Wall Street Billionaire Surfaces In Third Attempt To Defeat DeFazio

Press Release

Wall Street hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer recently contributed a staggering $1 million to a SuperPAC called Ending Spending Action Fund, which is attempting to defeat Congressman Peter DeFazio. Ending Spending Action Fund reported spending $674,000 in the last two days on campaign activities in an attempt to defeat DeFazio. This is the third time Mercer has tried to buy Oregon's 4th Congressional District for Art Robinson. In 2010, Mercer spent $640,000 on television ads and in 2012 he spent $438,000 on television ads and mail in an attempt to defeat DeFazio.

In a recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance report, Ending Spending Action Fund reported receiving $1 million from Mercer on September 25, 2014. A recent Bloomberg article lists Mercer as the sixth highest donor this cycle to outside political groups, contributing over $8.8 million to ultra-conservative causes and candidates. He has contributed $2.5 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund, a PAC founded by oil magnates Charles and David Koch, topping the individual contributions made by the two Koch brothers. Over the last six years, Mercer has contributed more than $37 million to a host of political organizations supporting conservative ultra-right wing candidates like Art Robinson.

"Art Robinson wants to eliminate taxes for billionaires like Bob Mercer, he opposes Wall Street regulations, and he wants to totally deregulate campaign finance laws to allow for more spending and less disclosure," said DeFazio. "It isn't surprising that he is again being bankrolled by a billionaire from Wall Street. Robinson's benefactor doesn't know or care about what's best for families in Southwestern Oregon. He just wants to influence the election to help the guy who will do his bidding. Bob Mercer has tried to interfere in Oregon elections twice before and Oregonians didn't fall for it. I'm confident they won't this time either."

Mercer hasn't just bankrolled Robinson's campaigns; since 2006, his non-profit "Mercer Family Foundation" has contributed an additional $1,460,000 to Robinson's Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, according to IRS filings.

DeFazio has a long record of standing up to Wall Street. He led the fight against the $700 billion Wall Street bailout and pushed for stronger consumer protections against Wall Street abuses. Last year he introduced a miniscule Wall Street speculators tax as a way for Wall Street to pay for its own bailout.

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