Independent groups
Institute for Justice: Who Wants to Overturn Citizens United? Self-Serving Elected Officials.
By Bill MaurerWho, exactly, are the “grassroots” to which they refer? According to the story, 14 people spoke at the press conference. Of the 14, 13 were elected officials; one was a private citizen.
Washington Post: How to beat Citizens United
By EJ DioneWe are about to have the worst presidential campaign money can buy. The Supreme Court’s dreadful Citizens United decision and a somnolent Federal Election Commission will allow hundreds of millions of dollars from a small number of very wealthy people and interests to inundate our airwaves with often vicious advertisements for which no candidate will be accountable.
ABC: What Will Gingrich’s Super PAC Do With $5 Million?
By Elicia DoverThe super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich’s candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination has $5 million in the bank, thanks to casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s wife, Miriam, the latest Federal Election Commission report revealed.
Bloomberg: Republican Groups Help Romney Fill Cash Gap With Obama
By Greg Giroux and Jonathan D. SalantPresident Barack Obama held a 10- to-1 cash advantage at the start of this month in the campaign fundraising contest with Republican Party front-runner Mitt Romney.
Judiciary/Trials
Bloomberg: Edwards’s Ambition Led to Campaign Crimes, U.S. Says
By Sophia Pearson and John PeragineJohn Edwards knowingly chose to break the law and accept illegal campaign contributions to hide an affair because of his relentless ambition to reach the White House, prosecutors told a jury.
Slate: Let John Edwards Go!
By Rick HasenJohn Edwards, whose trial for campaign finance violations begins today, got some unusual support from the ultra-conservative National Review, which editorialized against the prosecution of the former Democratic senator and presidential running mate. Edwards allegedly took nearly a million dollars from rich friends to support his mistress and their illegitimate child and keep the affair secret from his wife. The government dubiously claims these were illegal campaign contributions to help his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
SEC
Wall Street Journal: Pushback for Romney Fund
By Patrick O’ConnorLawyers for investment companies have warned their clients that a donation to the Romney Victory fund could trigger SEC rules meant to bar investment advisers from influencing elections in states where they are trying to win business.
Disclosure
NY Times: Bartleby Would Understand
EditorialFor years now, presidential candidates and those running for House seats have dutifully filed their campaign financing reports, as required by federal law, electronically. But the Senate, ever arrogant, has clung to an antique, cumbersome paper method that serves to delay final disclosure of donors, often until after Election Day.
Roll Call: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Continues to Spend Heavily on Lobbying, Filings Show
By Kate AckleyThe chamber’s quarterly lobbying bill during the height of the health care debate at the end of 2009 soared to $71 million, cementing its reputation as the biggest spender on K Street. This year, issues such as an overhaul of the tax code, a jobs bills, highway funding and tort reform helped fuel the chamber’s legislative portfolio, according to the 62-page report filed today with the House and Senate. All first-quarter reports are due at midnight.
Candidates and parties
Washington Post: Sen. Claire McCaskill takes fight to super PACs as Missouri swings farther right
By Rosalind S. HeldermanKANSAS CITY, MO. — As one of the U.S. Senate’s most endangered Democratic incumbents, Claire McCaskill knows she’s a top target of the new conservative super PACs that have radically reordered the political landscape in 2012.
Washington Examiner, Blog: RNC knocks Obama over lobbyist coziness
By Timothy P. CarneyI think it really gets at one of Obama’s greatest weaknesses, because so much of the “Hope and Change” that Obama him cross-ideological appeal in 2008 was the notion that he would take on the corruption and cronyism in Washington, and reduce the corrupting influence of revolving door (it corrupts both government and business)
NY Times: White Gloves Not Needed
By Elizabeth Bumiller“I doubt he put anybody on that list just because they were friends,” said a friend of Mr. Bernard who is an advocate for gay issues in Washington and who asked not to be identified talking about what he considered the sensitive topic of political donors and the White House. “But he made very astute political calculations that were in the best interest of the president’s future.”
