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Established
in January 2013, Ready For Hillary (RFH) is an independent political action
committee registered with the Federal Election Commission. Its founding mission was to lead a
nationwide grassroots movement encouraging former U.S. Senator and
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton to run for President in 2016. By its ninth month as an active
organization, RFH boasted “over one million supporters and over 20,000
grassroots donors.”
Ready For Hillary was co-founded
by Allida Black and Adam Parkhomenko. Black, who earned a
Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1993, is currently a Research
Professor of History and International Affairs at GWU. She was also the
founding editor of The Eleanor
Roosevelt Papers, a project designed to “preserve, teach and apply
Eleanor Roosevelt's writings and discussions of human rights and democratic
politics.” Moreover, Black is a lesbian activist
who lauds Mrs. Clinton for her “support for LGBT rights and marriage
equality.”
Mr. Parkhomenko, for his part, worked
as a staffer for Mrs. Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign.
“It’s not about pressuring her [to run again]” he said
in 2013. “It’s giving her the time to make the decision, knowing that
there’s an operation out there of grassroots supporters who are
organizing.”
RFH officials emphasize
that their work will not end if and when Mrs. Clinton announces her
presidential candidacy. Rather, they are developing a national network that
will train volunteers and organizers to help Clinton throughout her
campaign.
Further, RFH plans to support not only Mrs. Clinton but also other
Democratic candidates whom the former Secretary of State is expected to
endorse in 2014. “Our strategy is to amplify what Hillary is doing and
promote the candidates she is out there advocating for,” RFH spokesman Seth
Bringman told
The Washington Post.
From RFH's earliest days, its key backers
have included a number of longtime Clinton friends and aides. One of those
is senior RFH advisor Craig T. Smith, who in the 1990s was a White House
political director for Bill
Clinton.
In October 2013, the billionaire philanthropist George
Soros signed on to serve as a co-chair
of RFH's national finance council, whose members are each required to
contribute or raise at least $25,000 for the cause. “George Soros is
delighted to join more than one million Americans in supporting Ready For
Hillary,” said Soros’s political director, Michael Vachon. “His support for
Ready For Hillary is an extension of his long-held belief in the power of
grassroots organizing.”
Other members of the RFH national finance council include Esprit
co-founder Susie Tompkins Buell (who has contributed large sums of money to
such entities as the Democracy
Alliance, Media
Matters, the Progressive
Majority, and the Secretary
of State Project); entrepreneur Jo Ousterhout (who in 2012 donated
more than $47,000 to Act
Blue, the Democratic
Party of Wisconsin, the Obama
Victory Fund, and a number of other left-wing recipients); and attorneys
Steve Mostyn (president of
the Texas Trial Lawyers Association) and his wife, Amber.
The RHF website features commentary by a host of noteworthy Democrats and
leftists, praising Mrs.
Clinton and urging her to run for the White House. Among these supporters
are David
Axelrod, Paul
Begala, Donna
Brazile, James Carville, Bill
Clinton, Dianne
Feinstein, Kirsten Gillibrand, Luis
Gutierrez, Harold
Ickes, Scarlett Johansson, Elton John, John
Lewis, Eva Longoria,
Ellen
Malcolm, Claire McCaskill, Barack
Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nancy
Pelosi, David Plouffe, Harry
Reid, Bill
Richardson, Debbie
Wasserman Schultz, Chuck Schumer, and Ellen
Tauscher.
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