Senator Tester is back on top of new rankings from the Center for Responsive Politics showing that Tester has taken more campaign cash from lobbyists ahead of the 2018 elections than any other United States Senator. Jon Tester earned the distinction after taking nearly $400,000 from lobbyists – just this election cycle alone.
The new ranking puts #TwoFacedTester’s hypocrisy center-stage as Tester desperately works to fight off charges he’s “gone Washington” for cozying up to lobbyists, living in his million dollar “Cosmopolitan Castle” in Washington, D.C., and jet-setting around the world on expensive vacations with Democratic party boss Chuck Schumer.
But it also shows just how much Washington has changed Senator Jon Tester. After all, it wasn’t too long ago, Tester ran against then-Senator Conrad Burns promising he would give Montana the “greatest representation, not encumbered by high-dollar lobbyists” and attacking his opponents for taking campaign contributions from D.C. lobbyists.
Click here to see the Center for Responsive Politics new rankings.
“Senator Tester got to Washington and became exactly the kind of swampy career politician he promised Montana he wasn’t going to become,” said NRSC Spokesman Calvin Moore. “Montanans deserve a Senator who will put their needs first, not another mouthpiece for high-dollar lobbyists and Washington special interests like Jon Tester.”
BACKGROUND:
Senator Tester promised to be unencumbered by lobbyists. TESTER: “You’ve got to have somebody who will go to Washington, D.C. and fight for you … I won’t sell you down the road by cutting deals with K Street lobbyists… [Montanans] need the greatest representation not encumbered by high-dollared lobbyists.” (Montana Senate Debate, September 23, 2006)
Jon Tester has taken more from lobbyists than any other U.S. Senator in the 2018 election cycle. (Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 8/20/18)
Senator Tester has taken nearly $1 million from lobbyists since being elected to the Senate. Over his career in the Senate, Tester has received $962,096 in contributions from lobbyists. (Center for Responsive Politics, Accessed 5/22/18)