Category Archives: campaign finance

“Inside the Koch-Backed Effort to Block the Largest Election-Reform Bill in Half a Century”

March 29, 2021, 8:37 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Jane Mayer for The New Yorker: In public, Republicans have denounced Democrats’ ambitious electoral-reform bill, the For the People Act, as an unpopular partisan ploy. In a contentious Senate committee hearing last week, Senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, slammed the… Continue reading

“Exclusive: Pro-Biden group won’t disclose donors”

March 22, 2021, 7:56 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Axios: A Pro-Biden group, operating with the White House’s blessing, plans to raise unlimited funds — and grant donors anonymity — as it prepares to promote and protect the president’s agenda from the outside.Why it matters: By not capping anonymous… Continue reading

“New Congress, Same ‘Committee Tax:’ How the parties pressured legislative leaders to raise huge sums of campaign cash during the 116th Congress — and are poised to do so again this year”

March 11, 2021, 7:47 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Updated report from Issue One: One of the open secrets of Washington is that both the Democratic and Republican parties strong-arm influential legislators to raise astronomical amounts of campaign cash. Referred to as paying “party dues,” lawmakers are pressured to… Continue reading

“Trump, Hungry for Power, Tries to Wrestle Away G.O.P. Fund-Raising”

March 9, 2021, 4:49 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Mr. Trump’s maneuvering is born partly out of his anger toward Republican leaders who he feels were disloyal when they edged away from him after Jan. 6. The former president is also being encouraged by people like Dick Morris,… Continue reading

“Trump shares plans for new super PAC in Mar-a-Lago meeting”

February 26, 2021, 6:49 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: President Donald Trump told political advisers Thursday that he’s chosen longtime ally Corey Lewandowski to run a yet-to-be-formed super PAC as part of his expanding post-presidential political apparatus, according to multiple people familiar with the discussion.The decision was… Continue reading

“Activist shareholders pressing companies to disclose more of their political activity after Capitol attack”

February 24, 2021, 6:42 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

WaPo: A day after JPMorgan Chase announced it would freeze its political contributions in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the nation’s largest bank made an unpublicized move indicating it may not be eager to… Continue reading

“Secretary of State Weber Appoints Dr. Abby K. Wood to FPPC”

February 19, 2021, 7:38 amcampaign finance, election law bizRick Hasen

A great choice for the FPPC. Congrats Abby!

“Trump campaign enlisted influencer marketing firm”

February 18, 2021, 8:37 amcampaign finance, campaigns, cheap speechRick Hasen

Axios: In the second half of 2020, Donald Trump’s reelection campaign shelled out seven figures to an influencer marketing business linked to his White House’s former chief digital officer.Why it matters: The payments bought promotion from prominent conservative brands… Continue reading

“The Self-Destructive Downside to Corporate Political Spending; There are risks to the bottom line when a firm’s shadowy political donations run counter to its image of social responsibility”

February 3, 2021, 8:07 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Bill Snyder at Stanford Business.

“Trump’s Sleight of Hand: Shouting Fraud, Pocketing Donors’ Cash for Future”

February 2, 2021, 8:18 amcampaign finance, chicanery, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

NYT: Former President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party leveraged false claims of voter fraud and promises to overturn the election to raise more than a quarter-billion dollars in November and December as hundreds of thousands of trusting supporters… Continue reading

“Trump raised $31.5 million in the weeks after Election Day for his new leadership PAC, filing shows”

January 31, 2021, 8:38 pmcampaign finance, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

WaPo: Former president Donald Trump’s new political action committee raised $31.5 million in the weeks after Election Day through a flurry of fundraising appeals purporting to fight election fraud and help Republicans maintain their majority in the Senate, new filings… Continue reading

“‘Dark Money’ Helped Pave Joe Biden’s Path to the White House”

January 25, 2021, 7:31 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Bloomberg: President Joe Biden benefited from a record-breaking amount of donations from anonymous donors to outside groups backing him, meaning the public will never have a full accounting of who helped him win the White House.Biden’s winning campaign was… Continue reading

“Shell companies and ‘dark money’ may hide details of Trump ties to DC protests”

January 22, 2021, 10:37 amcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Anna Massoglia for Open Secrets: Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign aides played key roles orchestrating a rally protesting certification of President-elect Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election before hundreds of rioters breached the U.S.… Continue reading