Independent Groups
Washington Free Beacon: Secret Obama Group Won’t Disclose Secret Meeting Location
By Lachlan MarkayTheir refusal to disclose information on the event coincided with attempts by OFA to reassure critics that the organization will be transparent and ethical. Messina has rejected claims it will allow wealthy individuals to influence administration policy.
Washington Post: Pay-to-play politics reach the Oval Office
EditorialPRESIDENT OBAMA’S money men have taken a welcome step away from the ethical abyss: They will now disclose the names of those who donate $250 or more to the new advocacy group Organizing for Action, which is intended to advance the president’s second-term agenda. Jim Messina, the group’s national chairman, promises to post the donors’ names and the precise amount of their donation quarterly on the group’s Web site. This transparency is critical to avoid the corrupting influence of hidden contributions. If someone wants to put $1 million or more on the table as a way of seeking influence with the president, at least it will now be visible.
Politico: Messina denies selling access to Obama
By Donovan SlackOFA chairman and former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina on Friday dismissed criticism that his group is selling access to President Obama and the White House to high-dollar contributors.
Columbus Dispatch: Pro-Obama donor group questioned
By Jessica Wehrman“We’ll mobilize to support the president’s agenda, but we won’t do so on behalf of political candidates,” he wrote, describing the organization as an issue advocacy group. The new “OFA” follows the official campaign group Obama for America, which followed the Organizing for America group set up during Obama’s first term, which followed Obama for America from the 2008 campaign.
Washington Post: 2016 Watch: Tea party group airs ad attacking McDonnell, in Iowa
By Ben Pershing
At the urging of former Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Jamie Radtke (R), a tea party-backed group called Patriot Super PAC has launched a small ad buy in the Hawkeye State taking McDonnell to task for the transportation package.
Candidates, Politicians and Parties
The Hill: Rand Paul joins 2016 presidential conversation with talking filibuster
By Alexandra Jaffe
Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) decision to mount a rare talking filibuster over President Obama’s drone strike policy has – for the moment – propelled the Kentucky lawmaker to the forefront of the 2016 Republican presidential conversation.
Washington Post: McCain undermines his own cause
By Jennifer Rubin
It is one thing for McCain to revive the personal animosity many conservatives have felt toward the senator so enamored of garnering media elite opinion and so dismissive of the First Amendment (e.g. campaign finance reform). But he did something worse. Like the social conservatives who backed Todd Akin, he hurt the cause he has fought for.
State and Local
New Mexico – Albuquerque Journal: Campaign contribution change dies in the House
By MATTHEW KAMINSKI
His emergence has given members of an endangered species-the California Republican-faint hope about one day again winning a prominent race in the state.
New York – NY Times: Cuomo Voices Mixed Optimism for Chances of Campaign Finance Proposals
By Thomas Kaplan
“The juxtaposition between an independent expenditure committee and public financing is truly difficult to explain,” Mr. Cuomo said. “The politicians feel a public financing system will handcuff them, and if an independent expenditure committee then parachutes into the race, they’ll be defenseless.”
