[2020 Election News]
2020 Democratic Candidate for the New York 9th Congressional District Michael Hiller: “Brooklyn is fed up with politicians who prioritize powerful and wealthy corporations over the needs of the people. That is why I have demanded that Yvette Clarke sign our No-Corporate-PAC’s Promise and return all the PAC money she solicited and accepted from corporations.”
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
2020 Democratic candidate Michael Hiller is accusing Rep. Clarke of taking corporate money to the detriment of the interests of her Brooklyn constituents.
Michael Hiller’s congressional campaign delivered the “No-Corporate-PACs Promise to the People” to Congresswoman Yvette Clarke’s Brooklyn office at 222 Lenox Road, demanding that Clarke stop putting corporate PAC money over the interests of the people of New York’s 9th Congressional District.
Hiller has given Rep. Clarke 10 days to sign the promise and return all corporate PAC money she has taken to date. Hiller recently unveiled his “No-Corporate-PACs Promise to the People,” a commitment to voters that he will not take any campaign contributions from corporate PACs during his campaign for Congress.
“Brooklyn is fed up with politicians who prioritize powerful and wealthy corporations over the needs of the people. That is why I have demanded that Yvette Clarke sign our No-Corporate-PAC’s Promise and return all the PAC money she solicited and accepted from corporations,” said Democratic Candidate for the New York 9th Congressional District Michael Hiller.
According to Hiller, Rep. Yvette Clarke’s campaign has taken tens of thousands in donations from corporate PACs in this election cycle alone, and today, New York’s 9th Congressional District remains one of the poorest in the entire State. More than 15 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, unemployment is nearly four times the national average and 52,000 people still live without health insurance coverage.
Below is the letter Mr. Hiller sent to Congresswoman Clarke.
September 26, 2019
“Dear Representative Clarke: I am a candidate for the Democratic Nomination to New York’s 9th Congressional District.
“On September 23, 2019, I launched an initiative designed to limit the influence of corporate political action committees (PACs) over our government – the NO-CORPORATE PACs Promise to the People. This initiative calls upon members of Congress, starting with you, to return all corporate PAC money to the groups that contributed to it. In this way, the people of Brooklyn can be assured that no corporate group can use its money to influence legislative outcomes in Congress. To that end, I am calling upon you to return within 10 days, all of the corporate PAC money you have ever received.
“Over the next 10 days, I’ll be awaiting your response to my request that you sign the NO-CORPORATE- PACs Promise to the People; return all corporate PAC money to those groups that gave it to you; and pledge never to accept such money in the future.
“I hope that you will join me in this effort, so that the government can be restored to the people. I look forward to hearing from you.”
Democratic Candidate for the New York 9th Congressional District, Michael Hiller believes that those elected to Congress should be working to both write and pass laws to create a better, safer and more equitable society. Hiller supports: restrictions on gun proliferation; universal health care; increased funding for affordable housing; protection for DREAMers and extension of D.A.C.A.; requiring insurers to pay for all medical procedures approved by patients’ doctors; equal pay for equal work; the Equal Rights Amendment; marriage equality; higher taxes on the super-wealthy; preservation of our environment; ensuring access to safe and legal abortion protected by Roe v. Wade; amnesty for undocumented immigrants and their children; protection for Dreamers (D.A.C.A.); campaign finance reform (restrictions on the money donated to political candidates); social justice reform; the legalization of cannabis; increased funding for New York City’s infrastructure, including for New York subways; increases in teacher pay; other improvements to our education system; among other policies and initiatives.
