Hey, Partiers. It’s been sort of a tough week in the nation’s capital, what with the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service, the outrage at the Justice Department and the drumbeat of GOP criticism over Benghazi. I could go on for pages about how bad it’s been for the White House — but others...
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Real Time Investigations
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Break from the scandals with a bargain basement deal, a ladies night, and a VIP guest By Jake Harper May 17, 2013 1:51 p.m.
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Just another manic Monday: Obama to NYC for fundraiser, senators hit links By Jake Harper May 13, 2013 3:56 p.m.
Harvey WeinsteinHey, Partiers! After golfing on Saturday, then celebrating Mother’s Day on Sunday and hosting British Prime Minister David Cameron this morning, you might think that President Obama would be too tuckered out to deal with any fundraising. But you’d be wrong! (This is the Party Time...
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Guns, Getaways and Taylor Swift — This Week in Partying By Louis Serino May 10, 2013 5:46 p.m.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. The life of a lawmaker is TOUGH. Take it from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who recently lamented the “soul-crushing” fundraising every congressmember has to do to survive! Murphy spoke of the dreaded call time, where he sat in a room for four to five hours a...
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Partying like it’s 2014 — and 2016 By Louis Serino May 3, 2013 4:28 p.m.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Nothing can stop the partying. That’s the message presented by our friend Dave Levinthal at the Center for Public Integrity, who recently wrote a piece chronicling lawmakers and their never-ending quest for cash — no matter the circumstances. The third week of...
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Mark Sanford not giving up yet, plans party with S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley By Louis Serino Apr 29, 2013 4:47 p.m.
As the race for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District comes down to the wire, embattled former South Carolina Gov. Mark “Appalachian Nation” Sanford is enlisting the help of his successor, current South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at a May 1st fundraiser, with prices rising up...
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Cory Booker, David Vitter and the SC GOP party during congressional spring break (part two) By Louis Serino Apr 26, 2013 3:10 p.m.
Have you ever worked a full month without any scheduled days off? If so, congratulations — you’re not a member of Congress! America’s favorite lawmaking body is going on Spring Break Part 2 — because the first one seemed pretty fun – taking the next week off to rest...
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Obama parties for DNC, Colberts Unite, Booker’s Back Again, and Rubio courts young donors By Louis Serino Apr 19, 2013 4:38 p.m.
After this past week, America really needs a party to cheer up. Answering the call, several members of Congress are planning fundraising events as the 2014 races heat up — and maybe some early rumblings of 2016. In fact, the PT calendar shows almost 30 parties happening next week! From...
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Partying for Action reports fundraising haul, the Colberts cash in, and more By Louis Serino Apr 12, 2013 4:49 p.m.
Party Animal Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Early this morning, the Committee Formerly Known As Obama’s Campaign, Organizing for Action, reported hauling in just under $4.9 million for the first quarter of 2013, an amount that the Los Angeles Times dubbed “a modest debut.” What a...
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Maryland delegate raffles off two assault rifles in fundraiser By Louis Serino Apr 12, 2013 3:04 p.m.
While the national debate on gun control continues, Maryland Del. Don Dwyer, a conservative Republican from Anne Arundel County, is making his position known by holding a fundraiser and raffling off two high-powered assault rifles. The event, known as “Delegate Dwyer’s Gun Rights and...
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I’ll see you at the parties: Cory Booker’s blockbuster, GOP senators’ double feature, and more By Louis Serino Apr 5, 2013 3:54 p.m.
Famed Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert died yesterday, taking with him the vast majority of mankind’s opinion on film. Whether he was critiquing bombs like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo (“Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie...
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Booker, Obama, and Rubio party during spring break By Louis Serino Mar 29, 2013 6:10 p.m.
Next week Congress continues its extended Easter break, because, you know, members almost had to work a whole month straight! Luckily for you Party Time never takes a week off, but that does mean the calendar is still looking slimmer than usual. However, the parties that are scheduled for next week...
Apple lobbies on taxes more than any other subject
By Bill Allison May 20, 2013 5:33 p.m.
Ahead of a hearing at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations tomorrow at which its CEO, Tim Cook, is the star witness, computer, tablet and smartphone manufacturer Apple has preemptively released his prepared remarks defending the company's tax practices, which include pooling $100 billion overseas, away from the grasping hand of the Internal Revenue Service.
The prepared testimony does not mention the more than $14.5 million Apple has spent on lobbying the federal government since 1998, nor that taxes top the list of issues the company has raised, according to data in Influence Explorer. One of the bills appearing most frequently in its lobbying reports is the Freedom to Invest Act, introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, that would allow U.S. companies to bring home some of the cash they hold overseas without facing tax on it.
Read all about itReporter's notebook: How we came up with that campaign finance maze
By Kathy Kiely May 20, 2013 10:29 a.m.
If it makes you all feel any better, campaign finance is hard for us too.
At the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group, we make a speciality of money in politics reporting, so when the dark money groups that we often cover burst into the headlines -- on reports that the Internal Revenue Service was denying the coveted tax exempt status to Tea Party groups -- we figured it was time to put what we know about the campaign finance ecosystem out there.
Read all about it2016 preview? Three videos by GOP groups all target Hillary Clinton
By Keenan Steiner May 16, 2013 3:50 p.m.As the White House released long-sought documents on the Benghazi affair and Republican lawmakers have renewed their criticism of the Obama administration's handling of it, three big Republican groups have all produced videos on the episode that led to the death of an American ambassador. All strike a similar tone and focus on the same target: Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state whose strong polling numbers make her an early favorite in the 2016 presidential election.
One video comes from the Republican National Committee and two from outside spending groups: American Crossroads, a super PAC, and American Future Fund, a 501(c)4 group, the type of nonprofit receiving heavy attention this week in light of the admission by the Internal Revenue Service that it delayed granting tax exempt status to some Tea Party groups.
All of the videos suggest that President Barack Obama and Clinton covered up the truth about the 2012 terrorist attack at the U.S. mission in Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The Crossroads and AFF videos are both produced in the style of spy thrillers and flash across the screen the date of the attack, Sept. 11, 2012, with its reminders of the even more deadly terror attacks that occurred in New York and Washington 11 years earlier.
Read all about itHow ex-Det. Guy Bowers became the biggest campaign donor of all
By Keenan Steiner May 16, 2013 10 a.m.One of the most prolific donors to political candidates running for federal office has no idea that’s his status.
Guy Bowers, a 66-year-old ex-detective who says he owes his fortune to an inheritance and some savvy investing, is not your typical corporate executive often associated with fattening politicians’ campaign accounts.
Yet Bowers was such an enthusiastic donor that he tops a list of perhaps hundreds who appear to have broken a campaign finance law that caps the total amount of money individuals can give federal political candidates and committees in the course of a two-year election cycle. For 2011 and 2012, that limit was set at $117,000. Bowers ended up spending about three times that amount -- about $360,000 -- according to Influence Explorer.
