Category Archives: campaign finance
Michael Malbin Retires After 21 Years as Director of the Campaign Finance Institute
Michael Malbin has been one of the most important and careful scholars tracking empirical developments in campaign finance as a professor at SUNY Albany and for 21 years as director of the influential Campaign Finance Institute. I rely on… Continue reading
“Trump’s Future: Tons of Cash and Plenty of Options for Spending It”
NYT:
Donald J. Trump will exit the White House as a private citizen next month perched atop a pile of campaign cash unheard-of for an outgoing president, and with few legal limits on how he can spend it.Deflated by a… Continue reading
“Secret donor name in Florida Senate races wiped from records, replaced”
Tampa Bay Times:
The name of the mystery donor behind a $550,000 effort that helped promote no-party candidates in three key Florida Senate races, including one that is under investigation, was changed in campaign finance reports over the weekend.While making… Continue reading
“The Supreme Court May Soon Rule on Donor Privacy”
Philanthropy Roundtable:
For those following donor-privacy issues, there was an important development in the case known as Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra in mid-December. The current status of this litigation is that the plaintiffs have petitioned the U.S. Supreme… Continue reading
“Trump antagonizes Republicans with Georgia fundraising ploy”
Politico:
President Donald Trump couldn’t make it any clearer: He needs his supporters to fork over cash for the all-important Georgia Senate runoff elections.“We MUST defend Georgia from the Dems!” he wrote in one recent text message. “I need YOU… Continue reading
“Senate confirms three FEC commissioners, restoring full slate for the first time since 2017”
WaPo:
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed three members to the Federal Election Commission, restoring the agency’s ability to conduct official business after months without a voting quorum and bringing the panel to its full slate of six members for the… Continue reading
“Meet the man at the center of a shadowy multimillion-dollar ‘scam PAC’ network”
Roger Sollenberger for Salon:
A super PAC that claims to advocate for wounded veterans raised millions of dollars this year, but spent only $18,000 of it on political activity. The rest of the money was spun off to administrative… Continue reading
“20 Things We Learned About Money in Politics in 2020”
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy at the Brennan Center.
Trump Administration Files Supreme Court Brief Urging It To Hear Case That Could Weaken Campaign Finance Disclosure Rules
The Court had invited the views of the Solicitor General about whether or not it should take the case, and now the office has filed this brief. It would not surprise me to see the Biden Administration taking a… Continue reading
$42 Million Mystery at the RNC
Roger Sollenberger for Salon:
In August, Salon reported that the Republican National Committee (RNC) had paid about $5 million to a mystery marketing services company called Digital Consulting Group LLC, starting with a $2 million expenditure in February, just a… Continue reading
Must-Read Miami Herald: “Disgraced Republican lawmaker planted no-party candidate in key Senate race, sources say”
Come for the fake candidate with the same last name as the Democrat; stay for the use of sham LLCs and super pacs to obscure the identity of those behind the dirty trick.
It would not surprises me if this… Continue reading
“The CPA-Wharton Zicklin Model Code of Conduct”
New:
How can U.S. public companies protect against the risks inherent in spending to influence elections when politics is hyperpartisan, citizens are polarized and a controversy can ignite a wildfire virally and potentially affect a company’s bottom line?The Center for… Continue reading
“Trump raises more than $150 million appealing to false election claims”
WaPo:
President Trump’s political operation has raised more than $150 million since Election Day, using a blizzard of misleading appeals about the election to shatter fundraising records set during the campaign, according to people with knowledge of the contributions.The influx… Continue reading