Eric Cantor aide creating super PAC
By JAKE SHERMAN | 10/5/11 8:14 AM EDT Updated: 10/5/11 5:50 PM EDT
The Republican “Young Guns” brand is adding significant political muscle outside the Capitol, launching into the world of unlimited fundraising with a new super PAC.
John Murray, a top adviser to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is leaving his congressional job as deputy chief of staff to the Virginia Republican this week to launch three political organizations that build off the Young Guns program championed by Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Murray, with the help of former Cantor aide Rob Collins, is launching the new PAC as a fundraising vehicle that will be able to accept unlimited contributions from corporations and individuals and spend money to elect “free-market, pro-business” candidates.
Alongside the super PAC, Murray is launching two nonprofits: a 501(c)(4) that will be able to run issue advertisements and a 501(c)(3) that will commission studies and run educational programs.
The common thread running through all three organizations: the Cantor-Ryan-McCarthy brand, which got so much attention in the 2010 elections and will try to capitalize on the new world of lightly regulated, unlimited corporate and individual money.
With the super PAC, Cantor’s former aides will be able to pour money into the election efforts of candidates who are in the Young Guns’ mold — conservative and ready to challenge the establishment.
Super PACs — which were created in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case that cleared the way for unlimited corporate money in elections — are gaining prominence on both sides of the aisle, lapping up big checks from big donors. But the Young Guns operation is going to play a somewhat unique role in inside-the-Beltway politics. Murray, who was intricately involved in the House Republican communications operation, is gearing up for major legislative battles on Capitol Hill such as tax reform and regulatory reform. He said his organization will use its money to add muscle to promoting that agenda.
“I think the Young Guns brand is good,” Murray said in an interview Wednesday at a Starbucks on Capitol Hill. “I think there’s an appetite downtown. If you look at the debt limit debate, if you look at the Ryan budget — look at the left. They have an operation ready when they go on offense. They get everybody in the game. We put things out, and Heritage Action [another conservative group] attacks us for it. I think there’s a lane for a muscular communications and political operation that is helping push the message of the pro-growth agenda in the Republican House.”
Indeed, it could be a helpful arm for House Republicans but even more so for Cantor, McCarthy and Ryan. That two former Cantor aides are joining forces to collect unlimited donations and play in national elections could undoubtedly increase the group’s muscle in D.C.
This new PAC will also compete for big dollar donors with the National Republican Congressional Committee and a handful of other super PACs.
The addition of Collins as an adviser to the effort is also important: He raised about $30 million for other super PACs and is familiar with the infrastructure needed to collect big checks from moneyed Republicans around the country.
Murray is in a unique position to head up this effort. Earlier this year, Cantor enlisted the 39-year-old former lobbyist to be what he dubbed his “national chess piece person.” Murray’s main responsibility was to increase Cantor’s image outside the Beltway by getting him in front of influential audiences across the country.
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