campaign finance

Stories 61 - 80 | << Prev   Next >>

Treasurer 'Fleeced Calif. Dems Out of $7M'

Kinde Durkee expected to plead guilty to biggest-ever campaign embezzlement

(Newser) - The woman California's Democrats once considered their most reliable treasurer scammed dozens of candidates, officeholders, and organizations out of at least $7 million over a decade, prosecutors say. Kinde Durkee—who was dubbed the "Madoff of campaign treasurers" after her arrest in September —is expected to plead...

Super PAC Leaders Paying Themselves Handsomely

Santorum PAC head Nick Ryan funnels $570K to his business

(Newser) - Super PAC leaders have found a great use for all the unbridled cash pouring into their campaigns: paying themselves. The pro-Rick Santorum Red White and Blue Fund may be the most egregious offender; according to the LA Times , it paid $570,000 last month—a third of its total expenditures—...

Romney Super PAC Spent 2x What It Raised Last Month

Restore Our Future spent $13.9M in January

(Newser) - Mitt Romney and the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future were big spenders in January, according to the latest campaign filings. Restore Our Future spent $13.9 million in January—mostly on attack ads—and raised less than half that amount during the same period, Politico reports. Romney's campaign...

Newt's Billionaire Backer Out to Beat Santorum

Sheldon Adelson is fine with Mitt Romney as nominee: Wall Street Journal

(Newser) - Sheldon Adelson is considering dropping another massive pile of cash into Newt Gingrich's super PAC—but he's doing it in part because he thinks it will help Mitt Romney, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The billionaire casino mogul thinks that keeping Gingrich in the race will draw...

Stop the Billionaires: Amend the Constitution
Stop the Billionaires:
Amend the Constitution
OPINION
Feb 10, 2012 11:49 AM CST

Stop the Billionaires: Amend the Constitution

Jonathan Alter: Citizens United, super PACs killing our democracy

(Newser) - To Jonathan Alter, it's already clear that the 2012 presidential election will be "one of the most corrupt in US history." It's all thanks to Citizens United, the court ruling that allows a "tiny group of billionaires"—the current crop includes Sheldon Adelson , the...

Small Donors Gave 48% of Obama's 2011 Donations

That's more than double the proportion from 2007: analysis

(Newser) - President Obama continues to be successful raising money through small donations—and this time around, he's outpacing his campaign from four years ago. Last year, almost half of the money raised by the president's re-election campaign came from donors who gave $200 or less in total, a new...

Obama's Super PAC Scrambles for Big Donors

Fundraisers emboldened by Obama's endorsement

(Newser) - Now that President Obama has changed his tune on his super PAC , officials at Priorities USA Action have kicked into overdrive attempting to recruit deep-pocketed liberal donors who have largely been inactive since 2004. Ex-Obama aides held dozens of meetings with potential donors in LA, New York, and elsewhere yesterday,...

Colbert Making Supreme Court Look Stupid

Dahlia Lithwick says court is ill-equipped to deal with comedy

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has had plenty of powerful foils over the years, like Andrew Jackson and FDR, "but in the history of the Supreme Court, nothing has ever prepared the justices for the public opinion wrecking ball that is Stephen Colbert," writes Dahlia Lithwick at Slate . With his...

Obama Losing Super PAC War
 Obama Losing Super PAC War 
Jan 18, 2012 7:51 AM CST

Obama Losing Super PAC War

...because he's not terribly interested in fighting it

(Newser) - Democrats saw the way Mitt Romney's super PAC destroyed Newt Gingrich in Iowa, and it terrified them, because President Obama's super PAC—or as Politico terms it, "not-so-super PAC"—doesn't have the muscle for anything like that. "It's like when China got the...

Scott Brown, Elizabeth Warren: Kill Super PACs

Rivals issue joint call for ceasefire on third-party cash in their race

(Newser) - Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren agree on at least two things: They'd each like to be the junior senator from Massachusetts, and they both want outside money in the form of super PACs to stay out of their race to achieve that goal. The pair issued a joint call...

