Republicans point to a handful of headline-making incidents they say have deterred donors from making public contributions — chief among them the case of Frank VanderSloot, who, after making a donation to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign, found himself listed on the Obama campaign’s website on a list of GOP donors with “less-then-reputable” character, and who went on to receive two IRS audits; and that of former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, who was ousted from his position in April after it was revealed that he had contributed money in 2008 to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage in California (the online dating website OkCupid.com, among others, had begun to push its users to boycott Mozilla’s Firefox web browser).
Then, of course, there is the experience of the Koch brothers, Charles and David, who have been featured in dozens of television ads, flayed by Senate Democrats throughout the election cycle, and lambasted by Reid for everything from “actually trying to buy the country” to being flat out “un-American.”
The Kochs, who in 1986 sat for a lengthy New York Times profile chronicling the family’s disputes and dramas, are today in virtual hibernation. Many Republican donors have followed suit.
Check out Eliana’s piece on the home page on Harry Reid’s super PAC and why Republicans don’t have a direct counter: