Money & Politics

September 28, 2012

This Week in Dark Money: Sept. 28, 2012

by Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones

We’re proud to collaborate with Mother Jones in sharing insightful journalism related to money and politics. We’ll be posting this weekly roundup every Friday. Share your thoughts about these must-read stories and always feel free to suggest your own in the comments section.

A quick look at the week that was in the world of political dark money…

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The scarcity of honest information about the misleading political ads invading our airwaves has knocked viewers and voters for a loss.”

—A new report from the media reform group Free Press, criticizing local TV stations in swing states for failing to report on the influence of outside-spending groups. According to Free Press’s research, more than 85 percent of ads from outside spending groups relay misleading information, yet swing-state stations “devoted little to no air time to fact-checking claims made in the ads, and the stations spent no time investigating the organizations that paid for the ads.”

Money & Politics

September 21, 2012

This Week In Dark Money: Sept. 21, 2012

by Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones

A quick look at the week that was in the world of political dark money…

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I mean, if somebody here has a $10 million check — I can’t solicit it from you, but feel free to use it wisely.”
—Barack Obama, speaking to guests about donating to outside spending groups at a fundraiser hosted by Beyonce and Jay-Z. As the Huffington Post reported, the remark was “seemingly in jest” but also the latest example of how closely campaigns have flirted with the ban on coordinating their activities with outside groups. That rule is hardly ever enforced, though, and as Campaign Legal Center senior counsel Paul S. Ryan told HuffPo, Obama’s comment was vague enough to not qualify as a direct request for contributions.

Money & Politics

September 14, 2012

Can Congress Come Out and Play?

by Michael Winship

With just a couple of weeks left in September, members of the House and Senate hurried back to Washington after their August recess and the party conventions, ready to get some legislating done and impress their constituents before they head back home for the final stretch of their reelection campaigns.

Yes, I’m auditioning for a job at The Onion.

Members hustled back to the capital all right, not to get much accomplished for the good of the nation but to party down at events designed to scrape every last nickel of campaign contributions from the jam pots of cash held by K Street lobbyists and special interests.

The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported that as of this past Monday, House Democrats had 184 events scheduled through the end of the month — that’s according to a directory from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“Their GOP counterparts, according to a list from the National Republican Congressional Committee, have more than 110 breakfasts, coffees, lunches, dinners and receptions on the calendar. That doesn’t include scores more Senate fundraisers and intimate industry-focused events not logged on the official lists.”

At Politico’s “Influence” tip sheet, a Seinfeld fan dubbed this crass carnival of campaign loot “A Fundraising Festivus for Do-Nothing Congress” and proceeded to list a page and a half of events — just the tip of the cold cash iceberg.

Money & Politics

September 14, 2012

This Week in Dark Money: Sept. 14, 2012

by Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones

A quick look at the week that was in the world of political dark money…

THE MONEY SHOT

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“If [Republicans] win in November, we won’t recognize the America they’ll create.”
—A fundraising plea from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which previously warned big donors to “wake up” and start giving to super PACs, decrying the “hundreds of millions in Citizens United corporate dollars” flooding into the 2012 election. MORE

Money & Politics

September 7, 2012

This Week in Dark Money: Sept. 6, 2012

by Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones

A quick look at the week that was in the world of political dark money…

Money & Politics

September 6, 2012

Campaign Fundraisers Never Die. They Just Reload.

by Michael Winship

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, center, and Illinois delegates cheer as Senate candidate from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The Republicans may have Clint Eastwood on their side, protecting us from sneak attacks by furniture, but the Democrats have their own troubled antihero: Rahmbo!

On Wednesday, it was announced that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s former chief of staff and Bill Clinton’s former political and finance director (where his ruthlessness earned him the Rahmbo nickname), was stepping down as national co-chair of the Obama reelection committee. Instead, Emanuel, a notoriously potent fundraiser, is joining forces with the pro-Obama super PAC, Priorities USA Action.

