Son of Liberal Financier George Soros Launches Anti-Super PAC Super PAC
It’s a super PAC that hates super PACs.
Jonathan Soros, son of a prominent liberal financier, is helping to launch an independent advocacy group with hopes of spending up to $8 million targeting House lawmakers, primarily Republicans, who oppose public matching funds for elections and other campaign finance reforms.
The new super PAC, called Friends of Democracy, will file its first disclosures with the Federal Election Commission later this month and plans to zero in on 10 to 15 House races with television ads, mailings and Web messaging, Soros and other organizers said Thursday.
Like all super PACs, Friends of Democracy will be able to raise unlimited funds from wealthy individuals, corporations or unions—precisely the kind of system that the group is fighting against.
“We openly acknowledge the irony of being a super PAC trying to address money in politics,” Soros said in an interview in Washington. “But our goal is to eventually decrease the influence of this kind of group…We don’t see any other path to real legislative change.”
Soros’s father, George, is a well-known contributor to liberal causes whose role in spending more than $23 million during the 2004 elections made him a bête noire among conservatives. The elder Soros has announced plans to give $2 million to a pair of liberal groups this year, as well.