Texas Tribune by Abby Livingston and Patrick Svitek Sept. 7, 2018
O'Rourke's campaign held a fundraiser this week co-hosted by a political action committee, prompting charges of hypocrisy from Cruz's camp. O'Rourke's camp insist the El Paso Congressman has not broken his pledge to not take any PAC money in his bid to unseat Cruz.
The campaign of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz tore into U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke on Friday afternoon, accusing his Democratic challenger of "hypocrisy" for "accepting support from a political action committee at a Washington, D.C. fundraiser, even though he campaigns in Texas against taking any support from political action committees," per a Cruz news release.
At issue is a fundraiser Thursday in Washington, D.C. that was co-hosted by both the O'Rourke campaign and a political action committee. Since launching his campaign to unseat Cruz last year, O'Rourke has famously promised to accept no contributions from PACs, which are organizations through which ideological, business or labors groups raise and donate money to candidates. The PAC in question is End Citizens United, a group that donates to Democratic candidates and supports changes to the campaign finance system.
“Beto O’Rourke travels all over Texas claiming that PACs are corrupt, and he’s made his alleged rejection of PAC influence a cornerstone of his campaign,†Cruz spokesperson Catherine Frazier said in a statement. “Yet he held a fundraiser hosted by End Citizens United PAC. O'Rourke’s actions do not match his words and Texans need to know that Beto O'Rourke is a candidate who says one thing on the campaign trail then does another in Washington.
O'Rourke spokesman Chris Evans defended the event as in keeping with the candidate's principles in a statement earlier this week to the Tribune.
More:
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/09/07/ted-cruz-slams-beto-orourke-PAC-fundraiser/
