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News Articles Archives

• Jan 24, 2013 Navigating Politics    Winter 2013
  The Conference Board Review
  by Bruce Freed and Karl Sandstrom
  The elections are over, but the aftereffects of all those negative ads linger, both for shell-shocked TV viewers and for corporate donors that gave millions to put the thirty-second spots on the air....    more   


• Jun 1, 2012 2012 Proxy Season Political Spending Shareholder Resolutions    June 1, 2012
  Harvard Forum on Corporate Governance
  by Bruce Freed
  Companies are once again being engaged on political sending, and preliminary results for this proxy season show strong, if not stronger, support. Coordinated by the Center for Political Accountability (CPA),...    more   


• Jan 23, 2012 Dangerous Terrain    Winter 2012
  The Conference Board
  by Bruce Freed and Karl Sandstrom
  A confluence of changes – more money being spent by outside groups, increased secrecy, and weak regulation – could lead to confusing times for corporations that want to be involved in politics.    more   


• May 26, 2013 Shedding Light on the Role of ‘Dark Money’ in Corruption    May 26, 2013
  The Financial Times
  by Sarah Murray
  Corporate political spending has risen sharply since the US Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case removed limits on the donations political groups can accept from companies. Since then, unease has grown at...    more   


• Apr 30, 2013 Shareholders Push Companies to Disclose Political Spending, Reform Group, CPA Says    April 30, 2013
  BNA Money and Politics Report
  by Kenneth Doyle
  The health insurance company WellCare Health Plans Inc. recently joined a handful of other companies that have seen a majority vote of shareholders supporting disclosure of corporate political spending, according...    more   


• Apr 27, 2013 Plan Would Force Public Companies to Reveal Political Giving    April 27, 2013
  NPR
  by Kara Brandeisky
  The 2012 election was the most expensive in history, but there remain some gaping holes in our knowledge about who paid for what. The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering a proposal to add more transparency in future...    more   


• Apr 23, 2013 S.E.C Is Asked to Make Companies Disclose Donations    April 23, 2013
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore
  A loose coalition of Democratic elected officials, shareholder activists and pension funds has flooded the Securities and Exchange Commission with calls to require publicly traded corporations to disclose to...    more   


• Apr 22, 2013 News Corp Deal: A New Way to Police Corporate Political Spending?    April 22, 2013
  Thompson Reuters
  by Alison Frankel
  On Monday, the directors and officers of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp agreed to settle a derivative suit accusing them of breaching their duty to shareholders by failing to avert the phone-hacking scandal at the company's...    more   


• Apr 4, 2013 Companies Face Pressure on Political Spending    April 4, 2013
  USA Today
  by Fredreka Schouten
  Campaign-finance activists and some of the nation's biggest institutional investors are trying to exert fresh pressure on the Securities and Exchange Commission to force public companies to disclose their political spending. If...    more   


• Mar 26, 2013 Issuers Can Take Proactive Steps to Avoid Targeting for Political Spending Disclosures    March 26, 2013
  BNA Money and Politics Report
  by Yin Wilczek
  Public companies that want to avoid being targeted publicly by institutional investors and other activists with respect to political spending disclosures can take proactive steps to mitigate their exposure,...    more   


• Mar 17, 2013 What Boards Need to Know About Political Accountability    March 17, 2013
  The Corporate Governance Alliance Digest
  by Sol Kwon
  Board oversight of political spending is essential to ensure that spending decisions are made in the best interests of the company and its shareholders; protect companies from reputational risks; and do not...    more   


• Mar 4, 2013 Does It Pay to Mix Politics, Business? Some Saying No    March 4, 2013
  Seattle Times
  by Jim Spencer
  The fight over corporate political donations is evolving from whether such gifts are in the public’s interest to whether they’re even in the interest of the companies. A pair of University of Minnesota finance professors found...    more   


• Feb 23, 2013 Obama's New Political Group to Lure Unlimited Donations    February 23, 2013
  Washington Post
  by Tom Hamburger
  In close consultation with President Obama, two of his top political strategists are designing an ambitious new organization funded by donations from wealthy individuals and corporations aimed at making political and...    more   


• Feb 16, 2013 Research Questions Return on Corporate Political Cash    February 16, 2013
  Minneapolis Star Tribune
  by Jim Spencer
  The fight over corporate political donations is evolving from whether such gifts are in the public’s interest to whether they’re even in the interest of the companies themselves. A pair of University of Minnesota...    more   


• Feb 7, 2013 Shareholders Question Corporate Political Spending    February 7, 2013
  MarketWatch
  by Darrell Delamaide
  Conventional wisdom has it in the wake of November’s election that Citizens United was a paper tiger and that unrestricted corporate spending on campaigns did not determine the outcome — but investors may want to take a...    more   


• Feb 3, 2013 Corporations Agree to Disclose Political Spending    February 3, 2013
  SocialFunds.com
  by Robert Kropp
  The Center for Political Accountability announces that engagement has led to six corporations agreeing to adopt political disclosure and accountability, while a shareowner resolution at Visa gains significant support....    more   


• Jan 9, 2013 What's Behind All the Corporate Secrecy Over Political Spending?    January 9, 2013
  Fortune
  by Eleanor Bloxham
  While millions of unemployed struggle to keep hope, corporations shelled out millions on election attack ads last year. Individual companies are still not fessing up on how their millions were spent. What do they have to hide?...    more   


• Jan 3, 2013 New York Comptroller Sues Qualcomm for Data on Political Giving    January 3, 2013
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore
  The New York State comptroller, attempting to force greater public disclosure of corporate political spending, sued Qualcomm on Wednesday, demanding to view internal records of political expenditures by the company,...    more   


• Dec 14, 2012 Meaningful Corporate Political Disclosure    December 14, 2012
  Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
  by Noam Noked
  In the aftermath of the most expensive election cycle in U.S. history, which included record amounts of “Dark Money,” the need for transparency in corporate political spending is even more...    more   


• Nov 17, 2012 Is It Worth It? Political Spending and Corporate Governance    November 17, 2012
  Business Ethics Magazine
  by Robert Ludke
  In the 2012 campaign cycle an astounding $6 billion dollars was spent, with American corporations contributing roughly one third of that total. Just as political pundits are assessing the aftermath of the campaigns,...    more   


• Nov 8, 2012 For Chamber of Commerce, Election Was a Money-Loser    November 8, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Jia Lynn Yang and Tom Hamburger
  The day after an election in which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent millions of dollars backing losing Republican candidates, executives began the brutal process of assessing what went wrong at the...    more   


• Nov 6, 2012 Corporate America Gets Feisty    November 6, 2012
  Fortune
  by Anne VanderMey
  In an election season that's given voters many firsts, we can add public sniping and fact-checking by blue-chip companies to the list. Last week's dustup between the Romney camp and Detroit automakers started with what seemed like...    more   


• Nov 6, 2012 Get What You Pay For? Not Always    November 6, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Eduardo Porter
  The most expensive election campaign in American history is over. Executives across America can now begin to assess what their companies will get in return for the roughly $2 billion spent by business interests....    more   


• Oct 29, 2012 Aetna's Transparency Problem    October 29, 2012
  The Hill
  by Melanie Sloan
  So far this month, the American Action Network (AAN) has poured more than $10 million into ad buys in six congressional districts — part of a last-minute October spending dump explicitly aimed at preserving the Republican majority...    more   


• Oct 29, 2012 Examining the CPA-Zicklin Scoring Index for Corporate Political Spending Reports    October 29, 2012
  Davis Polk Briefing
  by Ning Chiu
  The coming election coincides with increased efforts by the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), through letters and shareholder proposal campaigns, to cause companies to provide reports on corporate political spending....    more   


• Oct 22, 2012 What Sustainability Reports Don't Tell You    October 22, 2012
  The Daily Beast
  by Aaron Chatterji and Michael Toffel
  Environmental rankings are based on extensive research about companies’ environmental management processes and performance, and how transparent they are about their environmental impacts. However, we’re...    more   


• Oct 19, 2012 Corporate Donors Fuel Chamber of Commerce's Political Power    October 19, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Carol Leonnig
  Major U.S. companies as diverse as the drugmaker Merck, the chemical giant Dow and the financial services firm Prudential wrote big checks — some for more than $1 million — to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year for dues...    more   


• Oct 18, 2012 Citizens United: Are Shareholder Revolts in the Offing?    October 18, 2012
  Forbes
  by Richard Levick
  There’s now reason to feel good – or at least a bit better – about Citizens United, the landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting political expenditures by...    more   


• Oct 6, 2012 How British Companies Pour Cash Into the American Elections    October 6, 2012
  The Guardian
  by Simon Bowers
  More than one in five of Britain's largest corporations are channelling political donations to favoured candidates ahead of next month's elections in the US – though these sums may be only the tip of a new campaign-financing...    more   


• Sep 26, 2012 More Companies Revealing Donations as Debate Rages    September 26, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  As debate rages this year over the increasing influence of corporations on politics, a new study finds that more companies are deciding to disclose their contributions to interest groups in the hope of avoiding controversy....    more   


• Sep 25, 2012 Aflac and Chubb Join Ranks of Companies Expanding Disclosure    September 25, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Jonathan Salant
  Aflac Inc. (AFL) and Chubb Corp. (CB) are among a growing number of companies revealing their corporate contributions, some of which may go to nonprofits and trade associations spending millions of dollars on U.S....    more   


• Sep 25, 2012 In Election Swamped by Secret Money, Corporations Choose Openness    September 25, 2012
  Chicago Tribune
  by Melanie Mason
  Undisclosed political money is playing an outsize role in the 2012 election cycle. But as some political donors are seeking to hide their identities, a new study has found that at least one set of contributors —...    more   


• Sep 25, 2012 Report Ranks Corporate Political Openness    September 25, 2012
  Politico
  by Dave Levinthal
  In an era of record-setting election spending, don’t expect massive corporations such as Berkshire Hathaway, Charles Schwab and Cardinal Health to volunteer one iota more information about their political activity than they must....    more   


• Sep 18, 2012 Responsible Wealth Targets Being Selected    September 18, 2012
  CorpGov.net
  by James McRitchie
  Fall is filing time for Responsible Wealth’s annual shareholder resolutions. Currently, Mike Lapham is working with the Center for Political Accountability to identify which corporations Responsible Wealth will file...    more   


• Jul 20, 2012 Third-Party Groups Ready Multiple Ads Attacking Health Care Law    July 20, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  Conservative groups are gearing up to spend millions of dollars over the next three months on ads attacking President Obama’s health-care law and Democrats who support it, but in many cases voters will have no way of knowing who...    more   


• Jul 9, 2012 Can Shareholder Activism Affect Corporate Political Spending?    July 9, 2012
  Thomson Reuters
  by Alison Frankel
  The New York Times had a great front-page story on Sunday about corporations contributing to politically active non-profits in order to shield their campaign contributions from public view. That's not a revelatory thesis -- I've...    more   


• Jul 7, 2012 Tax-Exempt Groups Shield Political Gifts of Businesses    July 7, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Mike McIntire and Nick Confessore
  American Electric Power, one of the country’s largest utilities, gave $1 million last November to the Founding Fund, a new tax-exempt group that intends to raise most of its money from corporations and push...    more   


• Jul 3, 2012 Shareowners Await Support From Legislators and Regulators in Addressing Corporate Political Spending    July 3, 2012
  SocialFunds.com
  by Robert Kropp
  Shareowner resolutions addressing corporate political expenditures have gained unprecedented support during this proxy season, as investors concerned about the risks to corporations of unregulated political spending have filed...    more   


• Jul 1, 2012 The Great Debate    July 1, 2012
  Corporate Counsel
  by Sue Reisinger
  In May, 3M Corp. faced activists both inside and outside its shareholder meeting who were angry about 3M's alleged secret spending on political campaigns. The firm wasn't alone. Some 14 companies faced a surprising number of...    more   


• Jun 8, 2012 Shareholders Campaign for Transparency    June 8, 2012
  The Motley Fool
  by Alyce Lomax
  Many investors are watching say-on-pay votes this year. American Eagle Outfitters is one of the latest companies to experience a rejection of its CEO pay policy by shareholders, but there are many others that have experienced the...    more   


• May 21, 2012 More Shareholders Call on Companies to Disclose Their Political Spending    May 21, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Tom Hamburger and Brady Dennis
  One of the most polarizing fights over money in politics has been unfolding this spring at annual corporate meetings, where shareholders are mounting an intensifying effort to push companies to disclose the money...    more   


• May 15, 2012 Remarks from Conference Board Corporate Political Spending Conference    May 15, 2012
  The Conference Board
  by Bruce Freed
  Remarks from Bruce Freed, on the panel "The Battle Over Corporate Political Activity: Left Wing Plot, Good Governance, or Both?" at The Conference Board's Corporate Political Spending Conference on May 15, 2012.    more   


• May 8, 2012 WellPoint Faces Shareholder Ire Over Political Spending    May 8, 2012
  Fortune Magazine
  by Eleanor Bloxham
  This year marks the first presidential election year since the January 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United, which opened the floodgates on corporate political spending. So it's not too surprising that oversight and...    more   


• Apr 26, 2012 Some Shareholders Call for Companies to Disclose Political Giving    April 26, 2012
  Minnesota Public Radio
  by Catharine Richert
  This spring, shareholders of Minnesota's most well-known companies will vote on board members and various proposals from shareholders — standard annual meeting fare. But for at least five local companies, the hot...    more   


• Apr 25, 2012 Google, Marriott, UPS Pick Sides in 2012 Election    April 25, 2012
  ABC News
  by Amy Bingham
  As Americans begin to divide down party lines over their presidential preferences in the 2012 election, so too are many of the country's largest corporations.    more   


• Apr 24, 2012 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Faces Changing Times    April 24, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue had much to celebrate when the business lobby marked its centennial last weekend. He also had cause for alarm.    more   


• Apr 19, 2012 WellPoint Is Focus of Aggressive Effort to Force Political Spending Disclosure    April 19, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Tom Hamburger
  Health insurance giant WellPoint is the latest target of an increasingly aggressive campaign to force disclosure of corporate political and lobbying expenditures, including payments to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has...    more   


• Apr 19, 2012 More Boardrooms Targeted for Political Spending    April 19, 2012
  Market Watch
  by Ronald D. Orol
  Should public companies be up front with shareholders about their political agendas? More institutional investors are agitating for corporations to disclose what they spend on political advocacy, including campaign donations...    more   


• Apr 16, 2012 The People vs. the "Corporate People"    April 16, 2012
  Motley Fool
  by Alyce Lomax
  The Supreme Court's Citizens United case, which helped further open the floodgates for corporate political spending in America, is about an ongoing and extremely contentious issue. Even before the ruling, there was plenty of reason...    more   


• Apr 10, 2012 Corporate Spending Post-Citizens United Decision Comes Under Attack    April 10, 2012
  JD Supra
  by Morgan Lewis
  The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. —, 130 S.Ct. 876 (2010), lifted long-standing limits on corporate and labor union political spending. Prior to Citizens United, federal law...    more   


• Apr 10, 2012 The In-House World According to Ben Heineman, Jr. Part II    April 10, 2012
  Law.com Corporate Counsel
  by Catherine Dunn
  In this edited conversation, Heineman discusses corporate regulation, anticorruption efforts, and the post-Citizens United role of U.S. companies in politics and elections.    more   


• Apr 5, 2012 Coke Withdraws from Group That Backs Stand Your Ground Law    April 5, 2012
  Baltimore Sun
  by Barbara Liston and Martinne Geller
  Coca-Cola Co is dropping its membership in a conservative national advocacy group that supports "Stand Your Ground" laws such as the one being used as a defense in the Florida killing of an unarmed black...    more   


• Mar 28, 2012 Chevron, Merck Disclose Funding to 2010 Attack-Ad Groups    March 28, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Jonathan D. Salant
  Some secret donors who gave money to groups that paid for millions of dollars in attack ads during the 2010 midterm elections are becoming public. Chevron Corp. (CVX), an oil and gas company; Merck & Co. (MRK), a drug...    more   


• Mar 26, 2012 Making Corporate Actions Visible    March 26, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Ralph Gomory and Leo Hindery, Jr.
  In a recent article we wrote: "America today is very different from the country that fought the Revolutionary War and framed the Constitution. Then, it was a nation of farmers; today, it's a nation of...    more   


• Mar 26, 2012 Halliburton Wins Praise from Open-Government Groups for Commitment to Political Disclosure    March 26, 2012
  Houston Chronicle
  by Richard Dunham
  This is news: Halliburton is being praised — yes, praised! — by political watchdog groups. The Houston-based multinational corporation, which has been blasted for a decade by liberals and good government groups for its...    more   


• Mar 23, 2012 Corporate Governance Advocates Take on Political Spending and Contracts with Managers    March 23, 2012
  SocialFunds.com
  by Robert Kropp
  In September, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), an organization of institutional investors representing $18 trillion in assets under management, submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission...    more   


• Mar 21, 2012 One Hundred Companies Sign on to Disclose Political Spending    March 21, 2012
  The Hill
  by Rachel Leven
  One hundred companies have signed on to a watchdog organizations’ effort to disclose political expenditures. A 100th company joined the Center for Political Accountability’s corporate governance standard Wednesday, the center...    more   


• Mar 9, 2012 IRS May Make Political Groups Pay Dearly for Keeping Donors Secret -- And Out Them    March 9, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Dan Froomkin
  For years, the IRS has done little or nothing to check the rise of overtly political groups that claim a special tax-exempt status in order to funnel secret money into election-related advertising.    more   


• Mar 6, 2012 More Shareholders Demanding Corporate Political Transparency    March 6, 2012
  Law.com Corporate Counsel
  by Catherine Dunn
  As voters tune into the Republican presidential campaign’s big Super Tuesday primaries, concerns about adverse effects of corporate political spending are being reflected in an expanding universe of shareholder...    more   


• Feb 24, 2012 SEC's Aguilar Says Companies Should Report Political Spending    February 24, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Jesse Hamilton
  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should require companies to disclose their spending on political campaigns, said SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar. “Investors are not receiving adequate disclosure, and as the...    more   


• Feb 15, 2012 End Corporate Demockary    February 15, 2012
  CorpGov.net by James McRitchie
  Corporations determine far more than any other institution the air we breathe, the quality of the water we drink, even where we live. Yet they are not accountable to anyone. Those words were on the 1991 cover of Power and...    more   


• Feb 7, 2012 AT&T Shareholders Demand Answers    February 7, 2012
  Politico
  by David Saleh Rauf
  Some AT&T shareholders want more than just dollars and cents from the board of directors in the aftermath of the company’s aborted takeover of T-Mobile: They want to know how company money is being spent to influence politics.    more   


• Jan 27, 2012 Shareowners File 40 Resolutions on Lobbying Expenditures by Corporations    January 27, 2012
  Social Funds
  by Robert Kropp
  Walden Asset Management leads a coalition of investors calling on companies to disclose both direct lobbying expenditures and indirect funding of lobbying through trade associations. SocialFunds.com -- Spearheaded by the work...    more   


