David Sirota speaks on ‘mercenary culture’ that dominates political consulting

A “mercenary culture” has overtaken the political consulting class and led to situations where Democratic campaigns are receiving services from companies that also work against their agendas, according to journalist and former campaign advisor David Sirota.

Earlier this week, Sirota published a piece delving into possible conflicts of interests that have arisen in media consulting groups that Democratic politicians use.

In one example Sirota pointed to, Canal Partners Media, a top media buying firm for President Biden’s campaign, recently began buying ads for pharmaceutical entities that he said were seeking to water down Democratic drug pricing legislation.

“It’s a spotlight into a culture in Democratic politics where it’s basically okay, apparently, for the consultant class to essentially be working for Democratic politicians, but also getting paid by the interests that are opposing the Democrats purported agenda,” Sirota said while appearing on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”

“To my mind, it’s really about a mercenary culture — that politics has become such a business at the consulting class level that there really aren’t principles or values at play at all. And in this case, there doesn’t even seem to be party loyalty at play. It is just purely a mercenary kind of culture,” said Sirota.

Watch part of Sirota’s interview above.