2016 Clinton campaign to accept lobbyist donations

Breaking with a standard set by President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton’s campaign will accept political donations from lobbyists and political action committees, the campaign confirmed Thursday.

The move is consistent with how Clinton ran her 2008 campaign, but it was a policy difference that Obama used as an effective attack at the time. His campaign did not accept donations from federally registered lobbyists and also prohibited lobbyists from serving as bundlers.


“Hillary Clinton has a long history of taking on tough fights against special interests, whether or not they’re donors to her campaigns,” spokesman Jesse Ferguson said in a statement. “She strongly supports campaign finance reform and has voted for tough lobbying reform, but as long as Republican groups and candidates are going to spend millions attacking Hillary, we need the resources to fight back.” As a U.S. senator, Clinton voted for lobbying reform.

This cycle, however, Clinton is not expected to face off against any candidates who do not also accept donations from PACs and lobbyists.

The Clinton campaign policy was first reported Thursday by The Huffington Post.

Clinton’s campaign will also be supported from the outside by a super PAC, Priorities USA.

On her first campaign stop in Iowa on Tuesday, Clinton said she supports a constitutional amendment to get “unaccountable money” out of the country’s “dysfunctional political system.” But Democratic supporters said outside money is necessary until the law is changed to compete effectively against PACs supporting Republican candidates.