Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), during a Thursday appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), announced that he is swearing off all PAC support, promising to “never again accept a donation from a federal political action committee.”
“Our founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor. You know in Washington, we hear a lot about fortunes — not so much about honor and sacredness,” Gaetz said, taking aim at the PAC donation process.
“This PAC donation process, with the expectation of exchanging money for favors, renders public service — what should be the noblest of professions — dangerously close to the oldest profession,” Gaetz said before announcing his pledge.
“I’ve never turned tricks for Washington PACs,” he said, pledging to “never again accept a donation from a federal political action committee — not one red cent.”
“The American people are my one and only special interest, ” he said to cheers:
“I’m a different kind of Republican. I’m the only Republican returning to Congress to make this no PAC pledge,” the Florida lawmaker continued, praising his Democrat colleague Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), whom Gaetz says does it “right.”
However, Gaetz said, “there are far more Democrats who morally preen themselves by swearing off corporate PACs, and then they go and gorge on union PACs, ideological PACs, and something ironically called leadership PACs.”
“Real leadership is telling the American people the truth about who is funding your political campaign and your politics,” he told the audience, calling for the American people to “engage and drive the fate and fortune of this great country — this great country where President Trump has given us so much opportunity to challenge the status quo and to do better.”