Billionaire Jeff Yass Spends $3.5M in Dark Money to Buy PA Supreme Court

PENNSYLVANIA – New reports reveal that billionaire Jeff Yass and his dark money network have spent more than $3.5 million to sway Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court race — another attempt by one of the richest men in America to bend our judicial system to his will.

According to new campaign filings, Yass’s Commonwealth Leaders Fund poured nearly $1.7 million of Jeff Yass’ money into TV ads and mailers in the final weeks before Election Day. A new dark money group called Citizens for Term Limits has also spent at least $1.8 million on digital and TV ads and misleading mailers, campaigning against the three PA Supreme Court justices. The group is led by Matthew Brouillette, a longtime political operative and close ally of Yass who has helped move his money through a maze of PACs and nonprofits to hide its source.

Arielle Klagsbrun, Pennsylvania Campaign Director with ACRE and member of the All Eyes On Yass campaign, said:
“While hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania are literally counting down the hours until their SNAP benefits run out and they can no longer feed their families, Jeff Yass has hoarded enough wealth to spend millions on buying judges who will do his personal bidding. This is what billionaire greed looks like in real time: people suffering while one man tries to rig the courts to protect his own empire. Yass doesn’t care about fairness or justice, he cares about power. He’s using his fortune to rig the system in favor of himself and his billionaire friends, at the expense of the rest of us. Pennsylvanians deserve courts that answer to the people, not to the ultra-rich hiding behind dark money.”

Last week, Pennsylvanians across the commonwealth rallied to demand that billionaires like Jeff Yass stay out of the courts. Community members and leaders held actions in Philadelphia, Bethlehem, and Scranton, urging voters to “Vote YES, not Yass” in the upcoming Supreme Court retention elections on November 4. Members of organizations including One Pennsylvania, Make the Road Action PA, PA Working Families Party, 215 People’s Action, Philly Neighborhood Networks, Reclaim Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Stands Up, SEIU, and Action Together NEPA brought attention to the massive spending by billionaires to prop up corporate interests in the courts. Speakers at the events included Philadelphia Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, State Rep. Rick Krajewski, Lehigh County Commissioner Jon Irons, State Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, and other local leaders fighting to protect Pennsylvanians’ rights and public resources.

Jeff Yass has a well-documented history of spending millions to influence Pennsylvania’s courts, and this year is no different. While hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians face the loss of health coverage and SNAP benefits – with real families staring down hunger and poverty – billionaires like Yass are spending millions to protect their own wealth and power. This is what systemic inequality looks like: the rich buy influence while working people pay the price.

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#AllEyesOnYass campaign is led by a diverse coalition of Pennsylvania-wide community organizations that expose the role Pennsylvania billionaire, Jeff Yass, plays in undermining Pennsylvania’s democracy. The coalition is committed to preserving the integrity of our democracy from the outsized influence of billionaires and corporations by taxing the rich and abolishing the uniformity clause, and passing campaign finance limits and lobbying reform bills like a gift ban.

Member groups include: ACRE Campaigns, Center for Coalfield Justice, Free the Ballot, Little Sis, Make the Road Action PA, OnePA, PA Stands Up, PA Working Families, and more.