 It's another bad PR week for the Democratic National Committee, which is back in the news after deciding to reverse its laughably short-lived ban on accepting money from lobbyists and political action committees, or PACs. Now the DNC originally decided to stop taking lobbyist money back in 2008. They had this guy called Barack Obama, maybe you've heard of him, and the DNC was doing its part to match the high-flying, anti-special interest rhetoric of Obama's campaign. But with this latest change, basically all of the DNC's Obama-era anti-corruption reforms have been undone. In fact, only one reform has survived. According to a DNC spokesperson, it is still against the rules for lobbyists to attend fundraising events if President Obama, Vice President Biden, or either of their wives are there. And that is it. So yeah, big props to the DNC for protecting our Republic from the corrupt excursion of Jill Biden and a lobbyist being at the same cocktail party. We did it, guys. Now, in an election year dominated by anti-special interest rhetoric, this is definitely not a popular move. And that might help explain why the DNC worked so hard to keep this story quiet. According to numerous lobbyists interviewed by The Washington Post, the DNC actually changed this rule months ago, but we're just hearing about it now. So what exactly does this change? Basically it lets Democratic candidates take giant checks from lobbyists and special interest-funded PACs by teaming up with the DNC to raise money using something called a joint fundraising committee. Now both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have joint fundraising committees, but Bernie doesn't really use his. There's only like a thousand dollars in it, so we're gonna have to use Clinton as an example instead. Now Hillary's campaign already accepts money and fundraising help from lobbyists. So this isn't exactly a huge cultural shift for her. However, she's also formed a joint fundraising committee called the Hillary Victory Fund, which can accept massive checks from big donors and distribute them to both Hillary's campaign and the 33 state Democratic parties that she's formed a fundraising alliance with. So thanks to this new DNC rule change, the Hillary Victory Fund can also take checks from PACs and lobbyists. Really, really big checks. Federal Election Commission records show that through the end of the year, 56 donors have written checks of $100,000 or more to the Hillary Victory Fund. What's even more worrying though is the potential long-term effects on the party. With this rule change, special interests not only have another way to funnel money directly to candidates, but directly to the Democratic Party itself. And institutions like the DNC have way more staying power than any one candidate. And when they develop these kinds of deep ties with lobbyists and special interests, it makes it even harder for the political system to change. No matter how many times the Democrats swear they hate money in politics and their party platform. And the less you think this is just a Democratic problem, don't forget that the Republicans love taking money from lobbyists and PACs too. They just never tried to ban them in the first place. So at least they're like, upfront about their corruption. I guess that counts for something? Alright y'all, that's it for this week. Do not forget we've got new episodes every single Thursday. Why am I doing this with my hand? And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can catch all of our videos. Instead of just like the teeny tiny handful that Facebook is showing you, there's so much more you guys. And if you have any questions about money, politics, or corruption, just send an email to mailbagatrepresent.us or tweet at us at represent.us. You gotta spell out the dot, can't emphasize that enough. Thank you so much for watching Follow the Money. I'm Mon Sour for Represent Us and I will see you next time. Bye. Bye.