WASHINGTON — A super PAC focused on Sen. Ted Cruz's re-election received hundreds of thousands of dollars related to ad revenue from Mr. Cruz's podcast “Verdict,” which raises legal questions. This is an unusual campaign financing arrangement.
As public scrutiny of payments expands, advertisers could follow BP America's lead and pivot their operations to avoid indirectly supporting the Texas Republican's efforts to seek a third six-year term. There is.
contact address dallas morning newsBP America, based in Cruise's hometown of Houston, said it was unaware that advertising revenue from the podcast was going to pro-Cruise groups.
“We buy advertising on iHeart based on potential audience and not by podcasts,” said Ross Perman, a BP Americas spokesperson. “We were not informed that our media spending was flowing directly to super PACs, and we have instructed iHeart to remove our messages from podcasts that direct ad revenue to campaigns, PACs, or political parties. ”
Since March 2023, the pro-Cruz Truth and Courage PAC has received a series of increasingly large payments from iHeartMedia Management Services Inc. totaling more than $630,000.
Rachel Nelson, a spokeswoman for Premiere Networks, an iHeart subsidiary, said in a statement that Cruz volunteers her time to host the podcast but is not compensated for it. Stated.
Nelson said Premier, like other podcasts, sells ad time for “The Verdict,” and that the funds going to Truth and Courage PAC “are tied to ad sales.”
Nelson referred additional questions to PAC, which does not have contact information on its website. The committee's campaign finance filings include an email address, but inquiries sent there went unanswered.
The PAC has backed a variety of Republican candidates in the past, including former Dallas Cowboys running back Herschel Walker, who unsuccessfully ran for a Georgia Senate seat in 2022.
Its website is currently dominated by photos and press releases endorsing Mr. Cruz and attacking his opponent in the November election, Rep. Colin Allred (D-Dallas).
“Truth and Courage PAC's focus is to ensure that Ted Cruz is re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 2024,” the site said.
In response to questions about the podcast and the financial arrangements surrounding it, the Cruz campaign issued a written statement characterizing it as a “lazy attack” on all the attention by the press and Democrats in an election year.
“Senator Cruz appears for free on Verdict three times a week. He does this to lift the veil on the corrupt inner workings of Washington, none of which is fairly covered.” According to the statement. “How convenient that the mainstream media and cogs in the Biden-Pelosi Democratic machine want this to stop.”
The campaign did not say who decided that podcast ad revenue should go to PAC.
The podcast began during former President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial in early 2020, with Cruz offering his perspective on the trial and sharing behind-the-scenes observations.
The film was a hit, and Cruise's conservative viewpoints, interspersed with occasional sports jokes and pop culture references, continued to appeal to large audiences.
The senator announced the move to iHeart in 2022, saying at the time that it was a “huge deal” to partner with the No. 1 syndicator of radio programming in the United States. He credited the network with contributing to the rise of conservative titan Rush Limbaugh.
Recent “Verdict” episodes include ads for big companies with big-name brands like BP, Safeway, Consumer Cellular, Carvana, Lexus, UberEats, and more.
One of the recent ads on the podcast was paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ad urges people to see if they qualify for income-based subsidies for Medicare prescription drug coverage, following the expansion of Medicare's prescription drug coverage program as part of the Inflation Control Act. ing.
Mr. Cruz opposed the bill and strongly criticized it on his podcast.
His “Verdict” co-host Ben Ferguson typically reads promotional materials during podcasts promoting companies like Patriot Mobile and Blackout Coffee.
Blackout Coffee promotes itself as an “anti-woke” coffee brand, while Grapevine-based Patriot Mobile says it is “America's only Christian conservative wireless provider.” .
Patriot Mobile promotes conservative causes through its political action committee and has supported like-minded candidates in suburban Tarrant County school board elections.
Episodes of “Verdict” are occasionally posted with videos on YouTube, but the most recent episode posted to the channel this week was several months old.
In addition to the money from iHeart, Truth and Courage's campaign finance report also shows digital revenue payments from Google, which owns YouTube (albeit relatively small amounts totaling about $4,000). .
Mr. Cruz has a ubiquitous media presence. In addition to his podcast, he frequently appears on cable news and posts frequently on social media.
He has written several books and promotes them across his platforms.
His latest financial disclosure statement includes an agreement with Regnery Publishing in 2022 for a two-book deal for $1.1 million up front, paid in four installments.
Mr. Cruise's announcement of his involvement in iHeart's podcast drew immediate criticism and questions about whether such a partnership would be allowed.
The Campaign Legal Center sent a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee in late 2022 requesting an investigation into the arrangement.
The group noted that iHeart spends millions of dollars on lobbying, including on issues within the purview of the Senate Commerce Committee, where Mr. Cruz is the top Republican.
CLC said iHeart's agreement to fund the podcast appears to violate the letter and spirit of the law restricting gifts to senators by lobbyists.
The Ethics Committee disagreed, saying in a letter that it had reviewed the matter and determined that Mr. Cruz “did not violate federal law, Senate rules, or standards of conduct.”
A series of payments from iHeart to super PACs raises new questions and could prompt an investigation by the Federal Election Commission.
Independent super PACs are prohibited from coordinating with the candidates or campaigns they support. Campaign finance attorney Brett Kappel said there are limits on how much money candidates can raise to super PACs, and they are also prohibited from soliciting corporate contributions to candidates.
It's “pretty strange” that ad revenue from a politician's podcast would go into a super PAC, Kappel said.
Mr. Cruz claims to be an unpaid volunteer, but Mr. Kappel said that doesn't explain why iHeart is directing advertising dollars to a super PAC supporting his re-election bid.
“It kind of discredits the fact that this is an arm's length agreement that Sen. Cruz was not personally involved in,” Kappel said.
