It is no secret that the individual who gets to become leader of the party is the individual who raises the most cash for the rest of the caucus members.
This was true when Pelosi took control and it is true now.
Many have been wondering why Majority Leader Hoyer is pushing this FISA bill so hard while denying any choice in the process.
The answer is simple: Hoyer is doing this because he is making a bid to replace Pelosi as Speaker in the next Congress by raising huge amounts of cash...cash that telecoms can provide.
Open Secrets provides the simple data...and Pelosi is in trouble.
For their individual campaigns, Hoyer is outpacing Pelosi. Currently, Pelosi has $363,497 cash-on-hand while Hoyer has $1,625,275 cash-on-hand as of the last quarter reporting (March 31st). We should know where things stand by the end of this month when the new reports come out...
Perhaps that is behind Hoyer's rush to complete the bill...before we find out just how much he has gotten from the telecos for this.
Both leaders have Leadership PACs.
Hoyer's is called AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America. This PAC has distributed $820,205 so far and has another $1,095,447 cash-on-hand.
I don't have the time, but perhaps someone could go through the list of the donors and see if there are any telecom related monies...
Pelosi's PAc is called PAC to the Future. This PAC has distributed $455,000 and has $10,230 cash-on-hand!
Here is the list of Pelosi PAC donors.
Things are bad enough one-on-one, but when you factor in Hoyer ally Rahm Emmanuel, who stands to become the new Majority leader if Pelosi is deposed, also has a PAC called Our Common Values PAC.
This PAC has distributed $598,500 and has $44,506 cash-on-hand.
Here is the list of Rahm's donors.
Open Secrets also lets you see who they gave the money to...
Are we looking at a who's who of the FISA amnesty nonsense?
Is this simply the K-Street project, Donkey style?
What do you think?