Vulnerable Democrat Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA), looking to build a bigger war chest ahead of a tough election, appears to have broken her promise to not take any corporate PAC money after previously attacking her opponent for the same thing.
Axne raised $718,038 in the last fundraising quarter in 2021 that lasted from October to December. However, there was also 36,000 worth of campaign contributions Axne took from political action committees, the Des Moines Register reported. Axne accepted cash donations ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 from PACs representing Archer Daniels Midland Company and Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company.
In 2018, Axne slammed her opponent for taking PAC money. During a campaign stop, she promised, “I am refusing to take corporate PAC money.” She explained that she was taking the pledge because she wanted to “work” for the people in her district, not special interests, unlike her opponent at the time. “That’s not just words I’m saying. That is a promise I intend to keep with you,” she added.
In fact, during the same campaign stop, she also slammed her Republican opponent for voting with the Trump administration 99 percent of the time. However, if you compare Axne’s votes with how many times she votes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), she has voted 100 percent of the time, in the latest comparison by ProPublica.
A spokesperson for “Axne” blamed “dark money” for the flip-flop, saying she needs to “stay on a level playing field”:
In the face of thousands of individual ads and millions in dark money spending already targeted at her in the past year, Cindy Axne will not let the people of Iowa be lied to or misled about her record of working for commonsense solutions for Iowa families and small businesses… She is accepting donations from everyday Americans — whether as individuals or through employee-pooled groups — so she can stay on a level playing field while working to keep someone in Washington who is on Iowa’s side.
Axne, going up against an onslaught of Republicans looking to unseat her, will need a sizable war chest after the primary. Republican aligned-groups reacted to this revelation with accusations of hypocrisy.
“Cindy Axne is a hypocrite, and she knows it. She hoped this information wouldn’t come out, but now Iowans can see that she has just become a member of the swamp,” said Kollin Crompton, the Republican Party of Iowa’s communications director. “These boldface flip-flops are inexcusable. Every Iowan should be demanding answers from Axne today.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesman (NRCC) Mike Berg said in a statement, “Whether it’s illegal stock trading or taking corporate PAC money after promising not to, it’s clear Cindy Axne can’t be trusted.”
“If Cindy Axne can’t keep even the most central promise of her campaign, then how can voters trust anything else she has to say,” asked Congressional Leadership Fund Press Secretary Cally Perkins. “It’s yet another example of how Cindy Axne is a total fraud.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.
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