In response to a request by a pair of Democratic Super PACs, the Federal Election Commission has proposed a new rule that would allow members of Congress, federal candidates and national political party officials to appear and speak at fundraisers for independent expenditure-only committees, or Super PACs, but would bar them from asking corporations, labor unions or individuals for the unlimited contributions that fueled the spending of these outside groups in the 2010 election cycle.
The FEC issued the proposed rule, which will be considered at a commission meeting on June 30, after James Bopp Jr., the conservative lawyer who ...
Continue readingPlaintiff in Citizens United case forms a Super PAC
Citizens United, whose court challenge to rules barring political spending by corporations has led to far-reaching changes in the campaign finance landscape, has formed its own Super PAC, allowing it to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.
Paperwork for the new committee -- Citizens United Super PAC LLC -- was received by the Federal Election Commission on Saturday Friday and posted on its website this morning.
In Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in January 2010 that prohibitions on independent expenditures by corporations and unions are unconstitutional. The case grew out of Citizens United's ...
Continue readingTwo groups oppose soliciting for Super PAC scheme
Bob Kerrey and Warren Rudman, two former U.S. Senators who are now co-chairs of Americans for Campaign Reform, gave testimony almost a decade ago documenting how raising big soft money donations to political parties had a corrupting effect on lawmakers. The see a similar corrupting effect should the Federal Election Commission rule that federal candidates and party officials can raise unlimited contributions from any source for Super PACs. The Campaign Legal Center agrees, arguing that candidates for federal office and party committee officials are barred from raising funds not subject to the limits of the Federal Election Campaign Act ...
Bauer returns to firm with Super PAC practice
Departing White House counsel Robert Bauer is returning to the election law practice he built at Perkins Coie, where his once and future colleagues have been active on behalf of a pair of Super PACs. The firm recently asked the Federal Election Commission to rule on whether politicians can raise unlimited sums from any source for "independent expenditure-only" groups.
As the Reporting Group previously reported, Perkins Coie filed an advisory opinion request with the FEC on behalf of two clients, the Majority PAC (formerly known as CommonSense Ten) and the House Majority PAC, asking whether candidates for federal office can ...
Continue readingBopp seconds request to FEC to allow politicians to raise funds for Super PACs
Citizens United architect and campaign finance law foe James Bopp Jr. has seconded a request by Democratic campaign finance experts Perkins Coie for the Federal Election Commission to allow politicians and party committee officials to solicit corporations and labor unions for unlimited funds to be spent by independent expenditure-only committees, also known as Super PACs. Bopp's new client, the Republican Super PAC, has already outlined such a fundraising strategy to Republican party officials.
If approved, the Perkins Coie request, made on behalf of the Majority PAC and the House Majority PAC, would give FEC approval for a politician to ...
Continue readingDemocratic Super PACs ask FEC to OK candidate fundraising
Following on the heels of the new fundraising strategy laid out by James Bopp Jr. for Republican Super PAC, a pair of similar Democratic groups -- also known as independent expenditure-only committees -- have asked the Federal Election Commission to rule on whether party committee officials and candidates for federal office can permissibly raise unlimited funds from any source for these outside organizations.
The letter, sent on behalf of the House Majority PAC and the Majority PAC by Marc E. Elias, Ezra W. Reese and Jonathan S. Berkon of the Perkins Coie law firm, also asks whether candidates can participate in fundraisers ...
Continue readingTransbearency Strikes Back, or Citizens United and the Case for Comedy
[View the story “Citizens United and the Case for Comedy” on Storify]
Continue readingNew Bopp Super PAC wants Republicans to help it raise unlimited funds
A Super PAC formed by campaign finance law challenger and Indiana attorney James Bopp Jr. intends to harness the fundraising efforts of Republican Party committees and candidates to raise unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations to be spent influencing elections in the 2012 campaign.
The concept behind Republican Super PAC, which will be introduced to party officials at a Republican National Committee meeting in Dallas this Wednesday, is for G.O.P. candidates and party officials at the national, state and local levels to steer contributions that they can't accept under federal or state election law to the newly ...
Continue readingCampaign disclosure foe James Bopp forms Super PAC
Attorney James Bopp, who's a key architect of the legal battle that's led to a flood of outside spending in elections, has registered a new independent expenditure only committee with the Federal Election Commission called the Republican Super PAC Inc.
The filing, which is signed by Bopp and lists him as treasurer, was dated May 11, 2011.
Bopp represented and then worked as a legal adviser to Citizens United, the political committee that was the plaintiff in the 2010 Supreme Court case that found that corporations could spend unlimited money on independent expenditures to influence elections. He was ...
Continue readingGOP FEC Commissioners Want To Expand Citizens United
When the Citizens United ruling came down last year I spent a great deal of time explaining the specifics of... View Article
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