• Jan 26, 2012 Shedding Light on Political Spending    January 26, 2012
  Parker Poe
  In recent years, shareholder activists have called for greater transparency regarding corporate political spending. Demands for full disclosure – even for shareholder approval of certain political spending – increased dramatically in the wake of the...    more   


• Jan 22, 2012 Corporate Political Spending Targeted    January 22, 2012
  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  by Len Boselovic
  Investors and corporate governance experts are asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to require public companies to provide detailed disclosure of their political spending. The initiative comes two years...    more   


• Jan 18, 2012 Shareowners to Corporations: Say No to Political Expenditures    January 18, 2012
  SocialFunds.com
  by Robert Kropp
  Since the US Supreme Court decided the controversial Citizens United case two years ago and removed longstanding limits on corporate political spending, shareowners and other governance advocates have engaged with companies in...    more   


• Jan 6, 2012 Tough Dilemmas for Companies on Campaign Spending    January 6, 2012
  Harvard Business Review
  by Ben W. Heineman, Jr.
  Should companies use funds from the corporate treasury to advocate directly for or against political candidates in contested elections? This basic question — now made immediate with the opening of the...    more   


• Jan 5, 2012 Occupy Shareholders Engaging with Shareholder Resolutions? It's Happening...    January 5, 2012
  Nonprofit Quarterly
  by Rick Cohen
  Why did 2011 break all previous records in the number of shareholder resolutions pursued in the corporate sector? Did the societal frustration with the concentration of wealth and power in corporate America lead to both the...    more   


• Dec 26, 2011 2011 in Retrospect: Will SRI Occupy Personhood in 2012?    December 26, 2011
  CSR Wire
  by Sanford Lewis
  In 2011, Occupy Wall Street and its progeny captured the world’s imagination with its resistance to the growing corporate occupation of our political system. As many within the socially responsible investment (SRI) community...    more   


• Dec 22, 2011 Mutual Fund Support for Political Spending Disclosure Inches Upward    December 22, 2011
  SocialFunds.com
  by Robert Kropp
  An analysis prepared for the Center for Political Accountability by Jackie Cook of Fund Votes reveals that mutual fund support for corporate political spending disclosure increased in 2011 for eighth year in a row....    more   


• Dec 16, 2011 Focus on Donations Grows    December 16, 2011
  Inside Investor Relations
  by Brad Allen
  When the US Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that corporate political contributions are protected by free speech, the five-four split-decision signaled deep divisions. But the court was nearly unanimous in upholding the...    more   


• Dec 7, 2011 Colgate & IBM Lead; Amazon, Berkshire, Cisco, Nike, Sprint, & Disney Lag    December 7, 2011
  CorpGov.net
  by James McRitchie
  The CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability ranks companies in the S&P 100 according to their disclosure and board oversight of political spending activities. In the aftermath of the Supreme...    more   


• Dec 6, 2011 Benchmarking Political Spending Habits    December 6, 2011
  Compliance Week
  by Stephen Davis and Jon Lukomnik
  The phrase “corporate politics” is about to take on a whole new meaning. Next year is, of course, an election year when presidential and congressional elections will dominate the headlines. What you may not...    more   


• Nov 22, 2011 Wall Street Journal Op-ed Attacks Corporate Disclosure of Political Spending    November 22, 2011
  Social Funds
  by Robert Kropp
  Bruce Freed of the Center for Political Accountability talks with SocialFunds.com about the mischaracterizations in the Journal's op-ed piece, and describes the widespread support for greater disclosure. SocialFunds.com --...    more   


• Nov 15, 2011 More Companies Disclose their Political Spending Habits    November 15, 2011
  Compliance Week
  by Reese Darragh
  According to a recent study on political spending disclosure practices—the first since the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court case—more than half of the S&P 100 disclose aspects of their political giving habits....    more   


• Nov 15, 2011 How Many Companies does it take to Win an Election?    November 15, 2011
  CSRwire.com
  by Elaine Cohen
  Is corporate political spending responsible business practice or unreasonable use of corporate power and influence? Either way, if more corporations do not disclose their contributions, you may just be voting, inadvertently,...    more   


• Nov 12, 2011 Citizens United ruling and the potential of don’t ask, don’t tell vs. full disclosure.    November 12, 2011
  Groundupct.wordpress.com
  Editorial
  Overtime, we have seen our electoral process eroded by special interests groups and lobbyists, coupled with much money to influence elections and elected officials. The emergence of a new Republican party has launched a...    more   


• Nov 10, 2011 Say-on-pay not going away    November 10, 2011
  Inside Investor Relations
  by Adam Piore
  With a flagging economy driving down earnings, investors are likely to more closely scrutinize rising pay, and may take a more confrontational stance than they did during the financially heady days of the 2011 proxy...    more   


• Nov 9, 2011 How Consequential is Citizen’s United?    November 9, 2011
  Election Law Blog
  by Richard Pildes
  There is a tendency right now to attribute to Citizens United (CU) virtually all newly emerging forms of financing elections, and the increasingly large amounts, that arose in the 2010 election cycle and that look to...    more   


• Nov 7, 2011 The indirect political spending of the S&P 100    November 7, 2011
  Law Professor's Blog Network
  by Elizabeth Pollman
  The Center for Political Accountability and Wharton’s Zicklin Center for Business Ethics recently released a report evaluating the political spending and disclosure practices of the S&P 100. They’ve come up...    more   


• Nov 4, 2011 The Biggest Companies Are Getting the Message    November 4, 2011
  Motley Fool
  by Alyce Lomax
  The unholy alliance between money and politics is one of the biggest controversies capturing the public spotlight these days. Fortunately, heightened attention to the topic seems to be convincing the biggest corporations to...    more   


• Nov 4, 2011 Study ranks UPS high in political transparency    November 4, 2011
  Atlanta Business Chronicle
  by Dave Williams
  United Parcel Service Inc. .. has one of the most progressive policies for disclosing political contributions among the nation’s largest companies, according to a new study.    more   


• Nov 3, 2011 Corporate citizenship: Companies should follow IBM and Colgate-Palmolive's lead on political spending    November 3, 2011
  Pennlive.com
  by Patriot News Editorial Board
  January 21, 2010, might well go down in American history as the day our democracy altered forever — and not for the better. That was the date the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was made, giving...    more   


• Nov 2, 2011 New Index Looks at S&P 100 Corporate Political Spending Policies and Practices    November 2, 2011
  The Confernece Board
  from the Governance Center Blog
  With the 2012 presidential and congressional elections hurtling toward us and another proxy season just around the corner, the topic of corporate political spending is looming large, as U.S. companies...    more   


• Nov 1, 2011 Political-Giving Feedback    November 1, 2011
  Treasury & Risk
  by John Mulqueen
  The issue of corporate political contributions has drawn a lot of attention since 2010, when the Supreme Court opened the way for secret political contributions by companies and unions. Shareholder groups are pressing...    more   


• Oct 31, 2011 Amazon Gets Failing Grade for Political Transparency, Says Study    October 31, 2011
  Seattle Weekly
  by Curtis Cartier
  Question: What do Amazon and Disney have in common? Answer: Both company's founders had/have a strange interest in cryogenics. Oh, also both companies are apparently extremely secretive about how they spend money to...    more   


• Oct 31, 2011 Study Rates S&P 100 Corporate Political Transparency, Accountability    October 31, 2011
  Corporate Counsel
  by Sue Reisinger
  A growing number of U.S. companies are putting restrictions on political contributions and are voluntarily disclosing corporate political spending, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Center for Political...    more   


• Oct 31, 2011 Under shareholder pressure, companies disclose political spending    October 31, 2011
  InsideCounsel.com
  by Cathleen Flahardy
  According to a recent survey by the Center for Political Accountability, a non-profit created in 2003 with a goal to bring transparency to corporations' political spending, an increasing number of companies is...    more   


• Oct 31, 2011 Companies rethink corporate political donations    October 31, 2011
  Inside Investor Relations
  by Brad Allen
  A survey of practices at the S&P 100 reveals that two dozen of the largest US corporations have publicly opted out of political spending funneled through independent committees, as allowed by the Supreme Court...    more   


• Oct 29, 2011 Study: Corporations placing own limits on political spending    October 29, 2011
  Los Angeles Times
  by Melanie Mason
  Faced with the option of limitless political spending in a post-Citizens United world, corporations are increasingly choosing to disclose, and in some cases limit, their giving, according to a study released Friday....    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 More Companies Shed Light on Political Spending    October 28, 2011
  Reuters
  by Kim Dixon
  More American companies are bending to shareholder pressure to reveal their spending to sway political campaigns despite court decisions allowing unfettered corporate cash in elections, according to a study released on Friday....    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 Study: Where do Minnesota companies rank in political disclosure?    October 28, 2011
  Minnesota Independent
  by Jon Collins
  A study released today ranked the top 100 American companies on how well they disclose their political activities, finding that many companies are moving towards adoption of disclosure policies, although others, such as...    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 Amazon, Disney tight-lipped on giving    October 28, 2011
  Politico
  by Dave Levinthal
  Amazon.com may be a leading purveyor of information. The Walt Disney Company trades in making youthful dreams come true. But both corporations rank among the nation’s worst when it comes to disclosing and managing their...    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 Walt Disney Doesn't Want You To Know Which Political Campaigns It's Paying For    October 29, 2011
  Miami New Times
  by David Minsky
  Walt Disney might be known best for sunny characters like Mickey Mouse, but that doesn't mean it's opposed to a little dark political skullduggery on the side. Disney is worst among big American corporations in terms of...    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 Is Political Accountability an Oxymoron    October 28, 2011
  Intel CSR Blog
  by Linda Qian
  Intel does have Political Accountability Guidelines based on the Center for Political Accountability’s Model Code of Conduct for Political Spending. That document is a living document that was just recently updated this year...    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 Index Ranks Companies on Political Spending Disclosure    October 28, 2011
  Sustainability Investment News
  by Robert Kropp
  SocialFunds.com -- Today, at the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at the Wharton School, the Center for Political Accountability (CPA) launched the most recent of its initiatives to improve...    more   


• Oct 27, 2011 More Corporations Shed Light on Political Spending    October 27, 2011
  National Public Radio
  by Peter Overby
  For the first time, 100 of America's biggest corporations are being rated on the transparency of their political activities. On Friday, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the nonpartisan Center...    more   


• Oct 27, 2011 Largest U.S. Companies Increasingly Disclose Political Spending    October 27, 2011
  Bloomberg News
  by Kristin Jensen and Alison Fitzgerald
  The largest U.S. companies are increasingly disclosing to shareholders the donations they make to political candidates and interest groups, according to the Center for Political Accountability....    more   


• Oct 26, 2011 The Influence Industry: Judicial elections, corporate policies give glimpse into 2012    October 27, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  Two studies scheduled to be released Thursday offer contrasting predictions for the 2012 elections: Outside groups are likely to spend more money than ever, but many top corporations may not be among them. The second study,...    more   


• Aug 13, 2011 The Conference Board Forms Committee on Corporate Political Spending    August 13, 2011
  SocialFunds.com
  by Robert Kropp
  After collaborating last year with the Center for Political Accountability on a Handbook on Corporate Political Activity, the Board seeks to educate its member businesses on the issue in advance of the 2012 elections.    more   


• Aug 9, 2011 Corporate Political Donations: Ties that Bind    August 9, 2011
  Corporate Board Member
  by John R. Engen
  By now, most corporate leaders are at least vaguely familiar with Target Corp.’s ill-fated dalliance in the arena of financing election campaigns. During the 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial race, the big Minneapolis-based...    more   


• Aug 4, 2011 Corporate Political Spending Will be a Major Issue in 2012    August 4, 2011
  Sustainability Investment News
  by Robert Kropp
  SocialFunds.com -- The degree to which the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision of January 2010 has galvanized activist shareowners was made clear this past proxy season, when resolutions addressing political...    more   


• Sep 25, 2012 2012 CPA-Zicklin Index Press Release    September 25, 2012
  Although secret political money is surging, many large American companies have voluntarily strengthened their political disclosure and accountability policies and practices, according to an annual benchmarking study released today. In the first full election cycle...    more   


• Mar 21, 2012 Political Disclosure Hits 100 Companies    In a major milestone, 100 companies have adopted disclosure and oversight of their political spending. This comes as 12 additional companies embraced the corporate governance standard, the Center for Political Accountability announced today. The companies which took this step as the 2012 proxy...    more   


• Jan 6, 2012 CPA Letter Challenges Wall Street Journal Attacks on Political Disclosure    January 6, 2012
  The Center for Political Accountability responded to recent Wall Street Journal attacks on corporate political disclosure in a letter published in today’s paper. CPA chair John Milton Cooper, Jr. wrote that companies are not being silenced but “are responding to the...    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 CPA-Zicklin Index Press Release    October 28, 2011
  CPA-Zicklin Index findings indicate corporate disclosure of political spending is now the norm as companies restrict campaign outlays - Rankings produced for disclosure practices of the companies in the S&P 100.    more   


• Jun 13, 2013 D.C.-Based Groups Bombard State High Court Races with Ads    June 13, 2013
  The Center for Public Integrity
  by Alan Suderman and Ben Wieder
  Sam Ervin IV must have been feeling pretty good about his chances of winning a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court last fall. He had name recognition — his grandfather was the legendary...    more   


• May 27, 2013 501(c)(4)s and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Tax and Campaign Finance Laws    May 27, 2013
  Congressional Research Service
  by Erika K. Lunder and L. Paige Whitaker
  The campaign activities of tax-exempt 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations continue to receive considerable attention. These groups operate with less restriction after the Supreme Court’s...    more   


• May 21, 2013 The Political Spending of 501(c)(4) Nonprofits in the 2012 Election    May 21, 2013
  The Sunlight Foundation
  by Liz Bartolomeo
  Throughout the 2012 election cycle, Sunlight followed the unlimited money. From super PACs and corporations to unions and “dark money” we collected, in real time, the political spending reported by these outside groups....    more   


• May 17, 2013 Shareholders Press Companies to Disclose More About Political Spending    May 17, 2013
  Washington Post
  by Dina Elboghdady
  As regulators wrestle with whether to force companies to disclose more about their political spending, an increasing number of shareholders are taking matters into their own hands, thrusting the issue before boards of directors...    more   


• May 16, 2013 White Says SEC Not Now Writing Political Spending Rule    May 16, 2013
  Reuters
  by Sarah N. Lynch
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission told lawmakers on Thursday that her agency, despite pressure from liberal groups, is not currently drafting a rule that would call for public companies to...    more   


• May 14, 2013 SEC Nears Decision on Requiring Businesses to Disclose Donations    May 14, 2013
  The Hill
  by Ben Goad
  The Securities and Exchange Commission under new chief Mary Jo White is approaching a crucial decision on whether to require publicly traded corporations to disclose their campaign spending to shareholders. If pursued, new disclosure rules...    more   


• May 13, 2013 Wonkbook: The Good Reasons for the IRS’s Dumb Mistake    May 13, 2013
  The Washington Post's Wonkbook
  by Ezra Klein
  Let’s try to keep two things in mind simultaneously: The IRS does need some kind of test that helps them weed out political organizations attempting to register as tax-exempt 501(c)4 social welfare groups. But that...    more   


• May 10, 2013 Keep Closer Tabs on Corporate Political Spending    May 10, 2013
  Tampa Bay Times
  by The Editorial Board
  Shareholders in publicly traded corporations have a right to know if their investment is being spent on political campaigns. And voters have a right to know what interests are trying to persuade them. But three years after...    more   


• May 10, 2013 he IRS was wrong to target the tea party. They should’ve gone after all 501(c)4s.    May 10, 2013
  The Washington Post's Wonkbook
  by Ezra Klein
  Let’s be very clear: because the Internal Revenue Service holds so much private data, and because it can make people’s lives absolutely miserable, it is of paramount importance in our political system that it both is,...    more   


• May 8, 2013 Why 501(c)(4)s and Big Money Still Won in 2012    May 8, 2013
  Brennan Center for Justice
  by Jonathan Backer
  “We got way too excited over money in the 2012 elections,” Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein argued at a conference on money in politics at Yale University on Monday. In the wake of the 2012 election, the...    more   


• May 8, 2013 SEC Should Make Companies Disclose Political Spending    May 8, 2013
  Bloomberg News
  by The Editors
  Two years ago, an idiosyncratic band of 10 law professors wrote to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asking it to require public companies “to disclose to shareholders the use of corporate resources for political...    more   


• May 7, 2013 News Hour Segment on Political Disclosure    May 7,2013
  PBS News Hour
  Rob Jackson and Paul Atkins
  Rob Jackson squares off against Paul Atkins on the News Hour in a debate over corporate political disclosure. Make sure to watch, Rob did a fantastic job.    more   


• May 7, 2013 SEC and Political Spending    May 7, 2013
  LA Times
  by LA Times Editorial Board
  When the Supreme Court — in our view wrongly — ruled that corporations had a constitutional right to spend their money to influence elections, it also said that disclosure of such expenditures "permits citizens and...    more   


• May 1, 2013 Make Companies Disclose Political Spending: Our View    May 1, 2013
  USA Today
  by USA Today Editorial Board
  Three years ago, when the Supreme Court opened the door to unlimited political donations by corporations, Justice Anthony Kennedy made the case for transparency as the best way to keep politics clean. Thanks to the power of...    more   


• Apr 30, 2013 Springtime for Disclosure    April 30, 2013
  The Hill
  by Jonathan Backer
  With spring in full bloom, the ground isn’t the only thing beginning to thaw. Finally, more than two years after Citizens United unleashed a torrent of spending in federal elections, the rigid partisan stalemate on disclosure...    more   


• Apr 30, 2013 Maine Legislature Backs Resolutions Supporting Campaign Finance, Immigration Reforms    April 30, 2013
  Bangor Daily News
  by Matthew Stone
  The Maine Legislature waded into two contentious federal debates Tuesday, supporting resolutions that call for a constitutional amendment overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United campaign finance ruling and urging...    more   


• Apr 29, 2013 The Need for Transparency in Political Donations    April 29, 2013
  U.S. News
  by Rick Newman
  Are secrets necessary to protect freedom? In a few instances they clearly are, such as when security officials must keep national vulnerabilities from becoming public or military commanders exploit intelligence in order to surprise...    more   


• Apr 26, 2013 Why Are America's CEOs So Afraid of a Little Sunlight on Their Political Causes?    April 26, 2013
  The Atlantic
  by Andrew Cohen
  My candidate for the most revelatory story of the week came Tuesday in the New York Times. Nicholas Confessore, writing about the proposed campaign finance disclosure rule now pending at the Securities and Exchange Commission,...    more   


• Apr 21, 2013 Obama Inauguration Fueled by Corporations, Unions    April 21, 2013
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Dave Levinthal
  Corporations, unions and special interest groups fueled President Barack Obama's second inauguration ceremonies with more than $18 million — money the commander in chief generally rejected during his first inaugural.    more   


