Center for Public Integrity: Allies of Rick Perry form group that accepts unlimited, undisclosed donations

Below is an article by Peter H. Stone for the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News. According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: This article indicates that Make Us Great Again, the candidate Super PAC supporting Governor Perry, is involved in creating a 501(c)(4) organization, Citizens for a Greater America, that will accept and spend […]

Democracy 21 Letter to IRS

POLITICO Op-ed: Democracy loses with Super PACs

By Fred Wertheimer The first person I remember who compared large campaign contributions to bribes was the late Sen. Russell Long of Louisiana. Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1966 to 1981, Long was one of the most powerful men in Congress and knew the ways of Washington inside out. “The distinction between a […]

Democracy 21 and Campaign Legal Center Challenge Tax Exempt Status of Groups by Internal Revenue Service

Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center sent a letter today to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) challenging the eligibility of four organizations engaged in campaign activity to be treated as 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations. Democracy 21 took the lead in preparing the IRS letter. The letter to the IRS called for prompt investigations and […]

Huffington Post: Super PACs And Secret Money: The Unregulated Shadow Campaign

By Paul Blumenthal WASHINGTON — In the span of a week in September, two independent political committees announced unheard-of fundraising plans for the coming campaign season. The Karl Rove-linked American Crossroads, along with its sister nonprofit, Crossroads GPS, announced a plan to raise and spend $240 million in 2012. Make Us Great Again, a group […]

Reform Groups Urge Chairman Durbin to Oppose any Effort to Repeal or Kill the Presidential Public Financing System

Americans for Campaign Reform – Brennan Center for Justice – Campaign Legal Center Common Cause – CREW – Democracy 21League of Women Voters – People For the American Way – Public Citizen – U.S. PIRG September 12, 2011 The Honorable Richard Durbin, ChairmanSenate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General GovernmentU.S. SenateWashington, D.C. 20510       Dear Chairman […]

Campaigns and Elections: Enter the Era of Super PACs

How Super PACs are overpowering candidate campaigns and changing the consulting biz….   by Josh Boak    Faster than a speeding teleprompter, more powerful than a joint endorsement from the ghosts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, able to leap media markets in a single ad buy. OK, maybe not. But the era of Super […]

Center for Public Integrity: Karl Rove-linked Crossroads has more than doubled its earlier fundraising goal of $120 million

By Peter H. Stone American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have set a new fundraising goal at least twice the $120 million announced earlier this year. The ambitious fundraising target by the two affiliated groups co-founded by GOP fundraiser extraordinaire Karl Rove reflects an increased optimism among Republicans that they could score a trifecta in 2012—taking […]

Letter from Reform Groups to Chairman Sensenbrenner and Democratic Ranking Member Scott in Support of Clean Up Government Act of 2011

September 7, 2011   Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., ChairmanHonorable Robert C. Scott, Ranking MemberHouse Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland SecurityWashington, DC 20510 Re:      H.R. 2572, the “Clean Up Government Act of 2011” Sent Via Fax Dear Reps. Sensenbrenner and Scott: Today our organizations write to strongly endorse and call for swift committee […]

Washington Post: The Influence Industry: ‘Candidate super PACs’ surge ahead in the 2012 money race

By Dan Eggen Until this month, Steven C. Roche was one of Mitt Romney’s most trusted advisers, helping the former Massachusetts governor raise tens of millions of dollars in his long quest for the White House. Now Roche has jumped ship to Restore Our Future, a “super PAC” dedicated to helping Romney win the presidency by […]