FAIRFAX, VA – Candidate for Lt. Governor Sean Perryman called for serious campaign finance reform in Virginia following the release of the final campaign finance reports before the June 8th election in the race for Lt. Governor, which showed massive donations from one source for many candidates.
Candidate Hala Ayala took a $100,000 donation from Dominion Energy. This comes after Ayala took a public pledge to reject contributions from Dominion. Candidate Mark Levine loaned himself $530,000 of his own cash, and received an additional $100,000 from his parents. Candidate Xavier Warren took $100,000 in contributions from his own company.
“During last week’s debate, I said that this race for Lt. Governor is the embodiment of the need for campaign finance reform in Virginia,” said Perryman. “Now that we’ve seen the latest round of finance reports, that statement has shown to be even more true. While some candidates take giant checks from special interests and wealthy donors, others are using their generational wealth to burn hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own cash. All of it is an attempt to purchase an election. Our campaign is the only one left in the race that is still committed to relying on the power of grassroots donors.”
“Delegate Ayala made a promise to voters that she would reject money from Dominion Energy. That pledge was made for good reason; Dominion has used their political contributions to influence energy policy in Richmond and consistently avoid accountability as a publicly-regulated utility. Not only is Ayala allowing her campaign to be bought by Dominion, her campaign didn’t reveal this fact until six days before the election, leaving little time for voters to know of her broken promise.”
“The other candidates, like Delegate Rasoul or Delegate Levine, have spoken about campaign finance reform or ‘grassroots funding,’ but their reports make it clear that they are getting large checks from single individuals. Circumventing corporate donations by getting a check directly from the CEO does not make your campaign grassroots,” said Perryman.
“Virginia is only one of four states in the entire country that has no limits on any kinds of campaign contributions. That’s an embarrassing policy that leads to the outrageous campaign finance reports that we are seeing today,” said Perryman. “I’ve rolled out the strongest campaign finance reform proposal in the race and have campaigned by those values. Our campaign takes no money from corporations or Dominion. We don’t take tens of thousands of dollars from lobbyists. In Q1 we had more small-dollar donations than any other campaign in the race. That’s because we are beholden to only one interest: the interest of everyday Virginians.”
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