Outside Donors

new cat 7/14 main is campaign finance reform

neglected? boundaries murky?

Corporate dark money largess

Householder’s dark money group, Generation Now, has pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy, and was used by FirstEnergy to funnel more than $60 million worth of bribes to Householder’s political machine to make him Ohio House Speaker and pass the bailout. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bailout the same day it was passed.

$15 million of the Generation Now came via another dark money group, Partners for Progress. FirstEnergy gave $25 million to Partners for Progress between 2017 and 2019. A FirstEnergy lobbyist named Dan McCarthy was listed as the principal of Partners for Progress in 2017, later leaving to become DeWine’s legislative affairs director where he lobbied to pass the House Bill 6 bailout. Certain FirstEnergy executives were also involved in choosing the three directors of Partners for Progress, two of whom were FirstEnergy lobbyists.

FirstEnergy also gave $1 million in 2017 to a dark money group called Freedom Frontier supporting Jon Husted as he made a Republican Party primary bid for the nomination to run for governor. The group then supported DeWine after Husted dropped out of the primary race to become his running mate.

In 2018, FirstEnergy donated $2.5 million to a Republican Governors Association-affiliated dark money group called State Solutions backing DeWine for governor. In 2019, they gave $300,000 to another dark money group called Securing Ohio’s Future, for a grand total of nearly $4 million in dark money to support DeWine/Husted.

Leaving no pocket unfilled, FirstEnergy also made a $300,000 contribution in 2019 to a dark money group called Liberty Ohio, which a FirstEnergy lobbyist tied to now-Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, calling it “the Huffman C4.”

As far as traditional campaign spending, now-indicted former FirstEnergy executive Chuck Jones hosted a fundraiser for DeWine at his home. The company also gave nearly $1 million in traditional campaign money to legislators, other officeholders, candidates and political parties. This included FirstEnergy’s largely employee-funded political action committee, which gave $25,202 to the 2018 DeWine campaign and $10,000 to his inaugural committee. Alongside Jones providing $12,700 in food and beverages for the DeWine fundraiser, the total in traditional funding comes to $47,902. After the scandal broke in 2020, DeWine pledged to donate $35,000 of that, noting at the time that FirstEnergy executives had not been charged.

Influence peddling

Shortly before winning the 2018 race for governor, DeWine met with FirstEnergy executives at an RGA fundraiser in downtown Columbus on Oct. 10, 2018, the Dayton Daily News first reported. Shortly after, FirstEnergy Solutions donated $500,000 to the Republican Governor’s Association, according to tax records.

Shortly after winning the 2018 race for governor, on Dec. 18, 2018, DeWine, Husted, Jones and now-indicted FirstEnergy executive Michael Dowling met at the Columbus Athletic Club. That same night, Jones and Dowling went from that dinner to the German Village condo of FirstEnergy lobbyist Sam Randazzo, where they seem to have negotiated a $4.3 million payment that FirstEnergy has admitted in a deferred prosecution agreement was a bribe.

When Randazzo was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in December 2023 on 11 felony counts of bribery and embezzlement, the charges included allegations that Randazzo had a corrupt relationship with the FirstEnergy executives stretching back to 2010, allegedly serving as general counsel to the Industrial Energy Users of Ohio while secretly being paid as a consultant for FirstEnergy: Randazzo settled disputes over electricity rates on terms acceptable to the energy companies, then channeled the settlement money through shell companies where he skimmed off a portion, the indictment said.

Between 2016 and 2019, FirstEnergy paid $13 million into Randazzo’s shell companies, a state-level indictment of Randazzo said. Of that, Randazzo passed $7.75 million to the industrial users and pocketed the rest, it said. DeWine’s chief of staff, Laurel Dawson, was married to a man who had been a paid lobbyist for FirstEnergy — and who had received a $10,000 loan from Randazzo in 2016, the indictment said.

In January 2019, as Randazzo was being vetted to chair the PUCO, he told Dawson, DeWine’s then-chief of staff, about the $4.3 million payment, but he did not tell her about the other millions he had received from FirstEnergy, the indictment said. Randazzo didn’t report any of the payments to the Ohio Ethics Commission, it added.

A former aide gave DeWine a 198-page dossier reporting shady financial connections between Randazzo and FirstEnergy on Jan. 28, 2019. But the governor’s office says that Dawson never told the governor about the $4.3 million payment before DeWine nominated Randazzo to chair the PUCO on Feb. 4, 2019.

According to the state indictment, Randazzo spent the rest of the year and part of the next helping to draft and openly lobby for the corrupt bailout. The bailout was passed and signed in July 2019.

Householder and four others were arrested in July 2020. But it wasn’t until the following November — when the FBI searched Randazzo’s condo — that Dawson says she told the governor about the $4.3 million payout.

DeWine has staunchly defended Dawson, just as he defended McCarthy, the former aide and FirstEnergy lobbyist with the dark money bribery pass-through group. McCarthy resigned his position in September 2021, but DeWine has kept Dawson on staff as an advisor earning more than $180,000 per year. In September 2023, DeWine appointed McCarthy to the state racing commission.

What’s happened since?

After the scandal broke, the nuclear part of Ohio House Bill 6 was eventually repealed, but the law’s gutting of the state’s renewable energy portfolio still stands, as does the bailout of two 1950s-era coal plants, one of which is in Indiana.

Householder and former state GOP Chairman Matt Borges are serving 20 years and five years respectively in federal prison for their roles. Two other lobbyists cooperated and are awaiting sentencing, while a third died by suicide wearing a “DeWine for governor” t-shirt in June 2021. Randazzo died by suicide on April 9, 2024.

FirstEnergy shareholders have filed a lawsuit, an ongoing case in which DeWine has been subpoenaed and Husted has been called on to give a sworn deposition.

Asked this week about the Oct. 10, 2018 RGA fundraiser meeting with FirstEnergy executives, DeWine claimed, “I don’t remember that. I’m not disputing it. I just don’t remember. I don’t remember the meeting.”

As for the Dec. 18, 2018 dinner with FirstEnergy executives, DeWine has said he doesn’t recall Randazzo’s name coming up.

Asked this week about the $4 million that FirstEnergy spent in dark money supporting his bid for governor, DeWine claimed he didn’t know about it.

*Sure, Jan.

After the death of Randazzo, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has said the state’s prosecution will proceed, and Jones and Dowling, who have pleaded not guilty, will still have to face their day in court.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Ken Parker has said his team will also continue to pursue the widespread corruption case.

Citizens United

Deploying one of the most absurd, naive, and destructively dumb statements I’ve ever read in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from my lifetime, then-Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2010 authored the landmark campaign finance decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission:

“(W)e now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. … The fact that speakers (i.e., donors) may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that these officials are corrupt. … The appearance of influence or access, furthermore, will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy,” Kennedy claimed.

What combination of delusional hallucinogenics was Kennedy on what he made that obnoxious declaration?

As then-Justice John Paul Stevens obsesrved in his decent, the majority’s Citizens United ruling is “a rejection of the common sense of the American people.”

This entire dark money political bribery and money laundering scheme in Ohio was made possible exactly because a narrow majority of Republican justices on the U.S. Supreme Court declared that for the purposes of the constitution, corporations are people and money is speech.

They followed the Citizens United ruling with several others that removed any and all accountability for dark money political spending, including upholding the SpeechNow.org v. FEC appellate ruling months after Citizens United, and their McCutcheon v. FEC ruling in 2014 by another 5-4 vote.

Combined, these decisions have cleared the way for wealthy individual donors, corporations, and other moneyed special interests to spend unlimited dark money on elections. And oh boy, have they ever.

Outside groups have poured billions of dollars into influencing American elections since the Citizens United ruling.

Take just our races in Ohio for one of our seats in the U.S. Senate, and just outside spending for or against candidates: According to OpenSecrets.org, in 2004 the amount was just over $45,000. In 2010, it was nearly $3.5 million. In 2016, it was more than $54 million. In 2022, it was just shy of $100 million dollars.

Restoring representation

This is all so far beyond ridiculous there’s nary a word for it. Gerrymandered rigging of district maps to guarantee supermajority party power goes hand-in-hand with a system of campaign finance that allows for this kind of pervasive pay-to-play corruption infecting government.

If voters are ever to truly save Ohio and the American Republic by restoring true representation of the people and the people’s interests, poisonous gerrymandering and corrupt political spending have to be addressed as first priorities.

This should have been done here in Ohio nearly four years ago when the FirstEnergy scandal first broke. But supermajority Republican lawmakers, with DeWine by their side, instead spent 2021 and 2022 imposing more unconstitutionally gerrymandered maps. And while they’ve found time to indulge every culture war distraction on the extremist right-wing menu, they’ve done absolutely nothing to address widespread public corruption.

This relentless, belligerent misrepresentation of the people of Ohio and our best interests has only led to miserable public outcomes, and for myself, as a seventh generation Ohioan whose family moved here in 1805, it all embarrasses us deeply in the eyes of the nation.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.

an 10 22

the polls are tightening up right now, and the media is treating it like it’s some mystical force of nature causing people to shift their concerns from abortion, guns, climate, democracy, and the survival of Social Security over to gas prices, Black crime, banning books, and trans kids playing sports.

The media, of course, knows what’s going on. They’re the secondary recipients of it, right behind the politicians, because they’re making billions conveying the GOP message to America. Which, of course, is why they won’t tell you what the real game is here or how it’s being played.

In the early 1970s, I was a partner with the late Terry O’Connor in a small Michigan advertising agency, Ter Graphics, and a copywriter for another, Barden-Durst, run by the late Bob Strand. Our biggest clients were Kellogg’s and Michigan National Bank, and I learned the business from these men and from in-person instruction by the legendary Joe Sugarman, to whom I’m grateful to this day.

Later in the ’70s, I taught marketing and advertising in cities around the world for the American Marketing Centers and in 1989 started the Atlanta advertising agency Chandler, MacDonald, Stout, Schneiderman & Poe, named after my favorite writers and my best friend, which Louise and I sold in 1997 to retire to the mountains of Vermont. CMSS&P primarily did business as The Newsletter Factory, and our clients included more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies at that time, as well as government agencies from the US Army to the NSA and the CIA.

