On the defensive and trying to wade off a Tea Party challenge, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has hit the airwaves with ads 20 months before Election Day.
His campaign is dropping at least $21,000 to run its first ads of the 2014 campaign, in the Louisville TV market over the next week during the Today Show, the nightly news, Dancing with the Stars and Americas Funniest Home videos, new ad buys disclosed on Political Ad Sleuth show. The Associated Press quoted a McConnell's spokesman as saying the total ad buy will run into six figures. (Only ...
Continue readingPlanned Parenthood targets Mitch McConnell
Planned Parenthood has become the latest big-spending political group to try to erode the political base of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., more than a year before his next election.
A new ad that surfaced this morning in Ad Hawk, Sunlight's searchable database of political advertising, paints the five-term Republican as opposing the interests of women. Because the ad does not explicitly call for a vote for or against McConnell, Planned Parenthood's expenditure does not have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, but a contract on file in Political Ad Sleuth, Sunlight's database for ...
Continue readingDISCLOSE Developments
Representative Van Hollen reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act in the House, marking his continued support for legislation that would shine a... View Article
Continue readingThese Senators Were For Disclosure Before They Were Against It
Later today, the Senate is expected to vote along party lines to deny cloture to the DISCLOSE Act. Republicans have... View Article
Continue readingWhat You Should Know About the DISCLOSE Act Part 4: Is the DISCLOSE Act Constitutional?
This evening, the Senate will vote on the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that would shine a light on the dark... View Article
Continue readingWhat You Should Know about the DISCLOSE Act Part 1: What is the DISCLOSE Act?
The Senate is expected to vote soon on the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that will shine a light on the... View Article
Continue readingRebuttal to McConnell’s War of Misinformation on DISCLOSE Act
A war is being waged against the DISCLOSE Act. Its Commander in Chief is Senator Mitch McConnell, his secret weapon is misinformation and his goal is to protect unlimited dark money contributions to the political process. It’s time for a counter-attack. Last week, McConnell outlined his plan of attack in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute. Wrapping himself in a narrow and self-serving interpretation of the First Amendment, McConnell casts liberals as the enemies of free speech and he and his foot soldiers (the Chamber of Commerce) as the true protectors of our constitutional rights. But take apart his arguments and it is easy to spot his true intentions—not to protect the free speech rights of all citizens, but to protect the ability of wealthy donors to anonymously influence our democratic process. The Sunlight Foundation refutes the worst inaccuracies being lobbed against reasonable efforts to disclose the dark money that is infiltrating our elections. This Orwellian tactic is timed to defang public support for the DISCLOSE Act, which the Senate is likely to consider in July.
Continue readingKentucky Derby: Owners put money on politicians, not ponies
The real money in the Kentucky Derby isn't in the purse or the pari-mutuel, but in the politics. Horse-focused PACs like the American Horse Council, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and horse breeders and owners have contributed more than $8.7 million to political candidates and parties since 1989 and spent $2.2 million more lobbying. And some of the top donors to these organizations are mega-donors in their own right, having contributed millions more to politicians, parties, PACs and super PACs.
Far from the finish line, the industry jockeys for tax breaks and other special treatment for big ...
Continue readingWill McConnell Block Noncontroversial Electronic Filing Bill Again?
In what could be a record for shortest congressional hearing, the Senate Rules Committee today discussed S. 219, the Senate... View Article
Continue readingInching Towards E-filing
Where else but the United States Senate would digital documents containing vital public information be printed, scanned, emailed, printed again... View Article
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