“These absurd attacks represent exactly what’s wrong with Washington – and Erik Paulsen”
House Speaker Paul Ryan campaigns for GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen on Nov. 2, 2016, in Minnesota. Credit: Brian Bakst, MPR News
Excelsior, MN – In a seemingly coordinated effort, Erik Paulsen and the Congressional Leadership Fund, Paul Ryan’s special interest-funded Super PAC, today launched misleading attacks on small-business owner Dean Phillips over healthcare and taxes – proving they’ll say, spend and do anything to re-elect Erik Paulsen.
Zach Rodvold, campaign manager for Dean Phillips for Congress, released the following statement in response:
“These absurd attacks represent exactly what’s wrong with Washington – and with Erik Paulsen.
NOTE: The PAC that received this information and has been offering it to Ms. Spanberger’s opponent, the Congressional Leadership PAC, is affiliated with Speaker Paul Ryan. It is also the PAC running pro-Paulsen television ads in our area.
Abigail Spanberger spoke with voters at a campaign event in June in Midlothian, VA. Credit: Erin Schaff, The New York Times
The following article by Michael Tackett was posted on the New York Timeswebsite August 30, 2018:
WASHINGTON — The Postal Service said on Thursday that it “deeply regrets our mistake in inappropriately releasing” the official personnel file of Abigail Spanberger, a former C.I.A. operative now running as a Democratic candidate for Congress, and requested that a Republican-aligned super PAC return the documents.
“We take full responsibility for this unfortunate error, and we have taken immediate steps to ensure this will not happen again,” David Partenheimer, a Postal Service spokesman, said in a statement. He added, “The privacy and security of personal information is of utmost importance to the Postal Service. The Postal Service offers our sincere apology to Ms. Spanberger, and we will request the return of the information which we mistakenly disclosed.”
The Postal Service also acknowledged the possibility of additional inappropriate disclosures, but when asked, would not provide details like whether those disclosures involved other candidates for office.
The following article by Griffin Connolly was posted on the Roll Call website August 29, 2018:
Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-VA,, above, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD, want the acting US Postal Service inspector general to investigate the improper release of information on a Democratic congressional candidate in Virginia. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo
The top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee want the U.S. Postal Service to investigate how a Paul Ryan-aligned super PAC obtained a Virginia Democratic congressional candidate’s unredacted federal security clearance application.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, which is closely affiliated with House GOP leadership and Speaker Paul D. Ryan, and America Rising, a conservative opposition research group, have said the copy of the form was obtained through a standard Freedom of Information Act request to the National Personnel Records Center, which then kicked it over to the USPS to process and respond.
Roll Call has reviewed and verified the documents related to America Rising’s FOIA request initially filed on July 9 and the shipment of the materials from the USPS human resources department on July 30. America Rising then turned those documents over to CLF.
The following post from Seashells was posted on the DailyKos website August 28, 2018:
Former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger
Abigail Spanberger is a former CIA officer running for Congress as the Democrat challenging Dave Brat in Virginia. Somehow Paul Ryan’s PAC got hold of her security clearance application forms and used it to create an attack ad. There is no way for anyone to have gotten the forms involved unless there’s a mole leaking in the CIA or foreign intelligence stole it. There is no way to get the info involved via FOIA.
C.I.A. Officer-Turned-Candidate Says PAC Obtained Her Security Application
WASHINGTON — A former C.I.A. officer running for Congress accused a super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday of improperly obtaining her entire federal security clearance application — a highly sensitive document containing extensive personal information — and then using it for political purposes.
Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate challenging Representative Dave Brat of Virginia, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Corry Bliss, the executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, which has raised more than $100 million to help Republicans in the midterm elections. She demanded that the super PAC destroy all copies of the form and agree to not use the information in any fashion.
Paulsen has refused to sign DFL Candidate Dean Phillip’s pledge to keep SuperPACs out of Minnesota’s Third Congressional District
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party Chairman Ken Martin today called on Republican Representative Erik Paulsen to apologize after his Super PAC called concerned constituents in Minnesota’s Third Congressional District “animals.” In an email ahead of his restricted town halls, Paulsen’s Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) said concerned citizens will “show up in droves, like the animals they are.”
“This hateful comment embodies exactly why Minnesotans in the Third Congressional District are demanding new leadership. Using the guise of your big-money Super PAC to refer to your own constituents as ‘animals’ is cowardly and abhorrent. It’s time for Erik Paulsen to follow Dean Phillips’s lead, reject PAC influence, and bring civility back to Minnesota’s Third Congressional District.”
DFL Candidate Dean Phillips has challenged Paulsen to sign The Minnesota Way Pledge to reject special interests and PAC influence, value conversations with voters, and commit to running an open, accessible campaign. Paulsen refused at yesterday’s event after 40 days of silence. If Paulsen signs the pledge and return the PAC money he got this cycle, Dean Phillips has agreed not to self-fund his own campaign.
