Show Me the Donors: WH Adviser Wants to Know Where GOP Money Comes From

Published December 23, 2015

Two political heavy weights went back-to-back in Washington, D.C. on Monday, talking about their respective party politics and the upcoming elections, when a surprise question was raised; should all companies, organizations, and individuals have to disclose their political donations?

Obama's Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod wanted to know where the new Republican organization, American Crossroads, headed up by Ed Gillespie of the Republican Leadership Committee and Republican Political Strategist Karl Rove, gets the money to fund expensive ad campaigns throughout the country.

"You should perform a public service," Axelrod begged of Politico's Mike Allen. "Ask them to disclose who's funding all of these negative ads. These tens of millions of negative ads. You know they say, the only people who want to keep things secret are folks who have something to hide. Ask them what they're hiding."

So, Mike Allen did just that and asked Axelrod's question to Gillespie a short time later, "There are geese and there are ganders on both sides," Gillespie reasoned, "Both sides have organizations that disclose, and both sides have organizations that don't disclose. Historically on the left, they have had a big advantage on those non-disclose donors."

Gillespie pointed to the recent incident in Minnesota where Target Corp. donated $150,000 to MN Forward, a political group backing MN Republican gubernatorial candidate, Tom Emmer, who has campaigned against gay marriage. The donation was exposed in the media in July, resulting in a backlash against Target from investors and gay advocate groups like LGBT.

"There's fear of retribution. There's a fear that, well, if I give to this organization and those who are in control, and in power, and who seek to further government control of my sector, my company, my own personal lives; they'll come after me and I don't think that's paranoia on their part, " Gillespie explained.

But Axelrod said Gillespie's group has a goal in mind this election cycle, "I don't think they're spending tens of millions of dollars on negative ad buys and a flood of mail for the exercise. They're doing it to try and influence these elections."

Google and Politico teamed up to host the event with Youtube and Facebook.

Watch Axelrod interview here.

Watch Gillespie interview here.

How do you feel about political donations? Don't forget to vote on the AEHQ homepage!

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/show-me-the-donors-wh-adviser-wants-to-know-where-gop-money-comes-from