Earlier today Florida Republican Matt Gaetz gave an impassioned speech at CPAC on the corruption of PACs and special interest money in Washington DC, exchanging money for favors, and vowed never to take PAC money again.
Gaetz began by saying that ‘honest capitalism’ is under attack, not just by the Bernie Bros, Antifa and the radical left, but by special interests and PAC money inside ‘the swamp of Washington DC’.
He lamented that sometimes it seems it doesn’t even matter which political party wins the election, “because in Congress the winner is too often the special interests that shuttles around the most campaign donations.” He noted that even committee assignments are given to those members of Congress who are most indebted to special interests.
Gaetz then made a confession:
Big business loves the PAC process because PACs allow big business to put their interests over Americans. I know. I’m here to confess. I’ve catfished special interests out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. While I never met their expectations, I always knew what they wanted.
He then vowed to never take one red cent from federal PACs again:
Our founding fathers did not commit treason against the crown of England just to watch our generation turn around and prostitute ourselves to multi-national globalist corporate interests.
I’ve never turned tricks for Washington PACs, but as of this very moment I will not pick up their money in the nightstand anymore. I will never again accept a donation from a federal political action committee. Not one red cent. The American people are my one and only special interest.
You can watch his full speech below. The part about PACs and special interests begins a little before the 3:00 minute mark: