Jan Brewer

Brewer Pledged Cash For Immigration Fight, Instead Spent It Buying Copies Of Her Own Book

Nick R. Martin | February 2, 2012, 11:47AM

Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) signing copies of her book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," in Irvine, CA in November 2011.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) launched a special fundraising political action committee in October, pledging to use the money to fight illegal immigration and take on other issues she believes in. But based on financial disclosures filed this week, she has so far used it to do little more than buy copies of her own book.

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Campaign Finance

Post-Citizens United, SEC Should Force Political Disclosure, Report Argues

Susan Crabtree | September 7, 2011, 6:05AM

With the 2012 political money machine now in full post-Labor Day gear, watchdog groups are trying to turn up the pressure on businesses and unions to disclose every dollar they spend on behalf of candidates, even though that kind of transparency isn't required by law.

This is the first presidential campaign after the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision, which unlocked the floodgates for unlimited corporate and union donations, and the candidates and their supporters are already pushing fundraising to new limits with the creation of the first Super PACs -- super-sized organizations full of unlimited corporate and union cash that is not required to be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission or anyone else.

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Public Campaign

Watchdogs Want Bright Light On 'Super Committee's' Activities

Susan Crabtree | August 4, 2011, 3:07PM

Two dozen public interest, consumer, and government watchdog organizations want to shine a bright light on the activities of the newly established super committee tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction this fall.

Specifically, the groups want members of the joint Congressional committee to put a halt to all political fundraising while they conduct their work and provide details of any and all meetings and contacts with with lobbyists and outside parties.

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David Rivera

Rep. Rivera Raises Only $75K In 1st Quarter

Eric Lach | April 20, 2011, 9:44AM

Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)

Embattled freshman Florida Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) raised just $75,374 in the first quarter of 2011, Federal Election Commission documents show.

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John Ensign

Mulling Re-Election Bid Despite Scandal, Ensign Gears Up Fundraising

Zachary Roth | May 27, 2010, 4:06PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

After everything that's come out about Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), it seems implausible that he could run for office again. But he may be thinking about doing just that.

The Nevada Republican has been planning fundraisers and making calls to donors, with a view to a possible re-election bid in 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli Won't Give Up Money From Founder Of Alleged Scam Charity -- Also Not Eager To Investigate

Zachary Roth | May 18, 2010, 11:08AM

VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli says he has no plans to return contributions from a major backer whose veterans' charity is being probed in several states after a lengthy investigative report made it out to be a scam. The Virginia attorney general's office also doesn't sound eager to launch its own investigation of the charity.

Gov. Bob McDonnell's office said yesterday that it would donate to a legitimate veterans' charity the $5000 that McDonnell received last year from U.S. Navy Veterans Association founder Bobby Thompson. That move came in response to a series of stories in the St. Petersburg Times, which raised numerous red flags about USNVA, which claims to offer aid to navy veterans and raises money through phone solicitations. The stories revealed among other things that 84 of the group's 85 listed officers -- everyone but Thompson -- could not be located, and that USNVA refused to offer any documentation of its finances. The group is now being investigated by authorities in New Mexico, Missouri, and Florida, where it's based. Giving up the money is "the right thing to do," according to a McDonnell spokeswoman.

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Ken Cuccinelli

Top Cuccinelli Contributor's Mysterious 'Charity' Under Scrutiny

Zachary Roth | May 17, 2010, 12:07PM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

A major backer of Ken Cuccinelli is being probed in several states for running a charity that a lengthy newspaper investigation suggests may be an elaborate and long-running fraud.

There's no evidence that Cuccinelli, now the attorney general of Virginia, was aware there was anything untoward about Bobby Thompson or his charity, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association (USNVA), which says it offers assistance to navy veterans. Still, the news has forced the ambitious AG -- whose reputation for rectitude is a key part of his appeal to conservatives -- to answer some awkward questions. And the full story of what happened in Virginia suggests how easily one state government may have been taken in by a noble-sounding cause and a some well-timed campaign contributions.

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Fundraising

Donor Beware: A Guide To The Scammiest Conservative Direct Mail Shops

Jillian Rayfield | May 12, 2010, 12:44PM

It's become a significant siphon on conservative fundraising, intensified amid grassroots anger on the right in the age of Obama: direct mail or direct email outfits hit up conservatives around the country for small donations to beat the liberal agenda, or to support an unknown but exciting new right-wing candidate.

But the vast majority of the money goes to the group's favorite vendors, or in some cases to enriching the group's leaders.