I’ve also been hosting what is today the #1 progressive talk show in America for 19 years, and worked in radio news for 7 years before that.

I say all this not by way of bragging but hopefully to convince you that I know something about media and the advertising and marketing business. And if there’s anything I know deep in my gut, from decades of observation and experience, it’s that advertising works when it’s done big and done repeatedly.

While creativity and “production values” in advertising are important, they’re both subordinate to frequency when it comes to producing results. Even a poorly crafted message for a mediocre product will convince people to act the way you want them to if it’s repeated frequently enough.

In a variation on the 80s cliché about toys, whoever ends the campaign having spent the most money typically wins.

Multiple studies have been done about money in politics over the past few decades and the results are always within a few points of each other: between 80 and 95 percent of the time the biggest spender in a political race wins, with the average biggest spender winning around 91 percent of the time.

Which is why new analyses of campaign spending in the 2022 midterm race should concern every American.

OpenSecrets has found that more than $4.4 billion has been spent so far just on electing members of the US House and Senate (and 2/3rds of Senators are not even up for re-election), with an expected $9.3 billion to go to radio, TV, social media, and other forms of advertising by election day.

NPR found, based on data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, that in just a dozen Senate races over $1.6 billion has been spent “with $3 out of every $4 being spent in six states — Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and Ohio…”

“Most of that money,” NPR reports, “is coming from dark money outside groups with little-to-no donor transparency — and Republicans are getting a huge boost from them.”

Of the nearly $1 billion in unregulated “outside” money that’s been spent so far just to elect Republicans to the Senate, NPR notes:

“Eighty-six percent of the money going toward pro-GOP TV ads is coming from these outside groups, compared to 55% for Democrats. Put simply: If it weren't for these outside groups, Republican candidates would be swamped on the airwaves.”

This is not how a democratic republic is supposed to work, and it would have represented a federal felony just 12 years ago.

That was when 5 corrupt Republicans on the US Supreme Court blew open the doors to billionaires and massive corporations taking ownership of the GOP and much of the American political process with their poisonous Citizens United decision.

Simply put, the elections are “tightening” because rightwing billionaires and giant corporations are pouring billions of dollars into advertising. And, as noted earlier, advertising works. To quote the 2014 Washington Post headline: “91% of the time the better-financed candidate wins. Don’t act surprised.”

On top of their advertising dominance, though, the GOP has a second tool for repeating their message so frequently that listeners are hearing it in their dreams: billionaire oligarch Murdoch’s Fox “News,” two additional rightwing television networks, over 200 television stations regularly carrying rightwing editorials and right-tilted newscasts, and over 1500 radio stations carrying rightwing hate radio, almost 300 of them in Spanish.

Nothing like this massive rightwing/Republican media operation — carefully built at the cost of billions over a 4-decade period — exists on the Democratic side, and it provides a massive, 24/7/365 boost to the GOP that’s worth tens of billions a year in “earned media” (aka “free advertising/promotion”). It even makes money for its owners, rather than costing anybody anything!

When George W. Bush was president, he used to invite talk radio hosts to broadcast live from the lawn of the White House every summer; Obama killed the practice, in part because there are only a handful of nationally syndicated or even local progressive hosts in the country and in part because the Democratic Party has never taken seriously the power of talk radio.

(You can read the whole sorry tale in an article I wrote two years ago forThe Nation and in a 2018 open letter I wrote to billionaire Tom Steyer when Clear Channel was up for sale.)

If Republicans retake the House, the Senate, or both this November after the Dobbs decision, their naked attempt to overthrow our government, their promises to end Social Security, and their playing footsie with Vladimir Putin on Ukraine, it will be entirely because of the billions in dark money that supports them.

And who can blame the billionaires and corporations behind this corruption? First off, it’s been fully legalized by the Supreme Court. Second, it’s a fantastic investment, as they saw in 2016: pour $7 billion into an election and within the first year get almost $2 trillion in tax breaks and another trillion in forgivable loans with few strings attached.

Billionaires win, corporations win, corrupt politicians win: the only losers are democracy and the American people. And, let’s be frank: the billion-dollar corporations that own our media and our politicians don’t really give a rat’s ass about either democracy or the American people as long as we keep buying the products and voting for the politicians advertised on their networks.

As CBS’s then-CEO, Les Moonves, said back in 2016:

“Man, who would have expected the ride we're all having right now? It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS. The money's rolling in and this is fun. I've never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.”

Big money in politics and a democracy that works for the majority of the people of a nation are incompatible: just ask any Russian. Or their victims in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, both Republicans and the media will point out that, “Democrats are getting dark money, too!” as if that means everything is equal. But what the rightwing billionaires know is:

If they flood the zone with too much money it’ll get noticed, so they’re careful to just match — and then only slightly surpass — the money Democrats can raise.
This prevents widespread political outrage and lets Republicans win “close elections” as if everything was still “normal” and our democracy was working as it should. (Thus, the “closing gap” stories we’re reading right now.)
But they know in a pinch they can always just dump another few million or billion dollars when a race is essential to their interests. Plus, having a few Democrats like Manchin and Sinema in their pockets is their ultimate ace-in-the-hole.

Republicans on the Supreme Court have, with their bizarre “money is free speech” decisions, put America on the fast track to oligarchy, authoritarianism, and ultimately tyranny.

