Category Archives: campaign finance

“How a Record Cash Haul Vanished for Senate Republicans”

September 4, 2022, 7:50 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

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”

August 31, 2022, 7:56 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

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.”

August 23, 2022, 6:00 pmcampaign finance, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

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

“Inside The Right’s Historic Billion-Dollar Dark Money Transfer”

August 22, 2022, 1:55 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

The Lever/ProPublica: An elderly, ultra-secretive Chicago businessman has given the largest known donation to a political advocacy group in U.S. history — worth $1.6 billion — and the recipient is one of the prime architects of conservatives’ efforts to… Continue reading

“Broadening Donor Participation in Local Elections: Results from the Seattle Democracy Voucher Program in 2021”

August 19, 2022, 9:10 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

New report from Jennifer Heerwig and Brian McCabe. Executive Summary: The Democracy Voucher program in Seattle completed itsthird election in 2021. The 2021 cycle featured an open seatmayoral race, two at-large city council contests, and the racefor city attorney. Six… Continue reading

“Outside Money Floods New York Congressional Races”

August 19, 2022, 7:32 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

NYT: A rising tide of lightly regulated outside money is pouring into New York State: As of Thursday, with the Aug. 23 primary date looming, outside entities have spent about $9 million in state congressional primaries, according to data maintained… Continue reading

“Inbox beware: Federal watchdog approves Google program to let campaigns skip spam filters”

August 11, 2022, 9:59 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Politico: The Federal Election Commission, the nation’s chief campaign finance watchdog agency, gave its blessing to a program proposed by Google on Thursday that will effectively allow federal campaigns and other political committees to bypass spam filters and land in… Continue reading

“Force multipliers: How one donor network is pushing the envelope on California campaign money”

August 5, 2022, 6:50 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Cal Matters: Sift through the campaign contributions to Robert Rivas, the Salinas Democrat angling to become the next speaker of the California Assembly, and a name keeps popping up: Govern For California.The organization’s statewide chapter gave the maximum $9,800… Continue reading

Federal Judge Declines to Enjoin Alaska Campaign Disclosure Law

July 15, 2022, 12:34 pmcampaign financeDan Tokaji

AP has this story on the ruling, which appears to rely on the Purcell doctrine: A federal judge on Thursday denied a request to block campaign finance provisions of a ballot measure approved by Alaska voters in 2020, finding that… Continue reading

FEC Commissioners Spar over Rep. Swalwell’s Request for Advisory Opinion on Using Campaign Funds for Childcare

July 15, 2022, 7:46 amcampaign financeDan Tokaji

Business Insider: On May 26, 2022, counsel for Swalwell petitioned the FEC to see if the 5-term Democratic lawmaker could use campaign funds to pay for overnight childcare as both he and his wife both work full time, he… Continue reading

“Corporate PACs contributed over a million dollars to lawmakers who opposed abortion rights bill”

July 15, 2022, 7:32 amcampaign financeDan Tokaji

From Open Secrets: Corporate PACs of companies that committed to covering travel expenses related to abortion have contributed more than $1.62 million in the 2022 election cycle to 139 Republicans and two Democrats who voted against the Women’s Health … Continue reading

Oakland Public Financing Proposal

July 14, 2022, 4:12 amcampaign financeDan Tokaji

Bolts: On Monday night, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted to place a democracy vouchers referendum on the city’s November ballot, with all six council members present voting aye.If Oakland voters approve the measure, a new Democracy Dollars program… Continue reading

CLC on “The Supreme Court’s Role in the Degradation of U.S. Democracy”

July 13, 2022, 8:07 amcampaign finance, redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

From the first page of the hard-hitting report, available here, that Campaign Legal Center released today: The time has come to talk about what the Supreme Court is doing to American democracy. For more than half a century—roughly during… Continue reading

“Election Deniers Got Nearly $2 Million in May From Corporate PACs”

July 11, 2022, 9:03 amcampaign finance, election subversion riskDan Tokaji

Bloomberg on a report from Accountable.US: “Some of the US’s largest corporations and their trade associations in May poured $1.9 million into the campaign coffers of Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Donald Trump, according… Continue reading