In 2009, lobbying, public relations and other firms that represent some 328 clients —foreign governments, political parties and government-controlled entities including some for-profit corporations—reported receiving more than $60 million in fees—down by about $25 million from the total in the previous year, an analysis of disclosures required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) shows. The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group has digitized and made searchable data from FARA disclosures.
While some countries continued their lobbying efforts from previous years, including a group of African nations working towards receiving better trade benefits, others pushed for earmarks or attempted to ...
Continue readingCoups, nuclear deals and Gitmo detainees featured in 2009 FARA filings
Denounced by their Latin American neighbors, the Obama administration and world opinion following the removal from power and immediate exile of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, the acting Honduran government turned to Washington lobbyists to launch a media and lobbying campaign on Sept. 19, 2009, to regain legitimacy in the United States.
Two months earlier, President Manuel Zelaya, who was democratically elected, was deported after the country’s Supreme Court endorsed a lower court order finding a referendum Zelaya called for would violate the country’s constitution. The Supreme Court ordered the military to remove Zelaya, and Roberto Micheletti, the next ...
Continue readingBig spenders: How candidates backed by outside groups fared
Yesterday’s big win for the Republicans was also a major victory for some the outside groups that have spent liberally on the election.
American Crossroads, the conservative-leaning group advised by Karl Rove was the night’s biggest winner, helping Republicans take control of the House and narrow the margin in the Senate.
The Super PAC spent money on 43 candidates, and racked up 28 wins and 15 losses. Some of those losses include the Nevada Senate race between Majority Leader and Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle and the Colorado Senate race between Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Ken Buck ...
Dark money groups spend $110 million in 168 races
Outside groups that have not disclosed their donors have dumped more than $1 million into each of 14 Senate and 18 House races. As much as $110 million has been pumped into the elections so far by political groups that have yet to disclose their donors, reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission show, and this "dark money" from unknown contributors has impacted 168 congressional races across the country.
The Illinois Senate race between Democratic candidate Alexander Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk has attracted the most dark money so far in the mid-term elections, with $6.8 million coming from ...
Continue readingDems narrow the outside spending margin
Ten days before the mid-term elections, and left leaning outside groups still lag behind their conservative counterparts, and are being outspent by $43 million. But spending by the two Democratic party committees--the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee--have narrowed the gap, leaving them $23 million behind all Republican spending. Just five days ago, Democrats trailed overall by $37.6 million.
In all, outside groups including party committees have spent more than $322 million, dwarfing independent spending in 2006 which totaled $68 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. A larger percentage of the spending is ...
Continue readingRight-leaning outside groups outspending opposition by $40.8 million
Republican-leaning Super PACs and non-party political organizations have reported spending $40.8 million more on mid-term elections than those supporting Democrats, an analysis of Federal Election Commission data shows.
Overall, there are 202 organizations spending money to influence the 2010 mid-terms, of which only 93 have disclosed their donors to the Federal Election Commission so far. Additional groups may disclose donors later this week, and some organizations known as 527 committees after the section of the tax code under which they are organized might disclose their donors to the Internal Revenue Service.
The top spenders are three party committees--the National ...
Continue readingMore cash spent on attack ads than ones supporting candidates
When all the independent influence is added up, Republicans have a $21 million advantage so far over Democrats, a review of Federal Election Commission data shows.
Outside spending is through the roof in the 2010 mid-term elections, as non-profits, party committees and labor unions spend tens of millions of dollars trying to sway voters.
Republican party committees and their right-leaning allies have spent more than $80 million in opposition to Democratic candidates and another $23 million boosting GOP standard bearers. Democratic Party Committees and left-leaning organizations have spent more than $62 million trying to defeat Republicans, and a little less ...
Continue readingOutside spending hits the $200 million mark
Spending by outside groups trying to influence the mid-term elections increased by a staggering $78 million in the last week, pushing the total spent by non-profits, labor unions and party committees to more than $200 million this cycle. That's an 80 percent increase from 2006, the last mid-term election.
“Super PACs”--groups that register with the FEC their intention to raise unlimited funds and run independent expenditure ads--have spent a total of $21.4 million so far.
In the last four days alone the top five spending organizations disclosed spending $13.8 million and includes a spike in spending ...
Continue readingOutside groups spend $13 million in the last six days
In the past six days--Wednesday through today--outside groups have spent more than $13 million to influence the mid-term congressional elections, including broadcast ads, robo-calls, get out the vote campaigns and mailings.
Data in the Reporting Group's tool -- Follow the Unlimited Money -- shows that groups not aligned to any specific candidate have spent more than $122 million in this cycle with committees registering to receive unlimited contributions -- the Super PACs -- totaling $12 million.
The National Association of Realtors spent more than $2.4 million over the last four days, supporting both Democratic and Republican candidates across the country; Americans for ...
Beyond Super PACs: Political groups up electioneering spending as mid-terms approach
Outside organizations have so far reported spending more than $18 million to run issue ads mentioning candidates within 30 days of primaries and 60 days of the general election--a 31 percent increase over the last mid-term election cycle. Corporate trade associations, labor unions, environmental groups, proponents of traditional values and even a group that opposes big money in politics have run ads in the run up to November 2, reports from the Federal Election Commission show.
In the 2006 election cycle, the total organizations reported spending on electioneering communications in a comparable period was $13.7 million, according to ...
59063
