Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore
A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz stated he receives no paycheck for his podcast, however the media firm carrying it deposited almost $215,000 right into a PAC backing his reelection.
An excellent PAC tied to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz reported accepting almost $215,000 in “digital income” from San Antonio-based iHeartMedia although a spokesperson for the Texas Republican beforehand stated he receives no paycheck from the podcast he does for the media conglomerate.
Enterprise publication Forbes first reported on the submitting, made Wednesday to the Federal Election Fee. Within the submitting, the Reality and Braveness PAC reported receiving $214,752.98 from iHeartMedia Administration Companies on Feb. 15. It additionally reported taking $1,825.36 in digital media from internet firm Google on Feb. 21.
Reality and Braveness PAC’s web site lists its focus as “guaranteeing that Ted Cruz is re-elected to the USA Senate in 2024.”
Ethics questions have surrounded Cruz’s settlement take advertising and manufacturing assist for his The Verdict With Ted Cruz podcast from iHeartMedia just about because it was unveiled in late 2022. On the time, the senator bragged the deal, which included airing his podcast thrice weekly, additionally allowed him to take it “to the subsequent degree” and “put it up for sale throughout our 850 stations.”
Round that point, a spokeswoman for the far-right Senator informed Forbes the transaction with the nation’s largest radio holding group ought to arouse no moral issues as a result of Cruz took no paycheck. She defined that it was akin to him showing on a cable TV political program.
Rachel Nelson, a spokesperson for iHeartMedia subsidiary Premiere Networks, this week informed Forbes that Cruz volunteers his time to file the podcast and receives no cash. Even so, Nelson stated her firm sells promoting stock for the present and the tremendous PAC’s reported income is “related to these promoting gross sales.”
In December 2022, watchdog group the Marketing campaign Authorized Heart filed a grievance with the Senate Choose Committee on Ethics alleging that Cruz’s podcast take care of iHeartRadio was an “unprecedented nationwide syndication settlement for a sitting member of Congress.”
The Reality and Braveness PAC spent a complete of $401,702 supporting Republican candidates through the 2022 election cycle and has to this point spent one other $120,280 through the present cycle, in response to nonpartisan marketing campaign finance monitoring group Open Secrets and techniques. The PAC funneled no cash to Democrat or unbiased candidates throughout that point.
Certainly, through the 2024 election cycle, Reality and Braveness PAC has already aired internet advertisements attacking U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, the North Texas Democrat working to take Cruz’s senate seat, The Hill experiences.
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