Two new members of Congress, Reps. Rick Nolan, DFL-Minn., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., will introduce a resolution on Tuesday aimed at reducing corporate influence in politics through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
According to Nolan, the amendment would establish that "corporations are not people, and money is not speech." In a press conference Monday, he announced the plan along with representatives from Move to Amend (MTA), a coalition that seeks to eliminate corporate personhood rights. The organization officially launched Jan. 21, 2010, the day that the Supreme Court handed down the Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates ...
Continue readingAnti-Hagel ad spending tops $200K
(Updated Feb. 6, 11 a.m.)
Outside groups have spent at least $212,000 on television advertisements aimed at torpedoing former Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama's controversial nominee to head the Pentagon, with a Senate Armed Services Committee vote on his nomination set to occur as early as Thursday.
The spending was picked up by Sunlight Foundation's Political Ad Sleuth, which tracks political ad buys. The figures almost certainly understate the amount of money being pumped into the anti-Hagel campaign: Political Ad Sleuth relies heavily on ads uploaded to the Federal Communications Commission's online database; currently only ...
Continue readingRoundup of Recent Revolving Door Work
The old Washington habit of using government positions and relationships to a land a lobbying gig continues to make news.
Continue readingInside spending: super PACs, dark money groups dominated by political insiders
By suppressing the speech of manifold corporations, both for-profit and nonprofit, the Government prevents their voices and viewpoints from reaching the public and advising voters on which persons or entities are hostile to their interests.
-- from the majority opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
When the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in the Citizen United case three years ago this week, the majority's expressed intent was to allow corporations--both for-profits like Exxon-Mobil and nonprofits like the Sierra Club--to add their voices to the public debate. In practice, an analysis by Sunlight finds, it has created ...
Continue readingIncoming FEC chair’s wish list for 2013
With the end of the year, the six federal election commissioners are preparing to play their annual game of musical chairs. That means a new chair of the commission for 2013. She has lots she wants to accomplish.
Continue readingGroups ask feds to investigate mystery corporate campaign donations
Election watchdog groups are asking the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission to investigate a mysterious series of large campaign donation first reported by Sunlight.
Continue readingA look at money, transparency and policy since Citizens United v. FEC
The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling has left an indelible mark on U.S. politics. Since the January 2010 ruling outside groups and organizations have been able to promote their own special interests with neither accountability nor transparency. In the past three years, we've seen a flood of secretive money, the formation of super PACs and little done in the way of policy to reveal the source of the funding. Our timeline breaks events into four categories: Courts (major court rulings and cases), Disclose (legislation around greater disclosure of political contributions and spending), Super PACs (trend and news for independent expenditure only committees) and FEC (decisions made by the Federal Election Commission).
Continue readingNew York Proposed Regulations Move Toward Greater Campaign Finance Disclosure
Yesterday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman attempted to throw down the gauntlet on campaign finance disclosure regulations for New... View Article
Continue readingThe 2012 super PAC million dollar club
At least 156 people and entities gave more than $1 million to super PACs, according to an analysis of post-election campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. See a list of the top 10 super PAC donors below.
This millionaires club accounted for 59 percent of the total $834 million that went to super PACs, committees that can spend and raise and unlimited amount on elections.
Nine donors gave at least $10 million. The biggest gave to the GOP: Sheldon Adelson, at $49.8 million, followed by his wife Miriam at $42 million. The next biggest givers are ...
Continue readingSecret money fuels Freedomworks
New filings show that Freedomworks, the Tea party-aligned super PAC that's in the midst of a messy leadership breakup, got more than $12 million from two shadowy companies set up just this fall.
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