News

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 […]

Center for Public Integrity: Romney fundraiser jumps from campaign to super PAC

Below is a piece by Peter H. Stone from today’s iWatch News at the Center for Public Integrity entitled, "Romney fundraiser jumps from campaign to Super PAC." According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: Presidential candidate Super PACs are simply a vehicle for massive circumvention of the limits on contributions to presidential candidates. Central to […]

USA TODAY Editorial: Presidential race not the place for secret donors

Allies of President Obama and a slew of Republican hopefuls are taking advantage of loose campaign-finance laws, a toothless Federal Election Commission and a 2010 Supreme Court decision that equated big money with free speech. The result? A system that Ohio political boss Mark Hanna would have loved in the wild,anything-goes campaign days of the 1890s. Among the system’s newest […]

Democracy 21 President Asks Reform Groups to Support Boycott of Campaign Donations, Led Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz

Below is a memo sent today to reform groups from Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer, asking them to endorse a national effort led by Howard Schultz to boycott federal campaign donations until the nations’ fiscal and economic problems are addressed. Also below is a letter sent today by Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, to all […]

Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Endorses Bold New Proposal by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to Boycott Campaign Donations

Enclosed is a column by Joe Nocera from today’s New York Times entitled, "Boycott Campaign Donations!" The column describes a proposal by Howard Schultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, to boycott campaign donations to federal officeholders until they seriously address the nation’s fiscal and economic problems. "Democracy 21 wholeheartedly supports the Schultz proposal to boycott campaign […]

Democracy 21 and Campaign Legal Center Call for FEC and Justice Department Investigations of Additional $1 Million Contributions to Pro-Romney Super PAC

Today, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center called on the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department to investigate whether two $1 million contributions made by two different Utah corporations to Restore Our Future, a Pro-Romney Super PAC, violated the campaign finance laws. The groups filed their wrote to the Justice Department requesting an […]

Talking Points Memo: Watchdogs File Complaints Against Two More Pro-Romney ‘Phantom Companies’

By Susan Crabtree Two campaign-finance watchdogs want the Federal Election Commission and Department of Justice to crack down on the so-called phantom companies that are sprouting up apparently for the sole purpose of allowing anonymous million-dollar donations to the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future Super PAC. The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 have filed […]