There are multiple ways to overcome or overturn Citizens United and the other corrupt SCOTUS decisions that have handed our nation’s elections over to their billionaire patrons: I wrote an entire book about it (The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America).

If people power beats big money in this election, Democrats must focus as much of their and their donor’s efforts as possible on overturning these democracy-destroying decisions while starting the long project of building out a media infrastructure so the rest of America can hear their message every day, year-round.

Otherwise, the rightwing billionaires will simply toss $20 or $30 billion — or whatever it takes — into the 2024 election and President Trump or President DeSantis will make sure it’s the last honest political race in American history.

We’ve watched this movie play out in Russia (and a few other countries) over the past four decades: let’s not allow it to happen here, too.

ALSO IN THE NEWS:**GOP election spending in very blue districts has Democrats concerned: report**

meet the Real Dark Money GOP Donors Who Funded Those Who Voted to Overturn the Election

ALEX KOTCH

January 28, 2021 by Exposed (Center by Media & Democracy)

In the days following the deadly Capitol insurrection by white supremacists, QAnon adherents, and other Donald Trump supporters, media outlets including the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) have reported on the corporate PACs behind campaign donations that helped elect the scores of Republican House and Senate members who, just hours after the insurrection, voted to reject President Joe Biden’s victories in multiple states. In response, many of these companies have pledged to halt donations to the election deniers or pause campaign donations altogether.

But wealthy conservatives and corporations spent far more money on independent groups that paid for ads and other election expenditures to help 106 out of the 147 members of Congress take office. These Republican politicians would go on to use the “Big Lie” of alleged voter fraud as an excuse to overturn a valid, democratic election that didn’t go their way.

Major companies and executives of Wall Street firms, fossil fuel businesses, a casino empire, and a shipping giant supplied super PACs and other outside spending groups with hundreds of millions of dollars to elect the Republican election deniers in just their most recent elections alone. Among the top donors were Miriam Adelson and her recently deceased husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin, Mellon steel fortune heir Timothy Mellon, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and Uline owner Richard Uihlein.

Some of these top donors run companies that have halted their campaign donations to the election objectors, yet the donors themselves have not promised to change their contribution habits.

Donations to politicians’ campaigns and traditional PACs have strict limits, but contributions to super PACs, 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofits, and trade associations have no restrictions. Thus, conservative oligarchs and their companies have been able to flood elections with enormous amounts of money that helped elect senators such as Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (TX), who led the push to invalidate the election results in their chamber, and representatives including extremist freshmen Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), and QAnon adherent Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Using Federal Election Commission (FEC) data, some of it compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics,CMD has identified 40 political super PACs, trade associations, or other committees that spent over $100,000 to help elect at least one of the 147 Republicans in their most recent elections, as well as the top donors to these spending groups.For House members, this includes 2020 only; for senators, who have six-year terms, their most recent elections were either in 2016, 2018, or 2020.

The 40 spending groups pumped at least $272 million into election ads and other expenditures to seat 106 of the Republican election objectors.

The top-spending groups include the Congressional Leadership Fund ($67.9 million in the 2020 elections), the Senate Leadership Fund ($40.3 million over the 2018 and 2020 elections), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC; $39.1 million in 2020), the New Republican PAC ($29.5 million 2018 backing Sen. Rick Scott of Florida), and Club for Growth Action ($19.4 million, mostly in 2020).

The Club for Growth PAC, which is subject to $5,000 individual donation limits, spent $315,000 to boost the campaigns of more than 20 election deniers in 2018 and 2020. But its affiliated super PACs, Club for Growth Action and CFGA Missouri, spent a combined $22.7 million to elect election deniers, making it the fifth-highest outside spending group. It also donated to additional spending groups the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), Protect Freedom PAC, and Texans Are.

The biggest beneficiary of this outside spending is Hawley, who at times appears to be a self-styled right-wing populist, yet got $41.2 million of assistance from mostly billionaire- and multi-millionaire-funded super PACs in his 2018 Senate victory.

Scott had the second-highest total, benefiting from $35.1 million of outside spending, followed by Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall ($29.8 million), New Mexico Rep. Yvette Herrell ($12.3 million), and California Rep. Mike Garcia ($11.5 million).

Top Donors

CMD identified thousands of donors to the outside groups that spent to help seat one or more of the Republican election deniers in their most recent elections, accounting for nearly $1.7 billion in contributions.

The top ten individuals or families combined to donate nearly $500 million to outside groups that helped seat the election deniers. Some were also among the biggest direct donors to the campaigns of the members of Congress who voted against the valid election, according to research by OpenSecrets.org.

...

no lnx

#1 Miriam and Sheldon Adelson: $191.4 million

via U.S. Air Force

Atop the list of megadonors are billionaires Miriam Adelson and her recently deceased husband, Sheldon Adelson, who ran the Sands casino empire and strongly supported Trump. Together they gave over $191 million to six super PACs and two party-aligned groups, the NRCC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), helping to seat dozens of politicians who denied the results of the election.

