Jonathan Soros, son of left-wing billionaire George Soros, is launching a new Super PAC called "Friends of Democracy" that will take aim at Super PACS. According to the New York Times:
Jonathan Soros has started a new Super PAC aimed at lessening the impact of Super PACs. He wants to use the $5 million to $8 million he plans on raising for negative ads aiming at politicians who oppose campaign finance reform.
"The irony is not lost on anybody," Mr. Soros said. …
The most important, he said, is that candidates back creation of a system that encourages small donations from regular people. As an example of what he’d like to see more of, he points out that in New York, donations of $175 or less receive a 6-1 match from the government, making it more likely that candidates will seek those smaller contributions.
Secret money in politics was less of a problem for Jonathan Soros when his father George spent $24 million in two years in an attempt to defeat George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.
Meanwhile, Democratic New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state’s campaign finance guidelines Jonathan Soros praises in the New York Times, is pulling in some high-dollar contributions. According to the New York Times Monday:
Nearly two-thirds of the individual contributors to Mr. Cuomo’s campaign during [the past six months] gave $1,000 or more, according to an analysis of his latest campaign finance filings. By contrast, about a fifth of his donors gave less than $250. ...
In a statement, Mr. Cuomo’s office said that because the governor was not up for re-election until 2014, his fund-raising had been more focused.
"The only events we have done this cycle are high-donor events," the statement said, referring to the six-month reporting period that for the governor ended on Friday night. "The governor is not campaigning at this time, so we haven’t done many fund-raising events, which would include low-donor events. The governor will do the low-donor events when we are in campaigning cycle."