{"id":2207427,"date":"2024-03-27T13:05:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T17:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jon-tester-won-a-prize-for-fighting-dark-money-hes-been-relying-on-it-for-years\/"},"modified":"2024-03-27T13:09:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T17:09:59","slug":"jon-tester-won-a-prize-for-fighting-dark-money-hes-been-relying-on-it-for-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jon-tester-won-a-prize-for-fighting-dark-money-hes-been-relying-on-it-for-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Tester, celebrated for combating dark money, has paradoxically depended on it for years"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjon-tester-won-a-prize-for-fighting-dark-money-hes-been-relying-on-it-for-years%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2207427&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>End Citizens United\u2064 honored Senator Jon Tester \u200cfor \u2062his fight against dark money,\u2063 though \u2064he has received substantial support from such groups\u2063 since 2006. Tester\u200d advocates against dark money in politics despite benefiting from it. The irony was\u200c highlighted as the senator received an award for &#8220;Ethics and Transparency&#8221; from the \u200dvery type of \u2062group he criticizes. End Citizens United recognized Senator Jon Tester for his\u2063 efforts against \u200bdark\u2064 money,\u200c despite his substantial backing from \u2062such groups\u200c since 2006. Tester continues to champion transparency in politics while paradoxically\u200c benefiting from dark money \u2062support. The irony surfaced when he received an &#8220;Ethics and Transparency&#8221; award from a group he critiques for their use of dark money.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\tU.S. Sen. Jon Tester  (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The left-wing group End Citizens United earlier this month honored Senator Jon Tester as a &#8220;trailblazer&#8221; against dark money. But dark money is one of the reasons the Montana Democrat is in office.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2006, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-hawley-files-counter-complaint-against-senate-dems\/\" title=\"Sen. Hawley files counter-complaint against Senate Dems\">dark money groups<\/a> have poured at least $7.5 million into Tester\u2019s campaigns, records show. That hasn\u2019t stopped Tester from making dark money his pet cause and a key part of his populist image, going so far as <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/jon-tester-wants-to-ban-dark-money-but-not-until-it-helps-him-win\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to propose<\/a> a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and &#8220;kick unlimited dark money out of our elections.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nor did it stop End Citizens United\u2014itself a dark money group\u2014from awarding Tester its annual &#8220;Ethics and Transparency&#8221; award on March 14. The group said Tester &#8220;has exemplified the efforts to be transparent with who he is working with and what he is working on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Months before receiving this award, Tester was revealed to be the beneficiary of massive dark money dealings. Last Best Place PAC, a dark money group with close ties to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), spent nearly $6 million to boost Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale, largely seen as Tester\u2019s weakest Republican challenger.<\/p>\n<p>Last Best Place PAC was subject to a Federal Elections Commission complaint for its failure to file an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chuck-schumer-tied-pac-slapped-with-fec-complaint-over-spending-in-montana-senate-race\/\" title=\"FEC complaint filed against Schumer-linked PAC for Montana Senate race spending\">independent expenditure report<\/a>, in violation of the agency\u2019s rules. Rosendale dropped out of the race after Trump endorsed his opponent, businessman Tim Sheehy.<\/p>\n<p>This was not the first time dark money groups worked to elevate weaker opponents for Tester. During the 2018 election cycle, one of the largest dark money groups in the country, Patriot Majority USA, spent more than $4.2 million on Tester\u2019s opponent. Patriot Majority USA spent more than $925,000 against Tester\u2019s Republican rival in 2012, as did the League of Conservation Voters Inc., to the tune of nearly $1,000,000.<\/p>\n<p>Tester is gearing up for November\u2019s toughest reelection fight, in a state that swung for former president Donald Trump by more than 15 points in 2020. Although <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/biden-congress-votes\/jon-tester\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he votes with<\/a> President Joe Biden 91 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight, Tester regularly shrugs off his party in campaign ads.<\/p>\n<p>His chances of victory will heavily rely on the use of the dark money that he routinely decries, including donations from corporate PACS. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/staceys-abrams-net-worth-mysteriously-increases-by-3-million-since-losing-georgia-governors-election\/\" title=\"Stacey\u2019s Abrams Net Worth Mysteriously Increases by  Million Since Losing Georgia Governor\u2019s Election\">federal disclosure forms<\/a>, Tester accepted $15,000 from Boeing\u2019s PAC over the last three years. In 2023, Tester accepted $10,000 from Exxon Mobile\u2019s PAC, as well as $6,000 from FedEx\u2019s PAC and nearly $10,000 from Northrop Grumman\u2019s. Wells Fargo\u2019s PAC gave Tester $5,000 in 2023 as well.\t<\/p>\n<p>Tester is one of the few Senate Democrats endorsed by End Citizens United for pledging not to accept donations from corporate PACs.<\/p>\n<p>Neither Tester nor End Citizens United responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senator Jon Tester was praised by End Citizens United as a &#8220;trailblazer&#8221; against dark money, despite benefiting from it. Dark money groups have contributed over $7.5 million to Tester&#8217;s campaigns since 2006<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":2207428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/janet-yellen-testifies-at-senate-hearing-on-financial-stability-oversi-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2207427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/janet-yellen-testifies-at-senate-hearing-on-financial-stability-oversi-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2207427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2207428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2207427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2207427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2207427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}