China for Meehan: Foreign-funded Chamber of Commerce spends $325,000 supporting Meehan campaign

Springfield, PA – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is going to spend $325,000 to purchase television advertising supporting Pat Meehan’s campaign, raising concerns that money raised from foreign corporations is being used in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, the Lentz campaign revealed on Friday.

The support from the Chamber and its foreign donors comes after Pat Meehan signed a pledge that bound him to oppose legislation that has been introduced in Congress that would close loopholes that encourage U.S. corporations to ship American jobs overseas.[1]

A recently released study, documented how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been raising funds from foreign corporations through overseas offices for its general fund[2]. Money from that fund is going to pay for the $10 million in political advertisements the Chamber is purchasing around the country next week.

“It’s certainly understandable that foreign corporations would want to back Pat Meehan’s plans to continue shipping American jobs overseas and oppose Bryan Lentz’s plan to close the loophole and keep jobs in America,” said Kevin McTigue, campaign manager for Bryan Lentz. “There’s no better proof that Bryan Lentz’s first priority will be in keeping good paying jobs here in the 7th District and America than this vote of confidence in Pat Meehan’s campaign by foreign corporations.”

Anonymous corporate donors have been pouring money into backing Pat Meehan’s campaign after a recent U.S. Supreme Court’s decision lifted restrictions on corporate spending in elections. Americans for Job Security, a front-group for anonymous corporate donations, started spending more than $300,000 to buy television ads attacking Bryan Lentz. Although that organization says it is an independent group, recent news articles have found that it is closely aligned with the Republican Party. [3]

Bryan Lentz supports reforming the nation’s campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of special interests on elections.