Gone are the days when billionaire Tom Steyer focused his political spending solely on climate change.
With the 2016 election only weeks away, the liberal donor has expanded his scope to include virtually anything left-wing, despite claiming there is “too much emphasis on money in politics.”
CNN Politics profiled Steyer’s new election spending strategy on Oct. 17. But the story made it wrongly sound like a fledgling grassroots effort competing with a well-oiled political machine run by the conservative Koch brothers.
“Tom Steyer envies what Charles Koch built,” CNN said, echoing Steyer’s own 2015 claim that he was “David” facing off against the “giant” Kochs.
But CNN ignored Steyer’s influence in the 2016 election and failed to compare it directly to the Koch election spending. Currently Steyer is the largest election donor (spending $38.6 million so far) according to Open Secrets. Koch Industries ranks 20th on the same list. The official Democratic party platform even adopted his personal agenda to destroy the coal industry.
“This year, armed with $60 million, Steyer and Democrats are copying the Kochs’ strategy — beginning with saying yes to issue-based canvassing, and no to gauzy ad buys,” CNN Politics wrote.
In practical terms, that means Steyer is branching out from climate activism in an effort to get a “seemingly endless cadre of niche Democratic interest groups” to work together towards electing Clinton — a George Soros style plan.
To that end, Steyer founded For Our Future PAC, which promotes everything from “racial justice” to “climate change” and “building strong public schools.” The PAC represents his new political strategy after his $75 million ad buy failure in the 2014 midterm elections.
For Our Future is an offshoot of Steyer’s climate change PAC, NextGen Climate, and partners with many unions including the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO (the largest federation of unions in the U.S.) and AFSCME (the largest public employee union).
Nevermind that the Koch brothers have written off the presidential ticket and are instead focusing on congressional races this election. Or the double standard of Steyer dumping millions into politics, all while berating Citizens United.
