Here are some of the donors we've featured so far in our continuing Stealthy Wealthy series. Keep watching for more. Meanwhile, Sunlight will be watching to see what these business people are seeking as a return on their investments.
Continue readingMan behind Allen West super PAC remains secretive
It remains unclear why Richard H. Roberts, a New Jersey physician, contributed $1 million to help one member of Congress in south Florida, freshman Republican Allen West, win reelection.
Reached at his home last week, the main funder of a super PAC that has become the largest outside spender against West's Democratic opponent, construction executive Patrick Murphy, in one of the most closely-watched House races in the country, said he has retired from the pharmaceutical firm that he identified himself as heading in campaign finance forms. But he would say little else.
"I generally don't talk to press ...
Continue readingPolitical donors’ million dollar check club: September edition
A relative handful of mega-donors capable of writing seven-figure checks, thanks to the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United that opened the door for unlimited campaign contributions, have fuelled this fall's dizzying rise in outside political spending, which jumped from $14 million the week ending Sept. 1 to $110 million the week ending Oct. 20, according to Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker.
In September, 25 individuals or organizations wrote checks of $1 million or more to super PACs, according to Sunlight's analysis of the last full month of campaign expenditure reports that we will see ...
Continue readingLast-minute Democratic political donations don’t close the money gap
A flood of last-minute largesse from Democratic donors helped Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing President Barack Obama's reelection, outraise its Republican counterpart for the second month in a row in September. But Republican-leaning outside spenders still headed into the last full month of the campaign with a huge cash advantage, an analysis of records filed overnight at the Federal Election Commission by Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows.
Restore Our Future, the super PAC founded by former Mitt Romney aides to support the Republican presidential candidate, headed into the last month of the campaign with ...
Continue readingPro-Romney super PAC: $100 million and counting
Restore Our Future has hit a fundraising milestone: The super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has clocked $100 million in contributions since it was organized just two years ago this month.
That puts the pro-Romney super PAC far ahead of the rest of the PAC pack when it comes to fundraising, Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows, though just how wide a lead it enjoys won't be possible to determine until the rest of the campaign committees file their latest reports with the Federal Election Commission. Committees that report monthly to the FEC -- a group ...
Continue readingOutside political spending continues to skyrocket
Of the $810 million in outside spending that Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money has tracked since the beginning of the campaign cycle, more than half has been laid out in the last six weeks.
Continue readingVideo: This Week’s Political Money Weather Report
$800 million and counting. That’s how much money has been spent just by outside groups so far this election season. There's no doubt that this will be the most expensive election yet. Tune into this week’s Political Money Weather Report for a quick recap the steady downpour of money: where it’s happening, and who’s behind it (when transparency laws allow for us to know) -- and what we don’t know.
Continue readingDemocratic super PACs come into their own
Democratic super PACs, which earlier this year lagged far behind their Republican counterparts, passed a milestone in August: they took more in contributions into their coffers than GOP super PACs: $28 million versus $22 million. Filings covering September are due this Saturday.
It may be more of a photo-finish than it first appears: a portion of the Democratic groups' take involve PAC-to-PAC transfers, which are difficult to extricate from the totals due to way reports are filed with the Federal Election Commission. But quarterly filings that landed Monday leave little doubt that the Democratic super PACs, including Priorities USA and ...
Continue readingModerate millionaire floods far-flung House race
The super PAC of one of California’s richest political donors, who supports centrist Republicans, has dropped more money on an obscure House race than both candidates combined.
The committee, Spirit of Democracy America is largely funded by Charles T. Munger, Jr., the heir to Berkshire Hathaway’s billionaire vice chairman and the third third biggest donor in California politics in the past decade, according to a study by California Watch. The group has spent more than $545,000 on the race so far. Combined, candidates Paul Cook and Greg Imus reported spending $363,000 as of the most recent ...
Continue readingRapper donor, mystery million and other fun finds in pop-up PAC filings
(Updated 8:42 a.m. Oct. 16)
Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel Michel, known as Pras, can now add 'political activism' to his long list of talents. Michel is the only reported donor to super PAC Black Men Vote. He ponied up $250,000.
It's just one of the interesting nuggets turned up by the Sunlight Reporting Group's examinations of filings by super PACs that made their first-ever unveilings of donors Monday, as reports from committees that file on a quarterly schedule were due at the Federal Election Commission. Sunlight has identified nearly two dozen committees that surfaced as independent ...
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