• Apr 16, 2013 Senate Scrutiny of Nonprofits Spurring Disclosure: Taxes    April 16, 2013
  Bloomberg
  by Jonathan Salant
  Senate hearings, lawsuits and an Internal Revenue Service questionnaire are placing new scrutiny on nonprofit groups that spend millions of dollars on political campaigns without disclosing their donors.    more   


• Apr 12, 2013 Thousands Petition SEC to Disclose Corporate Political Spending    April 12, 2013
  NPR
  by Peter Overby
  Nearly 500,000 people have petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to make publicly-traded corporations disclose their political spending. The question is: How much clout do 500,000 people actually have?    more   


• Apr 10, 2013 In Political Campaigns, Do You Get What You Pay For?    April 10, 2013
  The New York Times
  by Thomas Edsall
  Mark Hanna, the Republican Party political boss, famously declared at the outset of the McKinley-Bryan campaign of 1896: “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember the...    more   


• Apr 9, 2013 Senate Committee: Campaign Finance Laws Aren't Enforced    April 9, 2013
  NPR
  by Peter Overby
  Senators on a Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday heard about the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in political campaigns last year from secret donors, and why federal agencies are nearly powerless to do anything about it.    more   


• Apr 6, 2013 Spending Mushrooms in New 'Political Ecosystem'    April 6, 2013
  Miami Herald
  by Steve Peoples
  Operating with few rules and limited oversight, outside groups spent a record $1 billion to influence last year's election. Politicians of all persuasions griped about the meddling. But few are working to change laws that...    more   


• Apr 4, 2013 Governors' Groups Rely Increasingly on 'Dark Money' Affliates    April 4, 2013
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Paul Abowd
  The Democratic and Republican governors’ associations are increasingly relying on nonprofit affiliates to get their candidates elected and influence ballot initiatives, a move that allows them to avoid disclosing the...    more   


• Mar 30, 2013 IRS to 'Social Welfare' Groups: Show Me the Political Ad Money    March 30, 2013
  NPR
  by Peter Overby
  There are still unanswered questions about the politically active 501(c)(4) "social welfare" groups. The anonymously funded entities' multimillion-dollar ad budgets helped to clog the airwaves last year.    more   


• Mar 24, 2013 What Secret Emails From Enron Teach Us About Influencing Politicians    March 24, 2013
  Washington Post
  by Dan Hopkins
  In 1999, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) denounced “a campaign finance system that is nothing less than an elaborate influence-peddling scheme in which both parties conspire to stay in office by selling the country to the highest...    more   


• Mar 19, 2013 The Politics of Corporate Campaign Disclosure: Keep an Eye on the 2013 Proxy Season    March 19, 2013
  Business Ethics Magazine
  by Robert Ludke
  Last November, I wrote about the limited benefits and reputational risks posed by unlimited corporate campaign contributions. In that piece, I noted, “[T]he Securities and Exchange Commission is giving serious...    more   


• Mar 15, 2013 PepsiCo to Disclose Lobbying Efforts, Political Spending    March 15, 2013
  Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
  by Jessica Bakeman
  PepsiCo, the Westchester County-based beverage and food company, agreed to disclose its direct lobbying efforts and any contributions the company made to trade organizations, the state comptroller’s office...    more   


• Mar 12, 2013 Senate Bill Pushes Online Campaign-Finance Filings    March 12, 2013
  USA Today
  by Malia Rulon
  Even though most services are now online, from bank statements to brokerage accounts, members of the U.S. Senate continue to file campaign-finance reports the old-fashioned way: on paper. This practice leads to delays in the...    more   


• Mar 10, 2013 California Lawmakers Avoid Campaign Contribution Limits With Ballot Measure Accounts    March 10, 2013
  Sacramento Bee
  by Torey Van Oot
  Thirteen years after California instituted campaign finance limits, lawmakers at the state Capitol are making broad use of a maneuver to avoid them. In addition to their campaign accounts, legislators create "ballot measure"...    more   


• Mar 7, 2013 In Reversal, Organizing for Action Won't Take Corporate Cash    March 7, 2013
  Washington Post
  by Rachel Weiner
  The organizing non-profit formed out of President Obama’s campaign apparatus will not take money from corporations, and will report the precise amount of contributions larger than $250 — and the names of those donors — on a...    more   


• Mar 5, 2013 Campaign Finance Reform in the Age of Citizens United    March 5, 2013
  Salon
  by Mark Schmitt
  Last Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging the century-old ban on direct corporate contributions to federal election campaigns. That counts as good news in a month that included the court’s earlier decision to hear...    more   


• Mar 5, 2013 Study Shows Super PACs Made a Mockery of Campaign Law    March 5, 2013
  The Hill
  by Taylor Lincoln
  The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which gave rise to outside groups that could accept unlimited contributions to influence elections, was not intended to eviscerate laws limiting...    more   


• Feb 25, 2013 Supreme Court Won't Hear Corporate Contribution Case    February 25, 2013
  Politico
  by Byron Tau
  The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case challenging a century-old prohibition on direct corporate contributions to candidates. Lawyers for the plaintiff in Danielczyk v. U.S. argued that because of the landmark 2010...    more   


• Feb 22, 2013 Qualcomm Agrees to Reveal Donations to Tax-Exempt Groups    February 22, 2013
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore
  Qualcomm, Inc., the country’s largest maker of computer chips for mobile devices, will voluntarily disclose previously secret political contributions to tax-exempt groups under a settlement announced Friday with the...    more   


• Feb 21, 2013 The Flawed Objections to Corporate Political-Spending Disclosures    February 21, 2013
  The Motley Fool
  by M. Joy Hayes
  Suppose one of your investments supports a candidate whose platform you abhor. How would you know? Without laws requiring corporate political-spending disclosures, you often won't know until a media firestorm breaks out,...    more   


• Feb 20, 2013 Ban on Corporate Contributions May Be Eyed by Supreme Court, Lawyers Say    February 20, 2013
  Bloomberg BNA
  by Kenneth Doyle
  The Supreme Court is still considering whether to take up a key case challenging the century-old federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, lawyers familiar with the case said during a Feb. 20 court hearing U.S. v....    more   


• Feb 19, 2013 Watchdog Group Sues IRS Over Policing Nonprofits    February 19, 2013
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Tuesday sued the IRS on the grounds that its regulations governing politically active nonprofit groups flout tax laws, as written. CREW joined with...    more   


• Feb 15, 2013 Obama Versus Campaign Finance Laws    February 15, 2013
  Huffington Post
  by John Wonderlich
  There's a certain conventional wisdom that President Obama wants stronger campaign finance laws, and to protect our democracy from the corrupting effects of money in politics. It's a story that you should no longer...    more   


• Feb 14, 2013 Big Corporations Put Up Seed Funding for Republican Dark Money Group    February 14, 2013
  ProPublica
  by Justin Elliott
  Some of the nation’s biggest corporations donated more than a million dollars to launch a Republican nonprofit that went on to play a key role in recent political fights. Like the nonprofit groups that poured money into last...    more...  


• Feb 13, 2013 Increasing Shareholder Success with Environmental and Social Proposals    February 13, 2013
  Corporate Counsel
  by Catherine Dunn
  When investors want a company to change its ways on environmental or social practices, what makes shareholder proposals on these issues fare well, and when do they fall flat? Three characteristics appear to be...    more   


• Feb 12, 2013 Why Investors Should Favor Political-Spending Disclosures    February 12, 2013
  The Motley Fool
  by M. Joy Hayes
  When 2010's Citizens United ruling expanded the scope of corporate political spending protected by the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court partially justified its argument by stating that investors could hold corporations...    more   


• Feb 11, 2013 Resolution Seeks Disclosure of Secret Campaign Donations Made Through Nonprofits and Super PACs    February 11, 2013
  ABA Journal
  by Debra Cassens Weiss
  A resolution passed Monday by the ABA House of Delegates calls for disclosure of secret campaign contributions made through nonprofit groups donating money to super PACs. Resolution 110B urges Congress to require groups...    more   


• Feb 11, 2013 Political Contributions: A Glass Lewis Issue Report    February 11, 2013
  Glass Lewis
  by Jaron Schneider
  For the second year in a row, resolutions related to companies’ political spending were the most common shareholder proposals put forth during the 2012 proxy season. Many of these proposals, particularly those seeking reports...    more   


• Feb 6, 2013 Privatization Group ACEC Tied to California Dark Money Millions    February 6, 2013
  Talking Points Memo
  by Eric Lach
  An engineering trade organization that advocates for privatizing government work has been tied to the group behind the $11 million dark money donation that prompted a legal showdown in California last fall. The $400,000...    more   


• Feb 1, 2013 RGA, DGA Reap Riches From Corporate Donors    February 1, 2013
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Michael Beckel
  The dust has barely settled on the 2012 election but the corporation-fueled fundraising engines of the Republican and Democratic governors associations continue to churn. Between late November and the end of...    more   


• Jan 31, 2013 Can Feds Force Companies to Disclose Political Spending?    January 31, 2013
  Bloomberg Law
  by Lee Pacchia
  See also Jackson's blog http://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2013/01/30/the-case-for-transparency-in-corporate-political-spending/ The SEC is considering a proposal by Robert Jackson, associate professor at Columbia Law School,...    more   


• Jan 30, 2013 Big Money Gets In On Cabinet Nomination Fights    January 30, 2013
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold
  As former Sen. Chuck Hagel seeks to fend off critics aiming to derail his confirmation as Defense secretary, he has an incongruous ally: a Pittsburgh philanthropist who made his fortune as one of the world's top horse-race...    more   


• Jan 28, 2013 Nonprofit Spends Big on Politics Despite IRS Limitation    January 28, 2013
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Michael Beckel
  Last fall, a cadre of wealthy business executives and conservative groups tried to sell California voters on new campaign finance reforms. Couched in lofty rhetoric about the importance of cutting off money...    more   


• Jan 25, 2013 Barack Obama's New "Grass-Roots" Group Isn't Quite    January 25, 2013
  Politico
  by Kenneth Vogel, Tarini Parti, and Byron Tau
  When President Barack Obama rolled out his new political outfit last week, he and his allies declared it would be powered by grassroots activists and change politics from outside Washington. Not exactly.    more   


• Jan 23, 2013 Targeting Corporate Political Donations    January 23, 2013
  Minneapolis Star-Tribune
  by Jim Spencer
  Having failed to kill political giving policies at two of Minnesota's biggest corporations last year, investors opposed to contributions of company general funds to candidates and super PACs have hit on a new strategy:...    more   


• Jan 22, 2013 Corporations Face New Rules on Disclosing Political Donations    January 22, 2013
  The Bergen Record
  by Juliet Fletcher
  Companies seeking state economic development incentives could face new requirements to report on how much they spend on political donations, under a proposal favored by Assembly committee members and sponsored by...    more   


• Jan 18, 2013 Obama Adopts Secret Cash Strategy    January 18, 2013
  Politico
  by Byron Tau
  When Obama for America relaunches next week as a tax-exempt organization, it will become exactly what Democrats have reviled over the last two years: a massive, powerful force in politics that doesn’t have to reveal anything about the...    more   


• Jan 17, 2013 Did Tax-Exempt Groups Mislead the IRS on Political Spending    January 17, 2013
  Washington Post
  OF ALL THE groups that pumped hidden money into politics in recent years, the most notable and peculiar included those that claim a “social welfare” purpose and have applied to the Internal Revenue Service for designation as nonprofit and...    more   


• Jan 16, 2013 Court Opened Door to $933 Million in New Election Spending    January 16, 2013
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Reity O'Brien and Andrea Fuller
  The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision unleashed nearly $1 billion in new political spending in the 2012 election, with media outlets and a small number of political consulting firms raking...    more   


• Jan 15, 2013 U.S. Chamber Opposes Proposed SEC Disclosure Rule for Political Contributions    January 15, 2013
  Corporate Counsel
  by Sue Reisinger
  The fight over whether public companies should be forced to reveal their political contributions made through third parties continues to roil on several fronts, with a coalition of 30 business associations opposing the idea...    more   


• Jan 11, 2013 2012 Campaign Dollars Poured Into Unlimited Accounts    January 11, 2013
  Miami Herald
  by Mary Ellen Klas
  Florida’s sputtering economy did not stop interest groups and donors from spending $306 million this election cycle on state political campaigns, according to final election year tallies released Friday. The number is lower...    more   


• Jan 8, 2013 Advocates Cheer SEC Consideration of Corporate Disclosure Rule    January 8, 2013
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold
  A decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to consider a new rule this year requiring companies to release information about their political spending has buoyed disclosure advocates, who say such a move could be...    more   


• Jan 5, 2013 Outside, Secret Money Likely to Flow in 2013    January 5, 2013
  Politico
  by Tarini Parti
  Get ready for what could very well be the most expensive gubernatorial elections ever. As if the national profiles of the expected candidates in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races weren’t enough to draw bundles of cash,...    more   


• Jan 4, 2013 Microsoft, AT&T Among Corporate Donors to Inauguration    January 4, 2013
  Washington Post
  by T.W. Farnam
  President Obama will have some major corporations such as Microsoft and AT&T to thank for the festivities surrounding his inauguration later this month, according to a list of event donors released Friday evening. Obama...    more   


• Jan 3, 2013 States Target Politically Active Non-Profits    January 3, 2013
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  Tax-exempt groups that spent hundreds of millions on the 2012 elections without disclosing their donors have stirred no response from federal regulators but have drawn the ire of state officials who are moving aggressively to...    more   


• Jan 2, 2013 Controversial Dark Money Group Among Five That Told IRS They Would Stay Out of Politics, Then Didn't    January 2, 2013
  ProPublica
  by Kim Barker
  Five conservative dark money groups active in 2012 elections previously told tax regulators that they would not engage in politics, filings obtained from the IRS show. The best known and most controversial of the groups is...    more   


• Dec 31, 2012 Political Spending Sets New Records During Tumultuous Year    December 31, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  Political spending set new records in 2012, which saw the first presidential election since the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling. Unrestricted super PACs and politically active...    more   


• Dec 29, 2012 Lawmakers Try to Curb Anonymous Political Donations in California    December 29, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Michael J. Mishak
  State lawmakers are moving to curb anonymous political donations in California after a national election in which nonprofit groups secretly poured hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns. Legislators have...    more   


• Dec 28, 2012 Lisa Murkowski, Ron Wyden Propose Campaign Finance Reform    December 28, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Luke Johnson and Paul Blumenthal
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) proposed campaign finance reform on Thursday that will seek to walk back the funding possibilities opened up by the Supreme Court's Citizens...    more   


• Dec 27, 2012 In Montana, Dark Money Helped Democrats Hold a Key Senate Seat    December 27, 2012
  ProPublica
  by Kim Barker
  In the waning days of Montana's hotly contested Senate race, a small outfit called Montana Hunters and Anglers, launched by liberal activists, tried something drastic. It didn't buy ads supporting the incumbent Democrat, Sen. Jon...    more   


• Dec 18, 2012 Arizona Dark Money Group Gave Lavishly To Other Groups    December 18, 2012
  Talking Points Memo
  by Eric Lach
  The Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR), the secretive Arizona dark money group tied to the movement of millions of dollars between political nonprofits, gave almost $15 million in 2011 to a number of groups that spent...    more   


• Dec 17, 2012 Voluntary Disclosure on Corporate Political Spending Is Not Enough    December 17, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Lucian Bebchuk and Robert Jackson Jr.
  One of the challenges that the Securities and Exchange Commission will face next year is how to address investor concerns about corporate political spending. Shareholders have grown increasingly...    more   


• Dec 14, 2012 Karl Rove's Dark Money Group Promised IRS It Would Spend 'Limited' Money on Elections    December 14, 2012
  ProPublica
  by Kim Barker
  In a confidential 2010 filing, Crossroads GPS — the dark money group that spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election — told the Internal Revenue Service that its efforts would focus on public education,...    more   


• Dec 12, 2012 Mystery Company the Largest Corporate Donor of 2012    December 12, 2012
  USA Today
  by Fredreka Schouten and Christopher Schnaars
  A company created less than two months before Election Day was the largest corporate donor of the 2012 elections and remains shrouded in mystery weeks later. The company, Specialty Group Inc.,...    more   


• Dec 11, 2012 New York Attorney General Seeks to Expose More Political Donors    December 11, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore
  The New York attorney general announced a a far-reaching draft regulation on Wednesday that would force broad public disclosure of millions of dollars in loosely regulated spending on elections and ballot measures...    more   


• Dec 9, 2012 Big Money Still Had Destructive Role in 2012 Elections    December 9, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Albert R. Hunt
  The fears that big money would corrupt the political process in 2012 weren’t realized, the conventional wisdom says. The fat cats, unshackled by U.S. Supreme Court and lower court decisions, weren’t able to buy the presidency...    more   


• Dec 7, 2012 Last-Minute Mega-Donations Fueled Super PAC Attacks    December 7, 2012
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Michael Beckel
  Billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson gave $1 million to a super PAC active in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race during the campaign’s final days, a fact unknown to voters until long after polls closed. Adelson...    more   


• Dec 7, 2012 2012 Election Ended With Deluge of Donations and Spending    December 7, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore and Derek Willis
  The most expensive general election in history ended with a bang, according to new reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, with both presidential campaigns raising and spending huge...    more   


• Dec 5, 2012 Rural Law Firm Shields $262 Million in Secret Donations    December 5, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Alison Fitzgerald
  About 50 miles west of Washington, in a newly developed zone between the roadside farm stands and the shops that line the Victorian Main Street of tiny Warrenton, Virginia, sits a brick office building that’s emerged as a...    more   


• Dec 4, 2012 Record Spending in 2012 Elections Could Spur Rules Changes, Experts Say    December 4, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  The $6 billion spending record set in the 2012 elections will soon be outstripped by future campaigns, but it also opens the way for new political money restrictions, a team of election law experts said at the National Press...    more   


• Dec 3, 2012 Americans for Job Security, A Dark Money Forerunner    December 3, 2012
  Talking Points Memo
  In late October and early November, a dramatic legal battle played out in California between the state’s campaign finance watchdog and a little-known Arizona non-profit named Americans for Responsible Leadership. It began on Oct. 15, when...    more   


• Nov 29, 2012 Drug Lobby Gave $750,000 to Pro-Hatch Nonprofit in Utah's U.S. Senate Race    November 29, 2012
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Michael Beckel
  When six-term GOP incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah faced the prospect of a mutiny from conservative activists, his allies within the pharmaceutical industry stepped in to help defend him. New documents...    more   


• Nov 26, 2012 States Crack Down on Campaigning Nonprofits    November 26, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold and Chris Megerian
  Tax-exempt advocacy groups that played an aggressive role in this year's election are coming under increasing scrutiny from state regulators, who are cracking down on organizations seeking to engage in...    more   


• Nov 24, 2012 A Morning-After Constitutional?    November 24, 2012
  The Economist
  IF, AS the saying goes, “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality”, then perhaps an advocate of stricter campaign-finance laws is a newly elected congressman or senator who has weathered months of negative ads funded by...    more   


• Nov 23, 2012 Election Over, Campaign Continues    November 23, 2012
  CBS News
  by Josh Lederman
  The election may be over, but a new campaign is being waged in the nation's capital as lobbyists, advocates and trade groups fight to shape the government's response to the looming fiscal cliff. It's a twist on the usual...    more   


• Nov 20, 2012 Dark Money Obscures Congress    November 20, 2012
  Salon
  by Mark Schmitt
  It’s been tempting to treat the 2012 election as proof that money in politics doesn’t matter as much as commonly believed, or that Citizens United and the emergence of Super PACs and political non-profits didn’t change things as much...    more   


• Nov 16, 2012 How the FEC Can Stop the Tidal Wave of Secret Political Cash    November 16, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Trevor Potter
  Don’t blame Citizens United for the worst excesses of this year’s election. Instead, look to the failures of the Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision — which created a constitutional...    more   


• Nov 15, 2012 Watchdog Group Files FEC Complaint Against Crossroads GPS    November 15, 2012
  Washington Post
  by T.W. Farnam
  All the votes in the 2012 presidential election have been counted, but one aspect of the race will continue to linger for some time: legal challenges to the way third-party groups spent money during the campaign.    more   


• Nov 14, 2012 Letting Shareholders Know How Their Money Is Spent    November 14, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Lucian Bebchuk
  The most expensive presidential election in history may be over, and shareholders of public companies are still in the dark about whether and how their money was spent on politics. But the Securities and Exchange...    more   


• Nov 13, 2012 Bipartisan Group Pitches Overhaul of Political Money System    November 13, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  A bipartisan coalition that includes campaign reform advocates, academics, business leaders and tea party and Occupy Wall Street activists proposed a sweeping overhaul of the political money system Tuesday. Dubbed the...    more   


• Nov 12, 2012 Political Spending Triggers Backlash for Mainers    November 12, 2012
  Portland Press Herald
  by John Richardson
  Sally Davis was one of many voters who felt overwhelmed by all the expensive political advertisements leading up to Tuesday's election. So, Davis, a 53-year-old musician and teacher, stood outside the polls on...    more   


• Nov 11, 2012 Result Won't Limit Campaign Money Any More Than Ruling Did    November 11, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore
  When the votes were counted, President Obama’s campaign declared victory over the conservative “super PACs” that had sought to bury him in negative ads and win the White House and the Senate for the Republican...    more   


• Nov 10, 2012 Private Consultants See Huge Election Profits    November 10, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen and Tom Hamburger
  Some of the biggest winners in the most expensive election in U.S. history weren’t the politicians, but the private consultants who brought in tens of millions of dollars in fees for advertising, fundraising...    more...  