Ken Griffin: $59.8 million

via David Rubenstein/YouTube

The CEO of hedge fund Citadel gave to five super PACs, the NRCC, and the NRSC. Griffin had an alleged dispute with Trump in 2018, but that didn’t stop him from bankrolling the party of Trump in the 2020 elections. In 2018, he gave $10 million to the pro-Rick Scott super PAC, New Republican PAC.

Timothy Mellon: $50 million

via BMRR/Wikimedia

An heir to his family’s steel fortune and majority owner of Pan Am Systems, Mellon gave huge donations to two super PACs and a smaller contribution to NRCC in 2020. Mellon, who used racist stereotypes in his autobiography, has emerged only recently as one of Trump and the Republican Party’s biggest donors.

Stephen and Christine Schwarzman: $46 million

via World Economic Forum/Flickr

The CEO of Blackstone and his wife, Christine, are near the top of the right-wing donor list, having given the bulk of their donations to the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), a super PAC tied to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Blackstone, a private equity firm, is the world’s biggest landlord. Stephen Schwarzman has been one of Trump’s most generous and most faithful supporters. Even after Trump lost the election in November he told business leaders that Trump had the right to challenge the results and “took issue with suggestions made during the meeting that the U.S. could be on the verge of a coup,” according to the Financial Times.

OpenSecrets Election Denier Campaign Donation rank: #3 ($326,000)

Liz and Richard Uihlein: $43.4 million

via Uline/YouTube

The Illinois-based Uihleins, who own and operate the Uline shipping supply company, gave tens of millions to an array of spending groups, including $35.7 million to Club for Growth Action and its state affiliate CFG Action Missouri.

Richard Uihlein was recently exposed as a major funder of the Tea Party Patriots, a group that helped organize a rally on Jan. 6 that led to the march and insurrection at the Capitol. CMD broke the news that Uihlein was one of the first two proven donors to far-right media outlet The Federalist.

OpenSecrets Election Denier Campaign Donation rank: #8 ($242,000)

Jeff Yass: $33.3 million

via Marshall Segal/Flickr

The managing director of investment firm Susquehanna International Group and a board member of the libertarian Cato Institute, Yass was also a top donor to Club for Growth Action, giving the group $24.5 million from 2018 to 2020. He also gave $8.6 million to Protect Freedom PAC, which spent in favor of extremists such as Boebert and Cawthorn in the 2020 cycle.

Reyes Family: $21.5 million

The West Palm Beach, Florida-based Reyes family, which amassed its wealth from a food and beverage distribution business, spent tens of millions of dollars to help elect election objectors. J. Christopher, M. Jude, and David K. Reyes put the bulk of their money into SLF but also funded the New Republican PAC, among other committees.

Ricketts Family: $18.1 million

Joe and Pete Ricketts (credit: Cornstalker/Wikimedia and Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

The GOP megadonors in the Ricketts family did their part to help elect the objectors, donating over $18 million to super PACs, including the Ending Spending Action Fund and Citizens for Free Enterprise. Patriarch Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, his wife, Marlene, and their son, Pete, the governor of Nebraska, all donated. The family owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team, and Joe and Marlene’s son, Todd, took over from disgraced right-wing bankroller Steve Wynn as finance chair of the Republican National Committee. In October 2020, the company of fellow right-wing billionaire Charles Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade.

Charles and Helen Schwab: $17.2 million

via CNBC/YouTube

Schwab Bank shut down its PAC entirely after bad press surrounding the insurrection, but its founder and chairman, Charles Schwab, and his wife, Helen, have remained silent about their future plans. The company did not respond to The Daily Poster’s questions about the Schwabs’ massive donations to outside spending groups, which included $11.1 million to SLF and $2.5 million to CLF.

Bernard and Billi Marcus: $14.7 million

via Robert Huffstutter/Flickr

Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus and his wife, Billi, gave their biggest contributions to CLF and SLF.

OpenSecrets Election Denier Campaign Donation rank: #2 ($331,000)

Other top donors include hedge fund manager Paul Singer ($13.9 million) and chicken farming tycoon Ronald Cameron ($13.4 million), who ranks at No. 11 on OpenSecrets’ list of campaign donors to the election deniers ($208,000). Cameron’s Mountaire Corporation added $500,000 each to CLF and SLF.

Despite numerous sexual misconduct allegations that led to his resignation from his own resort company, Steve Wynn’s money is still welcome in Republican political circles. The Republican National Committee, of which Wynn was previously finance chairman, never returned his donations, and in 2020 committees such as the Senate Leadership Fund ($9 million), the Congressional Leadership Fund ($1 million), and the NRSC ($177,500) enjoyed his largesse. He gave a total of $12.6 million to outside groups that backed election deniers in their most recent elections.

Additional megadonors include Ronald Lauder, chair of Estee Lauder ($5.2 million), the family of Trump’s Education Sec. Betsy DeVos ($4.4 million), members of the Walton family and Walmart fortune ($2 million), Fox Corporation’s Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch ($2 million), and Federalist Society board member C. Boyden Gray ($1.8 million).

CNBC reports that with fewer PAC donations, Republicans are worried about 2022 fundraising and plan to appeal to their biggest individual financiers for even more cash. Fundraisers will attempt to keep the money flowing from bigwigs including Schwarzman, Griffin, and Singer.

