The 2012 campaign fundraising totals, covering January through June, proved record in some cases, with the total amount raised by... View Article
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
Continue readingThe Death of the FEC
Rick Hasen has a must read column on the death of the Federal Election Commission and the slow erosion of... View Article
Continue readingDaily Disclosures
A roundup of what we’re noticing in the Reporting Group as we dig into government data and disclosures: Winding down?... View Article
Continue readingRightChange.com Inc. funded by pharmaceutical industry figure
Fred Eshelman, CEO of North Carolina-based Pharmaceutical Product Development, has given $3.38 million to RightChange.com, an organization taking part in the onslaught of outside spending this election cycle, according to documents filed with the IRS. Almost all of the money going to RightChange comes from Eshelman; the organization is a vehicle for him to air his political views, which happen to align with the GOP's.
The documents also show that, in addition to Eshelman's support, RightChange.com received $105,000 from a group sharing its name, RightChange II. The ultimate origins of that money was not ...
Continue readingSurprise! The National Education Association funds the National Education Association Advocacy Fund
The National Education Association Advocacy Fund, a Super PAC which has spent $4.2 million to influence the 2010 election cycle so far, receives all of it's funding from the National Education Association, a labor union—or a 501c6—and also its parent organization. No individual donors are listed.
While one can probably safely assume the NEA's money comes from members dues, this is an example of the ability influential nonprofit groups have to completely hide who funds their political agendas. In cases like this, money is shifted from the parent group to its advocacy fund or action ...
Continue readingDaily Disclosures
A roundup of what we’re noticing in the Reporting Group as we dig into government data and disclosures: By the... View Article
Continue readingIs AFSCME or the Chamber the top political spender?
The Wall Street Journal brings an apple to the orange convention, writing that, “The American Federation of State, County and... View Article
Continue readingDead end disclosure: Super PAC’s biggest giver is a shadowy nonprofit with links to Sarah Palin
Citizens for a Working America PAC, a political organization that's spent $250,000 to oppose the reelection of Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., discloses its contributions to the Federal Election Commission. Its contributor (it has only one) is New Models, a Virginia-based non-profit organized under section 501(c)4 of the Internal Revenue Code, that doesn't disclose its donors.
Call it another wrinkle in the wide open world of 2010 money in politics: Disclosed donors can be anonymous too.
Citizens for a Working America PAC filed a statement of organization with the FEC on Sept. 2, 2010; about ...
Continue readingPaper trail shows ties between newly registered ‘Super PAC,’ other groups
Earlier this month, Partnership for America's Future filed a letter with the Federal Election Commission declaring that it will take contributions of unlimited amounts and spend them on independent expenditures. According to its website, the organization is "dedicated to supporting efforts designed to elect Republican candidates to office during the 2010 election cycle." In the process, the recently-minted Super PAC is supporting and supported by a web of Republican operatives and institutions that have played an outsized role in the 2010 elections.
Even before it registered as a Super PAC, Partnership for America's Future was active in the ...
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