• Nov 9, 2012 Citizens United Is Still Worth Hating    November 9, 2012
  Slate
  by Eric Posner
  Among the election’s many losers were rich people who spent millions of dollars on donations to super PACs that supported losing Republican candidates. David Weigel says that the rich people wasted their money. Kevin Drum concludes that...    more   


• Nov 7, 2012 Spending by Independent Groups Had Little Election Impact, Analysis Finds    November 7, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam
  Record spending by independent groups largely defined how the 2012 elections were fought, but the money had no dis­cern­ible impact on the outcome of most contests, according to an early analysis of ballot results...    more   


• Nov 5, 2012 Election's Biggest Corporate Donor an Enigma with $5.3 Million in Contributions    November 5, 2012
  NBC News
  by Michael Beckel and Reity O'Brien
  The biggest corporate contributor in the 2012 election so far doesn’t appear to make anything — other than very large contributions to a conservative super PAC. Specialty Group Inc., of Knoxville, Tenn., donated...    more   


• Nov 4, 2012 The New Normal: $9 Million for a Rural House Seat    November 4, 2012
  Politico
  by Kenneth Vogel
  Mike McIntyre’s first congressional race in 1996 cost $450,000, which he got mostly from friends, neighbors and a loan. Then came the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. Just two years later, nearly $9 million has been...    more   


• Nov 2, 2012 Outside Groups Spend Over $500 Million in October    November 2, 2012
  Politico
  by Dave Levinthal
  More than half a billion dollars. That’s the monster mountain of money outside political groups collectively spent in October to fill the nation’s airwaves, scorch your phone lines and flood your mailbox with flyers that directly...    more   


• Nov 1, 2012 Supreme Court's Theory of 'Independent' Outside Money Is No Longer Operative    November 1, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Taylor Lincoln
  The final numbers are not in yet, but we already have more than enough information to make one call in the 2012 elections: The U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision can be deemed a...    more   


• Oct 31, 2012 California House Races Attracting Record Spending    October 31, 2012
  San Francisco Chronicle
  by Garance Burke and Michael R. Blood
  California, once an afterthought in the battle for control of Congress, has become a top target for deep-pocketed political action committees and other groups in an all-out effort to win districts...    more   


• Oct 31, 2012 Lessons Learned From First Post-Citizens United Presidential Race    October 31, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  With its unrestricted super PACs, wealthy mega-donors, secret money and more than $6 billion projected price tag, this election cycle boasts more unfettered campaign spending than any in recent memory. This sea change comes...    more   


• Oct 28, 2012 Activists Pour Cash Into Voter Turnout    October 28, 2012
  Wall Street Journal
  by Brody Mullins
  In a tight election where voter turnout could be crucial, a new force is sending people door to door to try to get conservatives to the polls. Conservative groups, most notably Americans for Prosperity, are spending...    more   


• Oct 27, 2012 October Surprise: Shadowy Conservative Groups Dominate Outside Spending    October 27, 2012
  The Daily Beast
  by John Avlon
  The Super-PAC October Surprise is here with unprecedented negative spending – and an overwhelming advantage for conservative shadow money groups flooding the airwaves against Democratic candidates.    more   


• Oct 25, 2012 Poll: Majority Wants Corporate Money Out of Politics    October 25, 2012
  The Hill
  by Jordy Yager
  Nearly 90 percent of people in the United States say there is too much corporate money in politics, according to a new poll from a collection of watchdog and public interest groups. The poll, released Thursday by the Corporate...    more   


• Oct 25, 2012 Arizona Dark Money Group Spends Millions in California    October 25, 2012
  Talking Points Memo
  by Eric Lach
  A political group tied to a handful of mostly small-time Arizona Republicans has made a splash in California, by dropping $11 million into the fight over a pair of ballot initiatives in the Golden State. The Arizona group,...    more   


• Oct 24, 2012 Campaign Finance Reform Wins in Montana    October 24, 2012
  Salon
  by Alex Seitz-Wald
  At least for this election cycle, the last shots have been fired in one of the biggest under-the-radar campaign finance battles of the post-Citizens United era — the fight over Montana’s robust campaign finance regime — when the...    more   


• Oct 23, 2012 Amid Barrage of Attacks, Incumbents Consider Tighter Rules    October 23, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Jennifer Steinhauer and Jonathan Weisman
  An onslaught of negative political advertisements in Congressional races has left many incumbents, including some Republicans long opposed to restrictions on campaign spending, concluding that...    more   


• Oct 22, 2012 Obscure Nonprofit Threatens Campaign Finance Limits Beyond Montana    October 22, 2012
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Paul Abowd
  Voters haven’t had a clue who is behind American Tradition Partnership — the Colorado-based group pushing to rewrite Montana’s campaign finance laws — and that’s just the way the secretive nonprofit wants it. A...    more   


• Oct 21, 2012 Outside Groups Changing the Political Game for Good    October 21, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold
  No matter what happens on election day, it's already clear the 2012 campaign has ushered in a new political order. "Super PACs" and tax-exempt advocacy groups — on track to spend roughly $1 billion on federal races, an...    more   


• Oct 20, 2012 The $1 Billion Presidential Campaign    October 20, 2012
  CBS News
  by Phil Hirschkorn
  This year's presidential campaigns are on pace to reach a $1 billion in spending, their latest reports to the Federal Election Commission reveal. The potential ten-figure total does not even count what the Democratic or...    more   


• Oct 18, 2012 Democrats Used Corporate Cash to Pay for Convention, Breaking Vow    October 18, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold
  Democratic convention organizers broke their pledge to put on their quadrennial gathering in Charlotte, N.C., this year without corporate donations, using $5 million from a committee financed by companies such as Bank of...    more   


• Oct 17, 2012 The Campaign Finance Free-for-All: How We Got to This Point    October 17, 2012
  Pro Publica
  by Justin Elliott
  In a forthcoming law review article, Richard Briffault of Columbia Law School argues that the rise of super PACs and unfettered contributions and spending this election cycle are “effectively ending the post-Watergate era of...    more   


• Oct 15, 2012 The IRS's 'Feeble' Grip on Big Political Cash    October 15, 2012
  Politico
  by Kenneth Vogel and Tarini Parti
  The deep-pocketed conservative group Americans for Prosperity has spent $72 million on ads bashing Democrats so far this year. It spent $39.4 million on ads and organizing in 2010, when it helped deliver the...    more   


• Oct 13, 2012 John McCain: Citizens United Is 'Worst Decision Ever'... 'Money Is Money', Not Free Speech    October 13, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Nick Wing
  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) continued his harsh criticism of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling this week, calling it the bench's "worst decision ever." “They said money is free speech. Since when is money free speech?”...    more   


• Oct 11, 2012 NJ Companies Forced to Disclose Political Donations Under Legislation    October 11, 2012
  NJ 101.5
  by Kevin McArdle
  In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision rejecting bipartisan efforts to restrict campaign spending by corporations, a New Jersey legislator is introducing legislation to require corporations that receive financial help from...    more   


• Oct 10, 2012 Appeals Court Reinstates Campaign Finance Limits    October 10, 2012
  Associated Press
  by Matt Gouras
  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Montana's campaign donation limits, telling the federal judge who overturned it to outline his full reasoning so the panel can review the case. The court intervened late...    more   


• Oct 9, 2012 Casino Ad Blitz Sets Maryland Political Spending Record    October 9, 2012
  Baltimore Sun
  by Michael Dresser
  A new round of spending by Penn National Gaming and MGM Resorts International has pushed the ad war in the referendum over expanded gambling into record territory -- eclipsing the $34 million raised for the 2006 governor's...    more   


• Oct 5, 2012 The Threat of Dark Money in Our Elections    October 5, 2012
  The Nation
  by Katrina vanden Heuvel
  With Karl Rove’s efforts to oust the president ramping up but still looking likely to come up short, some will be tempted to declare that fears of a dark money election era were overblown. Unfortunately, they couldn’t be...    more   


• Oct 5, 2012 Canadian-Owned Firm's Mega-Donation to Super PAC Raises 'Legal Red Flags'    October 5, 2012
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Michael Beckel
  A million-dollar donation by a foreign-owned corporation to a Republican super PAC has raised legal concerns and opened up the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court decision to new criticism. Restore Our...    more   


• Oct 4, 2012 Health Insurance PACs Have Love-Hate Relationship with Health Care Reform    October 4, 2012
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Reity O'Brien
  The health insurance industry presented itself as a key ally of President Barack Obama’s health care law while at the same time making hefty contributions to members of Congress who are trying to get rid of it,...    more   


• Oct 2, 2012 Shining Light on Corporate Political Spending    October 2, 2012
  Harvard Forum on Corporate Governance
  by Lucian Bebchuk and Robert Jackson Jr.
  In our new paper, Shining Light on Corporate Political Spending, we put forward a comprehensive, empirically-grounded case for SEC rules requiring public companies to disclose...    more   


• Oct 2, 2012 Shining a Light on Political 'Dark Money'    October 2, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  As secret political spending escalates in the final weeks before Election Day, it's not too early to ask: What can be done to bring "dark money" out from the shadows? Even more than super PACs, secret money may well define...    more   


• Sep 30, 2012 'Dark Money' Flowing Back to Issue Ads    September 30, 2012
  The Hill
  by Kevin Bogardus
  Some political non-profit groups that don't disclose their donors are redirecting their spending in the wake of a decision that has shaken up campaign finance law. Outside groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Crossroads...    more   


• Sep 28, 2012 Super Secrets of the Political Nonprofits    September 28, 2012
  U.S. News and World Report
  by Seth Cline
  In this first presidential election of the Citizens United era, spending by outside groups has gone through the roof, as expected. Less expected has been the rise of political 501(c) groups, super PACs' more...    more   


• Sep 26, 2012 Are Shareholders Happy With Your Company's Public Spending?    September 26, 2012
  Law.com Corporate Counsel Blog
  by Michael Stocker and Matthew Moehlman
  Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court vastly expanded the scope of permissible corporate political spending with Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, evidence is mounting...    more   


• Sep 21, 2012 Regulators Urged to Crack Down on Donations to Bond Measures    September 21, 2012
  NBC New York
  by Will Evans
  Critics of political donations to school bond campaigns from companies that profit from the bonds are urging federal regulators to take bolder steps against what they call a “pay to play” practice. The California Association...    more   


• Sep 20, 2012 The New Price of American Politics    September 20, 2012
  The Atlantic
  by James Bennet
  You may be one of those people who believe there is too much money in politics. (Polling suggests there are many such people—­a vast majority of Americans, in fact.) You may believe that the larger the financial contribution,...    more   


• Sep 18, 2012 Appeals Court Rejects Bid to Demand Full Campaign Finance Disclosure    September 18, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  In a blow to advocates of campaign finance disclosure, a federal appeals court today threw out a lower court's finding that the Federal Election Commission's public reporting rules are at odds with campaign finance law.    more   


• Sep 17, 2012 Outside Groups Make Up Almost Half of All Presidential Campaign Ads    September 17, 2012
  NBC News
  by Domenico Montanaro
  Outside groups have accounted for almost half of all ad spending during this presidential general election, according to a First Read analysis of data provided by ad-buying firm SMG Delta. Groups supporting the...    more   


• Sep 13, 2012 Study of US Campaign Ads Finds Growing Role of Outside Groups    September 13, 2012
  Reuters
  by Alina Selyukh
  Unlimited spending driven by Republican groups is responsible for an outsized share of advertising in the 2012 campaign season that feeds the markedly negative stream of ads, according to an academic analysis released on Wednesday.    more   


• Sep 10, 2012 Campaign Disclosure in the Super PAC Era    September 10, 2012
  Georgetown Public Policy Review
  by Josh Caplan
  Executive Interview Editor Josh Caplan recently spoke with Dr. Lee Drutman of the Sunlight Foundation to talk about the DISCLOSE Act and the role financial transparency in campaigns.    more   


• Sep 9, 2012 Corporate Contributions and Disclosure    September 9, 2012
  The New York Times
  The Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010 let loose a flood of unlimited independent spending in political campaigns. It has also inspired a wave of lawsuits seeking to overturn the reasonable campaign finance restrictions that remain...    more   


• Sep 8, 2012 As Election Nears, Keeping Donors a Secret Is Trickier    September 8, 2012
  NPR
  by Peter Overby
  Some of the groups running ads this election season haven't been required to disclose their donors. But as Election Day draws nearer, some of the rules are changing, making campaign ads a riskier business for those who want to keep...    more   


• Sep 7, 2012 Full 8th Circuit Backs Minnesota's Corporate Political Donation Ban    September 7, 2012
  Courthouse News Service
  by Cameron Langford
  Minnesota can ban corporations from contributing to political campaigns but its regulation of independent expenditures is unconstitutional, the full 8th Circuit ruled. Unlike direct campaign contributions,...    more   


• Sep 6, 2012 US Banks Plan Outside Spending Group to Influence Elections    September 6, 2012
  Reuters
  by Alina Selyukh
  A major banking industry trade group is planning a foray into the U.S. elections by creating a tax-exempt organization capable of raising unlimited anonymous funds, the groups' chief operating officer said Wednesday. The board of...    more   


• Sep 5, 2012 New Campaign to Get SEC to Require Corporate Disclosure    September 5, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Jonathan Salant
  A new campaign is beginning in Washington targeting the Securities and Exchange Commission over campaign finance. Yes, that’s the SEC — not the FEC (the Federal Election Commission). The SEC has been asked to...    more   


• Sep 4, 2012 Corporate Cash Helps Fuel Democratic Convention Despite Pledges    September 4, 2012
  Center for Public Integrity
  by Michael Beckel
  While Democrats have touted their grassroots fundraising efforts for the 2012 Democratic National Convention, deep-pocketed corporate donors are helping underwrite the event. Among the corporate sponsors at...    more   


• Sep 3, 2012 Ohio Unions Face Tough Battle with Super PACs    September 3, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Monica Davey and Steven Greenhouse
  From a line of cubicles inside a union headquarters here, phone-bank volunteers hunched over laptop computers, improvising into their headsets their own versions of an anti-Mitt Romney script, which...    more   


• Aug 31, 2012 Inside Karl Rove's Billionaire Fundraiser    August 31, 2012
  Bloomberg Businessweek
  by Sheelah Kolhatkar
  On the final morning of the Republican National Convention, Karl Rove took the stage at the Tampa Club to provide an exclusive breakfast briefing to about 70 of the Republican party’s highest-earning and most...    more   


• Aug 31, 2012 $119 Million and Counting: Track Groups' Spending on 2012 Race    August 31, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold
  "Super PACs" and other outside groups have reported spending more than $119 million on the presidential campaign since Mitt Romney unofficially clinched the Republican nomination in early April, a sum that underscores the...    more   


• Aug 30, 2012 Never Mind Super PACs: How Big Business Is Buying the Election    August 30, 2012
  The Nation
  by Lee Fang
  On January 27, 2010, one year into his term, President Barack Obama used the occasion of his State of the Union address to issue a warning. The Supreme Court had just opened the “floodgates for special interests—including foreign...    more   


• Aug 30, 2012 Union Investors Demand Aetna Disclose Political Donations    August 30, 2012
  Bloomberg Businessweek
  by Drew Armstrong
  Aetna Inc. and 19 other companies are being urged to disclose their contributions to independent political organizations by investors including unions and state pension funds with $922 billion in assets.    more   


• Aug 29, 2012 The Hunt for Behind-Closed-Doors Money    August 29, 2012
  Politico
  by Anna Palmer
  Narc. Snitch. Whistleblower. Tattletale. None of these monikers bothers the Sunlight Foundation’s Keenan Steiner and Liz Bartolomeo. The pair are self-described “party-crashers” for this year’s Republican and Democratic...    more   


• Aug 28, 2012 Unleashing the Campaign Contributions of Corporations    August 28, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Eduardo Porter
  Way back in February of this year, more than two-thirds of Californians believed raising more money from tobacco companies to finance cancer research was a good idea. That was before industry money kicked in.    more   


• Aug 25, 2012 For Big Givers, Cash and Clout Arrive Together    August 25, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore
  The railway giant CSX, which has spent $2 million this year lobbying on issues like greenhouse-gas regulation and hazardous-waste transportation rules, will park special train cars near the Tampa Bay Times Forum to...    more   


• Aug 24, 2012 You Are Who You Fund: What Todd Akin Teaches Us About Campaign Contributions    August 24, 2012
  Fast Company
  by Richard Levick
  When we examine the Todd Akin saga from a crisis communications perspective, the lessons are as obvious as they are numerous. Avoid inflammatory messaging. Do what’s necessary to keep allies by your side. Understand that...    more   


