MayDay.us, the super PAC set up to help pro-campaign finance reform congressional candidates win the 2016 elections, has cleared nearly $1.5 million in crowdfunding since launching in early May, according to the super PAC’s website.
Super PACs are entities that can raise unlimited amounts of money from pretty much anywhere (corporations, union groups, rich individuals, and the rest of us) for the purpose of getting candidates elected to U.S. public office — so long as it doesn’t coordinate directly with those candidates. It’s a sore spot among politicians currently in office because those that stand against money from super PACs risk losing to challengers with more money and influence (in large part because of super PACs).
The MayDay.us fund is being billed as the “super PAC to end super PACs” because its main purpose is to install only new congressional members that want to get rid of this kind of unchecked spending.
The move is interesting because it has the potential to use the current broken campaign finance system to force change. It’ll also be something to watch because there’s nothing to stop those that disagree with MayDay.us from launching their own super PACs to counteract MayDay’s efforts.
MayDay.us raised $1 million in its first 30 days by taking advantage of huge donations from a handful of influential technology business leaders, including TED conference curator Chris Anderson ($250,000), Schooner Capital founder Vin Ryan ($250,000), LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman ($150,000), PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel ($150,000), Union Square Ventures managing partner Brad Burnham ($100,000), and others.
MayDay.us said it wants to raise a total of $12 million for candidates in the 2016 elections, split up into increments of $1 million each. The current stage is about half way to hitting its goal on July 4.
Do you think MayDay.us has a shot at getting rid of super PACs? Please share you thoughts in the comments.
h/t BoingBoing
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