
Six months ahead of the election, super PACs have already spend more than $12 million in congressional races, according to data compiled for TPM by the Center for Responsive Politics.
While super PACs have already had a major impact in the Republican presidential primary, observers expect state-level super PAC spending in Senate and House races to have an even bigger impact than it has in the presidential race. A total of 24 separate races have already received an influx of more than $100,000 in super PAC funds, money with much more potential to swing local races than it does national.
So far, the race for Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar's seat has seen the most super PAC money, with $2.5 million in the race, most of it against the Indiana Republican or in support of his primary opponent. Tea Party Republicans are backing state treasurer Richard Mourdock, and FreedomWorks alone has spent over half a million in the race.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Four years after the fact, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has gotten around to chastising the man behind a political action committee called "Californians for Obama" for raising thousands of dollars in support for then-Sen. Barack Obama while obscuring the fact that it didn't have any actual connections to the future president's campaign.
The group was run by a self-proclaimed movie mogul named Emmett Cash III, but Kinde Durkee -- the major Democratic treasurer who was arrested for allegedly stealing from many of her clients back in September -- handled its finances.
Californians for Obama came under FEC scrutiny in October 2007, when a California woman complained to the agency after she paid $2,423.76 to go on a "Women of Power Cruise" that was supposed to take place in September of that year. It didn't happen and her money wasn't refunded. The group had been the subject of a July 25, 2007 San Francisco Chronicle article that detailed how Cash -- who according to the Chronicle had been a registered Republican until June 2007 -- had raised nearly $10,000, most of which was paid to himself.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that he was "not familiar with the details" of the unfolding campaign finance scandal involving Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY). Let's bring him up to speed.
The New York Times reported this week that Grimm worked closely with Ofer Biton (a top aide to the orthodox Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto) back in 2009 to recruit the rabbi's followers to donate to Grimm's campaign. Together, they collected more than $500,000 for his campaign, helping convince Republican leaders Grimm was a viable candidate.
Now Biton is now under investigation by the FBI, which just happens to be Grimm's former employer. Grimm himself is accused of accepting a cash donation of $5,000 "near the FBI building" and three followers of the rabbi told the New York Times that Grimm or Biton said they would find ways for the campaign to accept donations over the legal limit.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Six major "super PACs" backing former and current Republican presidential candidates were almost entirely funded by massive contributions from individuals and corporations of at least $100,000, according to a TPM analysis of campaign finance data.
Take Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting but totally not coordinating with Mitt Romney: 58 donations of over $100,000 given to the super PAC made up 82.59 percent of its intake during the second half of 2011.
It shouldn't come as much of a shock that big donations as opposed to a large number of small or medium-sized donations are really what matter most to independent expenditure-only political action committees. But the numbers really demonstrate just how little moderate donations -- the kind typically touted by political campaigns proud of their grassroots support -- are playing a part in the new age of unlimited campaign cash.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Republican lawyer on the case that arguably helped pave the way for the creation of so-called "super PACs" told TPM this week that he hopes politicians will realize that the contribution limits on their campaigns are putting them at a huge disadvantage, and will pass legislation dashing such restrictions.
An odd position for a key player in the opening of the anonymous-campaign-cash floodgates to have? James Bopp Jr. says no.
"I'm very hopeful and actually expect that incumbent politicians are going to look at themselves and say we are severely handicapped" in comparison to super PACs, Bopp told TPM, arguing that political campaigns were more accountable to voters than super PACs.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Three Las Vegas residents and non-blood relatives of casino executive Sheldon Adelson who describe themselves as "self-employed" gave a combined $1 million to a "super PAC" backing Republican Newt Gingrich on the same day in December.
Sheldon Adelson reportedly didn't jump in to offer Winning The Future any help until early 2012, a period not covered by the Federal Election Commission report filed on Tuesday. But Adelson's wife's son-in-law provided $250,000 while Adelson's wife's daughters -- also "self-employed" -- tossed in $500,000 and $250,000 a piece. Their sum total accounts for nearly half of the $2,080,250 the group took in during December.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The ads are everywhere in Iowa: on cable, on network television -- during shows like "Dr. Phil," "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Tonight Show" -- and across the dial on talk radio (where it's gotten to the point that callers on talk radio shows are complaining about the onslaught). They walk, talk and act like campaign ads, but for the most part, they're not coming from candidates.
Welcome to the presidential campaign, post-Citizens United.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A government watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich following a report that his campaign paid Gingrich $42,000 for the use of his personal mailing list without disclosing it in their campaign finance filings. They also asked the FEC to investigation whether Gingrich Productions, Inc. held campaign events in conjunction with his book signings.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, is defending NRCC Finance Chair Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) over allegations he schemed to illegally reimburse employees of his former car dealership for donations to his political campaign.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A court hearing scheduled for Friday for Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee, accused of stealing money from the political campaigns and charities whose finances she managed, has been pushed back until Jan. 26.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Updated: Dec. 1, 1:05PM
The Federal Election Commission deadlocked on a request by Karl Rove's "super PAC" to allow advertisements shot in coordination with candidates for federal office to be considered uncoordinated and not amount to in-kind donations. A motion in support of a draft opinion to reject the request failed on a three-to-three party line vote.