Koch is Key Coup Attempt Funder

Koch Industries, the fossil fuel conglomerate led by billionaire libertarian Charles Koch, was the biggest corporate donor to these spending groups at $13.75 million. The company gave $10 million to Americans for Prosperity Action (AFPA), the super PAC affiliated with Koch’s premier political advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), and doled out additional money to three other super PACs. AFPA, for its part, spent over $9.5 million backing the electoral objectors, and AFP spent close to $4 million in 2018 mostly opposing then-Sen. Claire McCaskill in order to elect Hawley.

Freedom Partners Action Fund, another super PAC in the Koch political network, gave AFPA $11.5 million in 2018 and 2019.

Koch Industries’ PAC is also in the mix, giving $210,000 to the NRCC in the 2020 election cycle and $600,000 to the NRSC from 2016 to 2020. Koch PAC is also the biggest donor to the campaigns of the election-denying members of Congress, having contributed over $930,000 to their campaigns, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.

Charles Koch and his wife, Elizabeth, each gave $471,000 to the NRSC, and their son, Chase, added $369,000. Chase’s wife, Anna, Koch’s late brother, David, and his David’s wife, Julia, all gave donations to the NRSC well into the six figures.

Much of AFP’s funding comes from other Koch-run groups. In 2019, for example, Koch’s Stand Together Chamber of Commerce provided $40.5 million out of AFP’s $54.5 million in total revenue. Many of the individual donors to AFP and other Koch groups, such as Cameron, Griffin, Singer, Schwab, and Schwarzman, are among the biggest contributors to outside groups that helped elect the election deniers.

Corporate Complicity

A number of other corporations, including many fossil fuel companies, and their PACs gave significant amounts to spending groups that helped elect the Republican objectors.

In addition, the watchdog group Public Citizen reports that fossil fuel companies’ PACs and executives gave $8.8 million to the campaigns of the election deniers and GOP party committees that helped elect them and Trump.

Despite numerous companies limiting or ending their political donations, many major oil and gas firms such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, and Phillips 66 had not done so at the time of this reporting.

Top corporate donors to outside groups include:

Chevron (oil and gas): $7.3 million to CLF and SLF.

Hillwood Development Company (real estate): $6.1 million to CLF and SLF. Its chairman, Ross Perot, Jr.,gave $648,000 to the NRCC and NRSC and, with his wife, Sarah Fullinwider, gave over $190,000 to the election deniers’ campaigns.

RAI Services Company (tobacco): $3.1 million. The PAC of its parent company, Reynolds American, added $115,000 to the NRCC and NRSC.

Pilot Corporation (oil and gas): $2.6 million to SLC and New Republican PAC. The company is owned by the family of former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam, and family members contributed a total of over $1.2 million to the NRCC, NRSC, and CLF.

TRT Holdings (hospitality): $2 million. This Dallas-based holding company, which owns the Omni Hotels chain, is owned and led by Robert Rowling, who, with his wife, Terry, donated $2.3 million to three super PACs and the NRCC and NRSC.

Valero (oil and gas): $3.7 million. Valero and Valero Services gave $3.15 million to three super PACs, including the pro-Cruz Texans Are PAC, and the company’s PAC added $558,000 to the NRCC and NRSC. Valero announced after the insurrection that it would halt all federal contributions indefinitely.

Marathon Petroleum (oil and gas): $2.4 million. The company gave $2 million to CLF and SLF, and two company PACs added a total of $390,000 to the NRCC and NRSC.

ConocoPhillips (oil and gas): $2.25 million to CLF and SLF.

Wheatland Tube (steel manufacturing): $1.75 million to America First Action.

Boeing (aerospace): $1.4 million. Boeing’s PAC contributed $1 million to SLC and $375,000 to the NRCC and NRSC, as well as $567,000 to the election objectors’ campaigns, according to OpenSecrets.

GEO Group (private prisons): $1.3 million. Three subsidiaries of the private prison giant combined to give large donations to CLF, SLF, and the New Republican PAC.

Murray Energy (coal): $1.2 million, including $1 million to America First Action, with the company PAC adding $10,000 to the NRSC.

Other companies that contributed at least $1 million to relevant outside groups include OTA Holdings, NextEra Energy,CL Machinery Company, Don McGill Toyota of Katy (Texas), Global Fibers Investments, Tanglewood Property Management, and Tesoro Companies.

Dark Money

Multiple nonprofits and trade associations, which are not required to disclose their donors, served as major funding vehicles for GOP outside spending to boost the election-denying members of Congress. Trade groups are largely funded by their corporate members. Dark money groups also made election expenditures themselves.

One Nation, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that’s affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund, gave the latter group $62.6 million in the 2020 cycle and $18.6 million in 2018, for a total of $81.2 million, making it the second-biggest funder of the outside spending groups that backed the 106 Republican election deniers.

The American Action Network, also a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, gave $29.4 million to CLF in 2020.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $1.9 million on independent expenditures backing Sens. Scott, Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS), and Marshall as well as Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI).

The anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony Listgave close to $1.8 million to Women Speak Out PAC, which made elections expenditures benefiting five GOP House election deniers.

