Recipe swapping, hair braiding inspiration, and campaign finance accountability — a killer combo for a social network?
The Public Campaign Action Fund has been maintaining a Pinterest board of the billionaires backing the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future.
The board currently counts 33 billionaires. Harold Simmons is there. So is Charles Schwab. And a couple of Wal-Mart Waltons. Plus a few people you may not have heard of. (The board, updated with numbers reported to the FEC on Wednesday, is current through May 31. Notably absent from the board: Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino owner who reportedly gave $10 million to Restore Our Future in early June.)
Founded in 1997, the Public Campaign Action Fund is “dedicated to improving America’s campaign finance laws.” Adam Smith, the group’s communications director, told TPM he started the Pinterest board in “April or May.” He said he was trying to come up with a “fun way” to visualize how many billionaires had given to the super PAC.
According to Smith, the PCAF is always working to come up with “new ways to visualize all the money that’s coming into elections.
“This seemed to me a real good way to do that,” he said.
Smith noted that billionaire director Steven Spielberg had given to the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action, but said he didn’t think it was worth making a Pinterest board with just one person.
Eric Lach
Eric Lach is a reporter for TPM. From 2010 to 2011, he was a news writer in charge of the website’s front page. He has previously written for The Daily, NewYorker.com, GlobalPost and other publications. He can be reached at ericl(at)talkingpointsmemo.com
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