Former presidential candidate Rick Perry is urging the Federal Election Commission to let him convert his presidential campaign contributions into a political action committee -- and is asking whether he might turn his campaign apparatus into a super PAC, able to raise and spend money in unlimited amounts.
In a letter to the Federal Election Commission this week, Perry campaign treasurer Salvatore Purpura writes that the Texas governor ended the campaign with a warchest of $270,000 earmarked for the general election. The campaign is in the process of asking donors for permission to transfer their funds to the as-yet uncreated ...
Continue readingMoney to burn? Flush GOP-linked groups host swanky D.C. forum
Not all dark money flows in the same direction. That was one lesson that could be drawn this week as two deep-pocketed sister nonprofits, Crossroads GPS and American Action Network, provided a forum for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to highlight his conservative credentials.
Hatch is facing a primary challenge on his right in a June primary that also seems to pit the two center-right outside money behemoths, American Action Network and Crossroads, against FreedomWorks, a Tea Party-affiliated super PAC that's backing the six-term incumbent's GOP opponent, state Sen. Dan Liljenquist.
The event where Hatch appeared Tuesday demonstrated the ...
Continue readingHundreds of DC insiders descend on pricey Romney policy talks, reception
For a candidate who says he hasn’t spent a lot of time in Washington, Mitt Romney seems comfortable around D.C. insiders -- at least judging by the droves he drew to fundraisers and exclusive huddles in the nation's capital on Thursday.
Hundreds of deep-pocketed Romney supporters, who paid thousands of dollars apiece, flocked to the J.W. Marriott Hotel, just blocks from the White House the GOP presidential candidate hopes to occupy. At least some may have been hoping that the price of admission would include a ticket to join Romney there.
The event attracted influential lobbyists, businesspeople ...
Continue readingHouse Democrats Introduce DISCLOSE 2012
House Democrats unveiled The DISCLOSE 2012 Act (HR 4010, not up on THOMAS yet) today, a crucial step toward transparency... View Article
Continue readingThe News Without Transparency: Colbert Super PAC Leads FEC Reporting, Gingrich Campaign and Others Follow
The News Without Transparency: Colbert Super PAC Leads FEC Reporting, Gingrich Campaign and Others Follow Super PACs have been a... View Article
Continue readingDark money in the twilight of 2011
Dark money has haunted the psyche of good government reformers. Recent changes in campaign law raise the prospect of unlimited donations, routed to political action committees through 501(c)4 "social welfare" organizations that don't have to disclose contributors' names. That could allow innocuously named groups to shelter powerful individuals and corporations and the influence they're exercising to determine who wins a federal office.
So far, that scenario has been the dog that didn't bark, but that doesn't mean it has been defanged.
Sunlight looked at the super PAC filings in search of 501(c)4 ...
Continue readingSuper PAC profile: Democratic governors play in presidential primary
DGA Action is a super PAC created by the Democratic Governors Association, but so far in this election cycle, all of its ads have been against Republican presidential candidates.
During January, the group placed a series of ads on Facebook and Google targeted to users in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. Like bigger presidential super PACs, such as the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future and the pro-Newt Gingrich Winning Our Future, DGA Action focused on the negative.
Its ads opposed Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. No ads were placed opposing Newt Gingrich, but that could change according ...
Continue readingSuper PAC filings show who big donors of 2011 were
The deadline for presidential super PACs like Restore Our Future and Winning Our Future--supporting, respectively, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich--and other committees to file their disclosures with the Federal Election Commission fell at 11:59 p.m. Sunlight's Reporting Group combed through the filings, looking to see who's writing six- and seven-figure checks to the super PACs that are trying to influence voters in the Republican primaries--and beyond. We're also providing a chart tracking super PACs playing in the presidential race where you can download .csv files of their latest FEC filings. If you do, be sure ...
Continue readingNot so super PACs
For every high-spending, politically-connected PAC, there are even more PACs that fail to accomplish much of anything. As of January 30, some 300 organizations have written letters to the FEC with their intention of raising unlimited money as a super PAC.
Any citizen, union or company (assuming the company is U.S. or has a U.S. subsidiary) may start a PAC -- or 60 PACs, in the case of serial super PAC creator, Josue Larose.
While some PACs have causes without money, other PACs have money but no cause: The candidate they set out to assist, has dropped out of ...
Continue readingSunlight on super PACs
It's a big day in politics: Voters in Florida are casting ballots in their hotly contested GOP presidential primary; voters in Oregon's 1st Congressional District are picking a replacement for ex-Rep. David Wu, a Democrat. Here in Washington, we'll be hovering over computer screens and hitting the refresh button in hopes of learning who is trying to influence those contests and beyond.
Tuesday is the deadline for committees active in the 2012 races for the White House, Senate and the U.S. House to file campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission showing receipts and expenditures ...
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