In the News
Washington Free Beacon: Distinction with no Difference
By CJ Ciaramella“The rules cover a lot more than that,” Keating said. “You can’t have people who work for the campaign come over to a Super PAC. You can’t have the internal plans or strategies of the campaign you’re trying to help, etc.”
CCP
“Cash and Carry Larry” finally cashes out
By Jason FarrellNew York City Councilman Larry Seabrook, whose adventures in brazen corruption were chronicled in our report “Clean Elections and Scandal: Case Studies from Maine, Arizona and New York City”, was convicted yesterday on nine counts of funneling public money to shady non-profits run by his family members, doctoring receipts, accepting kickbacks for public contracts and laundering money, according to the New York Post.
Independent groups
Politico: How corporate PACs deal with bad PR
By Dave LevinthalWhen it comes to campaign donations, corporations that suddenly find themselves crosswise with Congress know the playbook.
CBS News: Super PACs: $125 million spent — and counting
By Phil HirschkornWith less than 100 days to go in the presidential race, nine single-candidate “super” PACs — political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited sums on political expression – have spent $125 million advocating and advertising for their preferred candidate, a CBS News analysis of Federal Election Commission reports shows.
Speech
Salon: Free speech and donations
By Glenn GreenwaldAs I noted the other day when writing about the Chick-fil-A controversy, I was happy to see that almost every liberal commentator condemned the actions by city officials in Boston and Chicago to punish that business due to the distasteful views on homosexuality expressed by its President (see, for instance, Mother Jones‘ Kevin Drum and Adam Serwer, The American Prospect‘s Scott Lemieux, Digby, The Nation‘s Richard Kim, John Cole, Amanda Marcotte, and Atrios). Today, though, The Nation‘s Lee Fang became the first progressive writer I know of to defend these state actions against the restaurant chain. Ignoring all those commentators, Fang singles out me and Adam Serwer and says that we are “leading the contrarian charge” (given how isolated Fang is among liberals on this question — to say nothing of the ACLU, which denounced the constitutional violations here as “clear cut” — Fang has a very strange understanding of what “contrarian” means).
Disclosure
Huffington Post: What Super PAC Donors Really Want Is A Return On Their Investment
By Paul Blumenthal and Howard FinemanWhen asked why, they prefer to offer lofty motives. The billionaire Koch brothers speak about libertarianism and the need to save free enterprise. Casino magnate Adelson talks in equally apocalyptic terms about preserving the security and Jewish identity of Israel. Institutions such as the AFL-CIO and the National Education Association tend to stress liberal agenda items such as expanded health care and progressive taxation.
Candidates and parties
WSJ: Four Little Words
By Kim StrasselWhat’s the difference between a calm and cool Barack Obama, and a rattled and worried Barack Obama? Four words, it turns out.
The Hill: Obama campaign hits Romney for foreign policy ‘fumbles’
By Justin Sink“He’s now been to two countries and he’s had two countries where he has made a series of fumbles,” deputy campaign press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday during a meeting with reporters as the president flew to New York for a fundraiser.
Associated Press: Candidates Look Overseas for Campaign Cash
In the hunt for campaign money, no distance is too far to travel, especially when the race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is tight and likely to stay that way into the fall.
The Hill: Obama camp facing cash crisis
By Juan WilliamsOn a recent conference call with potential donors, President Obama said: “If things continue as they have so far, I’ll be the first sitting president in modern history to be outspent in his reelection campaign.”
