NRCC FIELD MEMO: Anti-Coal Billionaires Funding Rahall Campaign
FROM: Annie Kelly, NRCC Red Zone Director
TO: Interested Parties
SUBJECT: Anti-Coal Billionaires Funding Rahall Campaign
Nick Rahall is fighting for his political life in West Virginia’s 3rd Congressional district and finding himself constantly on defense over his support for a cap-and-trade system and his votes for a devastating carbon tax and Obamacare.
Things are so bad for Rahall that most recently his out-of-state anti-coal big-money allies have attempted to come to his rescue with a massive ad buy in his defense. But these liberal outside groups only further demonstrate how Rahall has sold out by putting his anti-coal donors before West Virginians.
No one has benefited more this cycle from anti-coal billionaire money than Nick Rahall. Specifically, House Majority PAC, a Super PAC dedicated to electing Democrats to the House of Representatives, has spent $738,000 this cycle airing deceptive ads defending Nick Rahall and attacking his opponent. A look at the high end donors to House Majority PAC makes one thing very clear – anti-coal billionaires are funding Nick Rahall’s re-election efforts.
Consider the following big money anti-coal donors whose money is being spent by House Majority PAC to get carbon tax supporter Nick Rahall back in Congress:
1) Donald Sussman
- Donation to House Majority PAC this cycle: $1.1 million
- Sussman is a billionaire hedge fund manager from New York City and is married to Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who is one of the most ardent cap-and-trade supporters in Congress
2) Bernard Schwartz
- Donation to House Majority PAC this cycle: $506,879
- Schwartz is a New York City billionaire who believes that cap-and-trade legislation should be a top priority of the federal government.
3) David Boies
- Donation to House Majority PAC this cycle: $500,000
- New York City superlawyer Boies was the lead attorney for eco-extremist Al Gore in Bush v. Gore.
4) Jon Stryker
- Donation to House Majority PAC this Cycle: $900,000
- Stryker is a billionaire environmentalist from Michigan who spent over $2 million of his own money to help re-elect Barack Obama in 2012.
5) Priorities USA
- Donation to House Majority PAC this Cycle: $250,000
- Priorities USA is the Super PAC that spent $75 million to re-elect Barack Obama in 2012.
In addition to the out-of-state, anti-coal billionaires that are funding the pro-Rahall television advertising campaign in West Virginia, Nancy Pelosi and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz have donated $24,000 to Nick Rahall’s campaign. Pelosi and Wasserman-Schultz are Obama’s top lieutenants in the House of Representatives and both helped lead the efforts for cap-and-trade in 2009. Amazingly, in the 1st Quarter of 2014, Rahall raised only $22,000 from within his own district – less than he received from Pelosi and Wasserman-Schultz this cycle. Further, in 2013-14 only 6.6% of Rahall’s contributions have come from within his district.
With all this money coming in from out-of-state, anti-coal billionaires, it’s no wonder that Nick Rahall glibly admitted to selling his soul to Nancy Pelosi.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Ever since Barack Obama was elected President, Nick Rahall has turned his back on West Virginia. Whether he is voting for Obamacare or a coal-killing carbon tax, Rahall has sold out to the liberal anti-coal interests that are determined to end West Virginia’s economy as we know it. Now Rahall is seeing the fruits of his betrayal in a barrage of deceptive television advertisements funded by out-of-state, anti-coal billionaires whose positions line up with Rahall’s votes. Unfortunately for Rahall, his support from anti-coal billionaires and his lack of support from West Virginia residents only furthers the narrative that Nick Rahall has sold out and turned his back on West Virginia.
