New Corporate Party Advances

 

https://boulderweekly.com/opinion/corporate-centrist-third-party-could-spoil-2024/

opinion
the anderson files

Corporate ‘centrist’ third party could spoil 2024

By Dave Anderson - May 11, 2023

In 2024, a new supposedly “centrist” political organization may run a
“unity” presidential ticket. No Labels is already on the ballot as a
party in Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and Alaska. They have raised $70
million and refuse to name their donors. They plan to get on the
ballot in all 50 states.

No Labels insists that the two major parties are captured by crazy
extremists. A video sent out to donors and potential supporters
obtained by The New Republic warns, “With the extremes on both sides
dominating the primaries, the two parties are on a path to nominating
candidates most eligible voters will find unacceptable.” As ominous
music plays, you see Donald Trump, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie
Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Joe Biden isn’t even mentioned in the video. When leaders of No Labels
are asked if they think Biden is unacceptable to them, they have a
wait-and-see attitude.

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, the leaders of three ideologically
divergent, pro-Democratic Party groups (Third Way, MoveOn and the
Center for American Progress Action Fund) denounced No Labels for
equating Trump and Biden and argued that Biden has been responsible
for significant and necessary bipartisan legislation. They said a No
Labels candidate would most likely help elect Trump.

Actually, No Labels’ own poll shows “Democrats, liberals and urban
voters to be more open to a moderate independent candidate than
Republicans, conservatives or rural voters.”

No Labels supports balancing the national budget, reducing business
regulations and shifting federal programs to the states.

No Labels criticized the Jan. 6 committee as “a partisan exercise
about which the public is skeptical” and compared it unfavorably with
the Republican-dominated special committee that investigated the 2012
Benghazi attack on a U.S. embassy.

No Labels publicly opposed Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB)
legislation, which included efforts to fight climate change, raise the
corporate tax rate, expand the Child Tax Credit and improve
healthcare.

Two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten
Sinema of Arizona, were able to force big cuts in BBB due to the
Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate. During the legislative
process, No Labels praised Sinema for her “heroic efforts” and ran ads
supporting Manchin “hit[ting] the brakes on BBB.” The Intercept
reported that the group hosted Manchin at a “billionaire-backed
gathering” in Los Angeles during BBB negotiations.

The BBB was killed and we got the Inflation Reduction Act, which
doesn’t go as far but provides for lower prescription drugs for
seniors, higher taxes for corporations, more IRS law and order for
rich tax cheats. It is also the biggest federal climate change bill in
history. Well, that’s a low bar. It’s the only real climate change
bill ever enacted.

This March, news website Semafor reported that some Wall Street
backers of Biden in 2020 are “holding back” on supporting him in 2024,
“citing rules proposed by his Securities and Exchange Commission that
target the financial services industry.”

Biden’s approach to financial regulation “has left a sense of buyer’s
remorse.” Financial industry lobbyists are reportedly “beyond
frustrated.”

No Labels doesn’t have to disclose who its sugar daddies are. However,
in 2018, The Daily Beast obtained a leaked donor list including
billionaires in the private equity, hedge fund, real estate, and oil
and gas industries. Republican megadonors are courted.

The group’s CEO, Nancy Jacobson, was a fundraiser for both Bill and
Hillary Clinton, and her husband, corporate consultant Mark Penn, was
a top Clinton campaign advisor.

No Labels is co-chaired by lobbyist and former Senator Joe Lieberman
of Connecticut (who was a Democrat and then an Independent) and Larry
Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland. Manchin and
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine are “honorary co-chairs.”

No Labels is very vague about its stances on major policy issues.
Campaign finance lawyer Brendan Fischer told The Lever that this
leaves a lot of room for wheeling and dealing.

“At this point, No Labels isn’t saying what ‘values and commitments’
they are looking for from a major party candidate,” he said. “This
raises the specter of No Labels officials or donors using this
leverage to extract backroom concessions.”

Manchin has praised No Labels’ strategy and hasn’t ruled out running
for president in 2024 on their ballot line. Meanwhile, Manchin and
Sinema seemed to be allied with Republicans in their reckless debt
ceiling brinkmanship.

This opinion does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.