• Aug 23, 2012 Flood of Secret Campaign Cash: It's Not All Citizens United    August 23, 2012
  Pro Publica
  by Stephen Engelberg and Kim Barker
  The emergence of nonprofits as the leading conduit for anonymous spending in this year's presidential campaign is often attributed to the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which opened the money...    more   


• Aug 22, 2012 Super PAC Contributions Top $300 Million, Most Goes to GOP Groups    August 22, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Paul Blumenthal
  The Republican presidential campaign of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan got another boost from big donors in July. Republican super PACs, particularly the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future and the Karl Rove-founded American...    more   


• Aug 21, 2012 Campaign Contribution Totals Reveal Complex Picture    August 21, 2012
  NPR
  by Peter Overby
  Monday night was the deadline for reporting July's contributions and expenses for the presidential candidates and the superPACS supporting them. While GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney widened his cash advantage over President Obama,...    more   


• Aug 19, 2012 How Nonprofits Spend Millions on Elections and Call It Public Welfare    August 19, 2012
  Pro Publica
  by Kim Barker
  Matt Brooks describes the mission of the Republican Jewish Coalition as educating the Jewish community about critical domestic and foreign policy issues. But the well-dressed crowd that gathered in May for a luncheon on the 24th...    more   


• Aug 17, 2012 Conservative Groups Change Tactics to Keep Donors Secret    August 17, 2012
  Politico
  by Dave Levinthal
  Three of the nation’s most powerful conservative groups have spent more than $30 million on direct political ads since late July, a marked shift in tactics that allows them to keep their donors secret. Americans for Prosperity,...    more   


• Aug 16, 2012 In Elections, Donor Size Matters    August 16, 2012
  Nonprofit Quarterly
  by Rick Cohen
  This year’s national elections—for members of Congress and the president of the United States—may have relatively less to do with ideas, platforms, and policies than money. In fact, we’re sure of it. Due to Buckley v. Valeo...    more   


• Aug 15, 2012 Political Ad Spending for US Presidential Election to Reach $2.9B    August 15, 2012
  International Business Times
  by Benjamin Reeves
  Local television ad spending skyrocketed in the second quarter of 2012, largely due to astronomical spending by Republican and Democratic political campaigns and Super PACs. Spending is expected to reach $2.9...    more   


• Aug 14, 2012 New York's A.G. Probes Nonprofits' Political Spending    August 14, 2012
  Bloomberg Businessweek
  by David Voreacos and David McLaughlin
  New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating whether non-profit groups known to be active in politics are spending more than permitted by tax rules to influence the elections in...    more   


• Aug 13, 2012 Corporate Shareholders Deserve Equal Rights on Campaign Finance    August 13, 2012
  The Atlantic Wire
  by Benjamin Sachs
  As the 2012 election season rolls forward, campaign cash is taking center stage. And when it comes to money in politics, the debate seems inevitably to end in a fight over the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Many...    more   


• Aug 13, 2012 Two Dark Money Groups Outspending All Super PACs Combined    August 13, 2012
  Pro Publica
  by Kim Barker
  Two conservative nonprofits, Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity, have poured almost $60 million into TV ads to influence the presidential race so far, outgunning all super PACs put together, new spending estimates show.    more   


• Aug 10, 2012 Unlimited Corporate Money in Fla. Political Races 'Worries Political Scientists'    August 10, 2012
  WFSU
  by Jessica Palombo
  Tuesday’s Florida primary and the upcoming general election in November are the first since the highly controversial Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which removed all limits on how much corporations can spend to help federal...    more   


• Aug 10, 2012 Super PACs Bring 'Nuclear' Power to Presidential Races    August 10, 2012
  Orange County Register
  by Ronald Campbell
  A television ad airing last week suggested that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had cost a man his health insurance, leading to the death of the man's wife from cancer. The ad – which brought an...    more   


• Aug 8, 2012 Drug-makers Fund Birth Control-Cutting Lawmakers, Investors Say    August 8, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Jonathan Salant
  Investors that manage about $155 billion in assets have written to four drug companies that market contraception,complaining about their indirect support of U.S. lawmakers who have voted to end federal support for birth control.    more   


• Aug 8, 2012 Scotts Miracle-Gro Goes Out on a Limb with Political Donation    August 8, 2012
  Washington Post
  by T.W. Farnam
  In an election year filled with secret campaign money, the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has made the unlikely choice to go public with a big political donation. The Ohio-based company, familiar as the producer of a ubiquitous...    more   


• Aug 7, 2012 Myth of the Small Donor    August 7, 2012
  Politico
  by Kenneth P. Vogel
  Susan Daole last month gave $100 to President Barack Obama because she wanted to fight the flood of million-dollar checks supporting Mitt Romney. “I think my contribution in its own way has just as much worth as the millions...    more   


• Aug 6, 2012 Guess Who's Profiting Most From Super PACs?    August 6, 2012
  Rolling Stone
  by Tim Dickinson
  Candidates may raise the unprecedented sums of political cash being funneled through Super PACs this year, and media strategists may decide how to spend them – but the people who actually wind up pocketing much of the money are...    more   


• Aug 5, 2012 Campaign Funding Rules Slide Back to Watergate Era, Says Colby Professor    August 5, 2012
  The Kennebec Journal
  by John Richardson
  Most summers, you wouldn't find Colby College Professor Anthony Corrado in his office, staring at the computer.But this isn't most summers. Corrado is a nationally known expert on money in politics. He is a senior...    more   


• Aug 3, 2012 FCC Political Ad Database Reveals Little    August 3, 2012
  USA Today
  by Catalina Camia
  The debut of a public database charting political ad buys has revealed … not much. Broadcast TV stations in the top 50 markets are now required to post information about their political ad sales on a Federal Communications...    more   


• Aug 2, 2012 Small Group Makes Big Dent on Super PAC Individual Donations, Study Says    August 2, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Bill Turque
  It’s no secret that some very rich people support the super PACs and other groups that have inundated the 2012 campaign with unlimited sums of cash. But a study to be released Thursday details the extent to which this kind of...    more   


• Aug 2, 2012 Estimate: Nearly $6 Billion Will Be Spent on Elections This Cycle    August 2, 2012
  ABC News
  by Chris Moody
  Total political spending on elections this cycle is estimated to reach nearly $6 billion, according to an analysis by the Center for Competitive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks the influence of money in politics.    more   


• Aug 1, 2012 Crossroads GPS Tries to Squeak Past Disclosure Window    August 1, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold
  A hard-hitting new TV spot by the conservative advocacy group Crossroads GPS is scheduled to air within 30 days before the Democratic National Convention, a buy that should force it to disclose its donors. But the organization...    more   


• Jul 30, 2012 Super PACs: $125 Million Spent -- And Counting    July 30, 2012
  CBS News
  by Phil Hirschkorn
  With less than 100 days to go in the presidential race, nine single-candidate "super" PACs -- political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited sums on political expression - have spent $125 million advocating and...    more   


• Jul 29, 2012 Big Campaign Donors Can Remain a Big Secret    July 29, 2012
  Indianapolis Star
  by Jon Murray and Mary Beth Schneider
  A $1 million check given to U.S. Rep. Mike Pence's campaign for governor this spring is fueling questions about influence over Indiana elections.    more   


• Jul 27, 2012 FEC Says It Will Enforce Nonprofit Disclosure Rules    July 27, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  The Federal Election Commission told political advocacy groups Friday that it would enforce new disclosure rules for some nonprofits under a recent court ruling, but many key groups have taken steps to evade the requirements.    more   


• Jul 26, 2012 Million-Dollar Donation in Indiana Race May Skirt Limits on Corporate Giving    July 26, 2012
  iWatch News
  by Paul Abowd
  The RGA Right Direction PAC is a Washington, D.C.-based super PAC, registered with federal regulators to make independent expenditures supporting or opposing candidates. So what is it doing giving $1 million directly to the Republican...    more   


• Jul 25, 2012 IRS May Consider Tightening Rules for Nonprofits that Influence Elections    July 25, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  Campaign watchdog groups see a glimmer of hope in a new letter from the Internal Revenue Service, which suggests that the agency might consider changes to the rules governing tax exemptions for politically active groups.    more   


• Jul 24, 2012 State Treasurer Takes on Nike Over Political Contribution Disclosures    July 24, 2012
  Triangle Business Journal
  by Lee Weisbecker
  The North Carolina pension system, which owns 587,813 (class B) shares in athletic apparel giant Nike Inc., wants the Portland-based company to release detailed information on its political contributions. Treasurer...    more   


• Jul 23, 2012 Citizens United? Don't Worry Your Pretty Heads About It    July 23, 2012
  The New Republic
  by Alec MacGillis
  Everyone loves a good counter-intuitive story, but Washington loves one sort in particular: the kind that assures us all that something we’ve been led to believe was a worrisome problem is, in fact, not all that big a deal...    more   


• Jul 19, 2012 Campaign Finance After Citizens United Is Worse Than Watergate    July 19, 2012
  Slate
  by Rick Hasen
  How does the brave new world of campaign financing created by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision stack up against Watergate? The short answer is: Things are even worse now than they were then.    more   


• Jul 17, 2012 Poll: Most Know Freedom of Speech, Oppose Unlimited Campaign Spending by Corporations, Unions    July 17, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Brett Zongker
  Most Americans know they have a constitutional right to freedom of speech, and for a clear majority, that does not translate into allowing unlimited spending by corporations or labor unions on political campaigns, according to a...    more   


• Jul 16, 2012 U.S. Voters: Congress Is Selfish About Campaign Finance    July 16, 2012
  The Atlantic
  by Ron Faucheux
  A new nationwide poll finds that 57 percent of American voters think the current system of financing political campaigns doesn't work. No surprise, really. But here's the kicker: 80 percent don't trust Congress to make changes.    more   


• Jul 14, 2012 Super PACs Swamp Unions in Campaign Spending    July 14, 2012
  Washington Examiner
  by Hayley Peterson
  The army of labor organizations that helped President Obama win the White House in 2008 have seen their spending power drop off dramatically since then, not only because of the unions' shrinking membership but because so...    more   


• Jul 11, 2012 Misleading Data on Outside Spending    July 11, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Jonathan Backer
  A recent article by Jim Geraghty in the National Review purported to debunk the narrative that the Obama campaign is struggling to keep pace with outside groups -- largely, super PACs -- supporting Mitt Romney. Geraghty...    more   


• Jul 9, 2012 Debate Over Corporate Spending Spans Parallel Universes    July 9, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  Are big corporations taking over American elections? It depends whether you ask liberals or conservatives, who can’t even agree on the basic facts. In the liberal universe, big corporations have swallowed politics. Common...    more   


• Jul 6, 2012 Are Contributions Limits the Next to Go?    July 6, 2012
  Campaigns and Elections
  by Jeff Brindle
  Another major challenge to campaign finance law has suddenly appeared on the horizon. The latest target: federal contribution limits. The new challenge was filed just three days before the U.S. Supreme Court...    more   


• Jul 3, 2012 Update on Corporate Political Activity    July 3, 2012
  Harvard Forum on Corporate Governance
  by John Coates
  Corporate politics continue to generate controversy. Recent items of note include (1) the US Supreme Court’s decision to expand the reach of Citizens United in Western Tradition Partnership; (2) the continued...    more   


• Jun 30, 2012 A Window on Campaign Abuse    June 30, 2012
  The New York Times
  The secret world of undisclosed political contributions is in desperate need of sunlight. Public corporations are giving money in support of political candidates without any accountability to shareholders or consumers. Charities are taking...    more   


• Jun 27, 2012 Campaign Money Case Could Propel More Deregulation    June 27, 2012
  CBS News
  by Jack Gillum
  If you thought the money race in the presidential campaign was already the Wild West, you haven't seen anything yet. The Supreme Court's decision to uphold limitless political donations from corporations sets the stage for campaigns...    more   


• Jun 27, 2012 GOP Lawsuit Challenges Campaign Contribution Caps    June 27, 2012
  Washington Post
  by T.W Farnam
  The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit last week challenging campaign contribution limits set by the federal government, continuing the party’s efforts to dismantle the laws restricting money in political campaigns.    more   


• Jun 26, 2012 After Winning Right to Spend, Political Groups Fight for Secrecy    June 26, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Joseph Tanfani and Melanie Mason
  During their long campaign to loosen rules on campaign money, conservatives argued that there was a simpler way to prevent corruption: transparency. Get rid of limits on contributions and spending, they...    more   


• Jun 25, 2012 A Constitutional Amendment to Fix Campaign Finance Can't Pass Congress. But it Could Start a Movement    June 25, 2012
  The New Republic
  by Michael Kazin
  To paraphrase Mark Twain, nearly everybody (everybody except conservative ideologues, of course) complains about rich people and big corporations bankrolling our campaigns, but hardly anybody seems to be doing anything about...    more   


• Jun 25, 2012 Supreme Court Re-Affirms Citizens United    June 25, 2012
  U.S. News and World Report
  by Seth Cline
  The United States Supreme Court Monday struck down a Montana law that limited outside spending by corporations in elections. The summary reversal means the Court will not reconsider its decision in the Citizens United...    more   


• Jun 22, 2012 With Elections Awash in Cash, Looking for Culprits    June 22, 2012
  The New York Times
  by John Harwood
  David Axelrod, President Obama’s political strategist, recently invoked a common perception about the 2012 campaign by blaming the Supreme Court for empowering 21st-century “robber barons trying to take over the government.”    more   


• Jun 21, 2012 U.S. Chamber, GOP Block Election Ad Transparency Bill    June 21, 2012
  iWatch News
  by Rachel Marcus
  Alexi Giannoulias “can’t be trusted,” the 2010 election ad said. His family’s bank loaned money to mobsters, he accepted an illegal tax break and he even squandered money that families were saving for college.    more   


• Jun 20, 2012 More Compliance Seen for Politically Active Nonprofits    June 20, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  Nonprofit groups that spend big money on campaign-style ads will face growing pressure to comply with tax and campaign finance laws in the wake of a federal court ruling last month, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a speech...    more   


• Jun 18, 2012 Nonprofits Outspent Super PACs in 2010, Trend May Continue    June 18, 2012
  iWatch News
  by Michael Beckel
  While super PACs were cast as the big, bad wolves during the last election, the groups were outspent by “social welfare” organizations by a 3-2 margin, a trend that may continue amid reports that major donors are giving tens of...    more   


• Jun 16, 2012 Post-Watergate Campaign Finance Limits Undercut by Changes    June 16, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  The money poured into Richard M. Nixon’s reelection campaign from all corners: Six-figure checks flown by corporate jet from Texas; bundles of payments handed over at an Illinois game preserve; a battered brown attaché case stuffed...    more   


• Jun 15, 2012 Oops! Aetna Discloses Political Donations    June 15, 2012
  CNN Money
  by Charles Riley
  Insurance giant Aetna inadvertently disclosed more than $7 million in donations to conservative political groups in a regulatory filing made earlier this year, according to a Washington-based advocacy group.    more   


• Jun 14, 2012 Chamber Democratic Attack Ads Outpacing Political Parties    June 14, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Heidi Przybyla
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s advertising is outpacing both political parties in close Senate races, adding volume to attack ads -- some of which have been questioned by fact-checkers -- being aired against Democrats.    more   


• Jun 14, 2012 Corporate Cas in State Elections Gets U.S. High Court Scrutiny    June 14, 2012
  BusinessWeek
  by Julie Bykowicz
  The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to reopen the debate over a 2010 ruling that unleashed super-PACs and left federal elections awash in money from big spenders.    more   


• Jun 13, 2012 Activists Target Boardrooms in Push to Limit Citizens United    June 13, 2012
  Talking Points Memo
  by Benjy Sarlin
  Activists hoping to stanch the flow of outside cash into political campaigns are bypassing Congress and making a new appeal: to donors’ bottom lines. Resigned to the fact that legislative checks on spending are a pipe...    more   


• Jun 12, 2012 Corporate Political Efforts Don't Guarantee Returns: Study    June 12, 2012
  Reuters
  by Alina Selyukh
  Despite a popular belief that spending on lobbyists and political gifts yield fat dividends for business, a study has found just the opposite - that in general higher corporate spending in Washington is linked to worse market performance.    more   


• Jun 11, 2012 Outside Spending: The Big Picture (So Far)    June 11, 2012
  Open Secrets Blog
  by Bob Biersack
  Mitt Romney wrapped up the Republican presidential nomination with a good bit of help from Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting him. But just how big a role has outside spending overall played in the election so far?    more   


• Jun 10, 2012 Super PACs Often Personal Campaign Fundraising Affairs    June 10, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  The Committee to Elect an Effective Valley Congressman has one particular congressman in mind: Howard L. Berman, a 15-term California Democrat who is struggling to hold on to his redistricted San Fernando Valley seat. The...    more   


• Jun 7, 2012 Once-Reticent Investors Join Shareholder Revolts    June 7, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Ben Protess and Katherine Reynolds Lewis
  Every spring, corporate chieftains and their boards squash uprisings from a familiar batch of pugnacious investors, a ritual that shields many companies from major change. This proxy season was...    more   


• Jun 6, 2012 In the Age of Super PACs, Campaign Dollars Are Becoming Harder to Trace    June 6, 2012
  The Christian Science Monitor
  by Robert Reich
  JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BP, Chevron, WalMart, and billionaires Charles and David Koch are launching a multi-million dollar TV ad buy Tuesday blasting President Obama over the national debt. Actually, I...    more   


• Jun 6, 2012 Institutional Investors Demand Disclosure on Companies' Political Spending    June 6, 2012
  Institutional Investor
  by Katie Gilbert
  On January 21, 2010, the day the Supreme Court delivered its landmark decision on Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission that it would overturn most of a century’s worth of regulations on corporate political...    more   


• Jun 3, 2012 Mining for Influence in Montana    June 3, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Brian Schweitzer
  IN Montana’s frontier days, we learned a hard lesson about money in politics, one that’s shaped our campaign-finance laws for a century and made our political system one of the country’s most transparent.    more   


• Jun 1, 2012 Worried About 'Intimidation', U.S. Chamber Lobbies for More Campaign Secrecy    June 1, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Robert Weissman
  Well, the big business guys are transparent about one thing: They can't stand the idea of the public holding them to account for their attempts to buy elections and influence policy, or even that they be prevented from...    more   


• May 31, 2012 Merck, Pfizer Back Lawmakers Who Oppose Company Products    May 31, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Jonathan Salant
  There was plenty of debate about the new health-care law in the 2010 congressional elections while little, if any, on birth control. Today, the drug industry’s trade group is finding that it helped elect Republican lawmakers...    more   


• May 30, 2012 Corporate Donations Compete With Climate Stance, Group Says    May 30, 2012
  Bloomberg Businessweek
  by Jim Snyder
  Companies that express concern about global climate change are more likely to donate to campaigns of U.S. lawmakers who oppose caps on carbon dioxide than to supporters of emission curbs, according to a study.    more   


