Rep. Simon said she was grassroots and wouldn’t take corporate PAC money - but in just one term, she changed her mind and pocketed over $50k of corporate money.
A screenshot from the Integrity Index
In the United States, it’s like we always have to choose between the lesser of two evils - often because the choices we have are simply chosen for us by the establishment. Whether its the right flank or the left flank, usually candidates who run for Congress are backed by entrenched consultants, a major party, or donor elites.
But in Congressional District 12, that’s not the case. I’m Jamie Joyce and I am running a 100% grassroots campaign. No corporate money. No special interests. No ideological PAC money of any kind. Once upon a time, Rep. Lateefah Simon claimed she would be grassroots and not take corporate PAC money, but that changed in a single term and she has pocketed five figures of corporate money this election. In my view, this is outright unacceptable. NO candidate should be taking money from corporations. It’s a conflict of interest.
What Corporate Money did Rep. Lateefah Simon take?
Jazz Pharmaceuticals ($7,500)
Merck ($5,000)
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association ($5,000)
AbbVie ($3,500)
Comcast and NBCUniversal ($3,000)
Genentech ($3,000)
Bayer ($2,500)
Gilead Sciences ($2,500)
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical ($2,500)
BioMarin Pharmaceutical ($2,500)
Amalgamated Bank ($2,500)
Elevance Health ($1,000)
Y Combinator ($1,000)
Wells Fargo ($1,000)
United Airlines ($1,000)
Amgen ($1,000)
Walgreens ($1,000)
Charter Communications ($1,000)
WSP USA ($1,000)
Plus, worth mentioning: American Crystal Sugar Company ($10,000), a cooperative PAC (not corporate PAC), but the Minnesota Reformer reported is one of the two largest corporate funders of members of Congress who voted not to certify the 2020 election, second only to Koch Industries
This may not look like a lot, but it adds up. None of this is supposed to look egregious - but it is. Rep. Simon gave us her word she would be grassroots, and in one term, she betrayed it by taking corporate PAC money.
Some of these contributions arrived on the campaign’s most recent quarterly report, which the FEC is still processing, so for now they appear in the raw filing data rather than on the individual links above. The full list of every PAC contribution to the campaign, corporate and otherwise, is here.
This information is not an “attack” from an opponent. It is stating facts, backed up by federal FEC government data.