In an odd twist even for a federal agency known for its fecklessness and divisiveness, some commissioners are challenging their own commission. Typically they merely oppose each other--along partisan lines.
Bizarrely, a group suing the Federal Election Commission submitted a statement supporting its case in court this week by Republican commissioner Donald McGahn. Which means McGahn is backing a suit against the body on which he serves.
The rigmarole started in June but came to a head Thursday, when a complicated case involving obscure aspects of campaign finance law landed at the Eastern District Court of Virginia. Judge T.S ...
Continue readingThe money bombers: Which outside spenders have the most for the homestretch?
Heading into the final stages of the 2012 campaign, the super PAC in position to have the biggest impact, by far and away, is American Crossroads, Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows.
Of all the outside spenders who filed monthly reports Thursday with the Federal Election Commission, the super PAC founded by veteran Republican strategists Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove, has by far the biggest stockpile of cash: more than $32 million. The intriguing question: Will Crossroads, which has spent $25 million so far opposing President Barack Obama's reelection, continue to invest in the presidential race, or ...
Continue readingRyan attracts hundreds of D.C.-area donors at hotel fundraiser
With Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaign’s finances in some trouble, a fundraiser at an upscale Washington hotel Thursday featuring his runningmate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., attracted about 200 donors, according to an estimate from one who paid $1,000 to attend.
That was the lowest price of admission for the event, at the stately Mayflower Renaissance. For $2,500, guests got a photo with Ryan and for $10,000, they participated in industry roundtable meetings. After the photo op, attendees swung over to another room where they could have a beer or a glass or wine. Ryan was ...
Continue readingObama’s fundraising paves way for advertising dominance
When it comes to saturating the airwaves and cable outlets with political advertisements, no entity has spent more in the 2012 presidential elections than the campaign of President Barack Obama. Through July, his campaign spent more than $111 million broadcasting its message--more than twice the $48 million spent by his GOP rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Both campaigns will disclose their itemized contributions and expenditures for August with the Federal Election Commission today.
The Obama campaign's spending dominance is another product of the fundraising advantage the incumbent has enjoyed throughout the campaign. Through July, Obama's campaign had ...
Continue readingIntroducing Econocheck
When Mitt Romney claims, as he did in a private talk at a fundraiser for well-heeled donors, that 47 percent of Americans do not pay income taxes, where can one check his math? When President Barack Obama tells David Letterman and his audience that he doesn't know how much the national debt is, what's the best place to get the latest number? When a member of Congress claims federal spending has been cut to the bone, what's the best place to check that claim?
Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Sunlight Foundation are launching Econocheck, a new ...
Continue readingFour years after Lehman Brothers collapse, financial industry still works its political will
Like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that touched off World War I, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the largest underwriter of bonds backed by subprime loans when it declared bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008, was an event whose repercussions extended far beyond its executives, investors and creditors. It touched off a financial crisis that's affected employment and earnings of the middle class.
The bankruptcy of the 158-year-old Lehman Brothers wasn't the first sign of trouble in the economy, or in the mortgage backed securities market--the bad investments that brought the firm down. More than a year earlier ...
Continue readingHouse passage of Cravaack land swap bill boosts freshman’s profile, fundraising
The Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act would order the federal government to take 86,000 acres of state land inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), part of the federally protected Superior National Forest, and give Minnesota a similar amount of federal-owned land just outside the wilderness--and its limits on develepment.
Continue readingResolution of Chicago teacher strike would be relief for Obama
If striking Chicago teachers agree to the new contract framework hammered out with school board officials, perhaps no one will be happier than President Barack Obama, who calls the windy city home.
The increasingly polarized issue of public education threatened to split the Democratic party from one if its biggest bases of support, potentially hurting Obama's campaign. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been a key Obama fundraiser and was Obama's former White House chief of staff, took a hard line against the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), receiving unsolicited praise for his stance from Republican Vice Presidential Candidate ...
Continue readingObama’s fundraising machine leaves Romney in the dust
So can we finally stop hearing the erroneous claim that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is winning the fundraising battle against President Barack Obama, the all-time champion when it comes to vacuuming up campaign cash? In August, the GOP nominee had his best month of fundraising--and fell about $2 million short of Obama's haul.
As we've previously noted, Obama began raising money for his reelection bid in April 2011, pulling in tens of millions of dollars each month for his reelection committee and the Democratic National Committee. Romney only began his joint fundraising efforts with the Republican National ... Continue readingConflict of interest? Congressional freshmen policies and portfolios entwined
An analysis of financial disclosures filed by House freshmen revealed that some wealthy members are introducing legislation and speaking in favor of industries in which they maintain holdings. It's the latest dispatch in Sunlight's series on the House freshmen.
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