Category Archives: campaign finance

“Democratic dark money juggernaut behind Biden-allied group targeting House GOP”

December 29, 2022, 9:07 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

Washington Examiner: A President Joe Biden-allied nonprofit group aiming to investigate House Republicans next Congress has been almost completely bankrolled by an influential Democratic-linked dark money organization, records reveal. The Democratic strategist-led Congressional Integrity Project has raked in $1.5 … Continue reading

Philadelphia Campaign Finance Officials Threaten to Crack Down on Super PAC Coordination with Candidates

December 28, 2022, 3:04 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

See this oped in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Leonard Leo is quietly remaking state high courts in his conservative image”

December 28, 2022, 7:34 amcampaign finance, judicial electionsRick Hasen

Grid News: For the past decade, Leonard Leo has led a multimillion-dollar effort to remake state Supreme Courts, leveraging hefty support from corporate backers like Philip Morris and Charles Koch and his late brother, David. Leo, a longtime conservative… Continue reading

“U.S. Scrutinizes Political Donations by Sam Bankman-Fried and Allies”

December 17, 2022, 12:50 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT has this report, with the subhead: “Federal prosecutors appear to be focusing on possible wrongdoing by cryptocurrency executives, rather than by Democratic or Republican politicians. But the inquiries widen an explosive campaign finance scandal.”

“‘Dark money in politics an even darker place’ now, judges warn”

December 14, 2022, 7:11 amcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

WaPo: The partisan split makes the FEC “an unusual agency,” said Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic appointee. “Everyone anticipated from the get-go that that was going to make enforcement challenging, and they built in this fail-safe provision that complainants could… Continue reading

With Two Judges Not Participating and Two Dissenting, D.C. Circuit Will Not Review En Banc Decision That Allows a Minority of FEC Commissioners to Block Judicial Review By Bare Assertion of “Prosecutorial Discretion”

December 12, 2022, 2:40 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

This is a travesty and renders the judicial review procedures of FEC actions mostly meaningless. Judge Millett’s dissent from the denial of en banc review begins: Essential to the rule of law is the principle that a governmental agency cannot… Continue reading

Federal court tosses challenge to FEC’s decision to accept paperwork for Trump’s presidential candidacy

December 6, 2022, 2:37 pmcampaign financeDerek Muller

In Castro v. FEC, a pro se FEC-registered candidate for the 2024 presidential election challenged the FEC’s decision to accept Donald Trump’s candidacy for election, arguing that Trump is not qualified to serve. A federal district court just dismissed … Continue reading

“FEC scales back digital ad transparency rule after backlash”

November 29, 2022, 4:41 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

Axios: Federal election regulators are scaling back a major digital ad transparency measure after an effort to speed it through the regulatory process drew intense internal and external pushback, records show. Why it matters: A little-noticed, two-word change to a… Continue reading

“Yes, McCarthy is still House Republican leader. Who’s the new GOP whip?”

November 17, 2022, 5:20 amcampaign financeTabatha Abu El-Haj

Monkey Cage has an interesting account of the procedures and politics that lead to Tom Emmers’ (R. Minn) election as GOP whip. Beyond a summary of the voting process, a key piece of the analysis is that Emmers has been… Continue reading

The Known and Unknown Donor Thumbprints on Our Political Choices

November 16, 2022, 2:18 pmcampaign financedark money, Policy ReponsivenessTabatha Abu El-Haj

Donor thumbprints are all over our choices and our opportunities to make political choices. And Americans don’t have a lot of political options when it comes to reducing their influence—thanks to the Supreme Court (a product of their influence). This… Continue reading

Proposed FEC Rulemaking on “Internet Communication Disclaimers and Definition of ‘Public Communication'”

November 11, 2022, 3:32 pmcampaign finance, federal election commissionRick Hasen

This draft is on the agenda for Thursday’s FEC meeting.

“Fueled by Billionaires, Political Spending Shatters Records Again”

November 3, 2022, 6:58 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

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”

October 14, 2022, 6:36 amcampaign financeRick Hasen

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”

October 11, 2022, 1:50 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

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