Courting Democrats and veteran journalists is part of their strategy.

This article by Daniel Marans and Paul Blumenthal appeared in the Huffington Post, November 23rd, 2018.

Brief commentary by Community Rights US Media Team member Curt Hubatch: As you read through this article you’ll notice a LINK to a powerpoint presentation that was recently given at the Nov. 15th corporate PAC conference at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. It, as the HuffPost suggests, “offers a window on the normally hidden Washington process that drapes raw corporate power in buzzwords and rational policy arguments.”

— A trade group representing corporate political action committees plans to push back on growing skepticism of big business’s influence by bashing the less-regulated super PACs, courting friendly politicians and journalists, and even demanding higher campaign contribution limits.

Attorneys and lobbyists for the National Association of Business Political Action Committees (NABPAC) delivered a PowerPoint presentation, obtained by HuffPost, titled, “Challenging the Narrative & Opening Minds: PACs and the 116th Congress,” at NABPAC’s Nov. 15 conference at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.

The presenters outlined a plan to combat “anti-PAC rhetoric” and “anti-PAC pledges,” including “relationships with key influencers,” reporters and members of Congress.

The NABPAC presentation advises its member organizations on the best way to “rebut” the criticism of PACs: emphasizing that federal PACs, unlike less-regulated super PACs and 501(c)(4)s, are “the cleanest money in politics” and “the most bipartisan in politics” and that they “inspire political involvement.”

It highlights potential “champions” in Senate leaders Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and House leaders Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

It also identifies a number of Capitol Hill journalists as targets for “education”: Kate Ackley and Cat Camilia of Roll Call; Scott Bland and Theo Meyer of Politico; Michelle Lee and Paul Kane of The Washington Post; Alex Burns and Carl Hulse of The New York Times; and Brody Mullins and Rebecca Ballhaus of The Wall Street Journal.

Most audaciously, as previously reported by Politico, NABPAC wants to increase the PAC contribution limit per candidate from $5,000 to $10,000 and index it for inflation. It would also like to raise the contribution limit for every employee to a given corporate PAC to $10,000. MORE…