Republican FEC member Donald McGhan lead the questioning of a lawyer for American Crossroads, the conservative "super PAC" that is requesting to run advertisements featuring federal candidates for office.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Federal Election Commission is set to tell Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), a member of the Tea Party Caucus, that he can't become the first politician in the country to form his very own "super PAC" during their public meeting next week.
A draft ruling posted by the FEC on Wednesday in response to a request for an advisory opinion Lee filed last month would deny the Utah Republican and his leadership PAC, the Constitutional Conservatives Fund PAC, the ability to create a separate account for unlimited contributions -- or "soft money" -- used to fuel independent expenditure ads.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)by Marian Wang ProPublica
Ask any campaign-finance expert about super PACs and you'll likely keep hearing one word: "coordination." That's because Super PACs -- the super-powered groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from anyone -- have just one crucial restriction on their powers: By law, they're not supposed to coordinate with candidates.
Think that sounds clear? Think again.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A federal grand jury returned a nine-count indictment this week against former Fiesta Bowl employee Natalie Wisneski for allegedly making illegal campaign contributions to Arizona Republicans in the name of others.
The feds say Wisneski, 47, also filed false tax returns as an officer and "high-paid employee" of the Fiesta Bowl. They say she solicited campaign contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees for federal, state and local candidates while agreeing to reimburse the employees for their contributions with Fiesta Bowl money.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Richard Nixon wanted prosecutors to get something straight during his grand jury testimony on the Watergate controversy: wealthy D.C. socialite Perle Mesta wasn't made ambassador to Luxembourg just "because she had big bosoms." It was just because she "made a good contribution."
Mesta -- pictured here -- was appointed to the Luxembourg post by President Harry Truman in 1949 and died in March of 1975. Nixon's grand jury testimony was three months after she died.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Relying on Herman Cain's Chief Of Staff Mark Block to investigate his own financial dealings is "like asking Willie Sutton to hire an independent counsel," a former Cain regional field staffer told TPM in an interview this week.
The staffer, who worked with Block and implemented his campaign strategy, said the famous smoker is not to be trusted to get to the bottom of whether, as documents appear to show, his company Prosperity USA footed the bill "for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas" to get the Cain campaign off the ground.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Updated: October 31, 11:35AM
Long before Herman Cain chief of staff Mark Block was appearing in the most mocked campaign ad of the presidential campaign so far, he and deputy chief of staff Linda Hansen started a Wisconsin corporation that the Journal Sentinel reports illegally helped the GOP presidential candidate get his campaign off the ground.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Updated: Oct. 27, 11:34AM
A federal judge in North Carolina has declined to dismiss campaign finance charges against John Edwards. The case is set to proceed to trial in January, according to the Associated Press.
Edwards' lawyer argued Wednesday that the case was politically motivated and shouldn't move forward.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Two good government groups have formally asked the IRS to investigate the actions of Crossroads GPS, Priorities USA, American Action Network and Americans Elect, who they say should be inelligible for tax exempt status.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, officials with the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 write, section 501(c)(4) organizations "are required to primarily engage in the promotion of social welfare in order to obtain tax exempt status."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Illegal contributions by the sister of former Republican National Committee Chairman and current MSNBC contibutor Michael Steele got his former Senate campaign fined $54,000 by the Federal Elections Committee, the agency disclosed this week.
It all started back in 2006, when Steele's sister Monica Turner hosted two fundraisers at her home in Bethesda, Md.
Invitations to the event said they were paid for by Steele for Maryland, Inc. But because the campaign was apparently low on funds, Turner paid $6,578.35 in catering, security and valet expenses for a July event and $7,850 in expenses for an October event.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Los Angeles County Democratic Party passed around a donations basket at a meeting and laid off one employee this week, unsure they'd be able to make payroll. Fifty-one college students can't get access to scholarships issued by the Legislative Black Caucus Policy Institute. That's all thanks to the arrest of prominent California treasurer Kinde Durkee, accused of making personal use of her clients' funds.
As Durkee and her lawyer meet with federal prosecutors and pour over the evidence in her case, the bank where she keep most of her clients' money is refusing to release control of the accounts until they agree to "hold the Bank harmless" for any misdeeds in the Durkee case.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has written a letter to members of the House telling them that voting for federal contractors to be more transparent about their political spending will negatively impact their legislative scorecard.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A Luxembourg-based subsidiary of Koch Industries has admitted to making illegal campaign contributions to political candidates and committees.
INVISTA is a limited liability company involved in the textile manufacturing business that is organized in Luxembourg but headquartered in Kansas. They admitted in a filing with the Federal Election Commission that was disclosed this week that they made 12 contributions totally $26,800 to various political committees between Nov. 2005 and Oct. 2009.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)As Stephen Colbert did his victory lap outside the Federal Election Commission's headquarters on Thursday, the six commissioners still inside the hearing voted on a measure that will have a much bigger effect on the 2012 election.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Federal Election Commission gets it -- Stephen Colbert is punking them. But the FEC treated the Comedy Central host's request for an advisory opinion like anyone else, and on Thursday granted him the ability to form a "super PAC."
Their ruling allows his parent company Viacom to pay for most of their "coverage" of Colbert Super PAC's activities under a press exemption without having to disclose such expenditures as in-kind donations.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Your average meeting of the Federal Election Commission is lucky to attract one reporter - usually Ken Doyle, the senior editor of the trade publication BNA's Money & Politics Report. "I've been there many times when he and I were the only people in the audience," campaign finance lawyer Brett Kappel told TPM.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)An alcohol distributor has admitted he illegally reimbursed his employees for donations made to the presidential campaign of Vice President Joe Biden at a sham fundraising event and provided free booze at parties for numerous politicians.
Christopher Tigani, the former president of NKS Distributors Inc., admitted in a plea agreement with the Justice Department that he bundled at least $219,800 in illegal campaign contributions to federal and state candidates. He also admitted he and his company provided in-kind contributions to federal and state candidates and campaign committees, including free alcohol at political fundraising events.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)It was April 2007 and Bunny Mellon, a then 96-year-old wealthy supporter of former Sen. John Edwards, was angry over how the media was over-blowing the news that the North Carolina Democrat got a $400 haircut.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Lawmakers on Thursday offered two competing amendments to a bill addressing the anonymous flow of taxpayer money to third party political groups. One would have required disclosure of such donations, the other would ban the government from doing anything to shed any light on the financial flows.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said her amendment, which was ruled out of order, would "require that anyone that receives an appropriation, a contract, doing business with the federal government produce full disclosure relative to political expenditures." She said it would eliminate "a dark corner of our system that is not being addressed."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims that a draft executive order being considered by the Obama administration would be an assault on free speech. The proposed order would require federal contractors to disclose donations to third party groups. But many of the companies affiliated with the Chamber have extolled the values of disclosure and already publicly reveal their donations voluntarily.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Last week a federal judge nominated by President Ronald Reagan rocked the campaign finance world when he ruled that corporations could give directly to candidates. Now he's signaled he might want a do over.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Campaign finance reformer advocates aren't only facing setbacks in federal courtrooms -- they're also getting beat on the messaging war with Republicans over a proposal to make federal contractors disclose their donations to third-party groups.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Last year the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United opened up the coffers of political action groups to corporate funds because the court found that companies -- just like people -- should be able to donate to political causes. Now a federal judge has ruled that based on that logic, corporations should be able to give directly to politicians just like human beings.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Two good government groups are warning members of Congress that soliciting donations for "Super PACs" would be illegal. In a letter to members of the House and Senate, Campaign Legal Center President Trevor Potter and Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer wrote that the members of Congress themselves would be breaking the law if they agreed to solicit funds on behalf of the groups.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Two Democratic political action committees are asking the Federal Election Commission if the Republican Super PAC's plan for politicians to solicit donations on their behalf is legal. And if it is, you can count them in.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A coalition of watchdog groups are calling for congressional hearings into what they regard as systematic failings of the Federal Election Commission, the agency charged with enforcing campaign finance law.
In a letter to the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate oversight committees, the coalition urges the panels to hold hearings on the FEC's "frequent refusal to enforce the campaign finance laws passed by Congress."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)A woman who embezzled $6 million from the insurance company where she worked, spent $175,000 on political campaigns and blamed it all on her split personalities has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Prosecutors say that Phyllis Stevens, who is 59, siphoned money off Des Moines-based Aviva USA for years by creating fake insurance agents and paying them huge commissions, which were wired into a bank account that Stevens and her wife, Marla, held in another state.
The Stevenses donated some $175,000 to state and federal candidates in 2006 and 2008, They chose mostly Democrats, including former Rep. Betsey Markey (D-CO) and Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) and Democratic groups, like MoveOn and the Democratic Party of Iowa, but also gave to some Republican women.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)One year after the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate influence of elections, a deep divide still remains over whether that's a good thing or a bad thing for the county. And both sides think the Founding Fathers would be on their side.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips thinks this week's state dinner with China has a much more sinister purpose than the White House would have us believe: "In 2008, Obama even received campaign contributions from Gaza (I.e. Hamas). So where does a corrupt, unpopular President from the party of treason go for reelection cash? China, of course."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Tea Party Express says it has refunded several thousand dollars in contributions made in the name of a woman who's been dead for almost four years.
Last week, the Center for Responsive Politics found that the tea party group had taken in $7,500 over the past two years from Joan Snyder Holmes, even though Holmes died in February 2007.
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