Democratic candidate for Congress Denise Juneau promised legislation to curb what she calls unethical campaign behavior in Congress Thursday, Sept. 8. Juneau is calling it the CASH ACT of 2017, which stands for Congress Abolishes Super PAC Hiring.
She says the bill, if passed, would ban employees of super PACs, independent expenditure-only committees, from joining congressional offices for two years after working for the super PAC.
Juneau says at the moment, employees who raise money for super PACs can jump over to state work in Congress without a waiting period.
“That means that less than two months after super PAC employees are done soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy secret donors they can then advise members of Congress on policy and help members decide how to vote,” Juneau said.
The bill proposal is a jab at Republican incumbent Ryan Zinke, who hired the former treasurer of a PAC that supported his candidacy as his chief of staff in 2015.
Super PACs can spend money to support or oppose candidates, but they are not allowed to coordinate with candidates or their campaigns.
In 2014, Zinke ran against Democrat John Lewis, and during the heat of the campaign Lewis offered a similar bill proposal, saying political groups should have to wait before spending money in support of campaigns of their former leaders.
The Associated Press reported that at the time Zinke had recently resigned as chairman of a super PAC he founded in 2010, just weeks before announcing his candidacy. Zinke went on to win the race against Lewis by 15 points.
A spokesperson for Zinke’s campaign did not return calls for comment by the time this story aired.
