Anti-Obama PAC targets Boehner over Benghazi

Introduction

A conservative group that was formed last year by special forces veterans to oppose the re-election of President Barack Obama has turned its sights on Republican House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Special Operations Speaks PAC — which launched last summer as a hybrid super PAC — today announced plans to increase pressure on Boehner to more vigorously investigate the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, during which four Americans were killed, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

With Congress at home for the annual August recess, the group is purchasing ad space on three billboards in Boehner’s district that suggest if four members of Congress had been killed, there would have been a more robust investigation into their deaths.

The billboards also encourage people to call Boehner’s office and demand the creation of a select committee, which could seek answers about what happened during the 2012 attack by Islamic militants and whether the Obama administration engaged in a cover-up.

For his part, Boehner has said that the five standing committees currently investigating the attack are “getting the job done” without the creation a special select committee.

Larry Ward, political director of Special Operations Speaks PAC, told the Center for Public Integrity that Boehner needs to be held “responsible and accountable for obstructing the path toward a select committee investigation.”

In January, Rep. Frank Wolfe, R-Va., introduced legislation that would create a select committee to investigate the attack. His bill currently has 163 co-sponsors. Boehner is not one of them, which frustrates the Special Operations Speaks PAC, as well as several members of Congress.

Last month, Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, endorsed a procedural move called a discharge petition that could force a floor vote on Wolfe’s bill if it garners support of a majority of the House’s 435 members.

Hybrid super PACs such as the Special Operations Speaks PAC operate with two bank accounts — one that can accept unlimited contributions to be used for advertisements and one that can only receive capped contributions, which can be used to directly donate to politicians.

So far this year, Special Operations Speaks PAC has raised about $100,000, according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission. Ahead of the 2012 election, the group raised about $370,000 and spent roughly $20,000 on anti-Obama advertisements, records show. Its sole campaign donation last year was $2,500 that it gave to former Florida Republican congressman Allen West, an Army veteran and tea party favorite who lost his re-election bid.