{"id":924647,"date":"2021-10-26T13:29:39","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T17:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=924647"},"modified":"2021-10-26T13:30:03","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T17:30:03","slug":"meet-the-bernie-bro-embezzler-behind-the-progressive-push-to-primary-sinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meet-the-bernie-bro-embezzler-behind-the-progressive-push-to-primary-sinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Bernie Bro Embezzler Behind the Progressive Push To Primary Sinema"},"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\">24<\/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%2Fmeet-the-bernie-bro-embezzler-behind-the-progressive-push-to-primary-sinema%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=924647&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--><div readability=\"30.309012875536\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Chuck Rocha stole union funds to pay for golf outing, hockey tickets<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/s2.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-736x385.png\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-e1635262854282.png 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-1024x535.png 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-1536x803.png 1536w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-2048x1071.png 2048w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-26-at-11.34.03-AM-1400x732.png 1400w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tChuck Rocha \/ YouTube screenshot\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/chuck-ross\/\" title=\"Posts by Chuck Ross\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Chuck Ross<\/a> \u2022 October 26, 2021 1:20 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"130.61354775828\">\n<p>A former Bernie Sanders adviser indicted for embezzling money from a labor union is now leading the progressive push to unseat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.).<\/p>\n<p>Chuck Rocha, the founder of Nuestro PAC, launched the &#8220;Run Ruben Run&#8221; campaign to encourage Rep. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) to primary Sinema in 2024. Rocha&#8217;s criminal past surfaced during the 2016 presidential campaign after he joined the Sanders campaign. The longtime labor activist was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-wdpa\/pr\/usw-political-director-sentenced-and-fined-embezzling-union-funds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sentenced<\/a> to 24 months probation and fined $2,000 after he was convicted of embezzling funds from the United Steelworkers International Union, where he served as political director. Rocha admitted to misusing a union credit card in 2008 and 2009 to pay for golf outings and Stanley Cup tickets.<\/p>\n<p>Nuestro PAC is one of several groups working to unseat Sinema because of her opposition to President Joe Biden&#8217;s massive $3.5 trillion &#8220;Build Back Better&#8221; initiative. Way to Win, a group funded by liberal donor George Soros, formed the Primary Sinema PAC, though it has not endorsed a specific candidate. The primary efforts highlight growing disunity within the Democratic Party over the Biden spending plan.<\/p>\n<p>While Gallego <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/10\/21\/politics\/kyrsten-sinema-primary-challenge\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has been cagey<\/a> when asked whether he will challenge Sinema, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.filesforprogress.org\/datasets\/2021\/10\/dfp-az-sen-dem-primary-2024-tabs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">progressive favorite<\/a> has links to many of the groups that oppose the moderate Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Bold PAC, which Gallego chairs, gave $50,000 in April to Nuestro PAC and $13,000 in May to Rocha&#8217;s consulting firm, Solidarity Strategies. Bold PAC also contributed $25,000 in August and September to Living United for Change in Arizona, a <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/soros-gave-to-left-wing-group-that-accosted-sinema\/\">Soros-funded<\/a> activist group whose members&nbsp;this month confronted Sinema in a bathroom at Arizona State University.<\/p>\n<p>Gallego and Bold PAC, which has four of Sinema&#8217;s Senate colleagues as board members, have not publicly weighed in on Living United activists&#8217; filming Sinema as she exited a bathroom stall. While there is no indication that Bold PAC or Gallego coordinated with Living United to accost Sinema, the group&#8217;s viral video of the incident has energized progressives who say it shows that Sinema ignores her constituents.<\/p>\n<p>Gallego&#8217;s campaign has tapped Rocha&#8217;s firm and Living United for Change in Arizona for consulting work in the past. Gallego&#8217;s campaign in 2015 paid Rocha&#8217;s company $15,000 for political media consulting and $2,000 to Living United, according to campaign finance disclosures.<\/p>\n<p>Rocha maintains close ties to Sanders&#8217;s political efforts. Friends of Bernie, a political action committee that supports Sanders, has paid Solidarity Strategies more than $55,000 since the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>Sanders&#8217;s campaigns and Friends of Bernie have paid Solidarity Strategies $12,194,951 for consulting and political advertising since 2015, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?data_type=processed&amp;committee_id=C00411330&amp;committee_id=C00577130&amp;committee_id=C00696948&amp;recipient_name=solidarity+strategies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">campaign finance records<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While Sanders has not weighed in on Sinema&#8217;s primary, the democratic socialist has criticized Sinema and her fellow centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) over their opposition to &#8220;Build Back Better&#8221; and other progressive proposals. Sanders also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/sanders-sinema-spat-harrassment-a8c9f7a2-6579-4800-aa28-43a71fe2639b.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reportedly<\/a> refused to sign a letter from Senate Democrats that condemned a group of activists with Living United for Change in Arizona after the bathroom stalking incident.<\/p>\n<p>Liberal dark money groups have largely funded Rocha&#8217;s political action committee through contributions to a Sanders-linked PAC. America&#8217;s Progressive Promise PAC, a committee started by Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver, last year contributed $4,630,000 to Nuestro PAC. Democracy PAC, which is funded largely by Soros, gave $500,000 to Nuestro PAC.<\/p>\n<p>The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a liberal dark money group, last year gave $4,750,000 to America&#8217;s Progressive Promise, by far the largest contribution to the Sanders-linked group. The Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), gave $1,050,000 to America&#8217;s Progressive Promise.<\/p>\n<p>Gallego&#8217;s office and Bold PAC did not respond to requests for comment. Rocha did not respond to comment requests submitted through his consulting firm.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats Chuck Rocha stole union funds to pay for golf outing, hockey tickets  Chuck Rocha \/ YouTube screenshot  Chuck Ross \u2022 October 26, 2021 &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924647","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}