Keith Ellison Vows To Ban Lobbyist Contributions To The DNC
Keith Ellison Vows To Ban Lobbyist Contributions To The DNC
Zach Carter and Daniel Marans
Huffington Post
In a new video interview with The Huffington Post, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) pledged to ban contributions from lobbyists to the Democratic Party if hes elected as its next chairman.
Yeah, I would, Ellison told HuffPost when asked about banning lobbyist donations. I think its important that people feel that the party is their party
There is a pragmatic, perhaps too pragmatic step that you can say, Well just take whatever money from whatever source in whatever amount. But once you do that, I think you cross a line where people do not feel that the party is really theirs.
President Barack Obama banned lobbyist contributions to the Democratic National Committee after winning the 2008 election, but the then DNC Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) quietly lifted the ban during Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential run. In a December interview with HuffPost, Ellisons chief rival for Wasserman Schultzs successor, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, refused to rule out lobbyist donations.
Lobbyists contribute only a small fraction of the money raised by the Democratic Party. And while they do grease the gears in Washington, D.C., theyre paid to do the bidding of other big donors ― CEOs, private equity bigwigs and other well-heeled operators who few politicians are willing to blacklist from the donor rolls.