Twenty-four super PACs collected more than $1 million in contributions during the final weeks before the election, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Continue readingSecret money fuels Freedomworks
New filings show that Freedomworks, the Tea party-aligned super PAC that's in the midst of a messy leadership breakup, got more than $12 million from two shadowy companies set up just this fall.
Continue readingStealthy Wealthy: Donald Sussman, Rep. Pingree make strange bedfellows
In the five or so years since hedge fund manager Donald Sussman and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, have known each other, the investment tycoon has made his mark in her state, becoming its top political donor in 2012 and a major backer to Democratic super PACs. He's also found ways to bankroll her campaign, while buying a controlling interest in the local papers that cover her district.
Sussman, the billionaire manager of boutique hedge funds which manage about $8 billion in assets, married Pingree in 2011. She's the former president of campaign finance watchdog Common Cause. In his ...
Continue readingAdelsons’ $10 million checks revealed among last-minute campaign donations
Eye-popping checks from the Adelsons were among the more startling findings as campaign committees revealed their last-minute election donors.
Continue readingFEC considers whether company can solicit PAC contributions from its dealers
Can Slim Jim solicit employees of 7-11 for donations to its political action committee?
Members of the Federal Election Commission mused about that hypothetical prospect today in an open meeting that considered whether companies should be able to ask independent retailers to participate in their PACs, potentially opening the door for corporations to significantly broaden their donor base.
On another non-controversial request, commissioners appear ready to soon approve a request by the Global Transaction Services Group to fundraise for political committees via text messages – the phone user’s credit card would be charged. In another decision, the committee gave the ...
Continue readingSnap Decision: DeMint leaves Senate for Heritage
How sudden was Sen. Jim DeMint's surprise announcement Thursday that he'll be leaving his post to head the conservative Heritage Foundation? The Senate Office of Public Records confirms receiving a disclosure form that lawmakers and top staffers have to make when they are negotiating with a potential employer from the South Carolina Republican on the same day DeMint's new job was announced. Ethics rules require the forms to be filed when salary discussions are underway.
Update Dec. 6, 2012, 5:15 p.m.: "I just found out yesterday," said Wesley Denton, press secetary for DeMint. "I know ...
Continue readingMoney in politics drives up U.S. corruption perception index
The United States scores worse than many of its partners in the developed world on this year's Corruption Perception Index in part because of money in politics, the group that publishes the index said Wednesday.
Transparency International's compilation of surveys by well known civic and business groups ranked the U.S. at 19 among 174 countries, with No. 1 being the country with the least perception of corruption (a ranking shared by Denmark, Finland and New Zealand) and No. 174 (Somalia) being the country perceived as the most corrupt. Among the nations getting a better ranking than than ...
Continue readingWho benefited most from dark money in the 2012 election?
Eighteen incoming members of Congress each got more than $1 million in dark money donations during their recent campaigns, but many more have reason to resent the stealthiest of campaign contributions, a Sunlight Foundation analysis has found.
Dark money represents campaign contributions whose sources never have to be publicly reported. That's because the money is funneled through non-profit entities organized under a section of the tax code that protects them from having to name their donors. These kind of groups -- such as the pro-GOP Crossroads GPS and the pro-Democrat League of Conservation Voters -- have increased their electoral role in the wake of a series of court rulings that opened the door for unlimited corporate and union spending on campaigns. Nonprofit groups made more than $300 million of such donations during the course of the 2012 election cycle, the vast majority to influence the fall races.
Continue readingMaxine Waters gets promotion despite ethics questions
Congresswoman Maxine Waters will serve in the top Democratic position in the House Financial Services Committee, despite uncertain ethics, a past Office of Government Ethics (OGE) investigation, and a history of questionable fundraising.
Continue readingPost-election campaign finance disclosures: What we are watching
Federal Election Commission voyeurs rejoice! Last-minute super PAC donors are about to be revealed.
More than 70 PACs have spent a combined $81.3 million more than they accounted for in donations before the election. Unless these super PACs found some loan sharks, the spending will be accounted for in last-minute donations that will be revealed in coming hours. Political committees must file their post-election reports with the Federal Election Commission by midnight Thursday. Some are filing early and we're posting as we see interesting tidbits.
Other super PACs are members of what we at Sunlight have dubbed the ...
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