Free Republic

And to think, up to one week ago Obama was vehemently opposed to super PACs. Via The Hill: Four Obama administration cabinet members suggested an openness to appearing at pro-Obama super-PAC events. iWatch News at the Center for Public Integrity reports that spokesmen for Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Energy Secretary Steven Chu suggested that their bosses would be willing to raise money for the super-PACs. A week earlier, after previously criticizing the legal ability of super-PACs to raise unlimited amounts money for their candidates, President Obama signed off on some...

As hard as it may be to believe, CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday actually tried to raise money for the reelection of the current White House resident. Speaking with billionaire George Soros on the program bearing his name, Zakaria asked, "Will you create a Super PAC to help President Obama?" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Stephen Colbert's sway in the U.S. presidential election might be a joke, but he's got some real financial muscle. The comedian disclosed Tuesday that his Americans for a Better Tomorrow "super" political action committee has raised a staggering $1.02 million. PACs were required to submit their financial reports to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday. In a letter to the commission, Colbert was quoted as saying, "How you like me now, FEC?" Colbert raised the money by asking for donations from viewers of "The Colbert Report." He has used the PAC to highlight what he considers the absurdity of campaign...

Gov. Nikki Haley announced her endorsement of Mitt Romney in mid-December. The Republican presidential candidate, regarded to be somewhat moderate, earned her Tea Party support because “he knows how the private economy works, how to fix it, and most importantly how to solve problems,” Haley said in her announcement. The fact that Romney knows how to donate to campaigns might have more to do with it, though. His “Free and Strong America” political action committee donated $36,000 to Haley’s campaign in 2010. And she’s not alone, either. Romney has, to date, received 35 endorsements from politicians his PAC donated to...

In the Washington Times, Charles Hurt writes, “Both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Romney look like they should be cast as president in a made-for-TV movie. But in reality, both are hopelessly out of touch, calculating wax figurines. They both even speak French! In the end, Mitt Romney is John Kerry without the war medals.” Oh, come on, that’s not true. For starters, Kerry doesn’t have his war decorations anymore, since he threw them away. But I know John Kerry. John Kerry’s a blog target of mine. And Mitt Romney is no John Kerry. David Harmer is a California lawyer who...

The Michigan Legislature is poised to consider a two-bill package that would prohibit unions from using local government payroll systems to collect PAC funds. This is a step that is long overdue. House Bills 5085 and 5086 passed in the state House Thursday. While the dollar amounts that flow through union PACs are not as huge as those that flow through unions themselves, government union PACs still pack a wallop. According to reports filed with the Secretary of State, the MEA PAC collected more than $500,000 in donations and spent $1.2 million on its political programs in 2010. In spite...

In the face of attack ads casting Newt Gingrich as less than a true conservative - spots that may be eroding his support - a super PAC supporting Gingrich has released a new spot deeming the former House Speaker a "proven conservative leader." The spot, from the newly-formed Winning Our Future, is not officially affiliated with the Gingrich campaign, and it cannot coordinate with the campaign. But like many super PACs, it has strong ties to the candidate. Winning Our Future is led by Becky Burkett, a onetime official with a now-defunct group American Solutions for Winning the Future that...

Mr. Cain raised more than $5 million through September. Information on the financial activity since that time won’t be disclosed until January, but the campaign said it raised $9 million over a few weeks alone. The funds allowed Mr. Cain and associates to dine and travel in style, using $350,000 on private chartered air in a few weeks, spending thousands at hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton and the Four Seasons, and eating largely steak dinners, records show. One of the campaign’s top recipients was T.H.E New Voice, a company set up to sell Mr. Cain’s books and motivational talks, which...

I'm just watching the interview with Herman Cain on Greta. If I understand him right, he says the only women of the two he even remembers by name worked in the government/PAC dept. of the restaurant association. Interesting. I don't know, but wondering-- would she be in a position to represent restaurant and service workers unions interests in the PAC? Cain said the first woman was dismissed and the accusations were deemed "baseless" and that she left with what was the equivalent of her owed severance package . Now this women shows up and Cain says he doesn't even believe...

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio has hopped on the PAC bandwagon. The Florida Republican filed paperwork this week with the Federal Election Commission to create Reclaim America PAC, joining other Senate tea-party favorites who have created similar political action committees to influence races and elect like-minded conservatives in the 2012 cycle. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60773.html#ixzz1UEKBkgAx

Did someone create a company for the sole purpose of giving to a political action committee trying to boost Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign? That's what it looks like. As The Ticket reported earlier this week, three firms gave $1 million apiece to Restore Our Future, a conservative "super PAC" planning to spend millions to help Romney's White House bid. One of those companies was W. Spann LLC, a mysterious New York-based company that apparently closed up shop last month shortly after its contribution to the pro-Romney PAC. As NBC News's Michael Isikoff reports, the company was formed in March...

