ACU Supports Free Market In Endorsements

Next time you hear a conservative cite their rating from the American Conservative Union you can be certain that the ACU truly backs conservative Republican principles. The ACU has now even started a free market in endorsements. From Politico:

The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then the group’s president flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.

For the $2 million plus, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and/or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)”

The conservative group’s remarkable demand — black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” — was contained in a private letter to FedEx , which was provided to POLITICO.

The letter exposes the practice by some political interest groups of taking stands not for reasons of pure principle, as their members and supporters might assume, but also in part because a sponsor is paying big money.

In the three-page letter asking for money on June 30, the conservative group backed FedEx. After FedEx says it rejected the offer, Keene signed onto a two-page July 15 letter backing UPS. Keene did not return a message left on his cell phone.

Maury Lane, FedEx’s director of corporate communications, said: “Clearly, the ACU shopped their beliefs and UPS bought.”

1 Comment

  1. 1
    Eclectic Radical says:

    When one has strong feelings and opinions and one is honest with one’s self, one constantly questions the basis of those opinions and seeks to reshape them based on the answers to those questions.
     
    This certainly reaffirms many of mine.
     

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