In the News
Roll Call: Rules of the Game: Advocacy Groups Face New Ad Rules
By Eliza Newlin Carney“It makes nonprofit management a nightmare, ” said David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, a pro-First Amendment group, “because you have money sitting in this account, which you will be afraid to use.”
NPR: Secret Political Donors Find Ways To Stay Anonymous
By Peter OverbyAllison Hayward, vice president of policy at the Center for Competitive Politics, says there may be good reasons donors would give to a superPAC in the primaries but think twice about doing so in the general election.
Politico: Dems, GOP fear bomb from outside groups
By ALEXANDER BURNS“There’s been all this critique of super PACs — ‘there’s too much coordination, they’re just arms of the campaigns, ’” said David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, which opposes restrictions on political spending. “In a lot of cases, these independent groups do things the campaigns don’t want them to do. They’re often seen as loose cannons and there isn’t even a lot of gratitude for what they’re doing.”
CCP
Edwards Jury Instructions Defy Supreme Court Ruling
By Sarah LeeHayward notes that in the landmark Buckley v Valeo case, decided in 1976, the Supreme Court wrote that “Due process requires that a criminal statute provide adequate notice to a person of ordinary intelligence that his contemplated conduct is illegal, for ‘no man shall be held criminally responsible for conduct which he could not reasonably understand to be proscribed…’ There is no legislative history to guide us in determining the scope of the critical phrase ‘for the purpose of . . . influencing.’ It appears to have been adopted without comment from earlier disclosure Acts.”
Independent groups
Politico: Crossroads cash 5 times Obama counterpart
By DAVE LEVINTHAL and ROBIN BRAVENDERBy its lofty standards, Republican super PAC American Crossroads’ April fundraising performance proved mediocre at best, but its frugal spending help it roar into the general election season with a massive cash reserve.
The Hill: Pro-Obama super-PAC sees April fundraising fall to $1.6 million
By Alicia M. CohnThe main super-PAC supporting President Obama’s reelection saw its fundraising plummet in April to $1.6 million.
Disclosure
Politico: $1M donor once wanted for ‘criminal mischief’
By ABBY PHILLIPThe photographer, David “Smiley” Irvin, had been taking pictures of Kleinheinz’s wife and two children from property that Irvin said belonged to the nearby River Crest Country Club. But Kleinheinz accused Irvin of trespassing on his $10 million dollar property which is near the club, and threatened to call the police.
Candidates and parties
Politico: Mitt Romney, Barack Obama in tight money race
By KENNETH P. VOGELBig donors have vaulted Mitt Romney into a neck-and-neck arms race with President Barack Obama’s formidable fundraising machine.
NY Times Blog: Obama on the High Wire
By THOMAS B. EDSALLIs the Democratic party the tribune of the underdog or the slave of special interests?
Associated Press: Conservative donors who gave to Romney’s GOP rivals are slow to back Romney’s campaign
An Associated Press review of campaign finance data found that only a few hundred donors who contributed to candidates like Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum have changed course and gave to Romney’s campaign or the Republican Party in April. That’s as GOP stalwarts and some former rivals have called on supporters to rally around Romney’s White House run.
NY Times: Bring Back the Real Maverick
EditorialSenator John McCain has retreated from the campaign finance fight, once his signature issue. He may finally be ready to get back in. He told the newspaper The Hill that he had been talking with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, the sponsor of a much-needed bill requiring timely public disclosure of donors writing checks of $10, 000 and more for election ads, plus “stand-by-your-ad” identifications from the five biggest donors.
Lobbying and ethics
Politico: Wanted: Lobbyists who raise cash
By ANNA PALMERPolicy experts, leadership aides and committee staff used to be the kings of K Street, collecting a premium from top lobby shops for their expertise on how business is done on Capitol Hill.
