Leadership PACs Fuel SoCalRace

SAN DIEGO - (06/07/06) – In one of the greater ironiesof the current campaign finance system, no matter which side theywere on in Tuesday’s special elections for California’s50th District, the credit union lobby was bound to finance bothsides. That’s because millions of dollars were contributed tothe campaigns for both ex-Congressman Brian Bilbray and hisDemocratic opponent Francine Busby from so-called leadership PACs,political action committee created and operated by congressionalleaders. So, even though the credit union lobby put its money onBilbray, dozens of leadership PACs that were funded by CUNA andother credit union interests were indirectly contributing to theBusby coffers. For example, PAC To The Future (House MinorityLeader Nancy Pelosi); AmeriPAC (House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer);Our Common Values PAC (Rep. Rahm Emmanuel); National Leadership PAC(Rep. Charles Rangel); Solidarity PAC (Rep. George Miller); andMill to the Hill PAC (Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald) all gave$5,000 to the Busby campaign, money they had raised from CUNA andother donors. And separate PACs operated for the personal campaignsof Pelosi, as well as Reps. Anna Eshoo, Rahm Emmanuel, LucilleRoybal-Allard, Loretta Sanchez, Henry Waxman, and dozens of othermembers of Congress, which CUNA and other credit union interestshelped fund, re-contributed those funds to Busby’s campaigncoffers.