Is congressional candidate Markwayne Mullin touting himself to voters or to customers? That was the question before the Federal Election Commission earlier this week, where the Oklahoma businessman is seeking permission to have TV ads for his plumbing company not treated like campaign communications. But some of Mullin's neighbors say his plumbing business figures so heavily in his campaign ads that it's impossible to distinguish the two.
In comments to the FEC, some have even questioned Mullin's motives for becoming a candidate in the June 26 Republican primary for the seat occupied by retiring Rep. Dan Boren ...
Continue readingShining Light on Political Advertising
For most Americans, the incessant barrage of political ads on TV are still a few months away. But in Wisconsin,... View Article
Continue readingRomney super PAC challenges FEC on disclosure
The Federal Election Commission is trying to get some of the country's top super PACs to be more open about where they spent their money -- and is getting shrugged off by the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney.
This year, the normally quiescent FEC dinged six of the nation's top 11 spending super PACs, some multiple times, for not disclosing the states in which they aired political ads during the presidential primary and caucus season, one of the requirements on spending reports related to elections. In response, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, challenged the FEC ...
Continue readingFEC likely to OK campaign contributions via text message
In a busy day at the Federal Election Commission, commissioners on Thursday appeared ready to approve a proposal to allow small campaign donations via cell phone carriers, and, in a separate case, said they would a consider whether a congressional challenger's ads for his plumbing company have to be treated as electioneering communications.
The three Republican commissioners were ready to give the green light to allow small, anonymous donations to campaigns via a text message aggregation service. But a Democratic commissioner, Ellen Weintraub, wanted some questions answered and said she was not ready to vote on it. The FEC ...
Continue readingCourts See the Light on Transparency
Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals demonstrated that it gets the need for greater transparency... View Article
Continue readingAdvise the FEC: Can you find the candidate?
The American Future Fund (AFF) is asking the FEC what kind of ads they can make without triggering donor-reporting requirements.... View Article
Continue readingDemocrat, Republican political collectors ask FEC to OK texted contributions
The economy may be largely lackluster but the political sector is so flush with cash it appears on the verge of creating a whole new profession: Campaign contribution brokers.
That would be the result if the Federal Election Commission approves a bipartisan request that it made public late Wednesday afternoon. Filing on behalf of two campaign consulting groups, one Democrat and one Republican, the blue-chip Washington law firm Arendt Fox urges the FEC to approve a system for texting small contributions to political campaigns that would allow middlemen to collect as much as 50 cents on every donated dollar.
The ...
Continue readingFEC Chills Debate on Post-Citizens United Transparency
The Federal Election Commission is the supposed enforcer of the nation’s campaign finance and disclosure laws. But, with commissioners evenly... View Article
Continue readingThe News Without Transparency: Super PAC Donations Used as Campaign Weapon
Last month Politico reported that corporate contributions to a super PAC set up to support Democratic U.S. Rep. Howard Berman... View Article
Continue readingThe iPad Proposal: e-File for Favorite Things
The day of gadget envy reckoning is upon us as Apple unveils their latest iPad and it seems only natural that the Sunlight Foundation watch this media frenzy in regards to our policy proposals.
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