DCCC, DSCC will not follow Obama’s lead

Unlike the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Democratic congressional committees will continue to take money from lobbyists.

Obama on Thursday instituted the new anti-lobbyist money policy at the DNC now that he has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. From the start of his campaign, Obama refused to take money from lobbyists.

{mosads}Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) stressed that they would abide by the strict ethics rules passed through the Democratic-led Congress.

“All of our contributions are transparent,” said Matt Miller, a spokesman for the DSCC.

Doug Thornell, a spokesman for the DCCC, said, “House Democrats passed a historic ethics bill and Chairman [Chris] Van Hollen [Md.] fought for full disclosure of bundled contributions.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) called the divergence hypocritical.

“Being that they are housed in the very same building as the Democratic National Committee, it would be nothing short of hypocritical if congressional Democrats and their candidates were at odds with Barack Obama and Howard Dean,” said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the NRCC.