Proposed FEC Rulemaking on “Internet Communication Disclaimers and Definition of ‘Public Communication'”
This draft is on the agenda for Thursday’s FEC meeting.
Category Archives: campaign finance
“Fueled by Billionaires, Political Spending Shatters Records Again”
NYT:
Fueled by an expanding class of billionaires, political spending on the 2022 midterm elections will shatter records at the state and federal levels, with much of it from largely unregulated super PACs financed with enormous checks written mainly by… Continue reading
“In Midterm TV Ad Wars, Sticker Shock Costs Republicans”
NYT:
Political candidates are protected under a federal law that allows them to pay the lowest price available for broadcast ads. Super PACs have no such protections, and Republicans have been more reliant on super PACs this year because their… Continue reading
“2022 CPA-Zicklin Index Expanded to Russell 1000; Dramatic Gap in Political Disclosure and Accountability Between S&P 500 and Smaller Companies”
Release:
Today, the nation’s premier benchmarking of U.S. companies for transparency and accountability of their political spending expands its coverage, from rating S&P 500 companies to evaluating the entire Russell 1000.The CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability is… Continue reading
“Facebook intentionally violated WA campaign finance law 822 times”
The Seattle Times reports.
“‘Dark money erodes public trust,’ Biden says as he pushes disclosure legislation”
President Biden pushes the DISCLOSE Act.
“The Unique Appearance of Corruption in Personal Loan Repayments”
John Martin has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Cornell Law Review). Here is the abstract:
Under U.S. campaign finance jurisprudence, electoral candidates have the right to self-fund their campaigns without limitation. The majority of self-funded candidates do so by… Continue reading
“Trump’s Post-Election Fund-Raising Comes Under Scrutiny by Justice Dept.”
NYT:
A federal grand jury in Washington is examining the formation of — and spending by — a fund-raising operation created by Donald J. Trump after his loss in the 2020 election as he was soliciting millions of dollars by… Continue reading
Democratic, Republican fundraising for election litigation tops $121 million in 18 months, beats entire 2020 presidential election cycle
I’ve chronicled the recent, astonishing increase in spending on election litigation. Sine 2015, election donors may contribute to “election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings,” above and beyond individual candidate campaign contribution limits.
The total from the first 18… Continue reading
“Federal grand jury probing Trump PAC’s formation, fundraising efforts: Sources”
ABC News:
A federal grand jury investigating the activities leading up the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the push by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the result of the 2020 election has expanded… Continue reading
FEC on 6-0 Vote Rejects Complaint Against Mark Zuckerberg and Others for Campaign Finance Violations Based on Grants to Help Local Administrators Run Elections During Covid
They say no good deed goes unpunished, but this one mercifully was rejected 6-0.
I’ve been very critical of Facebook for how it has handled election-related content. But these grants by Zuckerberg and Chan (his spouse) were extremely helpful… Continue reading
“How a Record Cash Haul Vanished for Senate Republicans”
NYT:
The committee had squeezed donors with hyperaggressive new tactics. And all the money coming in obscured just how much the committee was spending advertising for donors. Then inflation sapped online giving for Republicans nationwide. And the money that… Continue reading
“Corporate Political Spending and State Tax Policy: Evidence from Citizens United”
Cailin Slattery post.
“The Truly Scary Part of the $1.6 Billion Conservative Donation; It’s not about the legality. It’s about the loop.”
I have written this piece with Dahlia Lithwick for Slate. It begins:
On Monday, the New York Times broke the news that last year conservative mastermind Leonard Leo had obtained control over $1.6 billion through something called the “Marble Freedom… Continue reading