Many of the reactions to President Obama’s blessing of his affiliated super PAC, Priorities USA Action, have been predictable. Including, in a sort of Twilight Zone way, Bradley A. Smith, former Federal Elections Commission chairman and founder of the Center for Competitive Politics, a conservative organization that promotes the deregulation of campaign finance law and works to insure that unlimited amounts of money can be spent on elections.

Smith told Politico Influence:

“The new system makes sense, so of course the president is not going to hold out against it,” Smith tells PI. “Democratic chest-thumping about Citizens United is not due to some great concern about ethics or good government, it’s due to concern that Citizens United might benefit Republicans, and an effort to score campaign points. Just as the president didn’t take tax funds to run his campaign in 2008 – and does anybody really think he is more or less ‘corrupt’ as a result? – he’s not going to forever forgo super PACs.”

The organization also tweeted in praise of the president:

As my colleague Lee Fang reported in May, 2010, the Center for Competitive Politics is closely connected to real estate tycoon Howie Rich, who uses the group to slam campaign finance reform, including, in 2010, the DISCLOSE Act.