Sherrod Brown is the most populist firebrand in the Senate. He’s also the top recipient of lobbyist money.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Brown has accepted $430,266 dollars in campaign contributions from the lobbying industry in the last two years alone. That is more than any of the other 99 senators, and that calls into question the sincerity of the Ohio Democrat who regularly calls for campaign finance reform and condemns current administration for being beholden to special interests.
“If you want to call yourself a populist, you better be ready to stick up for the little guy — whether she punches a time clock or earns tips. Whether she works in a call center or a hospital or on a factory floor. Whether he is a contract worker or a temp,” Brown wrote in a May 2017 USA Today op-ed calling President Trump “a fake populist.”
“And you better be willing to be straight with the people you serve,” Brown continued. “A true populist tells the truth, because she respects people’s intelligence.”
It doesn’t take an above-average intellect to figure out which lobbyists are writing checks to Brown, though. It doesn’t take an exceptionally mathematical mind, either, to realize Brown is bringing in 67 percent more than the top Republican recipient of lobbying money, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Brown’s populist rhetoric and Brown’s balance sheet don’t add up.
In fact, four of the top ten recipients of lobbying money are red-state Democrats facing tough races. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana has accepted $401,478; Claire McCaskill of Missouri, $358,747; Bill Nelson of Florida, $329,796; and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, $318,237. Each, in one way or the other, has called out the current administration for cozying up to special interests.
This can lead to awkward situations. Take Tester, who faces a tough opponent in Republican challenger Matt Rosendale. Like Brown, Tester likes to sound like a populist.
He has introduced legislation to bring greater accountability and transparency to campaign finance laws, a system which he says is “broken.” He supports overturning Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that loosened the rules on independent political expenditures. He complains about money in politics, a phenomenon which even he admits is draining out the voices of normal citizens.
And yet, somehow, Tester has taken more lobbying money than any other senator except for Brown. He is the No. 2 recipient. Whether they have realized it or not, this is a gift to Republicans. They can’t pull of their public populist-private opportunist schtick forever.
