Yesterday on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was asked about accepting PAC donations from the lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
His answer was an attempt to obfuscate how AIPAC’s PAC has become, by a huge margin, the largest source of earmarked PAC contributions to members of Congress.
During listener questions, the host read text messages from listeners and asked Jeffries, “Do you take donations from AIPAC, and if so why, what influence do they think they have on your positions regarding the Middle East?”
“It’s interesting that some people want to circulate this talking point about receiving money from AIPAC,” Jeffries said. “AIPAC, to the extent it has a political action committee, can contribute, in a given election cycle, $5,000 or $10,000 per cycle, that’s it.”
He added, “Are there pro-Israel donors from my community who contribute to my re-election campaign? Of course there are, because I represent a significant number of pro-Israel people in Brooklyn, New York.”
Jeffries’ answer downplays the fact that AIPAC’s PAC operates as a conduit for tens of millions of dollars in donations, including more than a million that it has raised for him.
AIPAC PAC operates a website that allows its members to direct donations to AIPAC-endorsed candidates of their choosing. The group uses a payment processing company called Democracy Engine, which disburses the funds to the candidates. Founded by a former ActBlue executive, Democracy Engine was described by Bloomberg as a workaround that gives unpopular PACs “a more politically palatable route for directing campaign cash to favored lawmakers.”
Despite using Democracy Engine, AIPAC PAC considers the donations to be earmarked through its own PAC, and donors must agree to terms including that “all donations [...] are earmarked donations within the meaning of 11 C.F.R. §110.6(b) to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Political Action Committee for the designated recipient.”
Under Federal Election Commission guidelines, these donations get reported in at least two places.