President Barack Obama's political arm at the Democratic National Committee is getting involved in the Wisconsin state Senate recall elections.

The Rise of the Democratic Super-Secret PACs. Posted by Moe Lane Friday, June 17th at 7:00PM EDT Super PACs are, of course, the political groups that were set up after the Supreme Court’s landmark free speech decision in Citizens United: they are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money advocating both for and against political candidates, but may not donate to those candidates directly. The Left ostensibly hates them, which did not stop them from using them to raise over 28 million dollars in the 2010 election cycle (44% of total Super PAC fundraising) to the Right’s over...

FYI - Herman Cain will address Congressman Steve King's Conservative Principles PAC Conference in Des Moines at 4:20 p.m. Eastern /3:20 p.m. Central. It is airing live on C-SPAN - http://www.cspan.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/ Currently they are showing a townhall type forum that is good. They are addressing healthcare repeal.

I am very interested in starting a Political Action Committee that will create hard hitting ads against anyone who is determined to ride rough shod over our Constitution. This is not for the faint of heart! Anyone interested? Anyone have any experience doing this? Feel free to Freepmail me if interested.

Political Action Committee or PAC are not used for a Presidential run, however they are used to gauge grassroots support and fundraising abilities as well as organization skills for a potential Presidential run. Sarah Palin small donor total from her PAC is amazing and outstanding. For the 2009-2010 cycle SarahPAC raised a total of around 3.8M among small donors. In comparison, in the 2005-2006 cycle Obama’s HopeFund PAC raised a total of around 1.5M among small donors, tops among potential candidates at that time. McCain’s StraightTalkAmerica was second with around 1.4M among small donors. No one else was even close....

The will she or won’t she? question continues at Politico, where Andy Barr reports on SarahPAC’s FEC financial disclosure yesterday. The PAC finished 2010 in good shape, with $1.3 million in the bank and no debt after spending more than $2.6 million during the midterm campaign. But absent from the report are any indications of the kind of expansion usually seen with candidates preparing for an electoral campaign: Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin headed into this year with more than $1.3 million in her political action committee, according a financial disclosure filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.The filing...

Former Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (R) has officially filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to organize her own political action committee -- Christine PAC. The Tea Party favorite and Sarah Palin-backed candidate upset former Rep. Mike Castle (R) in Delaware's GOP Senate primary but lost to Democrat Chris Coons by 16 percentage points. Still, that loss hasn't deterred her, and she indicated last month she intended to remain active in politics and that she was moving ahead with her own PAC. In a letter to the FEC dated Jan. 3 and received on Jan. 14, her treasurer, Paul...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is asking supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund to help him build a war chest ahead of the 2012 elections, when Republicans are hopeful they can take back the majority in the Senate. In an e-mail sent Tuesday with the subject line "Say No to RINOs in 2011," DeMint pledged that the Senate Conservatives Fund will play a key role in the upcoming legislative battles in the Senate with an eye towards 2012. RINO stands for politicians who are seen by some as "Republican in name only" and lack certain conservative credentials. In the fundraising appeal,...

Sarah Palin raised $469,000 between Oct. 13 and Nov. 22 bringing her total for the cycle to just under $4.5 million, Tim Crawford, SarahPAC's treasurer, told TIME exclusively. Crawford attributed the surge of funds to energy surrounding the midterm elections, Palin's endorsements and her TLC reality show “Sarah Palin's Alaska.” Her second book, America By Heart, came out Nov. 23. The PAC spent $64,000 buying advance copies of her books, “just as we did last year” with her first book, Going Rogue, Crawford said. “They're a great fundraising tool for us.” Palin is in the midst of a two-week cross-country...

The House ethics trial against Rep. Charlie Rangel began and ended in a flash yesterday, skipping oral argument and any semblance of a defense; the 40-year incumbent now awaits a verdict. Shed no tears for Charlie: He's a sad old man, but he brought it on himself. Rangel walked out of the proceedings after just 30 minutes, demanding a delay because he had no lawyer -- and "I don't have the opportunity to have a legal defense fund set up." (The panel -- rightly -- said no dice.) But as The Post's Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein reported Sunday, for...

