The revelation that Penzey's Spices owner Bill Penzey has spent more than $100,000 boosting a political Facebook post calling for President Trump's impeachment and removal from office has exposed Penzey as a colossal hypocrite. Since May of 2018, Penzey has used his company to disseminate paid political advertisements totaling $2.4 million...all the while writing post after post condemning the influence of money (and especially corporate money) in politics.
"It's unlimited corporate money in politics, and 'corporations are people too' that have brought us to where we are today," the official Penzey's Spices Facebook page posted on January 16, 2017. "It is so incredibly important to have people in the streets Saturday [Inauguration Day] to show the world the American people's rejection of all discrimination. But in the long run it's equally important to have our spending as well work for the needed change. If I had a corporation, I would be doing my best to figure out how to have that corporation work to support the true values, compassion, and kindness of the American people."
Penzey does have a corporation. It's called Penzey's Spices. And it's spent millions of dollars on politics.
"So much of the destruction that has happened here in Wisconsin, and has now begun to take place on a national level, has nothing to do with the values of Republican voters and everything to do with behind the scenes unlimited corporate political spending," Penzey's Spices posted on July 12, 2017. "That money has hand-picked and elected those Republican politicians willing to place loyalty to their donors ahead of loyalty to their voters."
Eight days later, Penzey again condemned the influence of money in politics.
"Today our history of progress is very much at risk," read a post on the Penzey's Spices page on June 20, 2017. "Many in America are just waking up to how unlimited political spending is working to dramatically change America's path. If you live in one of the states at ground zero to this money's impact, you know it's not a coincidence that each of our nation's institutions that work for positive outcomes for all Americans have simultaneously come under attack.
"The money of unlimited political spending is just money; it has no sense of right or wrong, much less truth. What it does understand is that healthy, educated voters don't vote against the best interests of our nation's children. So this money is working to use its influence to reshape America's institutions to create the voters it requires to meet its needs, needs that are very much at odds with our nation's ideals of opportunity for all."
It seems, however, that Penzey has enjoyed "the money of unlimited political spending" when he can use it to advance his own politics--so much so that he has spent $2.4 million in the dark money he professes to hate in less than 18 months.
In the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida in early 2018, Penzey ramped up his hypocritical assault on money in politics.
"Every Cook wishes everyone they cook for to make it home safely every night, and once again the way money flows in politics is putting those we care for at risk," Penzey's Spices posted on February 16, 2018.
Three weeks later, Penzey attacked political spending in a lengthy Facebook screed.
"What if we no longer turned a blind eye to those corporations that lobby and buy politicians to bulldoze the public good for their own gain?" Penzeys Spices posted on March 11, 2018. "[T]here is real hope that the corporations that lobby and buy politicians, and the politicians that are willing to be purchased, will no longer be able to escape the consequences of their actions.
"In the wake of the Citizens United ruling that made unlimited corporate spending in politics legal, we've given a free pass to the corporations doing that spending. What if this is the end of that free pass? What if this is a wake-up call to all those planning this very type of spending in the upcoming midterm elections that, just like the NRA, you too will no longer be allowed to escape the responsibility for your actions?"
Penzey’s Spices actions have included nearly unlimited spending in politics for years now, racking up $2.4 million in paid Facebook posts and more than $100,000 in just the past few weeks alone, making the company the second largest political spender on the issue in America.
So will Penzey’s escape the responsibility for its actions, or will Bill Penzey finally admit that his Facebook posts are ultimately just empty words since it's obvious that he can't be bothered to practice what he preaches.