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You are here: Home / Archives for Campaign Finance

Trump Moved Money From Political Groups To His Business

June 27, 2022 at 5:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump never stopped raising funds from his supporters after the 2020 presidential race,” Forbes reports.

“His companies, meanwhile, continued to charge his political outfits for goods and services. As a result, the former president has been able to convert about $1.3 million of donor money into business revenue since he lost the 2020 election.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Everyone’s a Fat Cat in Politics Today

May 23, 2022 at 1:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Bernstein: “We’re living through an era of campaign finance abundance, even though most of the prevailing ideas about money in politics come from an era of scarcity. Loosened laws and regulations have brought big new sources of money — some disclosed, some not — into play. Technological change combined with partisan polarization has produced the phenomenon of big little money — millions of dollars raised in small increments, mostly apparently given by party-loyal voters responding to partisan cues.”

“Overall, there’s just a flood of money. Spending on federal elections alone in 2020 more than doubled the previous record; in fact, there was about as much spent on House and Senate campaigns in 2020 as there was spent on House, Senate and presidential elections combined in 2016.”

“What this means is that virtually every serious candidate in a competitive general election for the House of Representatives, Senate, or a governor’s office will be adequately funded.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Justices Made It Easier for Rich to Bankroll Candidates

May 17, 2022 at 4:54 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Supreme Court has boosted high-dollar donors’ abilities to personally enrich candidates — including ones like the wealthy individuals pouring millions into their own campaigns this year — if they prevail on Election Day,” Axios reports.

“The court’s ruling Monday is one more decision bypassing post-Watergate and other campaign finance restrictions.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

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FEC Deadlocks on Trump Campaign Finance Violation

May 16, 2022 at 6:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Federal Election Commission has decided not to take action against former President Donald Trump after commissioners deadlocked over whether his campaign broke the law by masking how it was spending cash during the 2020 campaign,” the AP reports.

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

How Campaigns Communicate with Super PACs

May 16, 2022 at 7:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “The practice is both brazen and breathtakingly simple. To work around the prohibition on directly coordinating with super PACs, candidates are posting their instructions to them inside the red boxes on public pages that super PACs continuously monitor.”

“The boxes highlight the aspects of candidates’ biographies that they want amplified and the skeletons in their opponents’ closets that they want exposed. Then, they add instructions that can be extremely detailed: Steering advertising spending to particular cities or counties, asking for different types of advertising and even slicing who should be targeted by age, gender and ethnicity.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Dark Money Group Turns on Candidate It Supported

May 2, 2022 at 9:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A dark money group launched in February to support former Rep. Lou Barletta (R) in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania governor is now… attacking him on social media,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Filed Under: 2022 Campaign, Campaign Finance Tagged With: PA-Gov

Judge Nixes Brian Kemp’s Special Fundraising Committee

April 29, 2022 at 12:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A federal judge ordered a special committee to suspend raising campaign money for Gov. Brian Kemp’s reelection bid until the GOP gubernatorial nomination is decided, temporarily eliminating what had been a major advantage Republican lawmakers carved out for him,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Retiring Politician Says $30,000 Vanished

April 28, 2022 at 11:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The lawmaker tasked with leading the Indiana House’s budget committee and crafting the multi-billion dollar state budget seems to have misplaced about $30,000 from his campaign account, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports.

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Toyota Keeps Donating to Republicans Who Spread ‘Big Lie’

April 27, 2022 at 11:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Toyota is once again donating thousands of dollars to Congressional candidates who voted to overturn the 2020 election, in spite of the pledge the company made last year to stop doing so,” Vice News reports.

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Ronny Jackson’s Campaign Paid His Club Dues

April 25, 2022 at 11:35 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) “tapped his campaign account for more than $2,300 in costs associated with membership at a private social club in Texas,” Roll Call reports.

“It is illegal to spend campaign funds for personal purposes. The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits spending on ‘country club memberships’ along with ‘dues and fees for health clubs or recreational facilities.'”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Judge Denies Abrams Bid to Seek Unlimited Contributions

April 14, 2022 at 8:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams cannot immediately begin raising and spending unlimited campaign contributions under a state law passed last year because she is not yet her party’s nominee,” the AP reports.

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

2024 Hopefuls In a Dark Money Arms Race

April 11, 2022 at 6:39 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “At least a dozen potential candidates for president in 2024 have active nonprofit groups aligned with them, according to a review of corporate filings, campaign disclosures and financial records obtained by Politico. Some of them, like the nonprofits affiliated with Pompeo or Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), have never been publicly revealed before. Others, like those supporting President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, have been operating in the open for years.”

“What they all have in common is the ability to pay staffers, fund polling and policy research, run ads and accept money from megadonors without divulging those funders’ names — or much information about any spending until many months after the fact. It’s the latest escalation in a fundraising arms race that has seen personal benefactors, super PACs and now secret money become common building blocks of presidential campaigns.”

Filed Under: 2024 Campaign, Campaign Finance

Donations Steered to Trump Super PAC Were Illegal

April 8, 2022 at 6:55 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A Canadian steel industry billionaire illegally helped steer $1.75 million in donations to a pro-Trump super PAC and has agreed to pay one of the largest fines ever levied by the Federal Election Commission to settle the case,” the New York Times reports.

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Louisiana Attorney General Funneled Funds to His Firm

March 31, 2022 at 1:23 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Baton Rouge Advocate: “Over the last 15 years, Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) has funneled more than $420,000 from his campaign war chest into a staffing company that he owns, an unusual arrangement that circumvents the common practice of political figures around the state and ensures the public does not know who he is paying to work on his campaign.”

“Landry, who is widely expected to run for governor in 2023, has been far more successful at political fundraising than his presumptive opponents.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Lawmakers Get New Campaign Spending Loophole

March 30, 2022 at 9:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Federal regulators last week allowed a legal loophole that could effectively let former members of Congress spend leftover campaign money on personal expenses,” Axios reports.

“Campaign finance reform advocates say that opens the door to former public servants to live large off of money intended for political contests. Scores are already retired, and more members are heading for the door this fall ahead of potential Democratic losses and GOP challenges.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

GOP Decries Dark Money Groups It Won’t Regulate

March 26, 2022 at 4:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Insider: “It’s true that Democrats have increasingly become beneficiaries of the dark money that they’ve long decried.”

“But it’s also true that plenty of conservative dark money groups, including the Federalist Society and the Judicial Crisis Network, have played a role in shaping the court and its attendant confirmation battles for years.”

“And Republicans, despite their tough words on dark money, have repeatedly blocked attempts to shed light on who’s contributing to dark money groups several times.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

Hawley Illegally Using Photo for Fundraising

March 11, 2022 at 5:28 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The newspaper that owns the rights to a photo of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) raising his fist on Jan. 6, 2021, said it never gave Hawley’s campaign permission to put it on a mug,” the HuffPost reports.

Filed Under: Campaign Finance, Senate

Disney Pauses Political Donations In Florida

March 11, 2022 at 3:25 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Disney said the company is ceasing its political donations in Florida due to the state’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, and he apologized for the company’s previous silence on the issue,” CNBC reports.

Said CEO Bob Chapek: “You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.”

Filed Under: Campaign Finance

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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