In the News
CNN: Ted Cruz super PACs: A new era of political fundraising
By MJ Lee and Jeremy DiamondThe setup has prompted a lot of head-scratching among campaign finance experts who question the upsides of the fragmented organization.“I don’t think there are any efficiency gains from doing it this way — the accounting headaches are not insignificant having been on that end of trying to report stuff like this,” said David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, a group that tracks political spending. “It seems like a big hassle.”
CCP
Why Did Ted Cruz Supporters Create Four Super PACs?
By David KeatingSeveral news accounts report that four pro-Cruz super PACs with the names “Keep the Promise,” “Keep the Promise I,” “Keep the Promise II” and “Keep the Promise III” have pledges for $31 million, a stunning haul for less than a week.I’ve never seen anyone organize a network of super PACs for the same candidate before. If they share staff and perhaps office space, which seems likely, it sounds like a significant accounting headache.To me, an interesting question is why would anyone do something like that? I don’t know the answer, but I have a few theories.
Official Intimidation
Wall Street Journal: The Alinsky Way of Governing
By Pete PetersonArizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, recently caused a stir by sending letters to seven university presidents seeking background information on scientists and professors who had given congressional testimony that failed to endorse what is the conventional wisdom in some quarters regarding climate change. One of the targets was Steven Hayward, a colleague of mine at Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy.Though the congressman lacked legal authority to demand information, his aggressive plan, which came to light in late February, should not be a surprise at a time when power holders from the White House on down are employing similar means against perceived enemies.Mr. Grijalva left a clue about how he operates in 2013 when the magazine In These Times asked about his legislative strategy. “I’m a Saul Alinsky guy,” he said, referring to the community organizer and activist who died in 1972, “that’s where I learned this stuff.”
Independent Groups
Washington Post: Marco Rubio gets a super PAC
By Ed O’KeefeAdd Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to the list of Republican presidential hopefuls set to benefit from a super PAC.Conservative Solutions PAC is launching on Thursday and will be led by J. Warren Tompkins, a longtime Republican operative. It will be staffed with a slate of veterans from major campaigns.Rubio, who is widely expected to formally launch his own presidential campaign on Monday, will be the beneficiary of the group.
USA Today: Super PACs move to forefront of 2016 campaigns
By Fredreka SchoutenWASHINGTON — Only two major presidential candidates have formally declared their bids, but the allies of at least 11 White House hopefuls have launched committees to raise unlimited money to back their campaigns — the latest sign that big money will swamp the 2016 presidential race like never before.Operatives with ties to Sen. Marco Rubio became the latest to seize on new fundraising committees, announcing Thursday that an existing super PAC, Conservative Solutions, has been reorganized to collect unrestricted sums to advance the Florida Republican’s White House ambitions. Rubio is expected to announce his candidacy Monday in Miami.“This race will be won by the candidate with the best vision for where to take this nation and the resources to ensure that message is heard,” Warren Tompkins, a longtime GOP strategist who is running the pro-Rubio super PAC, said in a statement.
Wall Street Journal: PAC Backing Rand Paul Changes Its Name to Avoid Tangle with Election Rules
By Byron TauStand with Rand is no more.A grassroots super PAC formed to support Sen. Rand Paul‘s run for president in 2013 officially changed its name this week to SWR PAC — cheekily citing concerns that the deceased libertarian writer Ayn Rand may run for office.The reason: A Federal Election Commission regulation states that “no unauthorized committee shall include the name of any candidate in its name.” The rule is designed to keep independent PACs, super PACs and other political entities from causing confusion to voters.
Contribution Limits
The Columbus Dispatch: Limits on campaign donations backfire
EditorialCrusaders against money in politics may be well-intentioned, but campaign-finance restrictions starting in the 1970s have today resulted in an explosion of “dark money” going to third-party groups rather than candidates and parties themselves.As seen in recent elections, there has been a dramatic spike in giving to organizations that do not have to disclose their donors, leading to a greater lack of transparency about who is spending big money to influence elections in Ohio and across the country.Data from the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics show a huge increase nationally in spending by groups that are not legally required to disclose their donors, because they are set up as 501(c)4 nonprofits. It has surged from about $5 million in 2006 to more than $309 million in 2012.
Tax Financing
Five Thirty Eight: A Checkbox On Your Tax Return Helped Kill Public Campaign Funding
By Andrew FlowersYou already hate tax season, and as you move wearily through the cold calculations of the 1040 form, you come across a familiar checkbox. It’s the one that requests permission to send $3 to the “presidential election campaign,” delivering cash to a bunch of politicians that you’re sure are awash in money anyway.“What’s the point?” you might ask yourself. To fund more polarizing and negative campaign ads? You happily refuse to check the box.By doing so, you joined 94 percent of Americans who also declined to make that checkmark. The share of tax forms with a checked box has been declining steadily for decades.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Washington Examiner: Rick Santorum forms ‘testing the waters’ account for 2016 run
By Kelly CohenRick Santorum may be ready to run for president — again.The former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 Republican presidential hopeful has set up a testing the waters account ahead of a possible 2016 White House run.The account allows Santorum to raise and spend money under the same guidelines as an actual campaign committee; however, a “testing the waters” account does not have to disclose its finances.
NY Times: In Accepting Bitcoin, Rand Paul Raises Money and Questions
By Eirc LichtblauWASHINGTON — Presidential fund-raising, never known for its transparency, may have just become even more secretive.In announcing his candidacy for president this week, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky waded into new waters when he said he would accept campaign contributions in Bitcoins, a largely untraceable virtual currency, in amounts up to $100.Interested donors at randpaul.com were given three options for making a contribution: a credit card, PayPal or Bitcoin. While some state and federal candidates in California, Colorado, New Hampshire and elsewhere have started accepting Bitcoins, Mr. Paul, a Republican, is the first presidential candidate to do so.
Buzzfeed: Rand Paul Campaign Sends Cease-And-Desist To Stations Running Iran Attack Ad
By Rosie GrayWASHINGTON — A lawyer for the Rand Paul campaign has sent a legal notice to TV stations that ran a hawkish attack ad based on Paul’s views on Iran, calling the ad defamatory and asking stations to stop showing it.The letter is an objection to a million-dollar ad buy by a group called the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, led by Republican operative Rick Reed. The ad, which launched in early primary states on the day of Paul’s presidential campaign announcement, accuses Paul of supporting President Obama’s policies on Iran and of opposing new sanctions.“The Advertisement attempts to deceive voters regarding Senator Rand Paul’s position on U.S.-Iran relations through at least three false statements,” writes Paul campaign general counsel Matthew T. Sanderson in the letter dated April 7, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News on Thursday.
FEC
Washington Post: FEC reminds Rubio (again) to clean up his campaign finances
By Colby ItkowitzSen. Marco Rubio may want to clear the air with the Federal Election Commission before embarking on his next career endeavor.Just because he’s running for president now (it’s nearly official!) the FEC isn’t going to let the Florida Republican off without him cleaning up his Senate campaign committee.Rubio received a letter from the FEC Wednesday listing all the individual donors who exceeded the $2,600 legal contributions to his committee. There are 14 offenders who overpaid for his 2016 Senate re-election.
