The Bitcoin Voters PAC — a super PAC intending to receive and spend money entirely in Bitcoin — opened its doors on Jan. 6, and promptly closed them just two days later. Why?
Continue readingAs IRS Takes Aim at Fake Social Welfare Organizations, Will Some in Congress Take Aim at the IRS?
In a surprise announcement, the IRS has opened the door to re-writing outdated rules regarding political activity of so-called social welfare organizations. The move is long overdue. Over a year ago, Sunlight urged the agency to take a look at rules that have not been updated since 1959. We also told Congress that after it held hearings on the IRS’s targeting of groups with conservative sounding names, it should provide guidance for the agency as to how it could more effectively, efficiently and fairly enforce the law. Even though that congressional leadership never materialized, the IRS should be congratulated for taking the first steps toward reforming its broken rules.
The IRS doesn’t have an easy road ahead of it. In the best case scenario, rules won’t be finalized until after the 2014 elections, ensuring that fake social welfare organizations—organizations like Crossroads GPS on the right and Patriot Majority USA on the left—will continue spending the vast majority of their money on election-related activity, not "social welfare." The IRS will face obstruction from congressional Republicans (in the form of legislation attempting to ban the IRS from enacting new rules, threats to its budget, or still more hearings) as well as court challenges that will further threaten the adoption of clear regulations.
Abortion rights prompts liberal groups to spend big, and early
WIth more than a year to go before the next congressional race, Democratic groups have begun to outspend Republican groups two to one. Much of that money is coming from groups focused on abortion rights.
Continue readingDonors flooded state level PACs with big checks
If you think the $6 billion spent during the last election cycle on federal races was a lot, consider this: Another $1.4 billion that up until now was nearly impossible to total up on a national level flowed into campaigns through political committees that don't report to the Federal Election Commission because they operate only at the state level.
That's more than the $1.2 billion traditional PACs--the kind that give directly to candidates--collected at the federal level. And it reflects giving in just 23 states, those included in a new Sunlight Foundation analysis of data compiled ...
Citing Sunlight Foundation report, watchdog groups file complaint against Santorum
Campaign finance watchdog groups filed a complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Rick Santorum's presidential campaign illegally directed a donation to a super PAC.
The complaint is based on a Sunlight Foundation report in which Louisiana mega donor Bill Doré recounted how he was instructed to donate $1 million to the Red, White and Blue Fund, the super PAC supporting Santorum's 2012 run for the presidency. It comes days after Santorum triggered speculation about an encore presidential run with a visit to Iowa, the state that will kick off the 2016 campaign with its much-watched ...
New super PACs drawing big bucks
Among super PACs organized this year, 13 of them have raised at least $50,000 already. Altogether, the 13 newcomers have raised $16.5 million just months after forming. That's more than a quarter of the $59 million that all super PACs have brought in so far this cycle.
Continue readingThe $1 million dinner: When big donor Bill Dore meets Rick Santorum
Who told Rick Santorum's angel investor about the super PAC supporting the former (and perhaps future) presidential candidate?
Continue readingWhere the 1% of the 1% money goes
The figures below break the 1% of the 1% up by deciles, going more in depth for the top decile (the top 3,139 donors) and then in more depth again for the top 314 donors (the 1% of the 1% of the 1%). The major takeaway is that the biggest donors are the biggest donors because they give primarily to super PACs. Since individual aggregate contributions directly to candidates, parties and committees are legally capped at $117,000 (though some seem to ignore this), to be in the top 314 donors (minimum total of $304,000) requires at least some giving to super PACs, which allow for unlimited contributions.
Continue readingThe Political 1% of the 1% in 2012
Graphics by Amy Cesal and Ben Chartoff
In the 2012 election 28 percent of all disclosed political contributions came from just 31,385 people. In a nation of 313.85 million, these donors represent the 1% of the 1%, an elite class that increasingly serves as the gatekeepers of public office in the United States.
More than a quarter of the nearly $6 billion in contributions from identifiable sources in the last campaign cycle came from just 31,385 individuals, a number equal to one ten-thousandth of the U.S. population. In the first presidential election cycle since the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC, candidates got more money from a smaller percentage of the population than any year for which we have data, a new analysis of 2012 campaign finance giving by the Sunlight Foundation shows. These donors contributed 28.1 percent of all individual contributions in the 2012 cycle, a record high. One sign of the reach of this elite “1% of the 1%”: Not a single member of the House or Senate elected last year won without financial assistance from this group. Money from the nation’s 31,385 biggest givers found its way into the coffers of every successful congressional candidate. And 84 percent of those elected in 2012 took more money from these 1% of the 1% donors than they did from all of their small donors (individuals who gave $200 or less) combined. This elite 1% of the 1% dominated campaign giving even in a year when President Barack Obama reached new small donor frontiers (small donors are defined as individuals giving in increments of less than $200). In 2014, without a presidential race to attract small donors, all indicators are that the 1% of the 1% will occupy an even more central role in the money chase. The nation’s biggest campaign donors have little in common with average Americans. They hail predominantly from big cities, such as New York and Washington. They work for blue-chip corporations, such as Goldman Sachs and Microsoft. One in five works in the finance, insurance and real estate sector. One in 10 works in law or lobbying. The median contribution from this group of elite donors? $26,584. That’s a little more than half the median family income in the United States. Watch a video summary of The Political 1% of the 1% Continue reading
Stealthy super PAC avoids disclosing donors before Mass. special election
By registering with the Federal Election Commission only 20 days before the Massachusetts special Senate election, a new super PAC supporting Gabriel Gomez, the Republican in the race, will avoid disclosing its donors until well after voters go to the polls.
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