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What makes a super PAC super?
Traditional political action committees are bound by a $5,000 annual limit on the size of contributions they can accept from individuals and are prohibited from accepting contributions from corporations and labor unions. A super PAC is freed from these restrictions under two conditions: The PAC must neither 1) give money directly to a candidate or other political committees that give directly to candidates, nor 2) coordinate how it spends its money with a federal candidate. As long as those two conditions are met, a super PAC may accept donations directly from corporate or ...
Super PACs: How we got here
Nearly four decades ago, the delivery of a suitcase stuffed with $250,000 in cash to one of then-President Richard Nixon's top aides helped fuel the Watergate scandal and a complete overhaul of the laws regulating campaign finance. Voters in the 2012 election are likely to know less about who is trying to influence their decision than they have at any time since then. And, compared to the amounts of unregulated dollars flowing into campaigns, the stash of cash that former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans accepted during the 1972 presidential campaign seems like peanuts.
Here's a look at ...
Continue readingEvolution of money in politics
Here is an interactive timeline of the events that shape money in politics. Click on the dots for more information.
Sources: Campaign Legal Center, Congressional Research Service, FEC, OYEZ, Sunlight reporting
You can embed this timeline on your site:
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Revolving door boosts private equity lobbying
The Private Equity Growth Capital Council has a new president with Democratic credentials who has been through Washington's revolving door.
Steven Judge won the job after serving since last year as interim head of the trade group, which, among other things, lobbies against proposals to increase taxes on carried interest. Those proposals have gained steam in recent weeks because of revelations that carried interest enabled GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney to keep his tax rate lower than that paid by many Americans who made considerably less.
Before coming to the council, Judge worked for 14 years as the lead ...
Continue readingSuper PACs have spent most on Florida ad buys, so far
While the polls have constantly fluctuated in the last week before Tuesday's GOP presidential primary in Florida, one number has seen a steady rise: the campaign money being pumped into the Sunshine State. Helping to boost the total: The two super PACs supporting frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have spent more than $15 million in the state. That number makes 38 percent of all presidential super PAC spending that Sunlight is tracking.
About 66 percent of all super PAC spending in the races thus far has come from just two of super PACs, the pro-Romney Restore Our Future ...
2Day in #OpenGov 1/30/2012
Here is the week's first look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
- Democratic politicians have assaulted Republicans over their use of "unlimited secret money" in recent days. At the same time, the party has been working to build their infrastructure to compete with Republicans in the unlimited money race. (Politico)
- So far this election cycle super PACs have been most well known for their negative ad attacks. But, they are beginning to participate in other activities including phone banking, field organizing, polling, and other operations more closely associated with traditional campaigns. Not all candidates are happy about this. (Politico)
- Senator John McCain, a longtime champion of stronger campaign finance rules, attacked the Supreme Court and guaranteed that the influx of unlimited, barely regulated money would lead to scandal. (National Journal)
- A new report found that at least 5 former lawmakers have collected lobbying fees from organizations that they secured earmarks for while in office. (CREW)
- The Obama campaign is sticking to its policy of not accepting donations from registered lobbyists by returning five checks totaling $2,250. The Center for Responsive Politics first shed light on the donations. (The Hill)
- Retired General James Cartwright, who was previously America's second-highest ranking military officer, is joining the board of directors at Raytheon, a major defense contractor. (POGO)
- Ethiopian journalist and blogger, Eskinder Nega, has been detained by authorities at least 7 times in the past twenty years. Most recently in September 2011, when he was jailed for publishing a column calling for the government to respect freedom of speech and assembly. (Committee to Protect Journalists)
- Twitter's announcement that they could censor tweets in specific nations where the content might break laws was met with outrage from many around the globe. But, one country, Thailand, has come out in support of the policy. Thailand has blocked more than 1,156 websites for "anti-monarchy" content since December. (AP/Yahoo)
How SOPA and PIPA did and didn’t change how Washington lobbying works
The political scientist E.E. Schattschneider once called politics “the mobilization of bias.” By this, he meant something both simple and... View Article
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Roundup: “Initiatives for ‘open government’ either improve access or hinder it.”
While summarizing the changes Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst hopes to implement with the Senate Select Committee on Open Government, Curt Olsen reminds,... View Article
Continue readingClose the lobbying loopholes
Today NPR’s Planet Money team aired a story about disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s legal lobbying activities (as few of... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/27/2012
Here is the week's last look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
- It is being reported that Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will announce his resignation today. Chopra has served as CTO since 2009. (Fed Scoop)
- The Senate is prepared to act on the STOCK act next week. The act, which President Obama indicated he would sign during his State of the Union Address, aims to ban insider trading by members of congress. (Politico)
- The Obama campaign is taking advantage of the SOPA/PIPA fight to raise money in San Francisco. The campaign's top technology advisers will be available to talk to members of the tech community who are willing to donate. (Tech President)
- One of Rick Santorum's major financial backers, and the top donor to the Red White and Blue Fund super PAC that is backing the former Senator in his bid for the Republican nomination, announced that he would continue to provide financial support through nominating contests in February and March. (National Journal)
- The FEC has a page full of interactive maps to track information for the 2012 presidential, senate, and house races. (Lobby Comply)
- Twitter announced that it built the capability to remove certain messages from user's timelines based on the laws of their countries. The company expressed their wish to be as transparent as possible about the process and requests to withhold tweets will be posted to Chilling Effects. (Tech President)
- Newt Gingrich released his recent tax returns before his rival Mitt Romney, but he failed to disclose where much of his income came from. (AP/Yahoo)
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