Posts tagged Mitt Romney
Holding Politicians Accountable
Wall Street Journal: Goldman Turns Tables on Obama Campaign
“Prompted by what they call regulatory attacks on their business and personal attacks on their character, executives and employees of Goldman Sachs have largely abandoned Mr. Obama and are now the top sources of money to presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.
"In the four decades since Congress created the campaign-finance system, no company’s employees have switched sides so abruptly, moving from top supporters of one camp to the top of its rival, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of campaign-finance data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.”
Paul Ryan raising money with billionaire who said the wealthy have “insufficient influence” in politics
Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Rep. Paul Ryan is scheduled to attend a fundraiser on Friday in Chicago co-chaired by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin.
Earlier this year, Griffin told the Chicago Tribune that the ultra-wealthy “actually have an insufficient influence” in our political system.
Griffin has donated $1,050,000 to the Romney-aligned Restore Our Future super PAC, $5,000 directly to the campaign, $5,000 to Paul Ryan’s Congressional campaign, $1 million to American Crossroads, and checks to several other candidates and party committees, according to analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
With over $2 million in donations to Republican candidates and committees this cycle, one has to wonder at what point he believes the wealthy have sufficient influence in the political process.
Must-read story from Alec MacGillis at The New Republic on Mitt Romney fundraiser and coal magnate Robert Murray and the pressure he puts on his employees to donate money to the candidates he chooses:
Internal Murray documents show just how upset Murray becomes when employees fail to join the giving. In missives, he cajoles employees to attend fund-raisers and scolds them when they or their subordinates do not. In cases of low participation, reminders from his lieutenants have included tables or spreadsheets showing how each of the eleven Murray subsidiaries was performing. And at least one note came with a list of names of employees who had not yet given. “What is so difficult about asking a well-paid, salaried employee to give us three hours of his/her time every two months?” Murray writes in a March 2012 letter. “We have been insulted by every salaried employee who does not support our efforts.” He concludes: “I do not recall ever seeing the attached list of employees . . . at one of our fund-raisers.”
Last night during the debate, Mitt Romney said he’d cut funding to PBS. Big Bird, the 47%.
(Source: bigbirdorbigmoney)
We agree with Minnesota Vikings’ Chris Kluwe on tonight’s debate:
You know what I want to see debated? Campaign finance reform. Citizens United. Term limits. Tax reform. Cure the disease, not the symptoms.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft)October 4, 2012
Debate Questions for Mitt Romney and Barack Obama on Money-in-Politics
Public Campaign has put together five questions for Mitt Romney and five questions for President Obama on money-in-politics for tonight’s debate.
Here are two of the questions:
- Governor Romney, you and your party have criticized President Obama for the Solyndra controversy and the “crony capitalism” you allege was behind it. How would you and a Romney administration ensure that no special treatment is given to the donors and bundlers who have raised millions of dollars for your campaign?
- President Obama, you created controversy when you criticized the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that allowed unlimited corporate and union spending in our elections during in your State of the Union address in 2010. In your 2008 election, you said you wanted no outside spending on your behalf. Now you’ve given your blessing to super PACs on the Democratic side. Have you accepted that outside spending is just a feature of American elections that can’t be addressed?
Chart above, and story, via Huffington Post:
Small-donor contributions make up nearly all of the Obama campaign’s fundraising lead over the Romney campaign. Obama for America, the official campaign committee, has raised $157 million more than Romney for President through the end of August. Remove the small donors, and that lead shrinks to only $14.7 million.
Romney’s campaign has been unable, either because of the candidate’s lack of a strong connection to his party’s base or because of the inadequacies of its online and direct mail efforts, to raise these small contributions in anything close to the same numbers. Obama has pulled in $189 million from small donors, while Romney has received a comparatively tiny $46.7 million.
“Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney plan a campaign fundraiser for him Thursday in Hong Kong as U.S.-China trade friction becomes an issue in the White House race.” - AP
(It should be noted that George Clooney held an event in Geneva this summer to raise money for President Obama)
Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized political spending by teachers unions today, saying, “I think we have to get the money out of the teachers’ unions going into campaigns.”
Let’s do some math.
The American Federation of Teachers has given $250,000 directly to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC run by former aides to President Barack Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s 40 times less than the $10 million casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, who have had private meetings with Romney, have given to the pro-Romney Restore Our Future super PAC.
So, to sum up, small donations collected by hundreds of thousands of teachers is a problem—but one big check from a guy whose company faces several federal investigations is just fine.
Presidential candidates have always tailored their messages: the speech delivered to oil workers may vary from one to religious leaders. But this year, a single group — wealthy donors — has consumed time and energy as never before, creating an almost parallel campaign with its own rhythm, format and sometimes even message.