Tim Walz worried about corporate power. He still took their checks – Washington Examiner
The article discusses Tim Walz, the current Governor of Minnesota and Democratic vice presidential running mate to Kamala Harris in the 2024 elections. It highlights a contradiction in Walz’s political stance: while he has criticized corporate influence in politics and expressed concern about corporate power during his time in Congress, he has also accepted significant campaign donations from corporate PACs. When serving as a U.S. representative from 2007 to 2019, he received over $1.7 million from various political action committees, including those funded by major corporations.
Despite his past advocacy against corporate donations and his support for reversing the 2010 Citizens United decision—which permits unlimited corporate spending in elections—Walz’s acceptance of corporate contributions raises potential accusations of hypocrisy from his opponents. As he campaigns alongside Harris, he has faced criticism for this inconsistency, especially as he continues to align with corporate interests while promoting a progressive agenda. Meanwhile, in the backdrop of his campaign, numerous Silicon Valley investors have rallied in support of Harris and Walz, pledging their financial backing. The article points to this as a significant development in the context of their candidacy.
Tim Walz worried about corporate power. He still took their checks
During his time in Congress, then-Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) raised concerns about corporate power and accused Republicans of boosting special interests. That didn’t stop Walz, now Minnesota’s governor and the 2024 running mate of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, from accepting large checks from corporations.
Walz, as he represented Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District from 2007 to 2019, raked in over $1.7 million from political action committees, including those funded by corporations and corporate PACs themselves, campaign finance records show. The vice presidential nominee recently chaired the Democratic Governors Association, which pockets donations from corporations such as CVS Health, Walmart, Comcast, and Coca-Cola, according to OpenSecrets.
Walz’s willingness to take the corporate donations will likely open the Democrat up to hypocrisy accusations from Republicans as he runs on the 2024 ticket with Harris, the vice president. A progressive who has slammed the GOP for putting “millionaires, billionaires and corporations over working-class Americans,” Walz took aim in a Tuesday speech at Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), the running mate of former President Donald Trump, for having “his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires.”
Silicon Valley leaders, however, are lining up to support Harris and Walz, according to multiple reports. More than 100 venture capitalists pledged last week to vote for Harris and declared they had solicited donations for the Harris campaign, the New York Times reported. The cohort of investors included LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, former principal Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Silicon Valley “super angel” investor Ron Conway, and Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla.
“In this pivotal moment, we are united in our support for Vice President Kamala Harris,” the investors said in a joint statement.
Walz, in supporting a congressional amendment to reverse the landmark 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision, insisted in 2017 that “corporations are not people [and] money is not speech.” He frequently posted on social media that year about his criticism of the decision, which held that the First Amendment prohibits government restrictions on certain outside spending in elections.
“Ours is a #DemocracyForAll the People, not just for the millionaires, billionaires and corporations,” he posted on social media in June 2017. “Time to overturn #CitizensUnited!”
Walz said in a hearing months later that Republicans were prioritizing the interests of “corporations and the ultra-wealthy over the middle class.”
That same year, in 2017, Walz received campaign donations from Walmart, Land O’Lakes, Oracle’s Cerner Corporation, and other corporate-affiliated PACs. And throughout his time in Congress, corporate cash flowed into Walz’s campaign coffers from the likes of General Mills, Honeywell International, Pfizer, UnitedHealth Group, Deloitte, Comcast, Xcel Energy, and Exxon Mobil, records show.
Meanwhile, Walz shares close ties to the lobbying world. The Minnesota Democrat, Politico reported this week, “has a smattering of former staffers and colleagues around K Street from his seven terms in the House — many of whom would surely be sought after in a Harris administration.”
One former staffer, Walz’s ex-deputy chief of staff and legislative director, Jeremy Bratt, runs a firm that works on behalf of Walz’s gubernatorial office, the outlet reported. Another ex-Walz aide, Brendon Gehrke, is now government affairs director at defense contractor Leidos.
According to Minnesota campaign finance records, Walz’s gubernatorial committee took over $46,000 last year from lobbyists. Between 2018 and 2021, his campaign in the Gopher State was on the receiving end of $370,600 from lobbyists, a Washington Examiner analysis found.
Spokespeople for Walz and Harris did not reply to requests for comment.
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Baloney Phony
Phony Baloney the two democrat runners for top offices have turned out to be the “lefts jokers” of the day. China loves Walz ever wonder why? research it, Walz, never served in a combat zone acts like he was Audie Murphy, Harris acts like she cleaned up our border issues and drug problems, really, what has she done since being VP.? Hollywood loves these two radical Phony’s, that in itself should have you wonder why. Pretenders love other fakers, stops them from trying to live in the real world without being medicated legal or not. The left press is trying their best to upgrade these two but guess what it’s is not working Their life failures are wayout there, the press try’s to hide an sweep their failures under a rug. Money can’t buy everything the democrat party is beginning to realize that now but it’s too late to reverse course.