As millions in out of state money pours in for Paulsen, conservative ClearPath Action Fund muddies the waters, confuses voters
Eden Prairie, MN – ClearPath Action Fund (CPA) is a super PAC based in Washington, D.C. and North Carolina currently running digital ads as part of a six-figure effort to support the reelection Congressman Erik Paulsen in MN03. CPA is financed with untraceable money from the ClearPath Foundation (CPF), a 501(c)(3).
Millions of dollars in outside spending by super PACs and untraceable dark money in support of Erik Paulsen will attempt to mislead, distract, and skew in his favor, but these digital ads on Facebook muddied the waters in a different way – by providing an incorrect date for Election Day.
This ad is just another example what can happen when outside spending by super PACs with no interest in what’s best for Minnesota are allowed to influence our elections.
CPA and CPF’s founder, businessman Jay Faison, says he started the groups because he is “tired of seeing our country’s strongest clean energy leaders cast as enemies of the environment just because they’re Republicans.” If that goal is true, it’s unclear why CPA would come out in support of Congressman Paulsen. As the 2018 midterm elections draw near, Paulsen has sought to paint himself as an environmentalist, while continuing to accept tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry.
Despite working to distance himself from President Trump – with whom he votes 97.8% of the time – on the issue of mining in the BWCA, Congressman Paulsen’s lifetime voting record on the environment has earned him a low 16% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. And when asked if he personally believed that humans are contributing to global warming, Congressman Paulsen once said, “I’m not smart enough to know if that’s true or not… I don’t know if it’s either way.”
Paulsen’s opponent, Dean Phillips, has been endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, and Boundary Waters Action. More than 60,000 individuals, and zero PACs, special interests or corporations, have donated to Phillips. In April, Phillips challenged Paulsen to join him in signing the Minnesota Way Pledge, which would eliminate special interest and self funding, and place limits on outside interest expenditures. To date, Paulsen has refused to sign. Simply put, Erik Paulsen is bought and sold. Learn more at www.erikpaulsen.org.