Pre-FEC Oversight Hearing Press Conference Thursday: Good Government Groups to Urge Obama to Fix the Federal Election Commission

With Major Election Year Approaching, Agency Is Needed to Enforce Campaign Finance Laws   WHAT:          Press conference by good government groups to highlight the failures of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and call on President Barack Obama to fill the vacancies on the FEC so the agency can adequately enforce campaign finance laws. This […]

Center for Public Integrity: Fine line between politics and issues spending by secretive 501(c)(4) groups

By Peter H. Stone  The conservative American Action Network, a leading independent player in last year’s election, poured $26 million — out of some $30 million in spending — from secret donors into political ads and activities to help Republican candidates. Set up in 2009, the network enjoys a prized tax status from the Internal Revenue […]

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer on Illegality of Leadership “Super PAC” Proposed by Senator Mike Lee

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has filed an Advisory Opinion Request with the Federal Election Commission asking whether his Leadership PAC can raise unlimited contributions to spend on independent expenditures. The answer to this question is open and shut: the federal campaign finance laws clearly and unequivocally prohibit the Leadership PAC of a Member of Congress […]

Campaign Legal Center & Democracy 21 File Brief in Appeal of Decision Overturning Century-Old Law Banning Corporate Contributions to Candidates & Parties

Today, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, filed an amici brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in U.S. v Danielczyk, an appeal of a controversial district court decision overturning the century-old federal restriction on corporate contributions to candidates and political parties.  The corporate contribution restriction overturned in the case […]

Statement of Democracy 21 General Counsel Donald J. Simon: Newly Formed Herman Cain Super PAC Using Illegal Name

According to press reports, a new Super PAC was formed yesterday to support Herman Cain’s presidential campaign.  The name of the Super PAC is “Americans for Herman Cain.”  According to the PAC’s website (americansforhermancain.com), the PAC has registered with the FEC under this name as a “non-connected political committee” that “supports the Federal candidacy of […]

Elite Donors Do Double Duty: Presidential Super PACs Attract Wealthy Donors Who Have Maxed Out to Candidates

  During the second quarter of 2011, more than 50 individuals donated the legal maximum to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and also dug into their pockets deeper and made additional contributions to Restore Our Future, a candidate-specific Super PAC formed to promote Romney’s campaign for president.   A new analysis by Democracy 21, the […]

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 […]