So, for the conservatives out there, here's a guide to some of the questionable groups TPMmuckraker has encountered -- it's probably best to send your money elsewhere:

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AmeriPAC

Perpetual Money Machine: Conservative PAC Raises Millions In Order To Raise More Millions

Justin Elliott | May 12, 2010, 9:07AM

AmeriPAC President Alan Gottlieb (c-span.org/ameripac.org)

The fundraising emails from AmeriPAC stream in with subject lines designed to give a conservative a heart attack: "Obama Plays 'Russian Roulette' With Supreme Court" ... "Illegals March Terrorizing American Cities" ... "Stop Reid's Extreme Left-Wing Agenda."

In lurid prose sprinkled with bold and underlined capital letters, the emails highlight the outrage du jour and ask like-minded people to help fund the fight against President Obama's agenda: "We need you to donate regularly every week or month with the same commitment to candidates that are listening and help AmeriPAC give the maximum support we can to every candidate that will pledge to take back America," a typical pitch goes.

But despite promises to spend donor money on conservative candidates, a review of AmeriPAC's campaign finance reports by TPMmuckraker shows the outfit has used just $1,300 on campaign-related spending out of nearly $1.3 million raised in the 2010 election cycle. Meanwhile, about 85 percent of the money -- which was raised in $20, $50, and $100 dollar increments from individuals around the U.S. -- has gone back into fundraising expenses, with nearly $1 million going to a single Pennsylvania-based email marketing firm with a history of controversy.

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Debbie LeHardy

Could RNC Finance Official Fired After Purchases At Luxury Boutique Be In Legal Jeopardy?

Zachary Roth | May 10, 2010, 12:32PM

RNC Chair Michael Steele and RNC Deputy Finance Director Debbie LeHardy

A Republican fundraising pro who was fired from the RNC after putting purchases at a high-end jewelry boutique on the party's tab, could potentially wind up in more hot water.

Debbie LeHardy was terminated Friday as the RNC's deputy finance director. Last month, reporters for Alternet and other outlets, combing through the RNC's FEC filings in the wake of the recent scandal over a night out at a bondage-themed night-club, found that LeHardy was reimbursed for a $450 purchase from Henri Bendel, a Manhattan jewelry and accessories boutique that touts itself as a "girls' playground for trendsetting young women from around the world." Though the store has no restaurant, the expenditure was listed on the FEC report as a meal.

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Republican National Committee

RNC On 'Census' Mailers: It's Dems' Fault For Writing An 'Unclear' Bill

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2010, 5:46PM

RNC Chair Michael Steele

Now this is some chutzpah...

The RNC is taking all kinds of heat for sending out a misleading fundraising mailer marked "Census," even after the recent passage of a law aimed at banning such mailers. And now it's blaming Democrats for writing what it calls unclear legislation.

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Republican National Committee

On RNC Census Mailer, Dem Rep. Slams 'Party Of Loopholes'

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2010, 4:40PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

The RNC hasn't elaborated -- despite several requests -- on its view that its misleading "Census" fundraising mailer is legal, despite a recently passed law that aimed to ban such missives.

But it may hang on the fact that the law, which passed last month, only forbids mailers with the word "census" on the outside of the envelope -- while in the RNC's mailer, "Census" is visible through the envelope's window.

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Republican National Committee

Postal Service Probing RNC 'Census' Mailer

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2010, 4:04PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

The U.S. Postal Service is investigating the RNC's deceptive "Census" fundraising mailer, a spokesman tells TPMmuckraker.

Last night, Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Postmaster General John Potter, urging him to probe whether the mailer violates a law passed last month aimed at banning such mailers.

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Republican National Committee

GOP Rep. To Steele: Stop 'Deceptive And Misleading' Census Mailer

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2010, 3:49PM

RNC Chair Michael Steele

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has fired off a letter to RNC Chair Michael Steele, urging him to put a stop to the deceptive "Census" mailers that the party has been sending of late.

Chaffetz writes that he's concerned that the mailer "violates not only the spirit but the letter" of the law passed by Congress last month -- of which Chaffetz was a co-sponsor -- which aimed to ban such mailers.

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Darrell Issa

GOPer Readying New Legislation To Ban RNC 'Census' Mailer Once And For All

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2010, 1:32PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is working on new legislation that would close any loopholes in the law banning deceptive fundraising mailers of the sort sent recently by the RNC, according to his office.