Nicholas Confessore at The New York Times writes:

“The deployment of Mr. Emanuel… gives Democratic groups for the first time a dedicated rainmaker of a stature similar to Karl Rove, the strategist who advises a network of Republican outside groups that are expected to spend as much as $500 million in this election cycle. Mr. Emanuel will also raise money for two super PACs supporting Democrats in Congress, beginning with a fund-raiser in Chicago on Monday for House Majority PAC.”
“‘I just find all the special-interest money lined up on the other side, tilting the scales in a way that I don’t want to see. So if I can help, I’m going to help,’ Mr. Emanuel said in an interview on Wednesday. His considerable campaign energies, Mr. Emanuel said, would be best spent helping Mr. Obama where he really needed help.”

Money & Politics

September 2, 2012

President Obama’s Reddit Debut

by Suzanne Merkelson

Barack Obama on Reddit.com, via @BarackObama Twitter

Last week, while the rest of the country’s politicos chattered about the Republican National Convention, President Obama made an unannounced visit to Reddit, the social media site, and answered a few questions from the technorati via the site’s “Ask Me Anything” (or “AMA”) question and answer feature.

As one of Andrew Sullivan’s readers pointed out, Ron Paul has a very active fan base on Reddit and “at the very moment their own party plays dirty tricks to shut them up at the RNC, along comes Obama and at least implies through his use of the AMA that he is listening.”

The interview was the first of its kind in American presidential politics and for a few hours, part of the national political conversation shifted from Tampa to the Internet, where a record number of visitors to Reddit shut the site down.

Money & Politics

August 31, 2012

This Week in Dark Money: August 31, 2012

by Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones

A quick look at the week that was in the world of political dark money…

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“This is a nightmare for me.”
—Former Rick Santorum booster Foster Friess, speaking to MoJo’s Tim Murphy at the Republican National Convention in Tampa about the attention heaped on GOP megadonors. “It’s too many things going on. I’ve got like four things to go to. It’s just so frustrating,” he continued. “I’ve had enough speeches!” Friess was just one of several deep-pocketed donors in Tampa. Miriam Adelson, wife of casino magnate Sheldon and a megadonor herself, gave a policy talk. Direct-marketing CEO Frank VanderSloot and his wife met privately with Karl Rove; hedge-fund manager Paul Singer also organized a private meeting with Rove. And David Koch ”discussed saving America” with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). MORE

Money & Politics

August 29, 2012

Political or Not? You Be the Judge

by Amanda Zamora, ProPublica

Nonprofit groups that hold tax-exempt status in exchange for promoting social welfare are injecting millions of dollars into the presidential race.

Unlike political action committees, these groups — known as 501(c)(4)s for their section of the tax code — do not have to disclose their donors.

As ProPublica has reported, some of these groups have said they would not engage in political activities in applying for IRS recognition of their tax status, then have submitted filings later showing they have done the opposite. Some groups also have reported in their tax returns that they have not spent money, directly or indirectly, to influence elections. Yet in separate filings to election officials they have reported paying for television ads that seem overtly political.

We used our new Dark Money Database to find several examples of nonprofits that said “no” when asked about political spending on their 2010 tax returns. Then we reviewed ads they told the Federal Election Commission they paid for during the same time period. MORE

Money & Politics

August 24, 2012

This Week in Dark Money: August 24, 2012

by Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones

A quick look at the week that was in the world of political dark money…

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“He’s not going to get grassroots support from individuals; I don’t think he’ll get organized support by the party or 501(c)(4)s and I don’t know how you survive without that kind of support.”
—Republican operative Bradley Blakeman, expressing skepticism about Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-Mo.) chances at unseating Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill after his comment that victims of “legitimate rape” aren’t likely to become pregnant. Groups including Karl Rove’s dark-money Crossroads GPS have pulled their ads from the race (for now). MORE