Dark money has haunted the psyche of good government reformers. Recent changes in campaign law raise the prospect of unlimited donations, routed to political action committees through 501(c)4 "social welfare" organizations that don't have to disclose contributors' names. That could allow innocuously named groups to shelter powerful individuals and corporations and the influence they're exercising to determine who wins a federal office.
So far, that scenario has been the dog that didn't bark, but that doesn't mean it has been defanged.
Sunlight looked at the super PAC filings in search of 501(c)4 ...
Continue readingCrossroads, Planned Parenthood advertise in presidential battlegrounds
As if independent expenditures by super PACs weren't enough, two major political players have notified the Federal Elections Commission of recent electioneering communications in states likely to be battlegrounds this fall.
Crossroads GPS reported spending $500,000 on ads against President Obama in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Missouri, while Planned Parenthood Action Fund Inc., spent $36,000 on ads in Florida and Michigan. Electioneering communication are TV or radio ads that refer to a candidate for office within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election but stop short of calling for a vote for ...
Continue readingObama Super PAC Thoughts
Last night’s announcement came as no surprise — that the President would formally align himself with super PAC run by... View Article
Continue readingSunlight on #superPACs: Colbert edition
In case you missed it, last night some-time South Carolina Presidential candidate and super PAC founder Stephen Colbert gave a... View Article
Continue readingSuper PAC profile: Democratic governors play in presidential primary
DGA Action is a super PAC created by the Democratic Governors Association, but so far in this election cycle, all of its ads have been against Republican presidential candidates.
During January, the group placed a series of ads on Facebook and Google targeted to users in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. Like bigger presidential super PACs, such as the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future and the pro-Newt Gingrich Winning Our Future, DGA Action focused on the negative.
Its ads opposed Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. No ads were placed opposing Newt Gingrich, but that could change according ...
Continue readingSuper PACs and Secret Money Undermine Elections
The New York Times looked at this week’s Super PAC filings with the FEC and demonstrated—again—what we knew would be... View Article
Continue readingThe presidential super PACs: five takeaways
Note: the analysis below is based on initial data pulled from the FEC’s website. As more complete data become available,... View Article
Continue readingSuper PAC filings show who big donors of 2011 were
The deadline for presidential super PACs like Restore Our Future and Winning Our Future--supporting, respectively, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich--and other committees to file their disclosures with the Federal Election Commission fell at 11:59 p.m. Sunlight's Reporting Group combed through the filings, looking to see who's writing six- and seven-figure checks to the super PACs that are trying to influence voters in the Republican primaries--and beyond. We're also providing a chart tracking super PACs playing in the presidential race where you can download .csv files of their latest FEC filings. If you do, be sure ...
Continue readingNot so super PACs
For every high-spending, politically-connected PAC, there are even more PACs that fail to accomplish much of anything. As of January 30, some 300 organizations have written letters to the FEC with their intention of raising unlimited money as a super PAC.
Any citizen, union or company (assuming the company is U.S. or has a U.S. subsidiary) may start a PAC -- or 60 PACs, in the case of serial super PAC creator, Josue Larose.
While some PACs have causes without money, other PACs have money but no cause: The candidate they set out to assist, has dropped out of ...
Continue readingSunlight on super PACs
It's a big day in politics: Voters in Florida are casting ballots in their hotly contested GOP presidential primary; voters in Oregon's 1st Congressional District are picking a replacement for ex-Rep. David Wu, a Democrat. Here in Washington, we'll be hovering over computer screens and hitting the refresh button in hopes of learning who is trying to influence those contests and beyond.
Tuesday is the deadline for committees active in the 2012 races for the White House, Senate and the U.S. House to file campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission showing receipts and expenditures ...
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