The FEC’s decision on Stephen Colbert’s request to form a PAC garnered a lot of publicity today, but a second,... View Article
Continue readingFEC allows candidates to solicit limited contributions for Super PACs
The Federal Election Commission voted unanimously Thursday to allow federal candidates and party officials to solicit limited contributions for Super PACs, groups that have changed the campaign-finance landscape in the past year by raising and spending unlimited amounts from indivuals, corporations and labor unions.
The draft Advisory Opinion that the commission approved says candidates and party officials can solicit up to $5,000 from individuals and other PACs.
The vote came in response to a request by two Democratic Super PACs -- Majority PAC and House Majority PAC -- which asked the FEC whether candidates could solicit unlimited contributions on their behalf ...
Continue readingFEC set to vote on Super PAC fundraising by candidates
Two new draft Advisory Opinions from the FEC's legal staff leave open the possibility that the commission will allow candidates and party officers to raise money — possibly without limits — for Super PACs.
The opinions, which were posted on the Federal Election Commission's website Tuesday and which are expected to be voted on by the commissioners Thursday, differ from a draft posted last week. That draft said candidates could appear at Super PAC fundraisers but could not solicit unlimited contributions. It did not address the possibility of raising limited amounts.
One of the drafts posted Tuesday, a revision of ...
Continue readingFEC proposes rule to allow federal officeholders, candidates to appear at Super PAC fundraisers
In response to a request by a pair of Democratic Super PACs, the Federal Election Commission has proposed a new rule that would allow members of Congress, federal candidates and national political party officials to appear and speak at fundraisers for independent expenditure-only committees, or Super PACs, but would bar them from asking corporations, labor unions or individuals for the unlimited contributions that fueled the spending of these outside groups in the 2010 election cycle.
The FEC issued the proposed rule, which will be considered at a commission meeting on June 30, after James Bopp Jr., the conservative lawyer who ...
Continue readingDemocratic Super PAC raises individual, union, corporate and Super PAC contributions
The House Majority PAC, one of the two Democratic Super PACs currently seeking permission from the Federal Election Commission to have federal candidates and party officials solicit funds for them, has disclosed its first batch of donors in the 2012 election cycle. Among the big givers are stalwart Democratic donors, including unions like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ($200,000) and the Communications Workers of America ($50,000), individuals like Fred Eychaner ($100,000) and George Soros ($75,000), trial law firm Kazan McClain Lyons Greenwood & Harley ($10,000), tech company Integrated Archive Systems ($25,000 ...
Continue readingSharron Angle launches Super PAC
Former senatorial candidate and tea party favorite Sharron Angle, who lost her bid to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2010, has launched her own independent expenditure-only committee, Our Voice PAC.
On its home page, Our Voice PAC says it was formed in response to the launching of a Super PAC to support Senate Democrats. "Reid has taken steps to create a super-PAC (Majority PAC) modeled off of his successful smear-based political operation in Nevada," the site explains, "to make sure he stays in power. That is why Sharron Angle is launching Our Voice PAC."
The contribution ...
Continue readingBauer returns to firm with Super PAC practice
Departing White House counsel Robert Bauer is returning to the election law practice he built at Perkins Coie, where his once and future colleagues have been active on behalf of a pair of Super PACs. The firm recently asked the Federal Election Commission to rule on whether politicians can raise unlimited sums from any source for "independent expenditure-only" groups.
As the Reporting Group previously reported, Perkins Coie filed an advisory opinion request with the FEC on behalf of two clients, the Majority PAC (formerly known as CommonSense Ten) and the House Majority PAC, asking whether candidates for federal office can ...
Continue readingBopp seconds request to FEC to allow politicians to raise funds for Super PACs
Citizens United architect and campaign finance law foe James Bopp Jr. has seconded a request by Democratic campaign finance experts Perkins Coie for the Federal Election Commission to allow politicians and party committee officials to solicit corporations and labor unions for unlimited funds to be spent by independent expenditure-only committees, also known as Super PACs. Bopp's new client, the Republican Super PAC, has already outlined such a fundraising strategy to Republican party officials.
If approved, the Perkins Coie request, made on behalf of the Majority PAC and the House Majority PAC, would give FEC approval for a politician to ...
Continue readingDemocratic Super PACs ask FEC to OK candidate fundraising
Following on the heels of the new fundraising strategy laid out by James Bopp Jr. for Republican Super PAC, a pair of similar Democratic groups -- also known as independent expenditure-only committees -- have asked the Federal Election Commission to rule on whether party committee officials and candidates for federal office can permissibly raise unlimited funds from any source for these outside organizations.
The letter, sent on behalf of the House Majority PAC and the Majority PAC by Marc E. Elias, Ezra W. Reese and Jonathan S. Berkon of the Perkins Coie law firm, also asks whether candidates can participate in fundraisers ...
Continue readingTransbearency Strikes Back, or Citizens United and the Case for Comedy
[View the story “Citizens United and the Case for Comedy” on Storify]
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