Considering the grim prospects of Democrats picking up—or even holding—congressional seats during the 2014 midterm elections, billionaire environmental activists are shifting focus towards a “new strategy for winning battles on climate change and green power: pouring record amounts of money into legislative races in a handful of states.” Targeted states include Washington, Oregon and Colorado, according to Politico.
Last week, SHIFT reported on a clear sign of extreme environmentalist Tom Steyer’s intentions for Washington State. Steyer poured $1 million into his NextGen Climate Action Super PAC—making good on his pledge to help advance his (and Jay Inslee’s) extreme environmental agenda in our state.
Steyer plans to try and buy State Senate races here, hoping that laundering $1 million through groups like the Washington Conservation Voters will be enough to shift control back to the Democrats. A Democrat state Senate eliminates the only roadblock to implementing his (and Inslee’s) higher taxes, more government control agenda: the bi-partisan Majority Coalition Caucus (MCC). As Politico writes,
In Washington state, where control of the state Senate narrowly rests with a conservative coalition of 24 Republicans and two Democrats, switching just two seats could put green-minded lawmakers in charge. That would help Gov. Jay Inslee’s chances of enacting a market-based carbon reduction program next year. Environmentalists there also hope to block coal export projects and are increasingly worried about trains carrying crude oil.
Last Wednesday, NextGen announced it would target the re-election campaigns of Republican state Senators Andy Hill and Steve O’Ban. Additionally, according to Politico, Washington Conservation Voters (which has already received $385,000 in funding from its national organization, thanks in part to Steyer’s donations to that group) announced that it will actively seek to defeat State Sen. Doug Ericksen, the chairman of the Senate’s Energy, Environment and Telecommunications.
A NextGen official admitted that Steyer is considering pumping more money into “a few other races in Washington, in particular where the entire Democratic ally table believes we may be able to run climate messaging on.” Of course, by “Democratic ally table,” the NextGen official is referring to the liberal attack network that includes various environmental groups, major labor unions and other liberal activist groups here. Politico reports that this network “may intervene in as many as 13 to 15 state House and Senate races in Washington.”
Earlier this year, SHIFT blew the cover off of Washington State’s shady liberal attack network which formed in 2005. SHIFT wrote,
[The network] began with a few tech billionaire types, with the stated intent of moving Washington State’s politics even further Left. After studying what had happened in Colorado the year before (documented in the book, The Blueprint), they decided that they could get around our state’s financial disclosure laws by operating outside party and candidate control – and in secret.
They easily found Democrat political operatives – from union reps, to social justice activists, to radical enviros – willing to take their money to go along. Because after all, these are the people raised on answering Saul Alinsky’s question, “Does this particular end justify this particular means?” One need only look back at one of the biggest fines in PDC history, on the Democrat consulting group Moxie Media, to know how sleazy they can be in answering that question.
Now, during the 2014 midterm elections, the liberal attack network is benefiting from one of its most significant (and shady) benefactors: liberal billionaire Tom Steyer. The network—with the help of Steyer—will now pursue its vision of shifting Washington State even further to the left with heavier pockets.
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