Mary Jackson supports her company’s political action committee one paycheck at a time. The senior vice president of Cash America International Inc. allows her employer to withdraw $92 straight from her paycheck every two weeks as a contribution to the financial services company’s PAC. So far, Jackson has donated more than $2,500, and her co-workers have contributed a total of $315,000 to Cash America’s PAC through payroll deductions. As this year’s election season draws to a close and experts begin the traditional lament of too much money in politics, the common but little-discussed practice of fueling major PACs with employee...

..fuels a long-standing debate over PACs. Should grassroots members have a say in political endorsements made in their group's name? A dispute over that question could end in the Veterans of Foreign Wars dissolving the political action committee its members created more than three decades ago. At heart, the debate is one between Washington insiders—who seek to increase their leverage on Capitol Hill—and veteran members the PAC said are swept up in a national anti-establishment tide. "I think the nation is upset with Congress period," Jerry Newberry, a PAC spokesman, said. They are especially upset at the PAC's endorsement of...

Google's PAC sent 55 percent of its contributions to Republicans between July and October. Google's political action committee gave more contributions to Republicans candidates than to Democrats, according to an analysis by Consumer Watchdog, a staunch critic of the company. Between July and October, 55 percent of Google NetPAC's contributions went to Republicans ($57,500). Democrats received 45 percent of contributions ($47,500). This a change from the last filing, in which Democrats received 58 percent of the contributions and Republicans received 42 percent ($14,000).

Endorsements from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Political Action Committee have so enraged many VFW members that its elected leaders have asked the PAC to immediately rescind all endorsements for next month's election. Hundreds of VFW members have been calling the national headquarters in recent days to complain about some of the endorsements, particularly about two races — both featuring Democratic incumbents. In one race, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California got the PAC's endorsement over Republican Carly Fiorina. In the other, Rep. Ron Klein of Florida got the endorsement over Republican and Iraq war veteran Allen West.

WASHINGTON — With growing scrutiny of the role of tax-exempt groups in political campaigns, Congressional Republicans are pushing back against Democrats by warning about the possible misuse of the Internal Revenue Service to audit conservative groups. Leading Republicans are suggesting that a senior official in the Obama administration may have improperly accessed the tax records of Koch Industries, an oil company whose owners are major conservative donors.

On January 7, the day after he entered the US Senate race, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) proudly stated, "I've never taken PAC money, and I have rejected all special interest money." Now that he has accepted almost half a million dollars from Political Action Committees and special interest groups, his Republican opponent Linda McMahon has released a new ad asking, "How can he fight special interests if they're paying for his campaign?"

Recently I learned that 81% of all donations to our Federal elected representatives come from one twelfth of one percent (0.0012) of our voters, principally funneled through lobbyist groups. Incumbents received 99% of these lobbyist-donated funds in the last election cycle. This may explain why 96% of incumbents won reelection in 2008 less than a month after polls showed that our Congressmen’s approval rating was only 9% after the bank (TARP) bailout on 10-3-08. Money wins elections. A recent example illustrates how this works. Senator Barbara Boxer voted for a $5 million “earmark” (pork) for La Raza, a Latino lobbyist...

The second-quarter numbers are in and people who pay attention are paying attention. It’s not the haul that’s so impressive — $866,000 is a robust figure but Romney’s PAC did more than a million in April and May alone and SarahPAC itself did better in the last half of last year than the first half of this year — but rather what she’s doing with the money. What kind of ex-governor-turned-commentator spends several hundred thousand dollars developing a direct mailing list?One who’s keeping her options open. The committee, SarahPAC, also spent nearly twice as much – $742,000 – as it...

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — During the latest episode of the battle over a sex tape showing ex-presidential candidate John Edwards being less than presidential, Judge Carl Fox stopped with a quizzical look. Rielle Hunter, a campaign videographer with whom Edwards had an extramarital affair and a child, claims the tape is hers and wants it back from Andrew Young, the former Edwards aide who wrote a tell-all book about the politician's quest for the White House. At a hearing in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday, lawyers for Young argued that Hunter had no claim to it. They contended the video...

