John,

When Senator Mitch McConnell told CEOs recently to “stay out of politics,” it’s no exaggeration to say that I was speechless. Even for someone like McConnell who has made a career out of hypocrisy, it was shocking to hear those words from him. Here’s why:

Perhaps more than any other politician, McConnell has both defended and benefited from the post-Citizens United money in politics system he has championed for years.

McConnell has blocked bipartisan reforms for decades, all while raising millions from corporate interests in the form of donations from CEOs, anonymous dark money, and massive gifts to his allied political committees. And as those CEOs and corporations gave him political donations, he made sure industries that supported him benefited. Read more on CREW’s website here.

Of course, within a day, McConnell walked back his comment saying he was not talking about political donations when he told CEOs to stay out of political fights, he just wanted them to stop taking a stand against Republican voter suppression bills. One thing is clear: McConnell needs to keep our democracy broken in order to keep himself and his allies getting elected.

Unfortunately, the same Mitch McConnell who celebrated Citizens United and filibustered campaign finance reform is now set to do it all again—this time to the For the People Act.

The transformational reforms in the For the People Act are too important to let McConnell get his way. The bill would limit the influence of big money in politics, crack down on anonymous spending in elections, make voting more accessible and end partisan and racial gerrymandering. These reforms take power back from the secret donors and corporations that have bankrolled McConnell’s career, so it’s no surprise that he’s calling it a “power grab”—it’s a power grab for the people.

Please share this email or CREW’s investigation about McConnell’s corporate backers with your friends and family. We need everyone to understand what we’re up against in the fight to reform our democracy.

Thank you for standing with us,


Robert Maguire
Research Director, CREW

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