In demanding that Congressman DeFazio take a pledge not to accept PAC money, Colin Morgan obviously has never heard of the Citizens United, Supreme Court decision. It legalized unlimited campaign spending by corporations, and opened up the door to what we now know as super PACs that pour millions of dollars into political campaigns while concealing the source of the funds.

For DeFazio to pledge to not accept PAC donations is to pledge to lose the election and turn the seat over to a Donald Trump republican. And that is what the 4th Congressional District race is about, returning a strong progressive Democrat to Congress or turning the seat over to a Donald Trump Republican.

The Trumpster running for this seat makes no silly pledge to not accept PAC money. He will run almost exclusively on big republican Super PAC money from outside Oregon. And lots of it.  One strategy they will use to win is to just outspend DeFazio. The Citizens United decision makes this possible and opens the door to almost unlimited funding in almost any election.

The race for the 4th Congressional District will be expensive, very expensive. It already is. For DeFazio to pledge to not accept PAC money is a pledge to lose. I do not want DeFazio to take that silly pledge because I don’t want him to lose. I do not want to be represented by a Trump Republican in the U.S. Congress. But maybe that’s the real goal of asking for such a pledge.

Bob Warren

Eugene