Now that Charlie Crist has left the Republican Party to mount an independent run for Senate, Texas Sen. John Cornyn wants a refund of all the money his political action committee donated to the Florida governor. Cornyn, who runs the GOP campaign operation for the Senate, expects a number of Republicans to demand money back from Crist because they don't want his independent bid to be financed with party funds, The Wall Street Journal reported. "People have already asked for their money back and I expect that to continue," Cornyn said Thursday. "I certainly will request the money I donated...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 19, 2010 CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Darin Miller, (866) FRC-NEWS FRC Action PAC Announces Twenty Target Congressional Races for 2010 April 19, 2010 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Family Research Council Action PAC announced plans to raise and spend $500,000 to target the districts of 20 Democratic incumbents who voted for President Obama's abortion-funding health care bill. "There are good reasons why organizations like ours decided to go the extra mile and create a political action committee as another arrow in its quiver," said Connie Mackey, President of FRC Action PAC. "The thousands of families that we...

SNIPPET: "The leadership of the Tea Party Express PAC came to the National Press Club on Thursday to herald its early successes and to unveil its expanded list of 2010 electoral targets." SNIPPET: "In an effort to show that the Tea Party Express PAC is not a “tool” of the Republican Party, but instead is an independent political force, Russo announced that the PAC is getting behind one conservative Democrat who has opposed President Obama’s agenda: Rep. Walt Minnick (ID-01). The decision to get behind Minnick is attention-grabbing because Republicans have fielded a strong candidate in that race: Iraq war...

Much has been written here and elsewhere about yesterday’s blog post entitled Congress, Abortion and District 19. The topic is whether Republican Nan Hayworth is worthy to be the top contender vs. progressive Democrat John Hall in this year’s Congressional race in New York’s District 19. My attention was focused on Hayworth’s husband; Dr. Scott Hayworth because of his relationship with the political action committee “American Medical Group Association” and his position as CEO of Mount Kisco Medical Group. I questioned whether these personal connections – via a money trail — would have an impact on Hayworth’s decision-making if she...

SCF is a political action committee dedicated to electing strong conservatives to the United States Senate. We do not support liberal Republicans and we are not affiliated with the Republican Party or any of its campaign committees. SCF seeks to bring bold conservative leadership to Washington by supporting only the most rock-solid, conservative candidates nationwide -- candidates who believe in the principles of limited government, strong national defense, and traditional family values.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was among the top beneficiaries of campaign donations from Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) leadership Political Action Committee during the second half of 2009, according to a bi-annual Federal Election Commission report filed Thursday. Landrieu dished out $10,000 to Reid, who is facing an increasingly tough re-election this cycle. Both those checks came in September before Landrieu became a key swing vote on the health care reform bill that was championed by Reid. Reid may also benefit down the road from a $5,000 donation Landrieu made to the Nevada State Democratic Party on Dec. 22,...

This year, more than ever, a large number of Americans feel the urge to run for public office in order to affect positive improvements in their states and in their districts. Not all of these new candidates have previous campaign experience. Accordingly, they are often at a loss as to where to begin. Candidates need to focus on the most important aspects of their campaign. At the beginning, at least for candidates who do not have sufficient media experience or who are not relying solely on a ground war based strategy, fundraising is the lifeblood of their campaign. Even for...

What a great election yesterday! It's exhilarating to wake up to headlines of conservative victories in the battleground elections in Virginia and New Jersey. The American people have sent a very strong message to the liberals in Washington, DC that big government is not the answer, and that conservatism is still alive and well. We worked extremely hard on behalf of Bob McDonnell and the entire Republican ticket in Virginia, and helped him close strong with a full day of campaigning in the final week; in New Jersey, we endorsed Chris Christie early and made sure he had the resources...

"Early in the Tea Party movement, I wrote about the significant difference between the Boston Tea Party and the Tea Party movement of the 21st century. Namely, that complaining and marching in the 21st century was by no means equal to tossing British Tea in the Boston Harbor and flatly refusing to pay another penny in taxes to a tyrant clearly operating at odds with the American taxpayer." .... "Before all peaceful solutions are exhausted and only violent revolution remains, it’s time for the Tea Party to become tangible… and time is of the essence!" .... "The Tea Party and...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's SarahPAC has donated money to the campaigns of Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin Hatch of Utah, as well as to Republican Ohio Senate candidate Rob Portman, according to a Friday filing with the Federal Election Commission. The exact amounts of the contributions were not reported, but Palin had to list the names of candidates she had financially supported to make SarahPAC a bona fide political action committee. Her contributions to Arizona Sen. John McCain, for whom she served as a running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign, and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski...

Last month when the President invited Jewish supporters to the White House to discuss their reaction to his one-sided policy Middle East Policy, one of the groups Obama invited was J-street, in practice the "J" is for Jihad. J-street has minimal standing in the Jewish community but it was set up and funded by George Soros to oppose pro-Israel Jewish groups. J Street traces the Mideast conflict chiefly to the notion that “Israel’s settlements in the occupied territories have, for over forty years, been an obstacle to peace.” Those settlements, adds J Street, have “undermine[d] peace prospects by making Palestinians...

