Citizens for a Working America PAC, a political organization that's spent $250,000 to oppose the reelection of Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., discloses its contributions to the Federal Election Commission. Its contributor (it has only one) is New Models, a Virginia-based non-profit organized under section 501(c)4 of the Internal Revenue Code, that doesn't disclose its donors.
Call it another wrinkle in the wide open world of 2010 money in politics: Disclosed donors can be anonymous too.
Citizens for a Working America PAC filed a statement of organization with the FEC on Sept. 2, 2010; about ...
Continue readingRight-leaning outside groups outspending opposition by $40.8 million
Republican-leaning Super PACs and non-party political organizations have reported spending $40.8 million more on mid-term elections than those supporting Democrats, an analysis of Federal Election Commission data shows.
Overall, there are 202 organizations spending money to influence the 2010 mid-terms, of which only 93 have disclosed their donors to the Federal Election Commission so far. Additional groups may disclose donors later this week, and some organizations known as 527 committees after the section of the tax code under which they are organized might disclose their donors to the Internal Revenue Service.
The top spenders are three party committees--the National ...
Continue readingDid Murkowski certify that Alaskans Standing Together isn’t working with Murkowski?
Alaskans Standing Together is a Super PAC funded by federal contractors based in the 49th state that's trying to help Sen. Lisa Murkowski remain in Congress through a write-in campaign. The organization filed its third quarter disclosure report with the Federal Election Commission on Oct. 13 and an amended version on Oct. 15; on the last page of each, the FEC requires Alaskans Standing Together to avow that it's not working with any candidate or party committee--that it's truly independent. The exact language reads as follows:
Under penalty of perjury I certify that the independent expenditures reported ...Continue reading
Editor’s note: Tracking another Super PAC
Michael Dubke gets around. He's a partner at Crossroads Media, LLC, which buys airtime for political ads for Super PACs and candidates. He "exercises control" (the Federal Election Commission term) over Partnership for America's Future, which buys ads from Crossroads Media. He founded Americans for Job Security, which also buys ads from Crossroads Media. Another Crossroads Media client is Alliance for America's Future, run by Mary Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Richard Cheney. Cheney's former political director, Kara Ahern, works for Alliance for America's Future, filing its disclosures with the FEC. She's ...
Continue readingMore cash spent on attack ads than ones supporting candidates
When all the independent influence is added up, Republicans have a $21 million advantage so far over Democrats, a review of Federal Election Commission data shows.
Outside spending is through the roof in the 2010 mid-term elections, as non-profits, party committees and labor unions spend tens of millions of dollars trying to sway voters.
Republican party committees and their right-leaning allies have spent more than $80 million in opposition to Democratic candidates and another $23 million boosting GOP standard bearers. Democratic Party Committees and left-leaning organizations have spent more than $62 million trying to defeat Republicans, and a little less ...
Continue readingPaper trail shows ties between newly registered ‘Super PAC,’ other groups
Earlier this month, Partnership for America's Future filed a letter with the Federal Election Commission declaring that it will take contributions of unlimited amounts and spend them on independent expenditures. According to its website, the organization is "dedicated to supporting efforts designed to elect Republican candidates to office during the 2010 election cycle." In the process, the recently-minted Super PAC is supporting and supported by a web of Republican operatives and institutions that have played an outsized role in the 2010 elections.
Even before it registered as a Super PAC, Partnership for America's Future was active in the ...
Outside spending hits the $200 million mark
Spending by outside groups trying to influence the mid-term elections increased by a staggering $78 million in the last week, pushing the total spent by non-profits, labor unions and party committees to more than $200 million this cycle. That's an 80 percent increase from 2006, the last mid-term election.
“Super PACs”--groups that register with the FEC their intention to raise unlimited funds and run independent expenditure ads--have spent a total of $21.4 million so far.
In the last four days alone the top five spending organizations disclosed spending $13.8 million and includes a spike in spending ...
Continue readingContractor Super PAC Alaskans Standing Together backs Murkowski
Alaskans Standing Together, a Super PAC that takes unlimited contributions from any source, raised $805,000 in contributions from nine federal contractors, all of them Alaska Native corporations, and is spending its money—$595,000 so far—to support the state's incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Murkowski, known for bringing back federal money to Alaska, lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller and is waging a write-in campaign to retain her seat.
In a press release by NANA Regional Corporation, one of the donors to Alaskans Standing Together, the company acknowledges her record of "securing funding for [. . .] infrastructure improvements" and ...
Continue readingThe DCCC picks up spending as Election Day nears
In just three days, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent nearly $7 million in independent expenditures—doubling their spending in this arena to $14 million. On Monday, it was reported that the DCCC had spent only $7 million in IEs for the entire election cycle to support its party's attempt to maintain power in congress.
In total, 43 republicans running for the House and Senate were opposed by the DCCC. The money bought TV, radio, print and internet ads to promote thier agenda.
Editor’s Notebook: Following the muddled money
Over the weekend, I came across a new group in our Follow the Unlimited Money tool called CSS Action Fund. I googled the group and didn't find anything about it; by Monday they'd set up a website. Curious, I asked Ryan Sibley, who's been all things post-Citizens United for us, to see what she could find out about the group.
When I sat down to edit her investigation into the 501(c)4 organization, which can run all kinds of political ads without revealing its donors, my head started to spin. There's a D.C ...
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