Surging Republican presidential candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is no fan of how money is raised for political campaigns, with big chunks taken off the top by those collecting the checks.
So, earlier this week, he announced a plan to get around campaign fundraising bundlers and professionals and line the pockets of supporters who join his “kitchen cabinet” and help raise funds.
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In a tweet, he said, “The money you raise, you get to keep 10% of it. Why should it be some member of some managerial class? That’s a secret closet and group of fundraisers in the cloistered world of politics? It shouldn’t be.”
He added, “We’re breaking the system. First time this has ever been done.”
A small oligopoly of political fundraisers is already making an ungodly amount of $$ on this election. It’s disgusting. I’m breaking up that cartel. Today we’re launching the Vivek Kitchen Cabinet: starting today, *anyone* can fundraise for the Vivek 2024 campaign & make a 10%… pic.twitter.com/k2y9ZL8WPe
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 10, 2023
Well, no. It’s not a first for a campaign or even a presidential campaign.
When he was running for the 2008 GOP nomination, which he eventually won, Mitt Romney rolled out a similar campaign in early 2007 that was aimed at student supporters. “Students for Mitt” got 10% of the money they raised for the campaign beyond the first $1,000.
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Kevin Madden, his spokesman at the time, said, “For the kids that want to get involved in a political campaign and they don’t want to spend their summer painting houses, they can help the campaign and themselves at the same time.”
Ramaswamy said his idea came from his business experience. “Turns out this is how I’ve actually built my businesses, democratizing the ability to make money. Big Pharma makes money from their blockbuster drugs. You know who doesn’t? The scientists who actually discovered those drugs. My first company was built on the idea that those scientists should be able to get uncapped upside, make an unlimited amount of money from the drugs they actually contributed to developing. Well, now I’m bringing that same mentality to the world of politics,” he said.
