Arena ChatOctober 30, 2011 David Mark: POLITICO over the past week examined the role of money in politics. Video series guests included former DCCC Chairman Martin Frost, former FEC Chairmen Michael Toner and Brad Smith, and Trevor Potter, lead lawyer for the McCain ’08 campaign. To round out the discussion I chatted with Democracy 21 President and […]
By Peter H. Stone The conservative American Action Network, a leading independent player in last year’s election, poured $26 million — out of some $30 million in spending — from secret donors into political ads and activities to help Republican candidates. Set up in 2009, the network enjoys a prized tax status from the Internal Revenue […]
Today, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, filed an amici brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in U.S. v Danielczyk, an appeal of a controversial district court decision overturning the century-old federal restriction on corporate contributions to candidates and political parties. The corporate contribution restriction overturned in the case […]
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has filed an Advisory Opinion Request with the Federal Election Commission asking whether his Leadership PAC can raise unlimited contributions to spend on independent expenditures. The answer to this question is open and shut: the federal campaign finance laws clearly and unequivocally prohibit the Leadership PAC of a Member of Congress […]
According to press reports, a new Super PAC was formed yesterday to support Herman Cain’s presidential campaign. The name of the Super PAC is “Americans for Herman Cain.” According to the PAC’s website (americansforhermancain.com), the PAC has registered with the FEC under this name as a “non-connected political committee” that “supports the Federal candidacy of […]
During the second quarter of 2011, more than 50 individuals donated the legal maximum to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and also dug into their pockets deeper and made additional contributions to Restore Our Future, a candidate-specific Super PAC formed to promote Romney’s campaign for president. A new analysis by Democracy 21, the […]
Below is an article by Peter H. Stone for the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News. According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: This article indicates that Make Us Great Again, the candidate Super PAC supporting Governor Perry, is involved in creating a 501(c)(4) organization, Citizens for a Greater America, that will accept and spend […]
Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center sent a letter today to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) challenging the eligibility of four organizations engaged in campaign activity to be treated as 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations. Democracy 21 took the lead in preparing the IRS letter. The letter to the IRS called for prompt investigations and […]
By Fred Wertheimer The first person I remember who compared large campaign contributions to bribes was the late Sen. Russell Long of Louisiana. Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1966 to 1981, Long was one of the most powerful men in Congress and knew the ways of Washington inside out. “The distinction between a […]
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