020 elections and Georgia Senate runoffs. The interview with Pudner a year ago in the story Bloomberg Camp Denies Funding of Flawed Iowa Voting App warned of what might play out in the new storyDems Beat GOP at Dark-Money Game. Will […]
Read MoreCritics of dark-money political groups argue that all funds donated to these organizations are fungible in the sense that giving money to a group for a specific purpose helps offset the costs of the group’s other activities and overhead. “At some point the money you’re giving is freeing up resources to spend elsewhere and you are contributing to that – whether you like it or not,” said John Pudner, executive director of Take Back Our Republic, a conservative watchdog group […]
Read More(photo courtesy of State Department, full story from Real Clear Politics here. ) RealClear Politics asked Take Back Our Republic about controversial mega donor Angelo Tsakopoulos hosting an event for Presidential candidate Kamala Harris. TBOR does not take positions on which candidates should be supported or opposed by voters. However, this question gave us a chance to make a distinction between public and transparent donations like this in which voters know who is giving and can decide if that impacts their vote – and […]
Read MoreA recurring pay-to-play racket is what concerns John Pudner, executive director of the conservative-leaning campaign finance group Take Back Our Republic. He doesn’t worry about seeing the Lincoln Bedroom turned into an Airbnb. He is more concerned with wealthy donors pulling strings to reduce regulations. That, he told RCP, is a corrupt return on investment, “an exchange of 20 to one. To read the article in its entirety click here.
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