• May 30, 2012 Chamber Says It Will Evade Disclosure by Tweaking Ads    May 30, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  Watchdog groups cheered a federal court ruling earlier this year aimed at revealing the secret donors behind many political interest groups, calling it a bold step in favor of disclosure.    more   


• May 29, 2012 New Disclosure Rules for Political Ads Could Take Months    May 29, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Justin Elliott
  After years of consideration, the Federal Communications Commission finally voted last month to require broadcasters to post online political ad data currently kept only on paper at the stations. Yet it's unclear when the data...    more   


• May 28, 2012 End of the Charade    May 28, 2012
  The New York Times
  The airwaves are already filled with blaring political attacks masquerading as “issue ads,” such as the one in Missouri in the United States Senate race that ends with: “Call Claire McCaskill. Tell her Missouri doesn’t need government-run health...    more   


• May 28, 2012 $55 Million for Conservative Campaigns - But Where Did It Come From?    May 28, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold and Joseph Tanfani
  The financial firepower that fueled the rise of a network of conservative advocacy groups now pummeling Democrats with television ads can be traced, in part, to Box 72465 in the Boulder Hills post office, on a...    more   


• May 24, 2012 Most Americans Think Campaign Money Aids the Rich    May 24, 2012
  Reuters
  by Patricia Zengerle
  Most Americans, no matter what their political party, believe there is too much money in politics and reject the idea that people should be allowed to spend what they want, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Thursday. Seventy-five...    more   


• May 23, 2012 Contribution Clarity    May 23, 2012
  Corporate Responsibility Magazine
  by Dan Bross and Trevor Potter
  Corporate participation in the public policy process is beneficial to free and democratic societies, as well as providing a means of appropriately enhancing shareholder value through improved...    more   


• May 22, 2012 Political Spending in the Boardroom: The Role of Boards and Shareholders    May 22, 2012
  Gibson Dunn
     more   


• May 21, 2012 An Investor Perspective: WellPoint's Political Disclosure Controversy    May 21, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Jack Ucciferri
  On May 16, Dow Jones Newswires ran an article titled "Push For More WellPoint Political Disclosure Falls Short." And while it is true that WellPoint shareholders rejected my firm's call for more disclosure about the health...    more   


• May 21, 2012 Chamber of Commerce: We Won't Disclose Donors    May 21, 2012
  Politico
  by Anna Palmer
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not backing down on its promise to engage in the most aggressive campaign operation in its 100 year history, despite a recent court decision that would require disclosure of secret donors behind issue ads....    more   


• May 20, 2012 22 States Back Montana's Fight Against Corporate Campaign Spending    May 20, 2012
  Missoulian
  by Matt Gouras
  Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending. The...    more   


• May 18, 2012 Political Advocacy Piques Shareholders' Interest    May 18, 2012
  Chicago Tribune
  by Ameet Sachdev
  In this presidential election year, shareholders are increasingly curious about the political agendas of public companies. Investors filed more than 100 resolutions this year asking companies to disclose what they spend on...    more   


• May 16, 2012 Protesters Seeking More Political Disclosure Disrupt Insurer WellPoint's Annual Meeting    May 16, 2012
  Washington Post
  WellPoint Inc. shareholders rejected a call for more disclosure about the health insurer’s political contributions Wednesday during a shout-filled, contentious annual meeting. Union representatives and other protesters repeatedly interrupted...    more   


• May 16, 2012 New Corporate Foe: The Shame Lobby    May 16, 2012
  Politico
  by Anna Palmer and Robin Bravender
  Corporations have a new foe to watch: the shame lobby. Consumer activists and others have chalked up a string of stunning victories recently that would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago.    more   


• May 14, 2012 Money Unlimited    May 14, 2012
  The New Yorker
  by Jeffrey Toobin
  When Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was first argued before the Supreme Court, on March 24, 2009, it seemed like a case of modest importance. The issue before the Justices was a narrow one. The McCain-Feingold...    more   


• May 13, 2012 2012 Election Drowning in Secret Money    May 13, 2012
  United Press International
  by Michael Kirkland
  The 2012 elections are awash in secret money, with donors accountable to no one, while the national media sleeps and few voters seem to care. If money has an impact in U.S. elections, the race for the White...    more   


• May 10, 2012 Super PAC Spending Teeters at $100 Million Mark    May 10, 2012
  OpenSecrets.org
  by Russ Choma
  Expenditures by super PACs were expected to hit the $100 million mark today, further proof that outside spending will far outstrip anything seen in previous election cycles.    more   


• May 9, 2012 Campaign Finance Bill Targets Nonprofits    May 9, 2012
  New Hampshire Union Leader
  by Ted Siefer
  The Senate is set to vote today on a bill that would require nonprofit organizations and other groups to report the money they spend on state and national political races. Both liberal and conservative-oriented groups...    more   


• May 7, 2012 Shareholders United    May 7, 2012
  The Daily Beast
  by Rob Cox
  It’s worrying to think that shareholder democracy is needed to rectify shortcomings in the real thing, yet this week two of the nation’s biggest corporations will give their investors precisely that opportunity. Motions on the ballots...    more   


• May 5, 2012 'Super PAC' Rethinks Certain Donations    May 5, 2012
  Miami Herald
  by Matea Gold
  Anxiety about the effect of a ban on political spending by federal contractors is prompting new caution by a company connected to such donations and a "super PAC" that accepted them.    more   


• May 4, 2012 Show Me the Money    May 4, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Bob Burnett
  Six months before the November 6th presidential election, Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by three percentage points. The most common explanation for the closeness of a race that should be Obama's to lose is the weak economy. Another...    more   


• May 2, 2012 Cracks in Citizens United    May 2, 2012
  California Lawyer
  by Thomas Brom
  Last December, Second Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi opened his concurring opinion upholding limits on local campaign contributions in New York City by citing the New Testament. Luke 21:1-4 recounts Jesus's parable of the rich...    more   


• May 1, 2012 Conservative Group Seeks FEC Approval to Keep Donors Secret    May 1, 2012
  Chicago Tribune
  by Matea Gold
  A conservative group that plans to run a barrage of television ads attacking President Obama has asked the Federal Election Commission if it can avoid disclosing its donors by not naming him explicitly in its commercials.    more   


• Apr 30, 2012 Study: Big Corporate Donors Are Bad Investments    April 30, 2012
  Time
  by Gary Belsky
  How about this for a new investing strategy: Avoid the stock of companies that make big political contributions. The more they give, it seems, the worse their share prices perform.    more   


• Apr 26, 2012 Corporate Campaign Contributions Show Some Industries Giving Up Appearance of Bipartisanship    April 26, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Dan Froomkin
  Money traditionally follows power in the nation's capital. As a result, corporate campaign contributions have historically been split among incumbents of both political parties, with a decided advantage for whichever controls...    more   


• Apr 24, 2012 Most Independent Ads for 2012 Election Are From Groups That Don't Disclose Donors    April 24, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  Nearly all of the independent advertising being aired for the 2012 general-election campaign has come from interest groups that do not disclose their donors, suggesting that much of the political spending over the next six months...    more   


• Apr 22, 2012 Reports Show Hard-to-Track Donors Dominate Outside Giving    April 22, 2012
  USA Today
  by Fredreka Schouten and Christopher Schnaars
  Millions of dollars flowing to independent political groups dominating this year's presidential and congressional contests have come from mystery and hard-to-find donors, newly filed campaign reports show.    more   


• Apr 21, 2012 Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart    April 21, 2012
  The New York Times
  by David Barstow
  In September 2005, a senior Wal-Mart lawyer received an alarming e-mail from a former executive at the company’s largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico. In the e-mail and follow-up conversations, the former executive...    more   


• Apr 20, 2012 Investors Want Disclosure of Corporate Political Contributions and Lobbying Expenditures    April 20, 2012
  Forbes
  by Christopher Skroupa
  The U.S. Supreme Court has brought front and center the debate on the role of the public corporation in our democracy with its recent decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.    more   


• Apr 17, 2012 Secret Donors Pour Millions of Dollars Into Crossroads GPS    April 17, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold
  Crossroads GPS, a conservative nonprofit group that is one of the most prominent critics of President Obama, raised nearly $77 million in its first 19 months from a small cadre of secret donors, including two dozen who wrote...    more   


• Apr 15, 2012 A Surprisingly Effective New Path to Neutralizing the Political Influence of Big Business    April 15, 2012
  The New Republic
  by Mark Schmitt
  Every four or five years, it seems, progressives and the media discover ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, anew. I’m old enough that the latest “OMG!” reaction to the existence of the conservative legislative...    more   


• Apr 13, 2012 Corporations Under Pressure on Political Spending    April 13, 2012
  USA Today
  by Fredreka Schouten and Martha T. Moore
  American companies are discovering the perils of politics as activists and public pension fund officials apply new pressure on corporations to disclose their political spending — or cease it entirely....    more   


• Apr 13, 2012 Mystery Donor Gives $10 Million to Crossroads GPS Group to Run Anti-Obama Ads    April 13, 2012
  Washington Post
  by T.W. Farnam
  An anonymous donor gave $10 million late last year to run ads attacking President Obama and Democratic policies, escalating the money race that is defining the 2012 presidential campaign. And in the new, free-wheeling environment...    more   


• Apr 12, 2012 Ban on Political Ads on Public TV Struck Down    April 12, 2012
  Reuters
  by Jonathan Stempel, Terry Baynes, and Jasmin Melvin
  A divided U.S. appeals court struck down a federal ban on political advertising on public TV and radio stations, a decision that could open the public airwaves to a heavy dose of campaign ads leading...    more   


• Apr 11, 2012 Presidential Election 2012 to Play Out on New Campaign Finance Field    April 11, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Paul Blumenthal
  As Rick Santorum exits the Republican presidential primary campaign stage right and Newt Gingrich wallows in a sea of debt, the general election match-up between President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney...    more   


• Apr 11, 2012 Super PACs Largely Free to Spend Remaining Cash    April 11, 2012
  BusinessWeek
  by Jack Gillum
  When a presidential candidate throws in the towel, what can a "super" PAC that once supported the campaign spend its money on? Pretty much anything it wants.    more   


• Apr 11, 2012 Montana Pushes Back on High Court Campaign Finance Case    April 11, 2012
  Law.com
  by Marcia Coyle
  By the end of this month, Montana's attorney general will have made his best case to the U.S. Supreme Court against reversing a state court decision upholding Montana's ban on corporate independent campaign expenditures.    more...  


• Apr 9, 2012 FEC Ruling Leaves Ad Uncertainty    April 9, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  A court ruling rejecting Federal Election Commission disclosure requirements as too lax has left political players unsure how much they need to report about the financing of issue ads, making the agency a battleground in the...    more   


• Apr 5, 2012 Efforts Broaden to Overturn Citizens United Court Case on Super PACs    April 5, 2012
  The Salt Lake Tribune
  by Cathy Mckitrick
  A coalition of 11 state attorneys general has sent a letter to Congress, urging support for a constitutional amendment to overturn a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and labor unions to pour unlimited...    more   


• Apr 4, 2012 Democrats Make Headway in Push for Transparency on 'Issue Ads'    April 4, 2012
  Washington Post
  by T.W. Farnam
  Democrats finally caught a break on their effort to increase regulation of money in politics last week when a federal judge in Washington threw out a loophole in disclosure requirements.    more   


• Apr 3, 2012 Shareholders Have a Right to Know About Political Contributions    April 3, 2012
  USA Today
  by Drew F. Cohen
  As the 2012 election season heats up, campaigns have been soliciting donations to fuel what many expect to be the most expensive election cycle in U.S. history. Unbridled by the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, which...    more   


• Apr 3, 2012 Super PACs Can Be Thwarted, Even With 'Citizens United'    April 3, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Fred Wertheimer
  Here is the only good news about the super PACs flooding the 2012 presidential race with negative ads funded by huge contributions from the super rich: These vehicles for corruption can be eliminated. Congress can pass...    more   


• Apr 2, 2012 A Judge Turns on the Light    April 2, 2012
  The New York Times
  A federal judge took an important step toward ending secret donations to big-spending political groups, striking down regulations that permitted some groups to hide their donors. Unfortunately, the ruling probably came too late to flush this...    more   


• Mar 31, 2012 Koch Brothers, Chamber of Commerce Face Possible Campaign Donation Disclosure After Ruling    March 31, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Paul Blumenthal
  On Friday evening, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling that could begin the process of revealing the identities of secret donors to groups connected to Karl Rove and the Koch brothers.    more   


• Mar 29, 2012 Outside Political Spending Four Times Greater Than in 2008    March 29, 2012
  The Florida Independent
  by Ashley Lopez
  Super PACs and other outside groups are already spending four times as much money on this upcoming presidential than in 2008, the Sunlight Foundation reports.    more   


• Mar 28, 2012 Campaign Spending Shows Political Ties, Self-Dealing    March 28, 2012
  ProPublica
  by Kim Barker and Al Shaw
  For an example of the fluidity of campaign finance rules, as well as the tangled web of connections between candidates and super PACs, look no further than the digital consulting firm Targeted Victory.    more   


• Mar 28, 2012 Beware of the Super-PAC: More Lawmakers Are Fearing an Ad Ambush    March 28, 2012
  The Hill
  by Joe Picard
  The proliferation of super-PACs has come in a presidential election year, and their attacks have mostly been aimed at White House hopefuls. But members of Congress should not rest easy, according to Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).    more   


• Mar 27, 2012 McCain Rips Super PACs    March 27, 2012
  The Daily Beast
  by Howard Kurtz
  Any notion that John McCain might be abandoning his longtime crusade for campaign-finance reform vanished on Tuesday as he sprayed a variety of targets, from the Supreme Court to super PACs to his fellow Republicans.    more   


• Mar 24, 2012 New Arguments Filed in Campaign Finance Case    March 24, 2012
  Great Falls Tribune
  by Matt Gouras
  The Montana attorney general's office filed new arguments Friday in the ongoing court battle over Montana's political spending restrictions, saying the state's ban on corporate campaign contributions is constitutional. The...    more   


• Mar 24, 2012 Campaign Disclosure Loophole Worries Iowans    March 24, 2012
  Quad-City Times
  by Rod Boshart
  State election watchdogs are worried that a loophole in Iowa’s campaign finance disclosure law, if left unchecked this legislative session, could release a flood of contributions from secret donors. The fear is that nonprofit...    more   


• Mar 20, 2012 Dialing Up the Dollars: Telecommunications Interests Donated Heavily to NC Lawmakers    March 20, 2012
  Follow the Money
  by Denise Roth Barber
  In the spring of 2011, North Carolina became became 19th state to restrict local governments from building publicly-owned broadband networks. North Carolina's two biggest cable providers, Time Warner Cable and...    more   


• Mar 20, 2012 Rules of the Game: Bad News for Nation's Nonprofits    March 20, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  In an election that until lately has been dominated by super PACs, politically active nonprofits are the new bad guys, drawing ethics complaints, letters to the IRS and legislative action. That is bad news for the nation’s...    more   


• Mar 19, 2012 Could Corporations Take Tax Breaks on Political 'Dark Money'?    March 19, 2012
  Pro Publica
  by Justin Elliott
  The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the way for unlimited corporate spending on politics and has led to the proliferation of nonprofit political groups that do not have to disclose the identities of their...    more   


• Mar 17, 2012 Post Citizens-United Money May Swamp Congressional Candidates    March 17, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Dan Froomkin
  Political spending by deep-pocketed donors and cash-rich corporations threatens to sow chaos in this year's congressional races, political consultants warn. A billionaire or corporation writing a check for $1 million -- or...    more   


• Mar 16, 2012 California Gets Top Marks for Public Disclosure of Political Spending    March 16, 2012
  San Diego Union-Tribune
  by Will Evans
  California has some of the best public disclosure of independent political spending in the country, according to a report released yesterday, but the state ethics watchdog wants to go further. The National Institute on...    more   


• Mar 16, 2012 Buying a Political Ad? Let a SuperPAC Foot the Bill    March 16, 2012
  NPR
  by Brian Naylor
  There has been one constant throughout the GOP campaign — Mitt Romney and the superPAC that supports him have vastly outspent his rivals. An NPR analysis of various campaign data finds a new trend is now apparent — most of the TV ads...    more   


• Mar 15, 2012 GOP Super PAC Men Seek to Overturn Donation Limits    March 15, 2012
  iWatch News
  by Michael Beckel
  As unlimited contributions flow into super PACs this year, one man is at the center of a new effort to allow people to donate more money, to more candidates, at the national stage. “I don’t believe government is there to limit...    more   


• Mar 14, 2012 Since Citizens United, Outside Political Spending in Elections Has Doubled    March 14, 2012
  International Business Times
  by Ashley Portero
  Independent, free-spending "super PACs" have become a troubling but accepted part of the American political landscape since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to their formation in 2010....    more   


• Mar 13, 2012 Poll: Voters Want Super PACs to Be Illegal    March 13, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Chris Cilizza and Aaron Blake
  Nearly seven in 10 registered voters would like super PACs to be illegal, including more than half who feel that way strongly, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.    more   


• Mar 12, 2012 Congress Moves to Turn Back SOX, Dodd-Frank Compliance    March 12, 2012
  Compliance Week
  Only in the rarified world of Washington could lawmakers push legislation dubbed a “jobs bill” to help small business that actually does almost nothing to help small business—and imposes more risks on investors, and throws more money to Wall Street...    more   


• Mar 9, 2012 The Numbers Don't Lie    March 9, 2012
  Slate
  by Richard L. Hasen
  Most of what you hear about Citizens United v. FEC is negative. By opening the door for corporations to spend unlimited sums in elections and to allow for the creation of super PACs, the Supreme Court has made a campaign finance system...    more   


• Mar 8, 2012 Super PACs Ramp Up Spending on Races Where Control of Congress Is at Stake    March 8, 2012
  Bloomberg News
  by Laura Litvan
  Redistricting obliterated his House seat serving central Iowa. Still, Republican Representative Tom Latham has something going for him: a 4-1 cash edge in his re- election race against Democratic Representative Leonard Boswell in...    more   


• Mar 8, 2012 Corporations Don't Pony Up for Super PACs    March 8, 2012
  Politico
  by Anna Palmer and Abby Phillip
  When super PACs emerged two years ago, critics howled that corporations would take advantage of a newfound tool to flex their muscle in politics. But so far this campaign season, publicly traded companies have shied...    more   


• Mar 6, 2012 Scrutiny of Political Nonprofits Sets Off Claim of Harassment    March 6, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Jonathan Weisman
  The Internal Revenue Service is caught in an election-year struggle between Democratic lawmakers pressing for a crackdown on nonprofit political groups and conservative organizations accusing the tax agency of conducting a...    more   


• Mar 5, 2012 Super PACs Target Congressional Races    March 5, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  Super PACs and other unrestricted groups have moved beyond the presidential campaign trail to target key House and Senate races, and Congressional candidates don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Several candidates have asked...    more   


