Independent Groups
Energy & Environment Legal Institute: E&E Legal Releases a Sierra Club Unearthed Report on Green Groups Record-Breaking Spending on the 2014 Elections
The report details how green groups, including the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, and the Environmental Defense Action Fund – to name a few – spent an unprecedented amount of money during the 2014 election cycle supporting leftwing candidates for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and state, and local candidates with virtually nothing to show for it once all the ballots were cast. As the report notes, “The largest and most visible groups, counting only money directly spent on electioneering, bragged about spending upwards of $85 million dollars for the midterms,” which is probably a significant underestimation when you consider other types of non-direct campaign spending such as phone banks, and get-out-the-vote efforts. $40 million of this money was a failed attempt at maintaining the Democrats majority in the U.S. Senate.“The bottom line is that at least in 2014, green groups spending on elections was a colossal failure if you examine the results of the races where they played,” said E&E Legal Executive Director Craig Richardson. “Sadly, however, this isn’t just about whether or not this unprecedented election spending was a good investment. It represents a real departure from what these green groups were founded to accomplish, and local Sierra Club members have intimated to us that they believe they could do a lot more for the environment with a million dollars than blowing it on a 30-second attack ad like the national did.”
More Soft Money Hard Law: The New Donors
By Bob BauerThis New Donor is not merely expressing views. He is looking to build with his personal treasury an organization that will shift the strategic landscape—the sphere within which the campaign as an organizational activity is conducted. His goal is not alone to amplify the candidate’s views, nor to carry out functions favored by the candidate on a timetable and in others respects as that candidate determines. He has consulting support of his own and a project of drawing on that advice and his considerable resources in crafting a campaign plan that supplements, influences, and occasionally redirects what the candidate (or the candidate’s party) may choose to do.Unlike the experienced political professionals who organize PACs sympathetic to and aligned with particular political party interests, the New Donor is not committed to party or enhancing its brand. She is working to elect a candidate or candidates without the complications and inefficiencies that parties must contend with in managing multiple institutional objectives, one of which is to adopt a position of studied (if not always entirely genuine) impartiality when its candidates are competing for a nomination. This New Donor is ready to disregard whatever consensus about strategy that a party elite might arrive at.
Disclosure
Tampa Bay Tribune: Clinton: Outlaw anonymity
By Tom JacksonOn a Sunday in May 2010, SEIU bused some 500 demonstrators to a Rockville, Md., neighborhood where they set about disturbing the peace from the porch and lawn of a reliable donor to Democratic candidates because he had the bad taste to hold a job as a Bank of America executive at a time when Big Banks were the scourge of Americans who did not understand finance. (The targeted executive also was away for the day, leaving his teenage son home alone, and terrified.)So. Anonymity, the bride’s maid of privacy. How is that a bad idea?The source of Clinton’s concern is understandable, of course: The entire reason Citizens United wound up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court is because the Federal Elections Commission blocked the group — which operated under a corporate umbrella with unidentified backers — from pursuing plans to present a movie unflattering to you-know-whom. Clinton’s enthusiasm for outing anyone who would pony up a few shekels to oppose her ascendancy is, at minimum, instructional.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Wall Street Journal: Hillary Clinton Vows Campaign-Finance Fix
By Peter NicholasRepublicans depicted Mrs. Clinton as two-faced for making campaign finance a priority, given that she and her husband, former two-term President Bill Clinton, have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in donations for their various campaigns and philanthropic enterprises. After her appearance, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Michael Short, said: “The ‘H’ in Clinton’s campaign logo might as well stand for hypocrisy.”The Clinton campaign declined to comment on the RNC statement.
Mrs. Clinton, like the other 2016 presidential hopefuls, will get help from a super PAC that is free to raise unlimited donations on her campaign’s behalf. Mrs. Clinton didn’t discuss her campaign’s fundraising during her talk.
