The Federal Election Commission is trying to get some of the country's top super PACs to be more open about where they spent their money -- and is getting shrugged off by the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney.
This year, the normally quiescent FEC dinged six of the nation's top 11 spending super PACs, some multiple times, for not disclosing the states in which they aired political ads during the presidential primary and caucus season, one of the requirements on spending reports related to elections. In response, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, challenged the FEC ...
Continue readingSuper PACs spent almost $1 million in Tuesday’s primaries
Super PACs and other independent groups spent almost $1 million in Kentucky and Arkansas, the two states that held primaries on Tuesday.
So far this year, super PACs have spent at least $16 million on congressional races, a fraction of what they've pumped into the presidential campaign. But the smaller amounts spent in congressional races have sometimes produced big results, pushing a few candidates to primary victories. So far, super PACs and other independent group have spent on 88 races.
In Kentucky the big spender was the Liberty for All super PAC,which run by a few twenty-something supporters ...
Super donors provide bulk of money to super PACs
Super PACs have broken the $200 million mark in donations and $100 million in spending, with much of the money coming from a few donors with deep pockets whose largesse has changed the dynamics of political campaigning.
Some of the big players in the current cycle, many of whom have been big donors for decades, made their first super PAC contributions to support one of the major presidential candidates, then shifted focus to Congressional contests, with some pledging millions for tight races.
Harold Simmons, a major contributor to conservative super PACs, has been in the spotlight for his $13.5 ...
Million dollar check club: Who’s writing big checks to super PACs
There's always been ways for big money to find its way into politics, but one of the changes ushered in by the super PAC era is the opportunity to flaunt it.
Instead of having to spread their influence around in donations to various committees, deep-pocketed donors can now show their influence with a flourish, writing seven figure checks -- like the $1 million one, filings with Federal Election Commission made over the weekend show, that the National Air Traffic Controllers union gave last month to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing President Obama's reelection bid, or the $2 ...
Continue readingSuper PAC spending crosses $100 million: Where did it all go?
Now that super PACs' spending in the 2012 election has just crossed the $100 million spending mark—more than twice the amount spent in independent campaign expenditures by all outside groups at this point in the 2008 election--Sunlight decided to reflect on what else voters might have gotten for all that money.
With $100 million, you could:
- Pay the annual tuition for 2,207 students at most expensive undergraduate education in the country—Columbia University;
- Snap up 632 median-priced single-family homes in metropolitan areas from the country's housing market;
- Fill the tank of the most gas-guzzling SUV—a Chevrolet ...
Super PAC profile: Ending Spending aids Palin-endorsed Senate hopeful in Nebraska
A Florida-based super PAC that made more than $1 million in contributions in 2010, almost all of it underwritten by the former CEO of online brokerage TD Ameritrade, is emerging as a factor in Tuesday's Republican Senate primary in Nebraska.
In the three days before the election, the Ending Spending Action Fund has dumped almost $255,000 into the race to help Deb Fischer, a state senator who has suddenly turned an already-heated contest for the GOP Senate nomination into a three-way race. The group has not yet disclosed any donors this year, but in the 2010 campaign cycle ...
Continue readingSurvey finds attack ads work, though better on some voters than others
If the early campaign-season barrage of negative advertising is any indicator, the 2012 election is going to be a decidedly... View Article
Continue readingConnecticut Legislature Takes on Campaign Finance Disclosure
A Connecticut bill has been making the rounds in transparency circles recently: HB 5556, a toothy, bipartisan approach to corporate... View Article
Continue readingSuper PAC profile: Twenty-something Ron Paul supporters found Liberty for All
A new super PAC funded almost entirely by a 21-year-old Ron Paul supporter and run by a 24-year-old political consultant is putting big bucks behind a tea party candidate running in a Kentucky congressional race.
So far, the group -- Liberty for All -- has spent $542,600 on campaign ads supporting Thomas Massie in a seven-way battle for the Republican nomination in the northern Kentucky district currently represented by retiring Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky. In addition to backing congressional candidates the new super PAC has pledged to help Paul in his effort to amass delegates to the Republican convention -- an effort ...
Continue readingStealthy Wealthy: Jerry Perenchio speaks softly, carries a big checkbook
It may be easier to get the famously closemouthed mega-donor Jerry Perenchio to open his checkbook than to get him to talk to a reporter. The octogenerian former chairman of Univision and his wife Margaret are major players in this year's election, having underwritten American Crossroads to the tune of $2 million so far. Perenchio also gave half a million dollars to Restore America, the Super PAC that supports Mitt Romney, and $100,000 to the super PAC that supported Jon Huntsman's now-defunct presidential campaign.
That's just the latest in the more than $50 million Perenchio and ...
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