May 2012
86 posts
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Sensitive Donors →
The Courts have given wealthy individuals the ability to tremendously influence our political process—influence that most people can’t even dream of having—and in a free country, we deserve to know about it.
Conservative hero Justice Antonin Scalia once said about a case involving the disclosure of petition signatures, “running a democracy takes a certain amount of civic courage.” Courage...
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“Voters send people to Congress because they think they’ll do what’s in their...”
– Public Campaign Action Fund Communications Director Adam Smith on legislation introduced by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) that would solely benefit a campaign donor.
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Politico: Bill would give single bank a $300M... →
“The bill has drawn no objections so far from bank regulators or the Obama administration, and proponents argue it is narrowly designed to help a community bank unfairly harmed by the controversial Dodd-Frank law.
“But it is also an object lesson in how the rich and powerful — backed by a team of high-powered lobbyists — can get Congress to act on their issues, even as Capitol Hill...
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Rolling Stone: Florida GOP Takes Voter Supression... →
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NYT: Obama Finds Campaigning Rules Clock →
Running for re-election takes up a lot of time—and a lot of that time is being spent raising money.
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Elections of, by, and for the elite
Politico reports this morning:
“Republican super PACs and other outside groups shaped by a loose network of prominent conservatives – including Karl Rove, the Koch brothers and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – plan to spend roughly $1 billion on November’s elections for the White House and control of Congress, according to officials familiar with the groups’ internal...
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How to save the middle class? End our big money... →
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Political Money Talks
The New York Times looks at Gov. Scott Walker’s comments to a $500,000 donor that his plan was to “divide and conquer” the unions:
Ms. Hendricks is only one of the governor’s big-moneyed and antiunion friends. He has raised more than $25 million since taking office. The first year of his official calendar shows significant access for companies that helped him with large...
How can Florida Gov. Rick Scott steal the election...
think-progress:
Easy enough — he’s created an error-filled list of “ineligible voters”, which targets thousands of Democratic and Hispanic voters.
Here’s how it would work.
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New York Times: Political Dividends →
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For those at the beach this weekend:
While you’re baking in the sun this weekend to celebrate the first days of summer, don’t forget the sunscreen. Also, remember that while you relax, someone in Washington is probably hard at work devising a lobbying strategy on what the label should say. Public health advocates are not happy about the way sunscreen bottles are labeled, and for...
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NYT: Bain strategy may have pitfalls for Obama →
Last week, a few dozen hedge fund and investment executives arrived at the Park Avenue home of Hamilton E. James, president of the private equity firm Blackstone. Each had paid $35,800 to spend two hours at a fund-raiser with President Obama, but the timing proved awkward: A few hours earlier, Mr. Obama’s campaign had begun a blistering attack on Mitt Romney’s career in private equity, the same...
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Bank Roll Call: Lobbyists in Defensive Crouch... →
The multibillion-dollar trading losses at JPMorgan Chase & Co. have thrust Wall Street banks into a defensive crouch on K Street, prompting financial services lobbyists to clam up, regroup and, in some cases, suspend lobbying altogether.
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Montana vs. the Supreme Court →
“So 26 states signed on to the various lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act. You’ve heard about those lawsuits if you’ve been living in Borneo for the last two years. So did you have any idea that 23 states (well, 22 plus DC) have signed on to a challenge to the Citizens United decision?”
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Hey Mitt - Show Us Your Bundlers. (Mother Jones) →
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“Shelby’s performance was worth every bit of the $72,950 JPMorgan Chase and its...”
– Dana Milbank (Washington Post)
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Dems Ask U.S. Chamber If Firms That Bribed Are... →
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Scandalized DOE program has Romney connection -... →
“Cathy Tripodi of FaegreBD Consulting lobbies on behalf of Abound Solar, a company that was awarded a $400 million loan guarantee through the same Department of Energy program that aided Solyndra, the now-bankrupt California company that included an Obama bundler as an investor.
“Tripodi is a bundler for Romney. She raised $27,000 for the presumptive Republican nominee in April,...
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“In the current election cycle, all super PACs have raised a total of $207.9...”
– Sunlight Foundation
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“What I would like to see in this election is a recognition that we must reduce...”
– House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
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U.S. Chamber: We're going to spend $50M and we... →
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Super PAC Donors and Campaign Fundraisers
In April, the Romney-aligned Restore Our Future super PAC received contributions from oil tycoon Harold Hamm ($985,000) and hedge funder Marc Leder ($100,000).
Those two men are also familiar to the Romney campaign, having recently hosted Mitt at fundraisers at their homes. Last week, Leder hosted Romney for a $50,000-a-plate event at his Boca Raton home. On May 9th, Hamm hosted Romney at his...
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White House visit logs show lobbying going strong... →
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It's good to be a Scott Walker donor.
From iWatch News:
You don’t have to be a campaign donor or corporate executive to get an audience with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. But it doesn’t hurt.
Walker received contributions from employees or political action committees at more than half of the 130-plus companies that appear in his official calendars, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.
These...
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Are you safe on that sofa? - Nick Kristof →
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“Conservative interest groups have dumped well over $20 million into...”
– Washington Post.
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New York Times Editorial: In Defense of Voting... →
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Tweet of the Day
One of Gingrich’s biggest unpaid debts at end of April: $1 million to private jet company, Moby Dick Airways.
— Fredreka Schouten (@fschouten) May 19, 2012
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“These are some examples of the obscene subsidies that the oil, gas and coal...”
– - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) on efforts to end oil subsidies.
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$17,000 Drip Pan
In this morning’s New York Times (emphasis added):
The Kentucky company, Phoenix Products, got the job to produce the pans after Representative Harold Rogers, a Republican who is now the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, added an earmark to a 2009 spending bill. While the earmark came before restrictions were placed on such provisions for for-profit companies, its outlays have...
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First on CNN: Romneys donated $150,000 of own... →
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Senators Rewarded For Oil Subsidies Vote - Public... →
Can $250,000 buy a senator? →
source2012:
Thanks in part to a last-minute, $250,000 ad buy from super PAC Ending Spending Action Fund, Nebraska state Sen. Deb Fischer managed to defeat frontrunner Jon Bruning to secure the GOP nomination in Tuesday’s Senate primary. The huge spending boost was made possible by one man: TD Ameritrade founder and Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts.
Such an influential role has campaign finance...