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Politico: The GOP’s plan to turn Hillary into Mitt Romney
By Eli StokolsThe out-of-touch plutocrat template is a familiar one: Democrats used it to devastating effect against Republican Mitt Romney in 2012. While Hillary Clinton’s residences in New York and Washington may not have car elevators, there’s still a lengthy trail of paid speeches, tone-deaf statements about the family finances and questions about Clinton family foundation fundraising practices that will serve as cornerstones of the anti-Clinton messaging effort.“She’s admitted she hasn’t driven a car for decades; she probably doesn’t ever go into a coffee shop and talk to regular people unless it’s for a staged photo-op,” said American Crossroads CEO Steven Law, alluding to Clinton’s portrayal in her campaign’s launch video on Sunday. “She really has lived the life of a 1-percenter these last several years, and it shows.“We know her team is working to rebrand her as a relatable, regular person; the question is, can she actually perform in a way that convinces people she is that person? We think that’s going to be hard for her.”
Washington Post: Hillary Clinton: ‘We do have a plan’ for campaign finance reform
By Philip Rucker and Dan BalzAsked about her campaign finance agenda, Clinton said, “We do have a plan. We have a plan for my plan.”Clinton added, “I’m going to be rolling out a lot of my policies…Stay tuned.”When The Post asked about the role of Priorities USA Action, a pro-Clinton super PAC currently trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to help her campaign, Clinton shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t know.”
Senator Menendez
Politico: Menendez donor indicted on 76 counts
By Seung Min KimA Florida ophthalmologist at the center of the corruption charges against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was hit Tuesday with a new, 76-count federal indictment that accuses the doctor of engaging in an elaborate Medicare fraud scheme.Salomon Melgen, a wealthy donor and longtime friend of Menendez, was indicted along with the senator earlier this month on federal corruption charges that alleged Menendez used his Senate office to improperly intervene on behalf of Melgen’s business interests in exchange for lavish gifts and donations. The New Jersey senator has vowed to fight the charges.
Ethics
Politico: Aaron Schock staffers tell House they’ve been subpoenaed
By Jake Sherman and Anna PalmerDayne LaHood, Schock’s district chief of staff; Bryan Rudolph, his district manager; Mark Roman, his chief of staff; and Sarah Rogers, his former executive assistant, all received subpoenas to testify to the grand jury in the central district of Illinois. Earlier, POLITICO reported that they received subpoenas, but since they still work on Capitol Hill, they are required to notify the House of Representatives.
State and Local
Maryland –– AP: Md. lawmakers pass public campaign finance bill
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Maryland General Assembly has approved a bill to bring back a voluntary check off on individual income tax returns for public campaign financing for governor.The House agreed with changes made by the Senate Monday night on a 102-36 vote.The original check off was repealed in 2010.
Minnesota –– AP: House GOP Plan Would Wipe Out Campaign Spending Limits
A component of the majority party’s budget plan released Tuesday would repeal Minnesota’s program that makes candidates eligible for campaign subsidies if they abide by spending limits.It also ends the subsidy program itself, which was established in the 1990s. That program is fed by income-tax checkoffs and Democrats have tended to score more of the cash over the years.Another portion would remove limits on how much candidates can take from big donors, lobbyists and political funds. Those limits have been under legal challenge.
Montana –– The Montana Standard: Senate OKs amended campaign finance bill
By a 32-18 vote, the Senate approved the modified version of Senate Bill 289, by Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip. The bill picked up four votes from when it had earlier passed the Senate by 28-22.SB289 faces a final Senate vote this week before heading to Gov. Steve Bullock for his signature.
Wisconsin –– Wisconsin Reporter: John Doe reform bill stalls in Legislature
By MD KittleThe Speaker’s office did not return a Wisconsin Watchdog email Tuesday asking why the John Doe legislation has yet to come up for a hearing in the Assembly or move to the floor.But Vos has said he supports reforming the law and dramatically changing the GAB, Wisconsin’s political speech regulator. Recently at Right Wisconsin’s Insight 2015, hosted by Milwaukee conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes, Vos said the Legislature is close to an agreement on a final GAB reform bill and that there have been “positive conversations” regarding the John Doe proposal.“I’ve been in politics for a long time. You look at the way the GAB operated, I am embarrassed at the way they have operated,” Vos said.
