Recent financial disclosures make clear that the lion’s share of the outside spending supporting state Sen. Becca Balint's run came from a single million-dollar donation.
The congressional candidate has accused her chief rival of potentially illegal coordination with an outside group. Balint’s team has argued the lieutenant governor’s campaign is trying to make a commonplace campaign practice appear sinister.
The spending blitz has touched off a debate about who can claim moral high ground on money in politics when both campaigns have now raised just shy of $1 million.
According to campaign finance reports, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch’s Senate campaign has recently accepted multi-thousand-dollar donations from the medical, agricultural, real estate and retail industries.
While the four Democratic U.S. House candidates say they won’t take money from PACs representing big business, at least one is receiving significant support from some of the lobbyists who represent corporate interests in Washington.
The measure would prohibit lobbyists from making donations to legislative PACs throughout a biennium.
A Democratic political action committee held a fundraiser Wednesday night and Republican Reps. Kurt Wright and Patti Komline say it's inappropriate to raise money from PACs while the Legislature is convened.
The Vermont Right to Life Committee sought to overturn requirements that political speech identify its sponsor, that PACs report mass media spendings, as well as the state’s definition of a PAC.
