MEMO from Priorities USA/Priorities USA Action
April 29, 2011

To: Interested Parties
From: Bill Burton & Sean Sweeney
Re: The Start of Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action

Today, Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action will begin its operations. The mission of these groups is to counter the hundreds of millions of dollars pledged by the Koch brothers and Karl Rove. Below you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about our new groups. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.

1. Why is the effort necessary?

Our groups were formed to answer the hundreds of millions of dollars Karl Rove and the Koch brothers have dedicated to spending in the 2012 election. In 2010, Republicans spent millions distorting the debate on important issues and running vicious, dishonest attack ads. This is an effort to level the playing field and not allow right-wing activists to hijack the political system. We are simply trying to give an equal voice to the American middle-class and supporting policies that reflect America's core value of fairness.

2. What will the groups do?

Priorities USA is a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to mobilizing Americans to preserve, protect and promote the middle class, and to ensure opportunity and freedom for the next generation. It will advocate for economic policies that generate jobs here in America through innovation, education and investment in the infrastructure vital to our future success. Priorities USA will support policies that are fiscally responsible and reflect America's core value of fairness. It will oppose right-wing attempts to harm the American middle class in order to bestow special treatment on special interests. It will promote national security policies that protect our nation, defend our interests and enhance America's position as a respected world leader.

Priorities USA Action is an Independent Expenditure PAC that supports candidates who will advance policies that provide the strongest and most sound outcomes for middle class families.

3. What has changed from earlier election cycles, when Democrats did not support these kinds of groups?

In the Citizens United ruling, the right-leaning Supreme Court created a new set of rules that allows individuals to give as much as they want and remain anonymous should they choose. Karl Rove and the Koch brothers then chose to exploit this decision to press their right-wing agenda without accountability. While we agree that fundamental campaign finance reforms are needed, Karl Rove and the Koch brothers cannot live by one set of rules as our values and our candidates are overrun with their hundreds of millions of dollars. We will comply with all applicable rules and laws but we won’t be boxed in by a double standard.
Priorities USA Action Mission Statement
Priorities USA Action is an Independent Expenditure PAC that supports candidates who will advance policies that provide the strongest and most sound outcomes for middle class families.



related
PRESS RELEASE from Public Campaign Action Fund

For Immediate Release:           Contact: Blair Fitzgibbon

April 29, 2011                                       202-503-6141

Campaign Watchdog: Priorities USA Not Hypocritical

Washington, D.C.—PublicCampaign Action Fund released the following statement from David Donnelly, national campaigns director, on the launch of Priorities USA, a new White House-tied organization that plans to spend $100 million on the 2012 presidential election:

“There will be those who call the establishment of Priorities USA hypocritical.  They are either trying to score political points against President Obama or are unfortunately out of touch with what it takes to make political change in this country. In order to change the rules of the game, we need to engage in the rules as they are, not as we wish they were.  To act otherwise after Citizens United is to take a knife to a gunfight.

“The real measurement of a reformer is not whether you play by the rules as they exist today. It’s whether you support and push for real change.  It’s against that measurement that we think the president has, so far, come up short. His recent draft executive orders show he’s willing to fight for reform, but he hasn’t lived up to his 2008 campaign pledges to press for more substantive and comprehensive changes like fixing the presidential system and pressing for the Fair Elections Now Act.  So we welcome Priorities USA’s statement in support of campaign finance reform.  We hope they will join us in creating a loud and clear political mandate for President Obama or any other candidate elected in 2012 to overhaul the nation’s campaign finance laws.”

In the last five election cycles, Public Campaign Action Fund and its Campaign Money Watch project, a 527 committee,have run numerous campaigns to hold politicians like former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accountable for their opposition to policies that would raise the voice of everyday people in the political process.  That effort will continue into 2012.

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Public Campaign Action Fund is a national nonprofit watchdog group working to improve America’s election laws and to hold elected officials accountable.