As we continue our effort to keep you up-to-date on how money corrupts American government and politics, BillMoyers.com is pleased to publish this daily digest of money and politics news compiled and edited by Adam Smith of the non-partisan campaign finance reform group, Every Voice.
In her big speech Saturday, Hillary Clinton said, “Democracy can’t be just for billionaires and corporations. Prosperity and democracy are part of your basic bargain too.” She added that that one of her “four fights” will be “reforming our government and revitalizing our democracy so that it works for everyday Americans,” highlighting the need for disclosure and maybe a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. I look forward to seeing a full platform (here are the suggestions we made in April).
And today, Jeb Bush will finally announce what we’ve known for months: “The announcement of Mr. Bush’s White House run will end an unusual, legally problematic and occasionally comical phase in which Mr. Bush traveled, raised money and campaigned as a full-fledged candidate but insisted, despite all evidence to the contrary, that he was not officially exploring a presidential run.”
This comes after attending “roughly 70 money events” and “[r]arely taking off more than a day or two off the money chase.” (We pulled some other numbers together here.)
The Campaign Legal Center’s Larry Noble on Jeb’s non-candidacy: “While other candidates have blurred or broken the line regarding when they become a candidate, the nature and extent of Bush’s reported activities are unprecedented and are strong evidence that his violations are ‘knowing and willful.'”
The Center for Public Integrity’s “12 Things to Know about Jeb Bush.”
Campaign Finance/Elections
USA Today: GOP strategist gets two years in prison for illegal super PAC activity –> “A former Republican campaign operative was sentenced to two years in prison Friday in what the Department of Justice says is the nation’s first criminal prosecution for illegal coordination between a candidate’s campaign and an outside group.” Washington Post, NPR.
POLITICO: State and local bills try to rein in political spending –> Outside Washington, Democrats and Republicans are coming together to address our broken system: “From the conservative statehouse in Texas to the liberal city council in Philadelphia, measures aimed at curbing the flow of political money or disclosing its sources are being introduced and supported by members of both parties.”
Washington Post: The FEC’s cry for help –> Ruth Marcus on our dysfunctional system and the unprecedented petition last week from FEC Chair Ann Ravel and Commissioner Ellen Weintraub: “… Since about 2008, the previous era of FEC gridlock has begun to look like the golden age of activist enforcement.”
CNN: How a silent FEC lets Jeb Bush play by his own fundraising rules –> Former FEC Commissioner Karl Sandstrom: “Just a few recent examples demonstrate the agency’s failure to make timely critical decisions.”
Baltimore Sun: Rep. John Sarbanes will not run for Senate –> In his announcement that he will run for re-election to the House and not for the open Senate seat in Maryland, Rep. John Sarbanes said, “I am particularly excited to be leading efforts in the House of Representatives to reform our broken campaign finance system so that we can restore the public’s faith in our democracy.”
Nice: RT @SenJeffMerkley: People, not pocketbooks, should decide our elections #FairElectionsNow #CitizensUnited
Washington Post: Disclosing corporate campaign spending makes sense –> Letter to the editor from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility’s Laura Berry: “I’d like [SEC Chair Mary Jo] White to be a leader on this issue and answer the call of a petition before her agency to begin the rulemaking process on corporate political spending disclosure. The petition has received more than 1.2 million comments supporting it — an SEC record.”
The Hill: Obama pushed to fill SEC vacancies with corporate-giving rules in mind –> “A group of financial reform advocates sent a letter to President Obama on Friday asking him to fill upcoming vacancies at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with candidates who support disclosure rules for corporate giving.”
Congress/Admin/2016
Huffington Post: Russ Feingold Proposes Anti-Super PAC Pledge In Wisconsin Senate Race –> Good, if Johnson will accept: “Wisconsin Democratic US Senate candidate Russ Feingold has asked incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to join him in pledging to keep outside money from super PACs and nonprofits out of their campaign.”
New York Times: Donors Speed-Date the G.O.P. Hopefuls –> With the headline above and this line, 2016 is like The Bachelor for really rich people: “This year, many of those donors made the same pilgrimage, but with a decidedly different mission: to be inspired and, they hoped, to fall in love.”
MSNBC: Republican presidential hopefuls look to capture cash at Romney event –> Lindsey Graham at the Romney retreat: “’The good thing is that all the people in that room, they can’t — they don’t have enough money to buy what is eventually going to have to happen… They can give a candidate a chance. But if you can’t close the deal in small in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, you’re not going to be the nominee.'”
CNN: GOP candidates scramble for cash at Romney’s donor retreat –> And more from the Romney retreat: “Facing a crowded field and a more difficult set of choices among the presidential hopefuls than past cycles, a high number of top GOP donors — who usually would sign on early with a campaign — remain undecided.”
Did Scott Walker accidentally set off the two-week timer to announce his campaign?
POLITICO: Mitt’s new mission –> Mitt Romney and Sheldon Adelson “aim to convince the wealthy contributors bankrolling various candidates to work together to avoid the kind of primary election chaos that Romney believes laid the seeds for his defeat in 2012.”
Huffington Post: Watch Out, Dems: Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers Are Closer than Ever –> Some interesting details from Peter Stone on the ties between Sheldon Adelson and the Kochs’ political network: “The Huffington Post has learned that in 2014, Adelson’s donations to Phillips’ outfit [Americans for Prosperity] and other Koch-funded organizations accounted for a significant portion — nearly $30 million — of this haul, according to two conservatives familiar with the network.”
On the list of “remarks that garnered the most applause” at Bernie Sanders’ event in Iowa on Friday: “If elected president, I will not (allow) any justice in the Supreme Court who is not prepared to be loud and clear in telling the American people … to vote to overturn … Citizens United.”
Also: RT @JenniferJJacobs: Bernie Sanders to Iowans: Your job is to explain to friends that if politics is so dumb why do Koch brother spend $1B to elect candidates?
Huffington Post: Hillary Clinton Leans on Old Donor Network in Early Days of Campaign –> New analysis from Paul Blumenthal: “a review of publicly available fundraising events and media reports shows that of the 160 known Clinton donors who have hosted or appeared at fundraisers this year, nearly 60 percent gave to her last presidential campaign.”
Cartoon from the Los Angeles Times’ David Horsey.
Wall Street Journal: Clinton’s Donor Dominance Not Absolute –> And I missed this story last week: “Hillary Clinton appears to be winning over the lion’s share of elite fundraisers who powered President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, another sign of her dominant position in the Democratic primary. But enough unease about her candidacy has materialized to give fuel to one of Mrs. Clinton’s rivals, Martin O’Malley.”
Washington Post: Where the billions spent on lobbying come from, in maps –> “We wondered: Have the centers of power changed? Does lobbying look different than it used to? So we pulled data for 1999 and 2014 and compared.”
Other/States
WCVB: Lobbyists were quick to donate to both Baker, Coakley –> “During the 2014 campaign for Massachusetts governor, hundreds of lobbyists donated to the Republican and Democratic candidates – Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley. Nearly as often as not, those lobbyists contributed to both, according to an Associated Press review of finance reports filed with the state.”
To read more go to everyvoice.org.
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