Rick Santorum Earmarks: Former Senator Was Prolific at Securing Earmarks, Campaign Cash Followed
Rick Brought Home $1B
in Pork—and Big Donations
ANALYSIS
Jan 16, 2012 10:09 AM CST

Rick Brought Home $1B in Pork—and Big Donations

Former senator was a 'vigorous practitioner' of securing earmarks

(Newser) - In Rick Santorum's days in the Senate, lawmakers didn't have to disclose their earmarks—but a New York Times analysis shows that Santorum had a lot of them, and that they were often followed by large campaign contributions from the companies they benefited. In one defense bill, for...

Cardiologist: John Edwards Has Life-Threatening Heart Condition

Judge delays trial so he can have surgery in February

(Newser) - A federal judge says she has two letters from a cardiologist saying John Edwards has a life-threatening condition that will require surgery in February. The letters were revealed during a hearing today to consider whether the 58-year-old would go on trial later this month for alleged campaign finance violations. Attorneys...

Show Us Your Money, Romney
 Show Us Your Money, Romney 
OPINION
Jan 12, 2012 10:58 AM CST

Show Us Your Money, Romney

'Washington Post' takes frontrunner to task for keeping taxes, donors secret

(Newser) - Mitt Romney has so far flatly refused to release either his tax returns or his list of fundraising bundlers, and that's "a striking and disturbing departure from the past practice of presidential candidates of both parties," the Washington Post says in an editorial today. Yes, demanding candidates'...

Romney Hauls In $24M in Best Quarter Yet

And all those donors are free to give to him again

(Newser) - If Mitt Romney fans wanted even more good news today, here it comes: The frontrunner raised $24 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, his best total yet, bringing his yearly total up to $56 million—of which $19 million is still on hand, the campaign announced today. The LA ...

Congress Is Increasingly Richer Than You

Figures show widening wealth gap, and with it polarization

(Newser) - Before he ran for Congress in 1974, Gary Myers was a steel mill worker. His campaign set him back $33,000. Today, Myers’ seat is occupied by Mike Kelly, a wealthy car dealer who married into the Phillips oil fortune. His campaign cost $1.2 million. That contrast is emblematic...

Grand Jury Investigating Bill Richardson

Over allegations he used campaign funds to pay off mistress

(Newser) - A federal grand jury is looking into allegations that Bill Richardson violated campaign finance laws during his 2008 presidential run—most salaciously by having supporters pay off a woman who threatened to reveal an extramarital affair with the former New Mexico governor, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The sources...

Perry Challenges Pelosi to Debate

As his fundraising and support dries up

(Newser) - You might think extra debates would be the last thing Rick Perry would want, but you’d be wrong. The Texas governor has challenged Nancy Pelosi to a mano-a-mano debate on his new part-time Congress proposal , which would halve Congress’ pay, the Hill reports. “I am in Washington Monday...

Cain's Campaign Buys $86K of His Own Books

Campaign paying own foundation for autobiography

(Newser) - Herman Cain’s campaign has spent $86,523 buying copies of the candidate’s autobiography and other books—and it’s buying them from Herman Cain THE New Voice, Cain’s own motivational speaking company. “They are buying my books and my pamphlets,” Cain confirmed for Bloomberg, but...

Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman All Broke

Romney, Perry pull in combined $30M in Q3

(Newser) - Campaign reports reveal a GOP presidential field whose members are on vastly different financial footing. While Mitt Romney and Rick Perry raised a combined $30 million in Q3, three of their competitors are deep in debt, WNYC reports. Michele Bachmann raised $3.9 million between July and September, but currently...

Politicians Should Swear Off Wall Street Cash
Politicians Should Swear Off Wall Street Cash
OPINION
Oct 12, 2011 12:33 PM CDT

Politicians Should Swear Off Wall Street Cash

Harold Meyerson says going clean could be deceptively brilliant

(Newser) - Washington is too dysfunctional to pass any laws in response to Occupy Wall Street, but if Democrats want to stand with the protesters, Harold Meyerson has a modest proposal: Refuse all campaign contributions “from the whole financial sector,” he suggests in the Washington Post . “Sign a pledge...

Stories 61 - 80 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser