Left wing eco-billionaire Tom Steyer has formally purchased Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.). Steyer recently donated $5 million to Senate Majority PAC, the pro-Democratic Super PAC run by former Reid aides, making him the single largest contributor to the group.
The transaction is related to Steyer’s broader effort to buy American democracy for $100 million and block construction of the wildly popular Keystone XL pipeline. In fact, news of Steyer’s donation comes just days after Senate Democrats helped kill a bipartisan energy efficiency bill after Republicans tried to require a vote on Keystone approval.
It also highlights the absurdity of Harry Reid’s senile jihad against the billionaire Koch brothers. Reid has accused the Kochs of "trying to buy America," while insisting that Steyer is a benign billionaire who is simply "concerned about climate change."
So far this year, top donors to Senate Majority PAC include:
- Tom Steyer, hedge fund billionaire
- Fred Eychaner, media magnate/billionaire
- James Simons, hedge fund manager/billionaire
- James Atwood, Jr., hedge fund manager
- Jon Stryker, billionaire heir to medical supply empire
- Anne Bass, wife of billionaire corporate jet tycoon
- Unions
- Trial lawyers
The New York Times reports [emphasis added]:
As of last month, Mr. Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, were the top source of super PAC money in the country this election cycle, contributing a total of more than $11 million. But the bulk of their money has so far gone to Mr. Steyer’s own political organization, NextGen Climate.
Mr. Steyer has emerged not only as a top outside ally of Senate Democrats, but also as one of their leading direct supporters. The Senate super PAC’s other big donors include Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, and Fred Eychaner, a Chicago media executive.
These billionaires are ruining our republic. The Koch brothers, on the other hand, are just concerned about hospitals.