In addition to painting himself as a reformer of Washington, convicted felon and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff last week took up the mantle of unsolicited, sage dispenser of advice on how to be an effective lobbyist. In a blog post for United Republic, a money-in-politics watchdog nonprofit where he is a senior fellow, Abramoff criticized a lobbyist for telegraphing his plans.
To show us how it’s really done, the former Capitol Hill influence peddler told us how he and his team stopped Congress from imposing a retroactive tax on companies that shifted headquarters overseas to avoid paying U.S ...
Continue readingRestore our Future spends heavily in states going to the polls soon
The pro-Mitt Romney super PAC, Restore our Future, burned through $4 million in just three days this week on independent expenditures in half a dozen states with upcoming primaries. If it keeps up this rate, the super PAC would spend more than $16 million in the 12 days leading up to Super Tuesday, topping the total it spent in January.
Six states with primaries in the next two weeks--Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Tennessee--all saw a spending spike.
In Michigan, where voters go to the polls next week, the super PAC supporting Romney pummeled opponent Rick Santorum with more ...
Continue readingMapping outside spending
If the 2012 election will be about anything, it'll be about outside money flooding the system. That's why we have updated our popular super PAC tracker.
Using the data from that tool, we've created a continuously updated map. As it shows, early voting states in the GOP presidential contest -- Iowa, South Carolina, Florida and Michigan -- already seen an influx of cash. But, the map also shows the heavy impact of outside spending in states ...
Continue readingSuper PAC disclosures: Simmons hedges his bets; PayPal co-founder hearts Ron Paul
Monday was the day that super PACs on a monthly filing schedule file financial disclosure reports with the Federal Election Commission. Sunlight Foundation's Reporting Group is watching as they go online to see who is writing big checks. Highlights so far:
- American Crossroads, which put super PACs on the map in the last election cycle with mega-donations to GOP candidates, took in just over $5 million in January, almost all of it from one man: Harold Simmons, a major Republican donor who also has written checks to super PACs backing three of the party's presidential candidates.
- The super ...
Embattled financial services chairman hits up friendly industry for campaign dollars
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., under investigation for possible violations of insider trading laws and facing a primary challenge over his close ties to the banking industry, will be seeking campaign help from that industry on Monday.
The Alabama Bankers Association is hosting a breakfast fundraiser at its offices, according to an invitation obtained by Party Time that highlights Bachus' position as the chairman of the Financial Services Committee. This election cycle, Bachus has raised more from the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate sectors than any other House member outside of leadership.
The ten-term congressman rose to become chairman of Financial ...
Continue readingRick Perry forming super PAC?
Former presidential candidate Rick Perry is urging the Federal Election Commission to let him convert his presidential campaign contributions into a political action committee -- and is asking whether he might turn his campaign apparatus into a super PAC, able to raise and spend money in unlimited amounts.
In a letter to the Federal Election Commission this week, Perry campaign treasurer Salvatore Purpura writes that the Texas governor ended the campaign with a warchest of $270,000 earmarked for the general election. The campaign is in the process of asking donors for permission to transfer their funds to the as-yet uncreated ...
Continue readingMoney to burn? Flush GOP-linked groups host swanky D.C. forum
Not all dark money flows in the same direction. That was one lesson that could be drawn this week as two deep-pocketed sister nonprofits, Crossroads GPS and American Action Network, provided a forum for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to highlight his conservative credentials.
Hatch is facing a primary challenge on his right in a June primary that also seems to pit the two center-right outside money behemoths, American Action Network and Crossroads, against FreedomWorks, a Tea Party-affiliated super PAC that's backing the six-term incumbent's GOP opponent, state Sen. Dan Liljenquist.
The event where Hatch appeared Tuesday demonstrated the ...
Continue readingBig banks press financial agencies on Volcker rule
Big banks paid calls on federal financial agencies in the days leading up to Monday's midnight deadline for the public to submit comments on the controversial Volcker rule, a provision of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory legislation meant to prohibit banks from using customers' money to make risky bets on the market.
Bank of America and Morgan Stanley paid visits to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in recent weeks, according to reports of meetings with outside groups that federal financial agencies make available voluntarily.
Last month representatives from the law firm Davis Polk -- which was hired by the Securities ...
Continue readingNo government money to criticize soda, says freshman lawmaker
Outraged that federal stimulus money has been used for local advertisements targeting soda as unhealthy, Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., has introduced the Protecting Foods and Beverages from Government Attack Act, which would make it illegal to use federal funds to criticize a legal food or beverage product.
A member of the House Agriculture Committee, the freshman has collected more than $24,000 from the food and beverage industry, including $4,500 from Steve Ennis, the recently deceased CEO of a local Coca Cola bottling company. Susan Hirschmann, a Coca Cola lobbyist who served as chief of staff to former House ...
Continue readingHundreds of DC insiders descend on pricey Romney policy talks, reception
For a candidate who says he hasn’t spent a lot of time in Washington, Mitt Romney seems comfortable around D.C. insiders -- at least judging by the droves he drew to fundraisers and exclusive huddles in the nation's capital on Thursday.
Hundreds of deep-pocketed Romney supporters, who paid thousands of dollars apiece, flocked to the J.W. Marriott Hotel, just blocks from the White House the GOP presidential candidate hopes to occupy. At least some may have been hoping that the price of admission would include a ticket to join Romney there.
The event attracted influential lobbyists, businesspeople ...
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