Kyrsten Sinema Loves Pyramid Schemes So Much She Might Even Hold A Town Hall For Them!

Well, let's not get carried away.

Joe Biden, with a few notable exceptions, is openly pro-labor, so it seemed as if passage of the pro-union Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would prove an early, easy win when Democrats held the House and Senate.

The PRO Act would give unions and employers the ability to override state-level "right-to-work" laws, enhance strike protections, and ban employers from holding "captive audience" meetings during which they scare employees with horror stories about unions.

However, a major obstacle to the legislation was Kyrsten Sinema of the Sinema Party, both due to her maddening support for the filibuster and her slavish devotion to big business. The US Chamber of Commerce dismissed the PRO Act as an “economic disaster” and praised Sinema and Arizona's junior senator Mark Kelly for “holding the line” against the “wish-list for labor unions." This was another key area of difference between Sinema and legitimate blue dog Joe Manchin, who supported the PRO Act.

Kelly, along with another Democratic holdout Mark Warner, later signaled willingness to vote for the bill. This was around when Sinema gave her infamous "I listen to business leaders" instead of the common proles speech. It is the exact opposite of how pro-labor Democrats should sound, but then Sinema is neither.

“NEW: We've obtained footage of @SenatorSinema addressing Arizona's largest business group about the PRO Act. "The way I make decisions on behalf of Arizona & for our constituents is by listening to the business leaders" she assures them. She never mentions listening to workers.”

— More Perfect Union (@More Perfect Union) 1619033909 

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The PRO Act, reintroduced last month, was passed in the House in 2021 and 2022 but never reached the floor of the Senate. It wouldn’t have passed anyway because of the filibuster, which only highlights Sinema's opposition. She didn't pretend to care, as she did with voting and abortion rights, while appealing to arbitrary institutional norms. No, she took a clear stand against workers' rights.

This brings us to Sinema's ongoing support for multi-level marketing (MLM). She's one of the few lawmakers MLMs consider enough of an ally tokeep on payrollto donate to consistently. MLMs are often described as pyramid schemes, and while they might argue they are more “a conical-tiered multi-flow-through marketing entity,” they function very much like pyramid schemes.

The companies incentivize their own customers to become salespeople for products with dubious results. according to the Federal Trade Commission, most who join make little or no profits; some even lose money. It’s like when my journalism professor warned us against playing Three-card Monte on a class trip to New York: "YOU WON’T WIN!!!"

MLMs considered the PRO Act an existential threat, as the legislation would make it harder toscam peopleclassifysuckersworkers as independent contractors.

Back in 2021, Sinema received $15,000 in donations from firms affiliated with the Direct Selling Alliance. Politico broke it down thusly:

The political action committee associated with Alticor, the parent entity of the health, home and beauty company Amway, gave $2,500 to the Arizona Democrat in late June, as did the PAC for Isagenix, an Arizona-based business that sells nutrition, wellness and personal care products. Nu Skin Enterprises, another personal care and beauty company, gave $2,500 that month, as did USANA Health Sciences, which sells similar products. In April, Richard Raymond Rogers, the executive chair of Mary Kay, a Texas-based cosmetics company, gave $2,500 to Sinema. Herbalife, which also sells nutritional supplements, gave $2,500 in July. All are affiliated with the Direct Selling Association, a trade group that promotes multilevel marketing.

Alticor is owned by the DeVos family, one of the biggest funders of Republicans and right-wing causes. The Direct Selling Alliance doesn't normally contribute money to Democrats, but it's not like they were confused. Sinema was clearly on their side, even before she formally left the party.

In fairness — sort of — to Sinema, her mother was a direct seller, so she might have a more personal reason for supporting the industry.

Sinema, when she was in the House, co-sponsored the Bizarro World-titled Anti-Pyramid Promotional Scheme of 2017 , which the Direct Sellers Association personally designed to protect pyramid schemes. Specifically, the bill redefined the term “pyramid scheme” in a way that allows almost any pyramid scheme to escape the definition.

This February, Sinema teamed up with Republican Sen. Mike Lee to introduce the Natural Product Industry Week Resolution, which gushed over the supposed contributions of the “natural products industry to the American diet and economy.” In 2019, Sinema and Republican Sen. Tim Scott asked "Internal Revenue Services (IRS) Commissioner Charles P. Rettig to allow nutritional and dietary supplements that carry health or structure/function claims to be considered “medical expenses” under Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA).

The natural products industry does not have such a storied history, and arguably much of it relies on scams or at least very misleading usage of the terms “natural” and “organic.” Lee’s involvement isn’t surprising. Natural Products Insider reports that “Utah is a hotbed of dietary supplement activity, much of which is channeled through multilevel marketing companies.”

FEC receipts reveal that Sinema has received $40,000 from corporate PACs and trade associations linked to MLMs and dietary supplements. God, she's exhausting.

[ Politico / NPA ]

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