Steve Hinnefeld, Indiana blogger, writes about the political donations of billionaires who claim to be “liberal Democrats.” First and worst is Reed Hastings, who is CEO of Netflix. Hastings claims to be a supporter of women’s reproductive rights, but he has funded Republicans in Indiana who passed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the nation. Why? Because these same conservative Republicans support charter schools. Hastings has said that he looks forward to the day when there are no more school boards, and every school is a charter. So, his passion for charter schools is stronger than his commitment to women’s reproductive rights. His allies in Indiana also loosened restrictions on guns. Michael Bloomberg, who favors abortion rights and gun control, also bankrolled the same Republicans.
Indiana Republicans are spending several million dollars to protect and extend their supermajority status in the state House and Senate in Tuesday’s election. If they succeed, they may want to thank a California billionaire. One who’s usually described as a liberal Democrat.
Reed Hastings is a CEO of Netflix. Politically, he’s known for donating to Democratic politicians, nationally and in California. Netflix supports liberal causes, like abortion rights. But in Indiana, his campaign contributions go almost entirely to Republicans, who trample on his supposed principles.
It’s possible Hastings has given more money to the Indiana House and Senate GOP campaigns than any other individual in the past couple of years. Not directly. The money is funneled through a political action committee called Hoosiers for Great Public Schools. The PAC, headed by former Democratic Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, was founded in 2020 to promote charter schools.
Almost all its direct support for candidates goes to Republicans.
Hastings has given the group $1.4 million, half of it in 2020 and half this year. It also got $200,000 from John Arnold, a Texas billionaire. That’s all the money it has raised.
Hoosiers for Great Public Schools has made campaign contributions totaling $926,000. Some $400,000 went to RISE Indy, a PAC that has supported charter-friendly candidates for the Indianapolis Public Schools board. Another $100,000 went to Hoosiers for Quality Education, which promotes school choice, including vouchers and education savings accounts, and gives exclusively to Republicans.
Of the remaining $426,000 that Hoosiers for Great Public Schools contributed, nearly all went to GOP candidates and groups. It has given $190,000 to the House Republican Campaign Committee, $45,000 to the Senate Majority Campaign Committee, and $75,000 to House Speaker Todd Huston, along with four- and five-figure donations to individual Republicans.
That’s who Reed Hastings is helping elect in Indiana.
A similar story can be told about Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City. He’s known for supporting liberal causes, including gun control and abortion rights. In recent years, Bloomberg has given $550,000 to Stand for Children Indiana, which supports charter schools. All of Stand for Children’s state-level contributions this year have gone to Republicans.
There’s a cynical argument for such behavior: If you have money and you want to influence Indiana politics, you give to Republicans, because they have the power.
Peterson, CEO of Christel House International, which operates charter schools in Indianapolis, told me in 2020 that the purpose of Hoosiers for Great Public Schools was to support charter schools. But Indiana Republicans are no longer in love with charter schools. In 2021, they gave charters a modest funding increase. In 2022, they did nothing. They have moved on to favoring a more radical form of school choice in which state money “follows the child,” including to private and religious schools.
What did Hastings get with his support of the Indiana GOP? For one thing, a new law that says Hoosiers don’t need a permit to carry a handgun in public. For another, a discriminatory anti-trans law that bars transgender students from school sports teams. Republicans also tried to restrict what schools could teach about “divisive topics” – i.e., racism and slavery – but fell short.
Shame on Reed Hastings!
Shame on Michael Bloomberg!
Shame on John Arnold!
Hypocrites!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Netflix’s 60% drop in stock value hasn’t reduced Hasting’s ability to support extremist, dystopian GOP candidates. Billionaires have too much influence in the political process due to laws that permit unrestricted donations.
Traditional public schools try hard but don’t have the resources to address the educational needs of many children with disabilities. The situation in charter schools is even more difficult. More charter schools will make life even more difficult for LD families.
I was surprised to hear that Hastings donates/donated to Democrats. From what I’ve read about him over the years, I thought he might be a member of ALEC.
Hastings claims to be a DEmocrat but he funds anyone who supports charters, almost all of whom are REpublicans.
Hastings and Bloomberg are billionaires. They make money. That’s all they do. They support legislation that makes them more money. Period.
The “centrist” Democratic Leadership Council placed a bad bet decades ago. They gambled away the future of the Party wagering that if they supported the wealthy, especially tech CEOs, the wealthy would give the Democratic Party their fealty, and the Party would not have to rely on its base of labor to win. They were wrong on both counts. Billionaires do not care for liberalism, and the working class does not want corporations or billionaires in charge.
The result is Gates overseeing the USDoE with Republican test and punish policies. The result is Hastings buddying up with President Obama and Democratic governors to foist on us Republican privatization policies. The result is Bloomberg running for office as a Democrat and governing as a Reap-ublican. The result is election nail biters because the Democrats no longer lift a finger to help anyone other than their deep pocketed, DINO donors.
The time is coming for a Second Progressive Movement that will sweep the billionaires out of control of both parties and return power in the People’s Party to the people.
LCT,
You make an excellent point about the Democratic Leadership Council. That was spearheaded by Bill Clinton and it was an effort to forge a Third Way by moving away from the traditional Dem base, which included large unions(now gutted). Al Gote headed a task force on privatization, the assumption being that the private sector was more efficient than the government. The Republicans will never shed the billionaires. That’s who they serve. The question is whether Democrats can do so, since it’s so expensive to run a campaign. I heard yesterday that Warnock spent $100 million. How to raise that kind of money nationally? Campaign finance reform is necessary but GOP will block it.
There is that senator from Vermont who raised almost $6 million in one day with an average donation size of $27. It is possible to beat billionaires with a grassroots campaign. It must be. It just has to be. All one has to do is say he or she will decriminalize weed and there’s a chance.
I hope you are right. Both parties are owned by the 1%. They need the campaign funds.
They have the dollars. We have the numbers.
A number of new progressives won their elections. Soon it will be impossible for Democrats to ignore them. They will have to compromise with them.
There is real hope, and not that fake Third Way Obama Hope.