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Bopp seconds request to FEC to allow politicians to raise funds for Super PACs
By Bill Allison May 31, 2011 4:21 p.m.Citizens United architect and campaign finance law foe James Bopp Jr. has seconded a request by Democratic campaign finance experts Perkins Coie for the Federal Election Commission to allow politicians and party committee officials to solicit corporations and labor unions for unlimited funds to be spent by independent expenditure-only committees, also known as Super PACs. Bopp's new client, the Republican Super PAC, has already outlined such a fundraising strategy to Republican party officials.
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Democratic Super PACs ask FEC to OK candidate fundraising
By Bill Allison May 19, 2011 4:39 p.m.Following on the heels of the new fundraising strategy laid out by James Bopp Jr. for Republican Super PAC, a pair of similar Democratic groups -- also known as independent expenditure-only committees -- have asked the Federal Election Commission to rule on whether party committee officials and candidates for federal office can permissibly raise unlimited funds from any source for these outside organizations.
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New Bopp Super PAC wants Republicans to help it raise unlimited funds
By Bill Allison May 16, 2011 1:04 p.m.A Super PAC formed by campaign finance law challenger and Indiana attorney James Bopp Jr. intends to harness the fundraising efforts of Republican Party committees and candidates to raise unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations to be spent influencing elections in the 2012 campaign.
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Campaign disclosure foe James Bopp forms Super PAC
By Bill Allison May 13, 2011 11:21 a.m.Attorney James Bopp, who's a key architect of the legal battle that's led to a flood of outside spending in elections, has registered a new independent expenditure only committee with the Federal Election Commission called the Republican Super PAC Inc.
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Last Super PAC of 2010 started by wife of congressional challenger
By Bill Allison Jan 10, 2011 3:31 p.m.We missed it between Christmas and New Years, but Heartland Revolution registered as an independent expenditure only committee with the Federal Election Commission. Such committees, also known as Super PACs, can take contributions in any amount from any source, and spend that money influencing federal elections.
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Two groups file as Super PACs
By Bill Allison Dec 1, 2010 12:07 p.m.The mid-term elections are over and the 2012 contest is 23 months away, but the independent groups that played an outsized role in the former are already gearing up for the next contest. Protecting America's Retirees and America's Next Generation filed letters last month with the Federal Election Commission declaring their intent to take unlimited contributions from any source.
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Dark money groups spend $110 million in 168 races
By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 28, 2010 3:53 p.m.Outside groups that have not disclosed their donors have dumped more than $1 million into each of 14 Senate and 18 House races. As much as $110 million has been pumped into the elections so far by political groups that have yet to disclose their donors, reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission show, and this "dark money" from unknown contributors has impacted 168 congressional races across the country.
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RightChange.com Inc. funded by pharmaceutical industry figure
By Ryan Sibley Oct 28, 2010 9:41 a.m.Fred Eshelman, CEO of North Carolina-based Pharmaceutical Product Development, has given $3.38 million to RightChange.com, an organization taking part in the onslaught of outside spending this election cycle, according to documents filed with the IRS. Almost all of the money going to RightChange comes from Eshelman; the organization is a vehicle for him to air his political views, which happen to align with the GOP's.
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Surprise! The National Education Association funds the National Education Association Advocacy Fund
By Ryan Sibley Oct 27, 2010 2:27 p.m.The National Education Association Advocacy Fund, a Super PAC which has spent $4.2 million to influence the 2010 election cycle so far, receives all of it's funding from the National Education Association, a labor union—or a 501c6—and also its parent organization. No individual donors are listed.
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Dems narrow the outside spending margin
By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 22, 2010 3:06 p.m.Ten days before the mid-term elections, and left leaning outside groups still lag behind their conservative counterparts, and are being outspent by $43 million. But spending by the two Democratic party committees--the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee--have narrowed the gap, leaving them $23 million behind all Republican spending. Just five days ago, Democrats trailed overall by $37.6 million.
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Dark money: Super PACs fueled by $97.5 million that can't be traced to donors
By Ryan Sibley Oct 20, 2010 11:31 a.m.Of the $189 million spent so far by Super PACs, non-profits and labor unions to influence the 2010 mid-term elections, $97.5 million has come from groups that do not disclose any donors, an analysis of Federal Election Commission contribution records shows. That is, about 52 percent of the money spent so far on everything from political ads to phone banks to fliers promoting or opposing federal candidates has come from groups that don't disclose the sources of their funds.*
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Dead end disclosure: Super PAC's biggest giver is a shadowy nonprofit with links to Sarah Palin
By Ryan Sibley Oct 20, 2010 11:29 a.m.Citizens for a Working America PAC, a political organization that's spent $250,000 to oppose the reelection of Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., discloses its contributions to the Federal Election Commission. Its contributor (it has only one) is New Models, a Virginia-based non-profit organized under section 501(c)4 of the Internal Revenue Code, that doesn't disclose its donors.
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Right-leaning outside groups outspending opposition by $40.8 million
By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 18, 2010 2:16 p.m.Republican-leaning Super PACs and non-party political organizations have reported spending $40.8 million more on mid-term elections than those supporting Democrats, an analysis of Federal Election Commission data shows.
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Did Murkowski certify that Alaskans Standing Together isn't working with Murkowski?
By Bill Allison Oct 17, 2010 6:14 p.m.Alaskans Standing Together is a Super PAC funded by federal contractors based in the 49th state that's trying to help Sen. Lisa Murkowski remain in Congress through a write-in campaign. The organization filed its third quarter disclosure report with the Federal Election Commission on Oct. 13 and an amended version on Oct. 15; on the last page of each, the FEC requires Alaskans Standing Together to avow that it's not working with any candidate or party committee--that it's truly independent. The exact language reads as follows:
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