"We're gonna do everything we can to protect the integrity of the census," Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for the California Republican, told TPMmuckraker. "If there is a loophole, we want to close it." Bardella said he expected the legislation would be introduced today and marked up next week.

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Republican National Committee

GOP Rep: RNC 'Census' Mailer 'Outrages Me'

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2010, 12:27PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

The outrage over that RNC "Census" fundraising mailer -- sent just weeks after Congress passed a law to ban such mailers -- has gone bipartisan.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), a co-sponsor of the legislation passed last month, told The PlumLine's Greg Sargent that the mailer is intended to "deceive people," and added that he and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) will send a letter to RNC chair Michael Steele urging him to put a stop to the missives.

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Republican National Committee

GOP 'Census' Mailer Consultant Dismisses Concerns As Political 'Ankle Biting'

Zachary Roth | April 27, 2010, 11:47AM

GOP consultant Walter Lukens and RNC Chair Michael Steele

The Republican consultant behind the RNC's misleading fundraising mailers marked "Census" proudly touts the mailers on his firm's website. And he's dismissing the bipartisan outrage over the missives as "the ankle biting of the political process," adding that the Virgin Mary "had to go to Bethlehem to be part of a census."

The website for The Lukens Company, run by GOP consultant Walter Lukens and boasting a list of big-name clients, includes "Republican National Committee Census" as an example of the firm's work. The mailer is said to be the "most successful prospecting package for [the] RNC," and to have "generated hundreds of thousands of new donors to the RNC file."

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Congressional Trust 2010

RNC and NRCC Join Forces For New Midterm Fundraising Operation

Justin Elliott | April 27, 2010, 8:36AM

RNC Chair Michael Steele and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), the NRCC chair

In a sign that the 2010 money race is heating up, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee earlier this month set up a joint fundraising committee which will allow each group to benefit from the other's donor base as well as inject money into key House races, NRCC spokesman Paul Lindsay confirmed to TPMmuckraker.

NRCC Deputy Finance Director Jenny Sheffield Drucker describes the advantages of the committee, called Congressional Trust 2010, in an April 23 email to prospective donors obtained by TPMmuckraker: "It allows the RNC and the NRCC to fund such activities as direct contributions and coordinated expenditures for Republican House candidates in targeted races across the country."

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Republican National Committee

DNC Slams 'Disturbing' RNC 'Census' Mailer

Zachary Roth | April 26, 2010, 4:02PM

Picking up on TPMmuckraker's report from this morning, the Democratic National Committee is slamming its Republican counterpart for sending out a misleading fundraising mailer marked "Census Document", even after Congress last month passed a law aimed at banning such mailers.

DNC chair Tim Kaine accused Michael Steele and co. of "flouting a law passed by Congress unanimously, and signed by the President, as a direct result of the RNC's previous efforts to confuse people on this very issue."

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Republican National Committee

Even After Law Aimed At Banning It, RNC Still Sending Misleading 'Census' Mailer

Zachary Roth | April 26, 2010, 9:38AM

RNC Chair Michael Steele

The Republican National Committee is continuing to send out a misleading fundraising mailer labeled "Census Document," just weeks after Congress passed a law aimed at banning such mailers.

In response, the Democratic member of Congress behind the new law slammed the RNC for "trying to make a buck on the Census." But Michael Steele and co. are claiming the law doesn't cover their mailer.

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Young Eagles

RNC: Young Eagles Still Grounded

Zachary Roth | April 21, 2010, 10:59AM

Clockwise from top-left: Italo Zanzi, Ryan Morfin, John Roby Penn IV, and Penn with others at an event in Washington, D.C.

It looks like J. Roby Penn IV and his high-living friends will have a freer schedule for the forseeable future. The Republican National Committee is knocking down speculation that it had planned to reconstitute the Young Eagles.

That's the group of young donors that was grounded last month after flying too close to the sun by putting the tab for a trip to an L.A. bondage club on the RNC's tab. In the wake of that news, the RNC fired the staffer who oversaw the program, and said the group's events had been placed on hold.

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Sarah Palin

Only Dead Fish: In Handling Finances, Palin Appears To Be Looking Out For Number One

Zachary Roth | April 15, 2010, 5:56PM

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

It looks like the guiding principle behind Sarah Palin's handling of her finances is: Look out for number one.

The former TV sportscaster has been raking in the bucks since stepping down as the Alaska governor. At the same time, her political action committee hasn't exactly been spreading the wealth.

