Democrat told to disavow PAC that supports traitors

On this third anniversary of the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick urged Rep. Josh Gottheimer to disavow the influence of AIPAC, a political committee that has endorsed Republican insurrectionists.

McCormick said AIPAC supports dozens of those Republicans who sought to overturn the 2020 election results and the leader of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus must put an end to the back-slapping and schmoozing with enemies of democracy.

A year ago, McCormick called out Senator Bob Menendez for accepting money from hundreds of political committees controlled by corporations that were identified by Open Secrets as contributors to 'election-denying Republicans.'

McCormick is the progressive champion who earned nearly four out of ten votes cast in the 2018 Democratic primary election when she challenged Menendez, another AIPAC-favored Democrat who was recently charged in his second corruption indictment.

"The events of January 6, 2021, marked a dark chapter in our nation's history, as a violent mob, incited by Donald Trump, stormed the Capitol in an attempt to subvert the democratic process. In the aftermath, 147 Republican legislators voted against certifying President Joe Biden's election victory," said McCormick.

"Congressman Josh Gottheimer has been very close with AIPAC, the powerful anti-Palestinian lobby group funded by GOP mega-donors which has endorsed 109 of the 147 Republicans in Congress who supported overturning the election," said McCormick. "This raises questions about the organization's priorities and its willingness to support candidates who are a threat to democracy, but it also challenges the integrity of those who tolerate such deplorable interest groups."

AIPAC's focus on unconditionally supporting the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even when endorsing neo-Nazi white nationalist candidates who pose a danger to our democratic values, is a cause for concern.

McCormick said that America should not be compromised for the sake of a single-issue group.

"I support Israel's right to exist and oppose the vile methods employed by Hamas and other terrorist groups, but I reject the premise that it is okay to form alliances with neo-Nazi hate groups, to supply weapons used to murder 10,000 children or accept money from PACs that finance election deniers," said McCormick.

AIPAC supports insurrectionists because, according to Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, "at the end of the day, AIPAC is a single-issue outside group willing to overlook our country’s well-being as long as their candidates unconditionally support Israel and their war crimes — even if they pose a dangerous threat to our democracy."

"While AIPAC backs election deniers and extremists, they’re also spending millions in Democratic primaries trying to defeat progressive candidates, even incumbents," said Rojas. "They’re reportedly planning to spend $100 million to try and unseat the Squad this year, and they already launched attack ads against Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, and Summer Lee."

McCormick called on citizens to demand that leaders fight against fascist influence on our democratic processes, regardless of whether it is coming from AIPAC or Hamas.

"It is crucial to stand against any group that compromises the integrity of our elections and poses a threat to the principles our nation holds dear," said McCormick.

With a highly targeted grassroots campaign that refused dirty money and spent less than $5,000, McCormick earned 159,998 votes in her June 2018 challenge to Menendez—a number greater than the combined total of two congressmen and the Assembly Speaker who ran in the previous Democratic primary for US Senate.

During her 2018 campaign, McCormick proposed a comprehensive plan to eradicate the corrosive influence of money in politics but no news media covered that story and she still lost despite her opponent's unanimous admonishment by the US Senate Ethics Committee following his bribery and corruption indictment by the Obama administration Justice Department.

"When Americans cannot remove from public office traitors and thieves, there is something deeply broken in our political system," said McCormick. "When we have to tell Democratic congressmen not to ally themselves with groups that support insurrectionists, Americans must rise to the responsibility of citizenship."