David Hogg, who was recently appointed as the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is being accused by members of his own party of demonstrating “a stunning lack of judgment” by using his position with the DNC to request donations from Democrat supporters for his personal political action committee (PAC).
The New York Post reported that within the first couple of weeks of serving as vice chairman of the DNC, Hogg has already used DNC contact lists to solicit donations to his “Leaders We Deserve” PAC. According to Federal Election Commission records obtained by the outlet, Hogg receives over $100,000 in compensation from the PAC each year and has already been paid over $175,000 through the PAC.
In one of the text messages sent out to the DNC’s database, Hogg wrote, “David Hogg here: I was just elected DNC Vice Chair! This is a huge win for our movement to make the Democratic Party more reflective of our base: youthful, energetic, and ready to win.”
The New York Post reported that the text messages sent by Hogg to Democrat supporters included a link to his personal PAC.
While Hogg’s messages encouraging DNC supporters to donate funds to his personal PAC are not against election fundraising rules, one top Democrat told The New York Post, “David Hogg — talk about living up to your name. A trough of DNC dollars all for him and he doesn’t seem to give an oink.”
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Another senior Democratic Party official told The New York Post, “It’s especially important for all Democratic national officials to focus on raising support for the party and not using their position to raise money for themselves or their personal political PACS. It’s a stunning lack of judgment that is concerning to many people.”
The New York Post reported that the 24-year-old DNC vice chairman is one of the survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which resulted in the death of 17 people in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
Addressing Hogg’s rise to leadership in the Democrat Party, Cameron Kasky, another survivor of the deadly mass shooting, told The New York Post, “I mean it’s just very frustrating to be in a party in desperate need of increased accountability for our struggling leadership, and watch someone who is never held accountable ascend to leadership.”
Hogg told The New York Post that he “was not doing any interviews” when the outlet contacted him regarding his recent actions. A Hogg spokesman later provided a statement to The New York Post, saying, “David has already raised money for the DNC since becoming Vice Chair, and many times before.”