Senate Democrats might want to start screening their witnesses. Eager to smear the reputation of Judge Neil Gorsuch, they solicited testimony about the dangers of dark money from the president of a dark money group. No joke.
In the Senate Judiciary Committee room Thursday, Demos Action President Heather McGhee tried slamming Gorsuch on the issue. But if some conservative groups have merely adopted dark money to push his nomination, her organization was born in it.
Her testimony on the supposedly shady subject only highlighted her own hypocrisy. While McGhee complained that Gorsuch didn’t condemn an ethereal conglomerate “spending millions of dollars to buy influence with our politicians,” she didn’t disclose that her group solicits and accepts unmarked dollars from unnamed donors. Seriously, it’s public record.
Demos Action fulfills the Internal Revenue Service’s requirements for a 501(c)4. They literally fit the definition of a dark money group.
That hypocrisy hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Center for Public Integrity recently decried Demos Action as a dark money group ostensibly fighting dark money in the shadows. That nonpartisan investigative group suggested that the group “may need to look into the darkness that shrouds their own pots of money.” Instead of greasing their palms with currencies of dubious origin, McGhee’s group should light a candle and look in the mirror.
Some might dismiss this as an overreaction. No doubt activist-types will reply that drastic measures are required to address a drastic problem. You know, fight the power from the inside. Except Demos isn’t an insurgent group waging a guerilla campaign on behalf of representative government. They’re a well-connected group with a liberal political agenda.
Demos exists under the umbrella of the Democracy Alliance, a vast conglomerate with coffers filled by the likes of mega-billionaires such as Tom Steyer and George Soros. Two years ago, Politico’s Kenneth Vogel described the group as a “vast liberal conspiracy.” Apparently unaware of the irony, the Democracy Alliance plugs Demos on their website as a group fighting for “true democracy by reducing the role of money in politics.”
And McGhee’s group is doing more than handing out informational fliers about the issue. They’re throwing punches. Demos action joined 11 other groups threatening Democratic senators ahead of any confirmation votes. “Democrats have failed to demonstrate a strong, unified resistance to this nominee,” the cadre wrote in a menacing letter. “We need you to do better.” The message was simple. As the Hill reported, any moderate senator tempted to step out of line should expect a primary challenger.
All of this must have been lost on Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, though. Desperate to land a blow against the nominee, the condescending Rhode Island liberal relied on cheap shots, demanding Gorsuch answer for the conduct of outside groups that support his nomination.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
