Today we’re following up on last week’s post on the Democrats’ Donor Disparity. If you haven’t read it yet, take a minute to do so. That post generated a good deal of feedback. A few thoughts came to mind over the weekend, and here they are for you to consider.
The article clearly shows that there are lots of major donors that would have been sending money to the House Truman Fund, but now will be funneling money into Hubbell’s PAC.
What are Hubbell’s motives? Is he looking to install a new leader? Many have speculated that Hubbell and members of the Des Moines Golden Circle formed the PAC due to a lack of confidence in Minority Leader Todd Prichard’s ability to lead his caucus to a majority and appropriately prioritize the funding for individual legislative districts over others.
Is Hubbell trying to influence a specific policy position – win control of the House and then get his pet projects green-lit? Almost certainly – It’s kind of like half the fun of a PAC. Is this a vehicle for Chet Culver to run for something? It very well could be. Starting Line featured this delicious quote from Jack Hatch not long ago. “Hatch also noted that Culver is still popular in parts of rural Iowa, and they may try to get him to tour around.”
Those questions bring us to this conclusion; This appears to mark the first time in the history of Iowa House legislative campaigns that a group of rich establishment folks is working outside of the Party leader’s efforts. Democrats will try to cover for each other. It’s understandable. They don’t want anyone to think that there is a rift between party leaders and donors. Spoiler, there is. We’ve already established that the party doesn’t have any limits, so what’s keeping these donors from giving more/ any money to the party? It’s safe to say this all comes down to priorities. The Better Democracy PAC’s (Fred Hubbell’s) priorities are not the same as the Iowa Democratic Party’s priorities.
