PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES ON GIANFORTE: HIS VICTORY SHOWS THE DANGER OF DARK MONEY IN POLITICS
“This spending has elected a bully to represent Montanans”
MONTANA – On the heels of Greg Gianforte’s dark-money fueled victory in last week’s special election in Montana, Montana members of the Patriotic Millionaires and MAYDAY America have been speaking out about the corrupting influence of big money in politics. The Gianforte-Quist race was more expensive than any Montana race since the 1990’s, and should be seen as a warning sign of elections to come.
In their own words:
Immediately following last week’s election, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires released the following statement:
“We believe that the fundamental problem is that those with money have so much more access than everyone else, and that is even more true with Gianforte. Most politicians at least pay lip service to paying attention to constituents but he has only met with donors the entire campaign. We are concerned that he will only know the issues and point of view of the wealthy class, and not the many unique problems of the people of Montana,” said Morris Pearl, Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and former managing director at Blackrock, Inc.
“Is this the best outcome that the most expensive legislative race Montana has ever seen? Here is what 12 million dollars bought for Montana voters: a guy who is going to ‘drain the swamp’. The current swamp has the richest cabinet members this country has ever seen. This swamp has a Republican-led Congress that has a commitment to decrease medical coverage for children, seniors and people in poverty, and a commitment to endless war and yet cutting benefits for veterans. This spending has elected a bully to represent Montanans that will fit right in with the ‘drain the swamp’ crowd,” said Patriotic Millionaire Mary Stranahan, retired general practitioner.
“Rob Quist was outspent at least 3-1 on the airwaves, mostly from out-of-state, national-level organizations who invested millions of dollars in negative messaging. Quist’s huge advantage in individual contributors averaging about $25 each was overrun by the big money boys who ‘invest’ millions at a time in their candidates of choice, this time Greg Gianforte, expecting and likely getting a return for that investment. We need to change the system before it destroys the people’s democracy,” said MAYDAY member Evan Barret.
“All this money spent, and this is the representative we get? If you needed more evidence that money does nothing but abet corruption, here you go,” said MAYDAY member Chris Henry.
MAYDAY America is a grassroots supported, cross-partisan movement fighting to end big money politics and fix our broken political system.
To schedule an interview or for further comment, please contact Sam Quigley at sam@patrioticmillionaires.org.
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About the Patriotic Millionaires
The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of 200 high-net-worth Americans who are committed to building a more prosperous, stable, and inclusive nation. The group focuses on promoting public policy solutions that encourage political equality; guarantee a sustaining wage for working Americans; and ensure that millionaires, billionaires, and corporations pay a greater percentage of taxes. You can find out more at https://patrioticmillionaires.org/about/
The Patriotic Millionaires have appeared on hundreds of media outlets here and abroad, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and many others. You can find more coverage at https://patrioticmillionaires.org/media