Comment & Debate
Virginia Representative Rick Boucher (D): “We don’t know who’s funding these ads. These could be foreign interests that are hostile to the United States for all we know.”[1]
Steve Benen. “BUYING ELECTIONS WITH FOREIGN FUNDS?” Washington Monthly Political Animal. October 5, 2010: “The Chamber’s political activities are an ongoing point of interest here, but ThinkProgress’ research raises new questions. The Chamber has been raising money hand over fist to influence the outcome of congressional elections, and to boost its coffers, it’s sought out funds from foreign corporations and businesses run by foreign governments.
The result is an unwelcome development for the American political system: an interest group is spending $75 million this year to boost Republicans, but not all of that money is American money. Indeed, some of the attack ads you’ve seen from the Chamber may very well have been financed, at least in part, by foreign governments.
Are voters O.K. with this? Is it the kind of development that might draw legal scrutiny?”