Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Inside spending: super PACs, dark money groups dominated by political insiders

By suppressing the speech of manifold corporations, both for-profit and nonprofit, the Government prevents their voices and viewpoints from reaching the public and advising voters on which persons or entities are hostile to their interests.

Happy Birthday Richard Nixon -- RIP campaign finance reform?

Groups ask feds to investigate mystery corporate campaign donations

Election watchdog groups are asking the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission to investigate a mysterious series of large campaign donation first reported by Sunlight.

Outside spenders' return on investment

--Updated Dec. 18-- Outside groups spent more than $1.3 billion in independent expenditures to influence the outcome of the election, we now get to see just what all that money bought them -- or didn't. Turns out some of the smart money wasn't so smart after all when it came to making political bets. This year, the pro-business GOP Crossroads fundraising combine and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce weren't as good at picking winners as the labor movement, which appears to be one of the surprise winners of Election Day.

And the ads go on: 2012's big campaign spenders keep up the air wars

Think the campaign season was over? Since Election Day, dozens of TV, web and radio ads have been airing in political battlegrounds, many of them directly naming lawmakers. The Sunlight Foundation has been archiving them on Ad Hawk, a mobile app that allows viewers to help flag political advertising that they are seeing and learn about the funders behind ads .

A look at online ads in the 2012 election

Super PACs, trade associations and other nonprofit groups that made campaign expenditures spent roughly $46.1 million on web ads. Though the Obama campaign considerably outspent Romney's campaign on web advertising, outside Republican outside spenders ponied up nearly five times more on online advertising than liberal outside groups, according to independent expenditure filings with the FEC.

The 2012 super PAC million dollar club

At least 156 people and entities gave more than $1 million to super PACs, according to an analysis of post-election campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. See a list of the top 10 super PAC donors below.

Tallying the Adelsons' $92 million

The Adelson’s have given a mind-blowing $92.28 million dollars to outside spending groups this election. The Casino mogul and his physician wife were the impetus behind Newt Gingrich’s primary campaign. After Gingrich left the race, donations to “Winning our Future” became donations to “Restore our Future” the pro-Romney group that the Adelson’s would give the most to, $30 in all.

Secret money fuels Freedomworks

New filings show that Freedomworks, the Tea party-aligned super PAC that's in the midst of a messy leadership breakup, got more than $12 million from two shadowy companies set up just this fall.

Stealthy Wealthy: Donald Sussman, Rep. Pingree make strange bedfellows

In the five or so years since hedge fund manager Donald Sussman and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, have known each other, the investment tycoon has made his mark in her state, becoming its top political donor in 2012 and a major backer to Democratic super PACs. He's also found ways to bankroll her campaign, while buying a controlling interest in the local papers that cover her district.

Adelsons' $10 million checks revealed among last-minute campaign donations

Eye-popping checks from the Adelsons were among the more startling findings as campaign committees revealed their last-minute election donors.

Who benefited most from dark money in the 2012 election?

Eighteen incoming members of Congress each got more than $1 million in dark money donations during their recent campaigns, but many more have reason to resent the stealthiest of campaign contributions, a Sunlight Foundation analysis has found. Dark money represents campaign contributions whose sources never have to be publicly reported. That's because the money is funneled through non-profit entities organized under a section of the tax code that protects them from having to name their donors. These kind of groups -- such as the pro-GOP Crossroads GPS and the pro-Democrat League of Conservation Voters -- have increased their electoral role in the wake of a series of court rulings that opened the door for unlimited corporate and union spending on campaigns. Nonprofit groups made more than $300 million of such donations during the course of the 2012 election cycle, the vast majority to influence the fall races.

Outside spenders' return on investment: Capitol Hill edition

Sunlight calculates outside spenders return on investment for congressional races and hosts a webinar on how to use the data

After election, dozens of super PACs shut down

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Colbert Super PAC SHH! - Secret Second 501c4 - Trevor Potter www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive