Members of the Federal Election Commission deadlocked Thursday on whether a fundraising firm's decision to forgive an estimated $138,000 in interest owed by the California Republican Party constituted an improper political contribution.
The failure to reach a decision, which means the California GOP will not be penalized, came despite a finding by the commission's professional staff that the write-off by the Minnesota-based Strategic Fundraising Inc. (SFI) was not "in its ordinary course of business," which would amount to breaking campaign finance law.
The commission deadlocked, as usual, along partisan lines: The two Democratic commissioners found that it ...
Continue readingThe real scam: Don’t let broadcasters shut down FCC political ad database over online ripoff
A story which had been making the rounds in broadcast trade publications, broke into the mainstream media Thursday, when NPR reported that scammers have been taking advantage of the Federal Communications Commission's online political ad file to rip off political consultants.
Hold the no-honor-among-thieves jokes. Let's just stipulate that stealing is not a good thing, even if the victims are political consultants. More worrisome than what the latest developments on the FCC database mean for advertisers' information is what they could mean for yours.
Total 2012 election spending: $7 billion
A new estimate from the Federal Election Commission puts total spending for the 2012 election at more than $7 billion -- $1 billion more than previously thought.
New FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub unveiled the latest estimate of the 2012 campaign's record-shattering cost at the agency's first open meeting of 2013, one that saw the departure of Cynthia Bauerly, one of the three Democratic commissioners. Though campaign spending was expected to break records after the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision that opened the door for unlimited contributions, the latest FEC estimate exceeds earlier expectations.
The FEC processed more ...
Continue readingWatch dog groups call for Congress, President to fill ethics posts
Government watchdog organizations went to Capitol Hill yesterday to remind the White House and congressional leadership--currently deadlocked in negotiations over avoiding the flscal cliff--that there's a void in some of the critical institutions that police ethics in Washington. 
Representatives from 10 government-accountabilty groups gathered to make sure that House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi maintain the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) by appointing new board members. They also emphasized that the president needs to take the lead in campaign finance reform by appointing new Federal Election Commission (FEC) commissioners.
Full disclosure: Though it did not participate ...
Continue readingFEC considers whether company can solicit PAC contributions from its dealers
Can Slim Jim solicit employees of 7-11 for donations to its political action committee?
Members of the Federal Election Commission mused about that hypothetical prospect today in an open meeting that considered whether companies should be able to ask independent retailers to participate in their PACs, potentially opening the door for corporations to significantly broaden their donor base.
On another non-controversial request, commissioners appear ready to soon approve a request by the Global Transaction Services Group to fundraise for political committees via text messages – the phone user’s credit card would be charged. In another decision, the committee gave the ...
Continue readingOutside spenders dump $210 million into last full week of the campaign
In the last full week before the election, outside spending groups have bombarded voters with a record $210 million in ads, direct mail, and other political expenditures, and, as in weeks past, the vast majority of the funds went to support Republican candidates.
Since Sept. 7 -- when the FEC began requiring all groups to disclose independent expenditures, regardless of the content -- the rate of outside spending has ballooned, reaching a new high this week. A Sunlight analysis of Federal Election Commission records shows that organizations dropped $132.6 million to back Republicans in the period between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1, while just $76.4 went to help Democrats. That compares to $26 million for the second week of September.
Continue readingThe News Without Transparency: Reports highlight lack of information available on 501(c)4s
Recent reporting and analysis by ProPublica and the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group have brought a certain dark money group, the Government Integrity Fund, into the light.
The Government Integrity Fund is registered as a 501(c)4, a type of nonprofit permitted to run issue ads to influence the outcome of elections without disclosing the names its donors to the Federal Election Commission.
Thanks to a long-anticipated ruling by the Federal Communications Commission in August, broadcast stations are now required to make information about political ad buys available online. That FCC decision, along with efforts by the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Ad Sleuth and ProPublica’s Free the Files projects to aggregate the more than 30,000 filings on the FCC database so far, have helped to shed more light on the money these groups are spending and the people and interest groups behind the influence.
Continue readingOne week’s outside political spending: $100 million
The weekly total of outside spending has skyrocketed from $26.2 million in the second week of September to more than $102.3 million for the week that ended Thursday.
Continue readingThe News Without Transparency: FCC Ruling Makes Tracking Political Ad Buying Easier
Redacted – USA Today Political Ad Buying in Denver In light of the first presidential debate held last Wednesday at... View Article
Continue readingExpert: Court enforces law when Federal Election Commission can’t
Last week a federal judge stepped in to decide when a political ad is a campaign ad, meaning it has to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, as Sunlight wrote on Friday.
The case was brought by a conservative, Virginia-based nonprofit that wants to run five political ads that appear to be aimed at criticizing President Obama without disclosing them to the FEC. The group, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, sued the FEC after the commissioners, beset by partisan gridlock, could not decide whether the ads were so called electioneering communications—a term of art meaning the ads have to ...
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