• Mar 4, 2012 Super Tuesday Ad Spending Nearly Tops $10 Million    March 4, 2012
  Seattle Times
  by Beth Fouhy and Jack Gillum
  The Republican candidates and a few independent groups have spent nearly $10 million on television and radio ads in seven states that vote on Super Tuesday, and more than half of that total comes from the Mitt...    more   


• Mar 2, 2012 Secret Donors to 'C4s' Play Behind-the-Scenes Politics    March 2, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Michael Hitzik
  There's no mystery about why a business or industry group might be shy about how it spends money on election campaigns. Just ask department store chain Target. In 2010, Target, which had been known for its progressive...    more   


• Mar 1, 2012 Super PACs, Candidate Blur Line Ahead of November 6    March 1, 2012
  USA Today
  by Fredreka Schouten
  Presidential candidates and the super PACs accepting unlimited donations to help their campaigns cannot coordinate their activity, yet they are sharing consultants, donors and even advertising footage, raising new questions about...    more   


• Feb 29, 2012 Evil Lurks in Super PACs    February 29, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Steve Lopez
  You and I have been here before, with me recommending something you don't want to hear about, even though it'll be good for you. No, I didn't get another colonoscopy. I'm talking about those three dreaded words: Campaign...    more   


• Feb 27, 2012 Drug Lobby Gave $9.4 Million to Nonprofits That Spent Big on 2010 Election    February 27, 2012
  iWatch News
  by Michael Beckel
  The drug lobby's trade association was a multimillion-dollar donor to nonprofit groups that were actively working to elect federal candidates during the 2010 election, an iWatch News analysis of documents filed with the...    more   


• Feb 27, 2012 Corporate Political Spending Tops List of Resolutions in 2012, Report Says    February 27, 2012
  Financial Advisor
  by Jim McConville
  Companies will face a bevvy of social and environmental shareholder resolutions during this year's corporate annual meeting season on topics ranging from corporate political spending and mortgage foreclosures to coal use...    more   


• Feb 26, 2012 Romney Camp, Super PAC Share High Level Aides    February 26, 2012
  Washington Times
  by Luke Rosiak
  Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and the super PAC accepting million-dollar contributions to support him are barred by law from coordinating, yet they share many of the same top-level workers, a fact both groups have...    more   


• Feb 23, 2012 DiNapoli gets three CA-based companies to disclose political donation system    February 23, 2012
  WNYC.org
  by Colby Hamilton
  Not too long before Governor Andrew Cuomo went on Fred Dicker’s radio program to declare “you are either with the special interests or your with the people” on pension reform, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli put out a statement that...    more   


• Feb 22, 2012 'Super PAC' leaders profit from lack of oversight    February 22, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Melanie Mason and Matea Gold
  The Red White and Blue Fund, a "super PAC" backing the presidential bid of Republican Rick Santorum, paid more than half a million dollars last month to a newly formed direct mail firm. The owner of that...    more   


• Feb 21, 2012 Super PAC Money Getting More Scrutiny, Complaints    February 21, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is drawing more scrutiny as his poll numbers rise, and so is the increasingly lucrative super PAC backing the former Pennsylvania Senator.    more   


• Feb 20, 2012 G.O.P. Campaigns Grow More Dependent on ‘Super PAC’ Aid    February 20, 2012
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore
  Weeks of intense campaigning in the early nominating states have left the leading Republican presidential candidates increasingly dependent on millions of dollars spent on their behalf by outside “super PACs,”...    more   


• Feb 17, 2012 Two Justices Suggest Citizens United Ruling Should Be Reconsidered in Montana Case    February 17, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Robert Barnes
  Two Supreme Court justices suggested Friday that the court reconsider its controversial 2010 decision that allowed unlimited corporate and union spending in elections. The suggestion came as the court blocked a Montana...    more   


• Feb 16, 2012 Super PACs Play Growing Role in Congressional Races    February 16, 2012
  Real Clear Politics
  by Caitlin Huey-Burns
  A press release was recently sent out in Ohio, West Virginia and Montana accusing the recipients' respective Democratic U.S. senators, all of whom are up for re-election, of embracing "the Washington insider...    more   


• Feb 16, 2012 Campaign Hits Corporation Donation    February 16, 2012
  Politico
  by Anna Palmer
  California utility PG&E’s decision to give money to a super PAC may be a cautionary tale for corporations thinking about ponying up — and to super PACs willing to take the money. PG&E, under scrutiny after a pipeline explosion...    more   


• Feb 13, 2012 New Mexico Legislature to Congress: Amend Against Citizens United    February 13, 2012
  The Nation
  by John Nichols
  The Constitution of the United States can be amended in two formal ways: from the top down and from the bottom up. But New Mexico legislators have found a third way and, hopefully, other state legislators around the country...    more   


• Feb 10, 2012 Dueling pledges face off in Montana race    February 10, 2012
  Politico
  by Robin Bravender
  Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg has challenged Sen. Jon Tester to keep all out-of-state money out of their battle for the Senate seat, rejecting an earlier proposal from Tester that sought to limit third-party cash.    more   


• Feb 9, 2012 Chamber Of Commerce Makes $10 Million Ad Buy for Congressional Races    February 9, 2012
  Talking Points Memo
  by Eric Kleefeld
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is making a big-time money drop into the 2012 Congressional races, with a big buy of ads across the country. The Chamber’s press release announces ads in 16 states and 40 total media...    more   


• Feb 8, 2012 Some Super PAC Money    February 8, 2012
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  Six of the top 10 super PACs active in the 2012 elections have received money from untraceable sources, including nonprofits and shell corporations, according to a report released today by two progressive advocacy groups.    more   


• Feb 6, 2012 Secret Money Is Funding More Election Ads    February 6, 2012
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  More than a third of the advertising tied to the presidential race has been funded by nonprofit groups that will never have to reveal their donors, suggesting that a significant portion of the 2012 elections will be wrapped in a...    more   


• Feb 3, 2012 With Spotlight on Super PAC Dollars, Nonprofits Escape Scrutiny    February 3, 2012
  Pro Publica
  by Kim Barker, Al Shaw and Ariel Wittenberg
  When super PACs announced their 2011 fundraising numbers earlier this week, it provided an early glimpse into how the new way of financing political campaigns may work in the upcoming election. The...    more   


• Feb 2, 2012 Corporations are sending more contributions to super PACs    February 2, 2012
  Washington Post
  by T.W. Farnam
  Corporations appear to be embracing, albeit slowly, new campaign rules that allow them to make direct contributions to political groups. The super PACs that have been playing a significant role this election season are...    more   


• Feb 1, 2012 'Super PACs' largely funded by a wealthy few    February 1, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Matea Gold, Tom Hamburger, and Maloy Moore
  Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles— When it comes to big money in politics, Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons' influence has long been apparent in Texas, where he has plowed more than $1...    more   


• Jan 31, 2012 Congress can fix the Super PAC problem    January 31, 2012
  Salon.com
  by Adam Skaggs
  Election junkies circled January 31st on their calendars months ago — but not because of Florida’s primary today, no matter how important it is to Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Tuesday’s real significance deals with Super PACs —...    more   


• Jan 31, 2012 Harold Simmons gave Karl Rove-linked Crossroads groups $7 million    January 31, 2012
  Politico
  by Kenneth Vogel
  The Karl Rove-linked juggernaut Crossroads groups raised $51 million last year – including a whopping $7 million from Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons – but that’s still a far cry from the $300 million the two-pronged outfit...    more   


• Jan 30, 2012 Push for transparency focuses on campaign spending, gift giving    January 30, 2012
  Arizona Capitol Times
  by Caitlin Coakley Beckner
  In the wake of two of Arizona’s biggest political shake-ups of last year, lawmakers are hoping a little sunshine will help clean up the mess. Shadowy groups involved in the recall of then-Senate President...    more   


• Jan 26, 2012 Super PACs' Money Could Tip Balance of Power in Congress    January 26, 2012
  CNN
  by Martina Stewart
  The 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allows unlimited contributions by corporations and unions has already affected the 2012 presidential campaign. But it could play a larger part in the balance of power in Congress this fall.    more   


• Jan 25, 2012 SOPA-Supporting California Politicians Receive Cash Flow From Hollywood    January 25, 2012
  Huffington Post
  by Will Evans
  Hollywood is threatening politicians with one thing they hold very dear: campaign cash. As anti-piracy legislation stalled in Congress last week, the movie industry's top lobbyist, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, warned...    more   


• Jan 24, 2012 Super PACs Set Sights on 2012 Congressional Races    January 24, 2012
  USA Today
  by Fredreka Schouten
  Outside political groups, already big players in this year's GOP presidential battle, have started to train their firepower on Senate and House races.    more   


• Jan 21, 2012 Meet the Super Super PAC    January 21, 2012
  Politico
  by Dave Levinthal
  Super PACs are just so 2011. Meet the next big thing in U.S. politics: the super super PAC. These nascent groups can not only raise mega cash to promote candidates, but give money to candidates’ campaigns — a kind of political...    more   


• Jan 20, 2012 As 'Citizens United' Turns 2, SuperPACs Draw Protests    January 20, 2012
  National Public Radio by Peter Overby
  Saturday is South Carolina's Republican presidential primary. It's also the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's famous Citizens United decision. That's the case that allows corporations to explicitly support or attack...    more   


• Jan 19, 2012 Investors Announce New Shareholder Initiative Seeking Disclosure of Company Lobbying Activities    January 19, 2012
  Market Watch
  Investors today announced the filing of shareholder resolutions at 40 corporations, for votes at 2012 shareholder meetings; the resolutions urge the corporations to report on lobbying expenditures, including indirect funding of lobbying through trade...    more   


• Jan 12, 2012 Citizens Divided    January 12, 2012
  Colorado Springs Independent
  by Steven Rosenfeld
  On Dec. 30, Montana's Supreme Court issued a stunning rebuke to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision that infamously decreed corporations had constitutional rights to directly spend money on...    more   


• Jan 11, 2012 Time to Revive Democracy in the U.S.: Tell Shareholders How Their Dollars Are Used in Politics    January 11, 2012
  Nonprofit Quarterly
  by Rick Cohen
  Between those advocating for economic democracy who think there's too much wealth and power concentrated in the hands of 1 percent of the nation's population, and those advocating for corporate democracy advocated by...    more   


• Jan 10, 2012 GOP: Corporate Donation Ban Unconstitutional    January 10, 2012
  Politico
  by Josh Gerstein
  The century-old ban on corporate donations to federal political campaigns should be junked as unconstitutional, the Republican National Committee argued in a legal brief filed Tuesday that could lead to new attacks on the GOP as...    more   


• Jan 9, 2012 The Power of Super PACs    January 9, 2012
  Washington Post
  “WELL, OF COURSE, it’s former staff of mine. And, of course they’re people who support me. They wouldn’t be putting money into a PAC that supports me if they weren’t people who support me.” That was former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in...    more   


• Jan 8, 2012 Super PACs Alter the Dynamics of Fundraising    January 8, 2012
  Washington Post
  by T. W. Farnam
  Well-established candidates have always had the edge in fundraising, but under the new rules governing money in politics, it looks as if the rich are just getting richer. The vast majority of the $14 million in spending from...    more   


• Jan 7, 2012 Chamber's Attack Ads Draw Local Criticism    January 7, 2012
  Great Falls Tribune
  by John S. Adams
  Chamber of Commerce officials in three Montana communities have publicly responded to a political attack ad created and paid for by their parent organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The national chamber...    more   


• Jan 6, 2012 The Biggest Threat to Citizens United    January 6, 2012
  Salon.com
  by David Sirota
  Last week, while the national press corps was busy pretending the tiny Iowa caucus was the only news in America, a major ruling out of Montana paved the way for a likely U.S. Supreme Court showdown over the role of corporate money in...    more   


• Jan 4, 2012 In Montana, Corporations Aren't People    January 4, 2012
  Slate
  by Dahlia Lithwick
  On the rare occasions when the world talks to you in stereo, it’s a good idea to set aside your knitting and listen. This week, Americans got their first good look at what super PACs—political organizations that can receive unlimited...    more   


• Jan 4, 2012 ISS Policy Shift Favors Disclosure of Political Spending    January 4, 2012
  Inside Investor Relations
  by Brad Allen
  Attention on corporate political spending promises to ratchet up from next month, and it’s not just because the US presidential campaign is swinging into full gear. Proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services...    more   


• Jan 3, 2012 Three Campaign-Finance Lawsuits on the Heels of 'Citizens'    January 3, 2012
  Law.com
  by Marcia Coyle
  Three key campaign-finance challenges, one already at the U.S. Supreme Court, seek to push through doors left open by the justices' controversial Citizens United decision.    more   


• Jan 1, 2012 'Super PACs' Are Showing Their Power    January 1, 2012
  Los Angeles Times
  by Tom Hamburger and Melanie Mason
  Political committees unfettered by donation limits are dominating the last weeks of the presidential nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, funding aggressive attack campaigns that are swamping the...    more   


• Dec 31, 2011 MT Court Restores Corporate Campaign Spending Ban    December 31, 2011
  Boston Globe
  by Matt Gouras
  The Montana Supreme Court restored the state’s century-old ban on direct spending by corporations on political candidates or committees in a ruling Friday that interest groups say bucks a high profile U.S. Supreme Court decision...    more   


• Dec 31, 2011 Super PACs Dominate Iowa Caucus, Helping Mitt Romney Run Ahead    December 31, 2011
  Huffington Post
  by Paul Blumenthal
  "This is politics," Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared Dec. 21, dismissing calls for him to condemn ads attacking former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that were run by an independent group supporting...    more   


• Dec 30, 2011 Group's Ads Rip at Gingrich as Romney Stands Clear    December 30, 2011
  The New York Times
  by Nicholas Confessore and Jim Rutenberg
  The attacks began three weeks ago and have not let up since: Television ad after television ad slamming Newt Gingrich for having “more baggage than the airlines,” for being fined by Congress for...    more   


• Dec 27, 2011 Outside Groups Air Barrage of Ads in Mass. Race    December 27, 2011
  Boston Globe
  by Andrew Miga
  Watch the political advertising and Elizabeth Warren, the leading Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, either "sides with extreme left" protesters or has a history of being too cozy with Wall Street. Or Republican...    more   


• Dec 27, 2011 'Reform' Initiative on 2012 Ballot Is Not at All What It Seems    December 27, 2011
  The Modesto Bee
  by Dan Morain
  The latest initiative to qualify for the 2012 ballot is thick with the earnest rhetoric of white-hat-wearing good government reformers. It's also dripping with cynicism.This may come as a shock, but the "Stop Special Interest...    more   


• Dec 21, 2011 Challenge to NY Campaign Finance Laws Fails    December 21, 2011
  Thomson Reuters
  by Basil Katz
  A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday tossed out a challenge to New York City anti-corruption campaign finance laws, finding the so-called "pay to play" rules do not violate free speech rights.    more   


• Dec 21, 2011 Super PACs: The Bad Cops of 2012    December 21, 2011
  Politico
  by Robin Bravender and Dave Levinthal
  The bad cops of 2012 are here. Super PACs with ties to Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum launched a negative advertising blitz this month in Iowa that has let the candidates – with ties to the groups – stay...    more   


• Dec 21, 2011 Romney-Gingrich Super PAC Spat Highlights Hazy Rules    December 21, 2011
  Real Clear Politics
  by Scott Conroy
  A day after he condemned current campaign finance regulations for making "a mockery of our political campaign season," Mitt Romney appeared to change his tune on Wednesday morning after Newt Gingrich publicly called on...    more   


• Dec 21, 2011 Five Constitutional Amendments That Could Overturn Citizens United - How Are They Different?    December 21, 2011
  International Business Times
  by Ashley Portero
  While the U.S. Supreme Court treats corporations like people who can use money as a form of expression, a handful of congressman -- Democrats, Independents and even a Republican -- have taken steps to overturn...    more   


• Dec 18, 2011 Starve the Beast. End the Stalemate    December 18, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Steven Pearlstein
  There is a branch of economics known as game theory, which tries to figure out how various “players” in a market maximize their welfare based on the expected behavior of other “players,” all of whom are doing the very...    more   


• Dec 15, 2011 Close Super PAC Ties Draw Ire    December 15, 2011
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  In this year's brawling and unpredictable GOP presidential primary, super PACs have emerged as the latest magnet for controversy.    more   


• Dec 15, 2011 FEC Quashes New Disclosure Rules    December 15, 2011
  Politico
  by Robin Bravender
  New rules that would pull back the curtain on who is behind big-money political advertising were quashed Thursday by the Federal Election Commission, thanks to unified opposition from the panel’s Republicans.    more   


• Dec 12, 2011 Who is Behind the Attacks on Dem Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren?    December 12, 2011
  OpenSecrets.org
  by Michael Beckel
  Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies -- the conservative nonprofit advocacy group founded with assistance from GOP strategist Karl Rove -- wants you to believe that Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is too...    more   


• Dec 12, 2011 Actually, Corporations That Lobby and Make Campaign Contributions Get Special Benefits    December 12, 2011
  Huffington Post
  by Stephen Strauss
  Recent reports reveal that: GOP Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich received nearly $2 million for activities (not technically within the definition for lobbying) resembling lobbying, and former GOP Congressman Tauzin --...    more   


• Dec 10, 2011 Unlimited Campaign Cash Fuels "Super PACs"    December 10, 2011
  CBS News
  by Phil Hirschkorn
  Even before it had filed its paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, a "Super PAC," or political action committee, supporting Texas Governor Rick Perry for president was filming his announcement speech in Charleston,...    more   


• Dec 9, 2011 Oil and Gas: Industry Pours Campaign Cash Into State, Local Races    December 9, 2011
  E&E Publishing
  by Mike Soraghan
  The chairwoman of the Texas Railroad Commission, Elizabeth Ames Jones, gets more campaign contributions from oil and gas than from any other industry. The Railroad Commission doesn't oversee railroads. By accident of...    more   


• Dec 8, 2011 Illinois mulls public financing of elections    December 8, 2011
  Illinois Times
  by Patrick Yeagle
  Illinois needs a system to publicly fund election campaigns, reform advocates told a state committee examining potential campaign finance reforms last week. But one expert says lawmakers probably won’t go for it.    more   


• Dec 7, 2011 Measure to curb union, corporate clout qualifies    December 7, 2011
  Mercury News
  by Judy Lin
  California Republican interests have qualified a ballot measure that would severely curb the political influence of public and private employee unions while depriving Democratic political candidates of a major source of campaign cash.    more   


• Dec 3, 2011 Some Say the American Legislative Exchange Council Influences Legislation Too Much in Texas and U.S.    December 3, 2011
  Star-Telegram
  by Aman Batheja
  It may be the most powerful force in Texas politics you've never heard of. The American Legislative Exchange Council has helped enact hundreds of pieces of legislation in states nationwide. The conservative, pro-business...    more   


• Dec 1, 2011 OCCUPIED Amendment Would Overturn ‘Citzens United’    December 1, 2011
  The American Independent
  by Ashley Lopez
  Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, appeared on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan Show yesterday to discuss a newly proposed amendment to the Constitution he introduced to reform campaign finance in the U.S.    more   


