Report singles out Colorado’s independent political spending that tripled in the last election cycle

It will come as no surprise to Coloradans force-fed a fire-hose stream of ugly and untrustworthy campaign election material over the last two years that independent spending– that is, spending directly tied to no candidate and mostly free of accountability– more than tripled in the state from 2008 to 2010. More…

What role did outside spending play in flipping seats?

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has released a crack report today called “Outside Job: Winning Candidate Enjoyed Advantage in Unregulated Third-Party Spending in 58 of 74 Party-Shifting Contests,” which attempts to make sense of what role, if any, new forms of outside money played in yesterday’s election. Measuring More…

Corporate Spending That’s Been Disclosed Flows Largely to GOP in 2010

How much money is flowing from corporate treasuries into this year’s midterm elections? The answer, as numerous commentators have pointed out, will likely never be known for sure, as many of the political groups assumed to be receiving the most corporate money are registered under sections of the tax code More…

On road to unrestricted campaign donations, social groups pave the way

By any objective measure, conservative social interest groups haven’t been big spenders in the recent midterm election cycle. Compared to groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which plans to spend $75 million dollars, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which brags it will spend More…

Feinberg Questions Wisdom of Applying His Compensation Model More Broadly

Kenneth Feinberg, the independent administrator of the Gulf oil spill compensation fund, questioned today whether his model used for massive compensation processes like the oil spill and Sept. 11, in which one independent administrator decides how much money victims receive, should be applied more broadly.

Speaking at the U.S. Chamber More…

Not Content With Ads, U.S. Chamber Investing in Making the News Too

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce isn’t just using its cash to flood the airwaves, reports the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard this afternoon; it’s also been investing in its own publishing platform, running both a national site and a network of local publications that focus on legal issues (like More…

Who’s the Biggest Outside Political Spender of Them All?

Critics of the media will allege that The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have both betrayed their slants today, publishing stories about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, respectively, each claiming its target to be this election cycle’s More…

Koch-Led GOP Network Laying the Groundwork for a Post-Midterm Push

The vast Koch Industries-led cabal of GOP donors, free-market ideologues and titans of industry is real, it turns out, and The New York Times has obtained the letter that proves it. Before the 2010 midterms are even over, the company led by Charles and David Koch has sent out More…

Running the Numbers on Oil, Coal Industry Advertising

New numbers released today by the Center for American Progress show that industry groups, including many associated with the oil and coal industries, spent a total of $68.5 million so far this year on energy-related advertisements, including $17.3 million in the last three months as the midterm elections approached.

Some More…

Who’s Winning the Battle for Public Opinion Over Anonymous Campaign Spending?

Have the Democrats’ attacks on Crossroads GPS and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s shadowy financing hit or missed? Turns out they’ve done a little bit of both.

On the one hand, first Crossroads GPS and now the Chamber have claimed that the allegations have galvanized their supporters and More…