No Labels, which is a nonprofit that is heavily funded by billionaire
investors and corporate executives is now exploiting a campaign
finance loophole to buy direct access to ballots nationwide.
That's bad enough, but
apparently they are considering launching a centrist third party unity ticket for
the 2024 election which is making the Biden campaign nervous.
Democrats nervous because this could throw the presidential election.
And it's probably the first time I've heard any Corporate Democrat complain
about money in politics.
But nonetheless.
>> Yep. >> This report from Lever News has more
pretty incredible details.
So Andrew Perez writes this, compared to money groups previous
failed efforts to field alternate candidates.
The No Labels initiative is more ambitious, secretive and corrupt.
Under the guise of bipartisan consensus, the corporate influence machine is
buying its own national ballot line funded by ultra wealth anonymous donors.
The dark money component of this is another layer of disgusting.
We'll get to that.
But thanks to a 2010 court ruling, this is the loophole in campaign finance law.
No Labels doesn't have to disclose anything about who's funding its campaign.
It's also planning to employ a top down candidate selection process,
No Labels has indicated that candidates would be chosen by a group of people hand
picked by the organization which has close ties to corporate lawmakers like senators,
Joe Manchin, Kirsten Sinema and Susan Collins.
So finally, the goal is to put forward a National Unity ticket,
though the group has said it would also back house and Senate candidates.
The group plans to hold a nominating convention in Dallas in April of 2024.
>> Okay, so this is trippy story because, first of all, we got strange bedfellows
both third way and progressive change campaign committee are against this.
So if you don't know those players progressive change campaign committee,
Adam Green etc are good progressives, during campaigns maybe Elizabeth Warren
and Bernie Sanders disagree with each other but solidly progressive,
no question about it, right.
Third way, total corporate think tank, think tank where they always say, hey,
I've thought about it and corporate position is always right, right?
And so those are the guys who buy off Democrats.
So, and they are always fighting.
The fact that they agree here is amazing and there's a good reason for it, okay.
So first, the other good news here is that this group is useless, so
they could raise a billion dollars, they could raise a trillion dollars.
But you're not gonna get the American people to vote for milk toast,
Republican plus Joe Manchin, not gonna happen, Democrats don't want it,
Republicans don't want it, no one wants it.
It's totally all the richest people in the world can get together and
put that dream ticket together of two corporate dos and no one wants it.
The right wing doesn't want it and the left wing doesn't want it, okay.
So then why is it relevant?
And why is it the third ways against it?
Even though corporate guys?
And I've seen a couple of critical mainstream media articles about it and
then Democratic leadership.
No, no, no, all of a sudden as Anna said, they're concerned about it.
Did you guys know about money and politics?
Did you know about dark money?
The one we've been using to defeat progressives this entire time?
I just found out about it because somebody's using it against us.
So what they're concerned about is that there isn't a single Republican that's
gonna vote for douche and douche instead of Trump because they love Trump, right?
On our side though, people don't really love Biden, right?
And now unfortunately some percentage of the Democrats have become like, well,
some of the percentages or a huge percentage are always corporate Democrats,
but among the voters, right, maybe some portion will go.
Yeah, moderate I heard on CNN and
New York Times that everybody is supposed to be moderate and Manchin is moderate.
So it could peel away critical percentage points from Biden,
and at this point, Biden is the more pro corporate candidate.
So that is why other corporations, mainstream media, the Democratic Party
are going, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, not this time, not this time.
All other times we do the corporate agenda and we do the dark money, but
this time this might actually hurt us.
>> So let's talk about the loophole a little more because I think that's
an important thing to focus on in regard to how they're able
to do this without having their nonprofit status taken away.
Because remember, nonprofits aren't supposed to engage in politics this way,
but there is a loophole and here's what it is.
As it gets involved in the 2024 election contest,
No Labels this strategy can be traced back to a 2010 court ruling and
a subsequent 2014 Federal Election commission decision.
That concluded nonprofits seeking to draft federal candidates are not considered
political committees until they officially nominate a candidate.
So basically, they can do all this tricky pasiki stuff behind the scenes, but
as long as they don't announce that they're endorsing a specific candidate,
they don't have to worry about violating certain campaign finance laws.
They don't have to worry about violating the rules that pertain to nonprofits and
their tax exempt status.
So that's what they're taking advantage of.
In practice, this means that dark money groups do not have to disclose their
donors or their expenses as they work to procure ballot access
around the country and consider potential candidates.
Now, Brendan Fisher, who is a campaign finance lawyer and a deputy
executive director at the Watchdog Group Documented also told the lever quote.
No Labels can avoid registering with the FEC or
disclosing its donors because it has not yet nominated a candidate and
has been careful to say that it may not even nominate a candidate at all.
That means that the public may never know who is behind the $70
million spending blitz that could reshape the 2024 election.
>> Yeah, it's funny that when corporate interests are worried
that some of them have gone rogue and might actually hurt corporate interests,
all of a sudden they're concerned about dark money, right.
And all of a sudden they're concerned about loopholes.
No, these loopholes and
this dark money is a poison that has absolutely destroyed our democracy.
Shoot, most of my book is about that.
You can get it at TYT.com/justice, but
explaining how these guys took over almost the entire Democratic party,
almost 100% of the Republican Party, and the press never even noticed it.
Golly, Gee, My God, are there billions being spent?
My God, did they all come to us in the form of political ads?
Well, we don't see the corruption at all, but
the minute they think it might hurt Corporate Democrats all of a sudden,
they are, My God, this outrageous dark money, okay.
But deliver great reporting as always and absolutely right.
It is an outrage in this case and in all other cases as well.