• Dec 1, 2011 FEC Deadlocks on Coordination Among Candidates as Super PACs Expand to Capitol Hill    December 1, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Jack Gillum, AP
  How much can an outside group, bankrolled by millionaires, help a candidate win an election? In the midst of a bitterly divided campaign season, not even the country’s top election officials could decide.    more   


• Nov 28, 2011 As White House Candidates Abandon Public Funding, Republicans Look to End System    November 28, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Ben Pershing
  At some point in 2012, President Obama and his GOP opponent will formally declare whether they plan to take public funding for their general-election campaigns. If House Republicans get their way, there won’t be a choice to...    more   


• Nov 26, 2011 TV Attack Ads Aim at Obama Early and Often    November 26, 2011
  The New York Times
  by Jeremy Peters
  Inside the debate halls, the clash may be Republican versus Republican. But offstage, conservatives are mounting a unified and expensive air assault on the candidates’ common opponent: President Obama.    more   


• Nov 24, 2011 Money & Politics: New study tracks independent spending    November 24, 2011
  Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
  by Bill Lueders
  In four critical Wisconsin state Senate races last year, groups making independent campaign expenditures actually spent more than the candidates themselves.    more   


• Nov 24, 2011 Despite pledge, donations flow from Starbucks    November 24, 2011
  Associated Press
  by Mike Baker
  If Starbucks chief Howard Schultz wants voters to withhold campaign cash from federal politicians, he may need to start with trying to halt the flow of donations coming from the people who work for him.    more   


• Nov 23, 2011 New state website to help in finding campaign finance data    November 23, 2011
  Rapid City Journal
  by David Montgomery
  Political donations in South Dakota will take a big step into the 21st century next month when Secretary of State Jason Gant rolls out a new website to monitor money in state elections.    more   


• Nov 21, 2011 Main Street Alliance challenging Humana on contributions to anti-reform forces    November 21, 2011
  Insider Lousiville
  Staff Article
  The liberal Main Street Alliance is asking Louisville insurer/health care provider Humana to come clean on political donations related to Obama health care reform.    more   


• Nov 21, 2011 Freedom and its Price: Shareholders Seek Disclosure of Corporate Political Spending    November 21, 2011
  Corporate Political Activity Law Blog
  by Jisha V. Dymond
  In the past few years, pay-to-play restrictions have flourished, particularly in the context of contracts related to the management of public pension plan assets and similar government investment...    more   


• Nov 19, 2011 Corporate power grows stronger as government wanes    November 19, 2011
  Los Angeles Times
  by Tom Petruno
  In the dreams of the Occupy Wall Street movement, America will look like a very different place five years from now. The power and influence of corporations will be sharply curbed, good jobs will be plentiful and income...    more   


• Nov 18, 2011 California Retirement Systems/ISS United On Corporate Political Spending    November 18, 2011
  California Corporate & Securities Law
  by Keith Paul Bishop
  On Tuesday, I wrote about CalPERS‘ adoption of updated governance principles, including this new Principle 6.5: Robust board oversight...    more   


• Nov 17, 2011 2012 Corporate Governance Policy Updates and Process    November 17, 2011
  Institutional Shareholder Services
  Executive Summary
  Read the Executive Summary of the 2012 Corporate Governance Policy Changes Here.    more   


• Nov 14, 2011 Calpers Approves Policy on Corporate Political Contributions    November 14, 2011
  Bloomberg Businessweek
  by Michael B. Marois
  The California Public Employees’ Retirement System approved new guidelines calling on companies in which the largest U.S. public pension invests to disclose their political contributions annually.    more   


• Nov 14, 2011 Talking Points: What Boards Need To Know About Corporate Political Spending    November 14, 2011
  Boardmember.com
  by Bobby R. Burchfield
  It is expected that $6 billion will be spent fueling election campaigns in 2012. Bobby Burchfield, a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office , recently spoke...    more   


• Nov 13, 2011 Unveiling secret corporate political money    November 13, 2011
  United Press International
  by Michael Kirkland
  The Securities and Exchange Commission is being flooded with support for a proposed regulation that would undo at least some of the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal...    more   


• Nov 9, 2011 Coalition Seeks Disclosure Rules for Corporate Political Contributions    November 9, 2011
  Corporate Counsel
  by Sue Reisinger
  A coalition of 40 investment professionals, foundations, religious investors, and financial planners have come out in support of a proposal to require public companies to disclose their spending on political campaigns.    more   


• Nov 4, 2011 CalSTRS Adopts Policy on Corporate Political Contributions Disclosure    November 4, 2011
  Reuters
  Press Release
  The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) adopted a policy calling for portfolio companies to annually report their expenditures on political contributions.    more   


• Nov 2, 2011 FCC Wants Political Ad Spending Disclosure    November 2, 2011
  TMCNet.com
  by Peter Bernstein
  It kind of went unnoticed given all of the commotion at the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) open meeting on October 27 about the Universal Service Fund (USF) and Intercarrier Compensation System (ICC) reform....    more   


• Nov 1, 2011 ISS Seeks Investor Input for Revised Proxy Voting Policies    November 1, 2011
  Institutional Shareholder Services
  by Robert Kropp
  The contribution of proxy advisory services is credited as a factor in the marked increases in shareowner support for environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) proposals over the past two proxy...    more   


• Oct 31, 2011 Politics, money and taxes    October 31, 2011
  The Los Angeles Times
  Editorial
  Mention "social welfare organization" and the last thing that comes to mind is a group that expends millions of dollars to influence a federal election. But Crossroads GPS, which spent more than $17 million in 2010 to elect...    more   


• Oct 29, 2011 Outside Groups Eclipsing G.O.P. as Hub of Campaigns    October 29, 2011
  The New York Times
  by Nicholar Confessore
  About once a month, a dozen or so of the country’s most influential Republicans meet in a bare-walled conference room in Washington to discuss how to make further gains in the Congressional elections next year and...    more   


• Oct 28, 2011 Political Ad Funders Must Not Dodge Scrutiny    October 28, 2011
  Bloomberg Businessweek
  by Susan Crawford
  Thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision last year to allow corporations and unions to make unlimited campaign contributions, Americans in the coming year may be blitzed by $1 billion of essentially anonymous...    more   


• Oct 27, 2011 FCC To Rule On Online Political Advertisement Disclosure    October 27, 2011
  The Huffington Post
  by Paul Blumenthal
  Everyone is used to seeing a flood of political advertising, whether they are vicious attack ads or saccharine puff pieces, in the months before an election. Soon, the public may get a huge amount of information about...    more   


• Oct 25, 2011 Influence of Corporate Campaign Contributions in Government Contract Award Decisions    October 25, 2011
  Journalist's Resource
  by Elise Shanbaker
  In the wake of the 2010 Supreme Court decision “Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission,” the level of corporate spending on federal elections is likely to increase. In making such donations, corporations...    more   


• Oct 25, 2011 Super-Soft Money: How Justice Kennedy paved the way for “SuperPACS” and the return of soft money.    October 25, 2011
  Slate
  by Richard Hasen
  Soft money is coming back to national politics, and in a big way. And we can blame it all on a single sentence in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion in 2010’s controversial Citizens United decision—a sentence that was unnecessary to...    more   


• Oct 24, 2011 'Pivotal Role' for General Counsel in Corporate Political Activity    October 24, 2011
  Corporate Counsel
  by Catherine Dunn
  The machinations of the 2012 election cycle are fully in motion, with each televised debate and catchy tax proposal marking the countdown to the primaries and general election—and in the national, state, and local...    more   


• Oct 24, 2011 A new way to buy real influence    October 24, 2011
  Politico
  by Anna Palmer & Jim Vandehei
  Good news for rich people, corporate power players and labor bosses who want to buy some real influence with members of Congress: It just got a lot easier. Many voters assume it’s always been easy to buy influence...    more   


• Oct 21, 2011 With Political Spending Outrage In The Streets, Corporate Leaders Talk About Transparency, Accountability    October 21, 2011
  Huffington Post
  by Paul Blumenthal
  Four miles north of the occupied Zuccotti Park, where protesters have urged an end to corporate influence in politics, business executives met at the Waldorf Astoria, the former home of President Herbert Hoover, to talk...    more   


• Oct 20, 2011 House Democrats Urge SEC To Require Disclosure of Campaign Donations    October 20, 2011
  The Wall Street Journal
  by Andrew Ackerman
  )--A group of 43 House Democrats is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to require public companies to disclose the political contributions they make, a followup to a 2010 Supreme Court ruling...    more   


• Oct 18, 2011 Corporate-backed 'Super-PAC' raising eyebrows    October 18, 2011
  The Orlando Sentinel
  by Mark K. Mathhews
  A Hialeah-based funeral service -- called Deep Sea Burial for obvious reasons -- has become the first corporation to register a so-called Super-PAC with the Federal Election Commission that will allow it to raise...    more   


• Oct 17, 2011 The Perils of Donating to Perry    October 17, 2011
  The Weekly Standard
  by Mark Hemingway
  Last week, the Rick Perry campaign announced with great fanfare that the Texas governor had raised $17 million for his presidential campaign in the July-September quarter. That’s more than any other GOP hopeful, and...    more   


• Oct 12, 2011 Fighting for Corporate Disclosure    October 12, 2011
  Roll Call
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  All eyes seem to be on Wall Street these days, which is turning out to be good timing both for soul-searching CEOs and for reform activists taking aim at corporate money. A far-flung corporate reform coalition is pushing to...    more   


• Oct 10, 2011 Rove vs. the Koch Brothers    October 10, 2011
  Politico
  by Kenneth P. Vogel
  Karl Rove’s team and the Koch brothers’ operatives quietly coordinated millions of dollars in political spending in 2010, but that alliance, which has flown largely under the radar, is showing signs of fraying.    more   


• Oct 3, 2011 Dealing with Political Contribution Disclosures    October 3, 2011 Corporate Secretary
  by Gary Stern
  Corporate secretary plays a key role in deciding disclosure policy by advising management and board. The Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision granted corporations the right to contribute to federal elections for the...    more   


• Sep 27, 2011 The Counter-Reformation: The Fall of Campaign Finance Reform    September 27, 2011
  Huffington Post
  by Josh Blumenthal
  WASHINGTON -- In the first two weeks of January 2006, the Senate Judiciary Committee held confirmation hearings for President George W. Bush's second nominee to the Supreme Court, Samuel Alito. By replacing Justice Sandra...    more   


• Sep 26, 2011 Business Executives Call for End to Anonymous Cash    September 26, 2011
  Politico
  by Dave Levinthal
  An alliance of business executives is posing a challenge to its corporate brethren: stop giving out anonymous cash. The nonpartisan Committee on Economic Development wants companies to be upfront about their political...    more   


• Sep 17, 2011 The Deregulated Campaign    September 17, 2011
  National Journal
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  When comedian Stephen Colbert won the Federal Election Commission’s approval in June to run his own so-called super political action committee, he lost no time soliciting money for it.    more   


• Sep 15, 2011 Suit: State Farm covered up donations to justice who voted in its favor    September 15, 2011
  McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
  Lawyers in a class-action case accuse insurance giant State Farm of defrauding the Illinois Supreme Court by covering up its support of the Republican candidate in the most expensive state judicial race in U.S. history.    more   


• Sep 13, 2011 Rick Perry and HPV vaccine-maker have deep financial ties    September 13, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose bid for the White House depends heavily on support from religious conservatives, finds himself confronting an issue that is a flash point for that part of his base: his attempt to order schoolgirls...    more   


• Sep 8, 2011 Barbour Adds More Financial Heft to Crossroads Super PAC    September 8, 2011
  Roll Call
  by Shira Toeplitz
  Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour signed on to aid the fundraising efforts of American Crossroads, the conservative group that is expected to spend millions to boost Republicans in the 2012 cycle.    more   


• Aug 27, 2011 Amazon Spends Millions to Fight Internet Sales Tax    August 27, 2011
  New York Times
  by Aaron Glantz
  When it comes to avoiding the requirement of collecting sales tax from its consumers, Amazon is not afraid to open its wallet. More than nine months before a proposed June 2012 referendum asking that California's new Internet...    more   


• Aug 24, 2011 'Candidate super PACs' surge ahead in the 2012 money race    August 24, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  Until this month, Steven C. Roche was one of Mitt Romney's most trusted advisers, helping the former Massachusetts governor raise tens of millions of dollars in his long quest for the White House. Now Roche has jumped ship to...    more   


• Aug 24, 2011 100+ CEOs promise no campaign donations    August 24, 2011
  CNNMoney
  by Charles Riley
  NEW YORK (CNNMoney) --You know who's really mad at Washington? Corporate America. Led by Howard Schultz of Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500), more than 100 CEOs have signed a pledge to halt all political campaign contributions until...    more   


• Aug 18, 2011 Super PACs Changing 2012 Landscape    August 18, 2011
  U.S. News and World Report
  by Susan Milligan
  Sen. John McCain worked tirelessly a decade ago to achieve a long-desired reform of campaign finance law, working with another Republican and two Democrats to win approval of one of the last, big bipartisan policy...    more   


• Aug 10, 2011 Super PACs new playground: 2012    August 10, 2011
  Politico
  by Kenneth P. Vogel
  First came American Crossroads, Commonsense Ten and their ilk - so-called super PACs set up with unlimited cash that poured millions of dollars into ads benefiting multiple candidates and attacking their opponents. Now comes...    more   


• Aug 10, 2011 New Balance distances itself from donation to Romney supporting 'super PAC'    August 10, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  A Boston-based sneaker manufacturer under fire from gay rights activists is seeking to distance itself from a political donation by its chairman, who gave $500,000 to an independent group supporting Republican Mitt Romney for...    more   


• Aug 10, 2011 GOP Feels the Influence of Outside Money Groups    August 10, 2011
  NPR
  by Peter Overby
  Even as Republicans have made their presence felt this summer in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail, some party leaders have begun to feel their own control of Republican activism slipping away.    more   


• Aug 9, 2011 Serving Shareholders and Democracy    August 9, 2011
  New York Times
  When the Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban campaign spending by corporations in the landmark Citizens United decision last year, it argued that disclosure of contributions would protect American democracy from hidden corporate...    more   


• Aug 9, 2011 Both sides dash for anonymous cash    August 9, 2011
  Politico
  by Kenneth P. Vogel
  If anyone had doubts about the role that anonymous and untraceable money will play in the 2012 campaign ad wars, a flurry of recent reports and voluntary disclosures should put them to rest.    more   


• Aug 5, 2011 SEC urged to make companies list political spending    August 5, 2011
  Reuters
  by Karey Wutkowski
  (Reuters) - A group of securities law experts are pushing for federal regulations forcing companies to reveal how much they spend on political activities. The 10 professors have formally petitioned the Securities and Exchange...    more   


• Aug 5, 2011 Law Professors Ask SEC to Require Disclosure of Campaign Donations    August 5, 2011
  Wall Street Journal
  by Danny Yadron and Andrew Ackerman
  A group of 10 corporate law professors asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to require corporations to disclose to shareholders most political spending. In a petition filed Thursday with the SEC,...    more   


• Aug 4, 2011 Firm gives $1 million to pro-Romney group, then dissolves    August 4, 2011
  MSNBC
  by Michael Isikoff
  A mystery company that pumped $1 million into a political committee backing Mitt Romney has been dissolved just months after it was formed, leaving few clues as to who was behind one of the biggest contributions yet of the 2012...    more   


• Aug 4, 2011 $30 Million Pouring In to Influence Wisconsin Recall Elections    August 4, 2011
  ABC News
  by Shushannah Walshe
  Months have passed since protests snared the Wisconsin state capital and a collective bargaining argument shut down the state government. But the anger has not died away, and legislators from both parties face recall elections. It...    more   


• Jul 29, 2011 Wisconsin recall ad deluge may presage 2012 election    July 29, 2011
  Reuters
  by James B. Kelleher
  (Reuters) - A deluge of political advertising in Wisconsin this summer to sway the largest wave of special state elections in U.S. history may be a harbinger of the partisan onslaught expected in the 2012 national elections.    more   


• Jul 28, 2011 Shareholders Press on CSR Risks    July 28, 2011
  Directorship
  by Steve Starbuck and Ann Brockett
  As proxy season comes to a close, an analysis of shareholder proposals continues to indicate a growing belief on the part of institutional investors that a company's social and environmental policies correlate...    more   


• Jul 28, 2011 Shareholders Press on CSR Risks    July 28, 2011
  Directorship
  by Steve Starbuck and Ann Brockett
  As proxy season comes to a close, an analysis of shareholder proposals continues to indicate a growing belief on the part of institutional investors that a company's social and environmental policies correlate...    more   


• Jul 5, 2011 New breed of 'super PACs,' other independent groups could define 2012 campaign    July 5, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  One commercial accuses the president of worsening the deficit and says, "It's time to take away Obama's blank check." Another attacks Republican tax and Medicare policies, saying, "We can't rebuild America if they tear down the...    more   


• Jun 15, 2011 U.S. Federal Election Commision Deadlocks on Greater '12 Donor Disclosure    June 16, 2011
  Bloomberg
  by Jonathan Salant
  The U.S. Federal Election Commission failed to approve a proposal that could lead to greater disclosure of donors to independent groups poised to spend millions on attack ads in the 2012 presidential race. The FEC deadlocked...    more   


• Jun 2, 2011 California presses for disclosure of political donations    June 2, 2011
  Financial Times
  by Dan McCrum and Nicole Bullock
  Bill Lockyer, the state treasurer for California, has asked the state’s leading public pension funds, the two largest such asset managers in the US, to use their influence to press for full disclosure of political...    more   


• Jun 1, 2011 California pensions may target firms' political outlays    June 1, 2011
  Reuters
  by Jim Christie
  (Reuters) - California's treasurer on Wednesday urged state pension funds to back shareholders pressing companies to disclose political spending, which many of his fellow Democrats expect to rise and be used against them in the 2012...    more   


• Jun 1, 2011 Citizens United: The Shareholders Strike Back    June 1, 2011
  Mother Jones
  by Andy Kroll
  The battle against the effects of the Supreme Court's game-changing Citizens United decision, the ruling that ripped down the wall between corporations and American elections, is gathering steam among an unlikely group: investors. With...    more   


• May 23, 2011 Minnesota upholds disclosure law    May 23, 2011
  Inside Investor Relations
  by Brad Allen
  Appeals court votes to keep law requiring disclosure of political contributions that was brought in following the Citizens United decision    more   


• May 22, 2011 Transparency vs. Free Speech    May 22, 2011
  National Journal
  by Eliza Newlin Carney
  It's become popular in certain circles to assail political transparency as a nefarious threat to free speech. Once a bipartisan touchstone, campaign finance disclosure rules are now the target of court challenges,...    more   


• May 21, 2011 Political groups, now free of limits, spending heavily in 2012    May 21, 2011
  Washington Post
  by Dan Eggen
  A contentious special election in Upstate New York has quickly become a test run of sorts for 2012 as outside political groups pump more than $2 million into an obscure three-way House contest. Republican and conservative groups,...    more   

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