The new president of George Soros's shadowy dark money donor club is defending the radical activist group that harassed Arizona's Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema in a bathroom.
Pamela Shifman is the president of the Democracy Alliance, a secretive group of liberal millionaires and billionaires used to fund left-wing groups like Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), the activist group that filmed Sinema in a bathroom while berating her over immigration policy. Asked about the group's controversial tactics, Shifman said LUCHA's actions were essential to saving democracy.
"Our democracy depends on holding our elected officials accountable to the people they were elected to serve," Shifman told the Washington Post. "Grassroots constituencies are demanding action and insisting that their voices, not just the voices of powerful lobbyists, are heard and that the president's agenda is realized. LUCHA, and so many other organizations supported by the Democracy Alliance partners, are doing everything they can to save the democracy we have and ensure it works for all of us."
Internal Democracy Alliance documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show the Arizona-based activist group LUCHA has been featured at the donor club's biannual conferences since at least 2018. Democracy Alliance members, including Soros himself, have funded the group, according to tax documents.
Shifman's support for the left-wing activists comes as the treatment of Sinema over her opposition to the Biden administration's massive spending plan divides the Democratic Party. While some in the party have condemned LUCHA for crossing a line by taking its fight to Sinema into a bathroom, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders refused to sign a statement condemning LUCHA's actions because the proposed statement didn't also condemn Sinema's policy positions. LUCHA endorsed Sanders in his 2020 presidential campaign.
Shifman took over leadership of the influential donor network this year from Gara LaMarche. Members of the Democracy Alliance commit to giving at least $200,000 a year to liberal groups selected by the network, though most give significantly more.
Shifman in the interview indicates that the financial backing of the Democratic Party is behind the party's progressive wing. She indicated support for President Joe Biden's Build Back Better spending agenda, controversial voting reform legislation, and teaching critical race theory in schools, saying it is important to teach the "truth about our country's history of racial injustice and oppression."