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Young Eagles

The GOP's Young Eagles: 'If You've Got a Little Insecurity Complex, But You've Got Money -- What A Cool Group To Hang Out With'

Zachary Roth | April 6, 2010, 5:29PM

Clockwise from top-left: Italo Zanzi, Ryan Morfin, John Roby Penn IV, and Penn with others at an event in Washington, D.C.

So: Who's your favorite member of the Young Eagles?

As we're guessing you know by now, that's the RNC-created program for young donors whose night out at a bondage-themed LA club ended up on the committee's tab -- triggering the latest round of speculation over whether Michael Steele can survive.

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Base Connect

Citing TPMmuckraker Report, Cao's Campaign Suspends Work With Base Connect

Zachary Roth | March 9, 2010, 9:37AM

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)

The campaign of Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) has suspended its relationship with Base Connect, a Washington fundraising firm, citing TPMmuckraker's reporting on the company.

"We have frozen doing anything else with Base Connect," Bryan Wagner a top adviser to the campaign, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune yesterday. Wagner said the decision was prompted by our story from yesterday, which suggested that Cao is among the GOP candidates being taken advantage of by Base Connect. Wagner added that the decision would also apply to Base Connect's affiliated companies, at least one of which works out of the same office suite.

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Base Connect

Notorious GOP Firm Still Fleecing Longshot Candidates

Zachary Roth | March 8, 2010, 8:19AM

Republican Congressional candidate Bill Russell and Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA)

BMW Direct, the GOP fundraising firm known for taking long-shot candidates for a ride while raking in big bucks off their campaigns, has re-emerged under a new name -- but with a similar modus operandi. And this time around, even some Republicans are crying foul, with one consultant accusing the firm of engaging in "sub-prime fundraising."

One 2010 client of BMW Direct -- now rechristened as Base Connect -- is William Russell, the retired lieutenant colonel who is running for the Pennsylvania Congressional seat of the late John Murtha. Russell's campaign raised over $895,000 in the fourth quarter of last year, according to federal disclosure records. But it paid over $719,000 of that amount -- about 80 percent -- to Base Connect, and other companies associated with it, which ran the company's direct-mail fundraising program. For the year as a whole, Russell's campaign raised over $2.8 million, but spent over $2.6 million -- much of it again going to Base Connect -- leaving it with cash on hand of just $211,000.

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Republican National Committee

GOPers Blast RNC 'Census' Mailers: 'Nothing Could Be More Wrong'

Zachary Roth | March 4, 2010, 5:28PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

Two Congressional Republicans today blasted those RNC fundraising mailers that appear made to look like official Census Bureau communications. "Nothing could be more wrong," said one.

During a hearing of the House Oversight committee, which is looking into the mailers, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) declared: "I am obviously a member of the Republican Party. I have seen the Republican Party send out documents that say 'census.' I think it's wrong, I think it's deceptive, and I wish they wouldn't do it. I would hope our party would cease from doing that."

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Republican National Committee

Despite Criticism, RNC Sends Another Fundraising Mailer Designed To Look Like Census Document

Zachary Roth | February 25, 2010, 3:35PM

RNC Chairman Michael Steele

It's one thing for a political party to send out a fund-raising mailer designed to look like an official Census Bureau document, in the apparent hope of bamboozling some confused recipients into opening it. After all, who among us hasn't done that at some point?

But it takes some chutzpah to double down on the tactic, even after the Census Bureau itself, as well as members of Congress from your own party, have complained about it -- and to do it in the same year that the actual Census is being conducted.

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Barack Obama

White House Responds To Wash Times Story: We've Set 'Toughest Ethics Standards' Ever

Justin Elliott | October 28, 2009, 2:00PM

The Obama Administration has released a lengthy response to the Washington Times story that reported Democrats are using the White House as a fundraising tool, saying that "contributing does not guarantee a ticket to the White House, nor does it prohibit the contributor from visiting."

"Given that nearly 4 million Americans donated to the campaign, it's no surprise that some who contributed have visited the White House," the statement says.

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Fundraising

Obama Using The White House As A Fundraising Tool

Justin Elliott | October 28, 2009, 9:51AM

Pres. Obama and green champagne at 2009 St. Patrick's Day reception in the East Room

Try to look surprised: The Obama Administration has doled out access to the White House and to top aides as a way to keep top Democratic donors feeling special.

The Washington Times has a good rundown today on how it all works, including invitations for two bundlers to bring their families to the famous bowling alley at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House.

As in past administrations, access to the White House is an irresistible addition to the Dems' quiver of perks for donors.

The Times reports:

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