[ [link removed] ]Tim Walz has released 15 years of his tax returns. Will you sign the
petition to demand JD Vance to release his?

John, 

Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris named her running mate, Governor
Tim Walz, one thing has been made strikingly clear: Donald Trump's running
mate JD Vance and Walz come from two completely different worlds. 

Vance—a venture capitalist whose success has been funded by billionaires
like Peter Thiel—has stocks, real estate, and cryptocurrency.^1,2 And
that's just from what is public. Because Vance has released none of his
tax returns, we don't know where his wealth has come from or potential
conflicts of interest. Voters deserve transparency.

That stands in direct contrast to Walz, who has released 15 years of his
tax returns.^3 And those tax returns revealed that the former teacher and
former member of Congress—with assets consisting of hard-earned pensions,
life insurance, and college savings—is everything that Vance both has
contempt for and claims to be: an everyday American. 

[ [link removed] ]It's weird that Walz has released 15 years of his tax returns and Vance
has released none. We deserve transparency around our options for vice
president. Join more than 30,000 MoveOn members and sign the petition to
demand Vance release his tax returns NOW!

Vance both boasts a "rags-to-riches" story while talking down to the rural
communities he exploits for his own political gain. He can't have it both
ways.

And while Vance talks often about taking on the "elites" and "ruling
class" in America, everything we know of his finances tells us that Vance
is actually part of the wealthy and elite.^4 Voters deserve to have all
the facts before they head to the polls in November.

This isn't new. Walz has done it. When running as vice presidential
candidates, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden both did it. [ [link removed] ]Demand that Vance
STOP hiding his financials from the American public and release his tax
returns immediately—just as the vice presidential candidates before him
have done.

Thanks for all you do. 

–Shawn Sebastian, Rural Organizing

P.S. See below our email from last month launching our petition exposing
Vance and demanding he release his tax returns.

Sources:

1. "VP candidates Walz and Vance manage their money very differently.
Advisers weigh in." USA Today, August 14, 2024
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

2. "JD Vance owes almost everything to Peter Thiel, a pro-Trump
billionaire and 'New Right' ideologue," Salon, July 22, 2024
[link removed]

3. "VP candidates Walz and Vance manage their money very differently.
Advisers weigh in." USA Today, August 14, 2024
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

4. "JD Vance Claims He's Taking on Elites. His Donor List Tells Another
Story." More Perfect Union, September 29, 2022
[link removed]

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[ [link removed] ]Will you sign the petition to demand that JD Vance release his tax
returns?

Dear MoveOn member, 

My name is Matt Hildreth. As someone who grew up on a small farm in
eastern South Dakota, my work at Rural Organizing is personal. Unlike
politicians like Senator JD Vance, who seems to have disdain for the small
towns and rural communities he is supposed to serve, I care deeply about
the people and families who live and work in rural areas across America.
And I believe rural voters deserve transparency from their elected
officials. Now that Senator Vance has been named Donald Trump's vice
presidential running mate, we're calling on him to release his tax
returns—just as Vice President Mike Pence did, just like Vice President
Kamala Harris did, and just like President Joe Biden did.

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition and urge JD Vance to release his tax returns from the
past 10 years!

Over the course of his relatively short political career, Senator Vance
has claimed a "rags-to-riches" story, authoring "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir
of a Family and Culture in Crisis," a book detailing his childhood in the
Ohio suburbs, raised by parents from the Appalachians in eastern Kentucky.
The book has largely been criticized for its erasure of Black communities
and structural racism shaping rural Appalachia, as well as its
stereotypical, classist, and at times disdainful descriptions of poverty,
addiction, and struggle in rural America.^5

In his book, Senator Vance paints the picture of a "culture in crisis" and
blames rural communities for the opioid crisis, meanwhile failing to
disclose his connections as a lawyer for a lobbying firm hired by Purdue
Pharma, the makers of Oxycontin.^6 And his political rise was funded not
by grassroots efforts but rather far-right tech billionaire and 2020
election denier Peter Thiel and dark money.^7 Which leaves us questioning,
what else is Senator Vance hiding? 

I lived in Ohio as Senator Vance was rising in the ranks. At that time, he
was anti-Trump and seemed to be willing to talk about the topics everyday
people in small towns were struggling with. But his memoir (which
perpetuates the harmful "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" myth), his
connection to billionaires (none of which have financially benefited the
rural communities his book and career exploited), and his extreme pivot to
MAGA politics have left rural communities with more questions than
answers. 

[ [link removed] ]It's time we expose the truth behind Vance's tall tales. Add your name
and demand that Senator Vance release his tax returns NOW!

Add your name to urge Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, to
release 10 years of his tax returns and disclose the source of his
wealth! 

[9]Sign the petition

Transparency is the foundation of any functioning democracy, but we still
know very little about Senator Vance, and the source of his wealth remains
undisclosed. The media has only recently started to expose the major holes
in Senator Vance's resume, including his now-shuttered shady nonprofit,
Our Ohio Renewal—an organization founded in 2016 with a murky mission and
ending with an even more unclear impact. The nonprofit came under fire
when it was revealed that they employed an addiction specialist for a
yearlong residency in Ohio who also had ties to Purdue Pharma and commonly
denied the connection between prescription painkillers and the opioid
epidemic.^8 It was also revealed that the nonprofit spent $0 on charitable
activities and grants.^9

Taking a page from Trump's playbook, Senator Vance wants to trick everyday
Americans into thinking he is "self-made" when in reality his career has
been funded by special interests and the wealthy. Billionaire Thiel
appears to be responsible for major developments in Senator Vance's
career, including helping him get his first "venture capitalist" job and
donating a staggering $15 million—the largest donation ever given for a
single Senate candidate—to get him elected to the Senate in
2022.^10,11 This should really make us question whose interest he is
really looking out for. Before voters head to the polls this November,
they deserve to know the truth about Senator Vance and to have
transparency into his financial records. 

[ [link removed] ]Click here to sign the petition and demand Senator Vance release 10
years of his tax returns like other vice presidential candidates have done
in the past, and then share with three friends to help spread the word.

Thanks for all you do.

–Matt Hildreth, Rural Organizing

Sources:

5. "JD Vance’s confusing evolution from liberal touchstone to Maga
superstar," The Guardian, July 21, 2024
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

6. "J.D. Vance has a Big Pharma problem," Salon, August 20, 2022
[link removed]

7. "A mole hunt, a secret website and Peter Thiel's big risk: How J.D.
Vance won his primary," Politico, May 3, 2022
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

8. "Vance's anti-drug charity enlisted doctor echoing Big Pharma,"
Associated Press, August 18, 2022
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

9. "Super PAC backing JD Vance publishes opposition file on him,"
Washington Examiner, May 5, 2022
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

10. "JD Vance owes almost everything to Peter Thiel, a pro-Trump
billionaire and 'New Right' ideologue," Salon, July 22, 2024
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

11. "A mole hunt, a secret website and Peter Thiel's big risk: How J.D.
Vance won his primary," Politico, May 3, 2022
[ [link removed] ][link removed]

You're receiving this petition because we thought it might interest you.
It was created on MoveOn.org, where anyone can start their own online
petitions. You can [ [link removed] ]start your own petition here.



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