Airbnb Launches New Political Committee With An Al Gore Slogan

LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST:


Thomas Phippen

Home sharing company Airbnb Inc. has launched a political committee called People versus the Powerful to support pro-Airbnb candidates in Florida elections, according to a campaign finance disclosure.

The purpose of the political committee is “supporting or opposing statewide, legislative, multi-county and local candidates,” according to a Florida campaign finance filing first reported by the blog Florida Politics Friday.

Airbnb has tangled with local, state and federal politicians who oppose letting individuals rent rooms in their houses to guests without many regulatory hoops.

“Our 34,000 Florida hosts face unprecedented attacks from powerful interest groups both in Washington D.C. and Tallahassee,” Airbnb spokesman Benjamin Breit told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our host community deserves a voice, and we will always have their backs.”

The People versus the Powerful committee, created on April 6, has $1 million in seed money from the corporate office, and is similar to Airbnb’s Stronger Neighborhoods PAC created in 2016, which operates in New York. As a Florida-based committee, People versus the Powerful cannot fund candidates for federal office.

The committee’s name is identical to a slogan used in former Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 unsuccessful presidential campaign. The “people versus the powerful” message failed to resonate when spoken by the outgoing vice president.

“The vice president talks about ‘the people versus the powerful,’” then-candidate George W. Bush said during the campaign. ”But, in all his plans, who ends up with the power? Who always ends up making the choices? Not the taxpayers, but the tax collectors.”

Breit was not aware of whether the name is a throwback to Gore’s presidential campaign. Chris Lehane, Gore’s press secretary in the 2000 campaign, was hired by Airbnb in 2015 as the policy director to engage in political advocacy on behalf of the company.

Airbnb’s increasing advocacy in local and state elections is part of a strategy for dealing with regulators, which have at times placed roadblocks to homeowners’ abilities to rent their house over the internet in competition with hotels.

The Washington, D.C. city council proposed legislation in February that would require individuals to register as small business owners to rent rooms using Airbnb’s service. (RELATED: New Bill In DC City Council Wants To Crack Down On Airbnb Rentals)

The company has a federal lobbying arm in Washington, but “We’ve learned that a lot of this is local,” Alfred Lin, an Airbnb board member and Sequoia Capital partner told The Washington Post in January. “You can come up with one way to deal with regulators, but you must do it at a city-by-city, sometimes even a street-by-street or block-by-block basis.”

Follow Thomas Phippen on Twitter

Send tips to thomas@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.


WATCH TLR’S LATEST VIDEO:

Related posts

31 comments

empire city casino online July 1, 2020 at 4:47 am

empire casino online

online casinos real money

buy generic viagra July 2, 2020 at 8:20 pm

viagra reviews

viagra generic

real casino online July 5, 2020 at 10:08 am

online gambling

free slots

online gambling July 7, 2020 at 12:09 pm

online casino

online casino real money usa

tadalafil reviews July 9, 2020 at 7:00 pm

tadalafil generique

canadian online pharmacy cialis

quick cash loans July 11, 2020 at 5:20 pm

instant loans

installment loans

cash advance online July 14, 2020 at 10:42 pm

loans online

no credit check loans

loans online July 18, 2020 at 1:29 am

no credit check loans

pay day loans

viagra pills July 21, 2020 at 3:06 am

viagra 100mg

viagra 100mg

cialis generic July 23, 2020 at 5:25 pm

20 cialis

cialis 20

cialis internet July 26, 2020 at 5:31 pm

5 mg cialis

buy cialis

buy cialis July 28, 2020 at 12:42 am

20 cialis

cialis 5 mg

generic cialis July 30, 2020 at 1:52 pm

5 mg cialis

cialis buy

generic for cialis August 1, 2020 at 10:27 pm

generic for cialis

cialis 5 mg

cialis 5 mg August 4, 2020 at 10:37 pm

cialis 5 mg

5 mg cialis

canadian viagra August 8, 2020 at 12:46 am

buy viagra online

viagra prescription

online casino usa real money August 10, 2020 at 3:23 pm

casino slots

free slots

slot machines August 11, 2020 at 4:36 am

best online casino real money

casino online slots

best online casino usa August 15, 2020 at 4:42 am

rivers casino

best casino online

real money casino games August 19, 2020 at 2:05 am

real casino online

casino world

viagra dosage August 21, 2020 at 8:44 pm

buy generic viagra

viagra pills

generic viagra 100mg August 24, 2020 at 8:15 pm

sildenafil generic

generic viagra canada

viagra online August 27, 2020 at 1:36 pm

generic name for viagra

sildenafil 20

generic cialis online August 30, 2020 at 8:51 pm

tadalafil 20 mg

generic cialis

cialis pills September 3, 2020 at 11:10 am

tadalafil cialis

tadalafil liquid

tadalafil generique September 5, 2020 at 1:42 pm

canadian online pharmacy cialis

cialis pills

tadalafil generique September 10, 2020 at 6:49 pm

purchase cialis

tadalafil 40 mg

gambling casino September 12, 2020 at 10:53 pm

casino real money

online casino usa real money

casino slots September 16, 2020 at 11:33 am

rivers casino

casinos

Canada viagra generic November 12, 2020 at 5:43 pm

Buy brand viagra

Viagra original pfizer order

Alon Alexander September 13, 2024 at 9:05 pm

… [Trackback]

[…] Information on that Topic: thelibertarianrepublic.com/airbnb-launches-new-political-committee-al-gore-slogan/ […]

Leave a Comment