Dear xxxxx, This August is the make-or-break month for health care reform. Can you come to an event with Rep. Tom Perriello in Ruckersville tomorrow? Right-wing extremists are crashing tons of events—so it's up to us to make sure the majority of folks who want reform get heard. We need to make sure Rep. Tom Perriello knows that constituents are counting on him to support health care reform with a real public health insurance option that will expand coverage and bring down costs for all of us. We have numbers on our side, but Rep. Perriello won't know it unless...

Campaign finance officials could fine the Washington D.C. Political Action Committee (PAC) for the Association of Community Activists for Reform Now (ACORN)’s up to $2,000 for its failure to observe the deadline for filing a report on receipts and expenditures, according to a hearing notice. ACORN submitted an affidavit with a copy of the delayed report in lieu of sending representatives to appear in person on July 27 for a scheduled hearing, Wesley Williams, the public affairs manager for the Office of Campaign Finance D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics said. The D.C. ACORN (PAC) failed to observe a January...

UPDATE - The report is posted on the FEC website. It shows that in the first six months of 2009, HuckPAC raised $304,673, spent $325,435 on operations, contributed $11,155 total to 7 Federal candidates ($1,000 to Arkansas own Rick Crawford for Congress), and incurred $63,168 in debt. By comparison to the other two early contenders in 2012 Presidential GOP Race, Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC raised $1,924,373 and Palin’s SarahPAC raised $732,867 for the same time period.

Virginians for Pro-Life Victory 2009 BBQ A Fundraiser for Virginia Society for Human Life PAC Virginia's only single-issue, pro-life PAC Thursday, July 30th 6pm-9pm This year, all eyes are on Virginia as one of only two states with off-year elections. Our candidate matchups could not provide a more stark contrast on the life issues, from the top of the ticket all the way to nearly all 100 House of Delegates races. Will you help us? We need your time, talent, treasure and those of your pro-life family and friends as well. Let's show America that we are a pro-life state...

SarahPAC is off to a quick start on the fundraising end. From the Politico Sarah Palin’s political action committee raised nearly $733,000 in the first six months of 2009 and has more than $450,000 in cash on hand, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission. While Republicans are hopeful that Palin will be a big fundraising help for them, her political action committee hasn’t exactly been a campaign-finance ATM. Since its formation in late January, it appears to have made just two political contributions — $5,000 to Palin’s 2008 running mate, Sen. John McCain, and $5,000 to Alaska’s...

Dear Friends, I am starting up a Political Action Committee for the 2010 Congressional Elections (though I also may support/oppose state and local candidates as well)! I have Contacted the FEC (as well as..) the IRS. I have a big packet of information from the FEC in which I am currently reading (and though it is interesting-to me..)..(ok so I am a 'nerd'..a political 'junkie' to be specific..). I am humbly asking for your advice if anyone has ever attempted this and is connected to this webite or just a general fellow citizen)? What were some 'pitfalls', 'successes', 'tips', etc.....

Update on Recovery Act Lobbying Rules: New Limits on Special Interest Influence Another update from Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, in the spirit of transparency as always: I am writing with an update on the President’s March 20, 2009 Memorandum on Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds. Section 3 of the Memorandum required all oral communications between federally registered lobbyists and government officials concerning Recovery Act policy to be disclosed on the Internet; barred registered lobbyists from having oral communications with government officials about specific Recovery Act projects or applications and instead...

Sarah Palin is the hope of our nation. She is a self made politician, had no silver Republican spoon in her mouth, her shadow never graced the vaunted halls of liberal ivy league academe. That is a HUGE plus. She has the skills gleaned from her youth, of a frontier woman. She has common sense, reflects the values of our nation of steadfast patriotism, frugality of budgeting,compassion for the unborn, all the positive attributes of a Mother of our nation. She has faced corruption in her own state government and within the Alaskan Republican party and cleaned it up, and...

Like any individual citizen, corporations have a stake in the outcomes of federal elections. A candidate’s economic, foreign, social and environmental policies can either threaten or provide hope for a particular organization. The stakes for corporations aren’t necessarily greater than those of the individual, but they are on a greater scale of complexity and scope. It’s no surprise, then, that corporations have long played a role in influencing the outcome of federal elections. For as long as campaign finance has existed, corporations have been a part of it – pushing the candidates who are best for business to the top....