Celebrate Life Trust, which is connected to Cancer Treatment Centers of America founder and chairman Richard Stephenson’s family foundation, donated $3.2 million total to SLC and FreedomWorks for America. The trust’s donation of $550,000 to FreedomWorks for America indicates that Stephenson provided the funds, and he personally donated $200,000 to New Republican PAC. Stephenson is on the board of the affiliated FreedomWorks 501(c)(4)nonprofit.

Traditional PACs affiliated with dark money groups also make independent expenditures backing the election deniers.

The trade group the National Association of Realtors donated nearly $6.6 million to SLF. The group’s PAC spent $142,000 on independent expenditures backing three election deniers, including Kansas Sen. Marshall, and the group itself spent another $43,000 in favor of five election deniers.

The National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund, a PAC that is subject to donation limits, made $2.6 million worth of independent expenditures to boost the campaigns of dozens of election deniers, including GOP House members Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, whom “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander claimed helped him plan the January 6 rally. The NRA’s biggest expenditures aided Hawley in 2018 ($1.4 million), and it spent in favor of extremists Boebert and Greene, among others. The PAC donated $120,000 to the NRSC.

Democratic Donors

Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican who ran in the Democratic presidential primary in 2020, gave $500,000 to theWith Honor Fund, a super PAC that spends money to elect military veterans fromboth parties,in October 2020. In that cycle, the With Honor Fund spent $453,000 on independent expenditures boosting five House Republicans who attempted to overturn the election results.

In 2020, Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos, the parents of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, each gave over $1 million to the With Honor Fund. In the 2018 cycle, Jeff Bezos was the super PAC’s biggest donor.

The super PAC affiliated with the Environmental Defense Fund, EDF Action Votes, mostly supports Democrats, but in 2020 it backed three Republicans. The PAC spent $100,000 to boost Florida Repubican Rep. Brian Mast, who went on to vote against the election results.The majority of EDF Action Votes’ funding comes from its dark money affiliate, the Environmental Defense Action Fund, but Environmental Defense Fund trustee Susan Mandel, whose husband runs a hedge fund, is the biggest individual donor of 2020 ($6 million).

----

table 1

table 2

Top 10 Donors to Outside Spending Groups Backing Election Deniers

miriam and Sheldon Adelson TOTAL $191,453,200

America First Action $10,000,000

Congressional Leadership Fund $50,000,000

Ending Spending Action Fund $2,000,000

National Republican Congressional Committee $532,500

National Republican Senatorial Committee $1,420,700

New Republican PAC $5,000,000

Republican Jewish Committee Victory Fund $2,500,000

Senate Leadership Fund $120,000,000

Ken Griffin TOTAL $59,815,500

Congressional Leadership Fund $10,000,000

Ending Spending Action Fund $900,000

Missouri Rising Action $250,000

National Republican Congressional Committee $497,000

National Republican Senatorial Committee $1,168,500 top Donors to Outside Spending Groups Backing Election Deniers

Over 120 donors or donor families gave $500,000 or more to outside political groups that made independent expenditures supporting at least one of the 147 GOP members of Congress who voted against the 2020 presidential election results or attacking their opponents in their most recent elections.

1 Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Adelson Drug Clinic/Las Vegas Sands $191,453,200

2 Ken Griffin Citadel $59,815,500

3 Timothy Mellon Pan Am Systems $50,035,500

4 Stephen and Christine Schwarzman Blackstone $45,774,600

5 Richard and Liz Uihlein Uline $43,422,148

6 Jeff Yass Susquehanna International Group $33,303,000

7 Reyes Family Reyes Holdings $21,491,600

8 Ricketts Family TD Ameritrade $18,106,700

9 Charles and Helen Schwab Charles Schwab & Company $17,235,000

10 Bernard and Billi Marcus Home Depot $14,674,100

11 Paul Singer Elliott Management $13,877,400

12 Ronald Cameron Mountaire Corporation $13,355,800

13 Warren Stephens (incl. trust) Stephens Inc. $13,172,700

14 Patrick G. and Shirley Ryan Ryan Specialty Group $12,700,000

15 Steve Wynn Valmore Management $12,634,700

16 Craig J. and Janet J. Duchossois The Duchossois Group $7,544,200

17 Geoffrey H. Palmer G.H. Palmer Associates $7,066,400

18 Fertitta Family Zuffa/Red Rock Resorts $6,876,600

19 Walter W. Buckley, Jr. Actua $5,325,500

20 Virginia James The Hickory Foundation $5,250,30

https://www.citizen.org/article/plutocrat-politics-how-financial-sector-wealth-fuels-political-ad-spending/

no lnx grfx

mAY 15, 2019

Plutocrat Politics: How Financial Sector Wealth Fuels Political Ad Spending

By ALAN ZIBEL

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT 606.3 KB

Hedge fund managers, bankers and other financial bigwigs wielded massive influence on the 2018 midterms by supplying more than half of all donations to outside political groups set up expressly to influence elections, a Public Citizen analysis has found.

Public Citizen analyzed contributions by the 100 individuals who contributed the most to outside political organizations that reported their donors during the 2017-2018 election cycle, including super PACs and other nonprofits that advocate for or against candidates.

These groups, which are not formally connected to candidates’ campaigns, can accept unlimited donations from individuals, nonprofits and corporations. They have dramatically increased their election spending in recent years following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which kicked off an unprecedented era of big-money influence in American politics.

The analysis found that political donors whose wealth comes from the financial sector, including several prominent hedge fund billionaires, were the largest reported funders of outside political groups. The top 100 individual donors gave a total of nearly $690 million to outside spending groups, with $359 million, or 52 percent, benefiting Democrats and $312 million, or 45 percent, benefiting Republicans. About $19 million, or 3 percent, benefited outside election groups that did not favor one party over another.

By far the largest source of reported funding for outside election spending efforts was the financial industry. About $344 million, or nearly half of the top 100 individuals’ donations, came from 36 donors with fortunes earned in private equity, hedge funds, investments and banking. Outside the financial industry, gambling, technology, inheritance and industrial supply companies were the most significant sources of wealth for the top 100 individual funders of outside spending efforts.

Out of the top 100 individual political donors to outside spending groups, 74 were men, 18 were women and eight were couples. In addition, 97 out of the 100 largest individual donors to outside spending groups were white. This finding is consistent with research showing that whites make up more than 90 percent donors who give more than $5,000 to congressional campaigns.

[grafx:

top 100 Individual Donations to Outside Spending Groups In 2017-2018 Election Cycle, By Source of Wealth

Pro-RepublicanPro-DemocratNonpartisan/Other

Finance $76,912,554 $264,383,175

Gambling

$127,290,000

Technology

Inheritance

Industrial Supply/Distribution

$41,138,468

Energy

Real estate/Construction

Media/Publishing

Consumer Goods....

During the 2017-2018 election cycle, spending by outside groups surged to more than $1 billion, the highest-ever for a midterm election, second only to the $1.4 billion spent during the 2016 presidential election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Outside spending favoring Democrats exceeded outside spending favoring Republicans in last year’s elections for the first time in the post-Citizens United era.

The Public Citizen analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics highlights how the influence of outside spending groups funded by mega-donors has surged over the past decade. The Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for corporations and wealthy individuals to spend money to directly influence elections, as long as such spending is deemed independent of political candidates and parties. Months after the Citizens United decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit allowed unlimited contributions to outside groups, paving the way for super PACs to become a major force in American politics.

Individual donors are the primary funders of super PACs, which are required to disclose their donors, unlike “dark money” nonprofits, which are not. Individuals provided more than 70 percent of super PAC funding in the 2018 election cycle. Trade associations and corporate donors have tended to fund dark money groups that do not disclose their donors and whose activities are much harder to trace.

Public Citizen’s analysis of the top 100 individual contributors to outside spending groups during the 2017-2018 election cycle also found that:

Pro-Democrat outside spending efforts were highly dependent on financial industry wealth. The financial industry represented 74 percent of funding for pro-Democrat outside spending efforts, followed by inherited wealth (8 percent), technology (6 percent) media (5.5 percent) and real estate (3 percent).

The sources of funding for pro-Republican outside spending efforts reflected far more industries, including gambling (41 percent), finance (25 percent), industrial supply and distribution (13 percent) , energy (6 percent) and technology (2.6 percent).

Individual political donors from just four states – New York, California, Nevada and Illinois – made up nearly 78 percent of the top 100 individuals’ donations to outside spending groups. Groups supporting Democrats were highly reliant on donors from New York, California, Illinois and Massachusetts, while Republican-leaning groups tapped donors in Nevada, Illinois, New York and Texas.

The Public Citizen analysis found that the financial industry’s biggest individual donors to outside spending groups tended to support Democrats. Major donors to groups that backed Democrats included Michael Bloomberg, founder of financial data firm Bloomberg LP, who donated more than $90 million, and Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund founder and climate activist, who donated nearly $70 million. Other major financial industry donors of groups backing Democrats include the hedge fund founders Donald Sussman and James Simons.

While four out of the five largest financial industry donors to outside spending groups supported Democrats, the 20 largest financial industry individual donors were evenly split between supporters of Democrats and Republicans. Prominent Republican outside spenders included prominent hedge fund, private equity, trading and investment executives including Kenneth Griffin, Steven Schwarzman, Jeffrey Yass, Charles Schwab and Paul Singer.

This high concentration of Democratic and Republican donors from the finance industry, and particularly from founders of hedge funds, private equity firms and of high-speed trading firms, may hinder efforts to enact important reforms. For example, Public Citizen has long called for a Wall Street sales tax on financial transactions like stock, bond, and derivative trades, much as individuals pay a sales tax on our everyday purchases. Such a tax would be so small that ordinary investors would hardly notice it but would raise substantial revenue, largely from high- volume traders. Yet this sort of sensible policy change is far less likely if wealthy traders are the biggest political benefactors.

Illustrating how difficult challenging the financial industry can be, President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to eliminate the “carried interest” tax loophole that benefits private equity executives and hedge fund managers, even saying in 2015 that “the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder.” But despite Trump’s criticism, administration officials sent mixed messages on the issue, and the loophole was not closed during tax legislation signed by Trump in 2017.

Outside the financial industry, Public Citizen’s analysis found that megadonors from the gambling industry supported Republicans exclusively, including Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., who donated more than $122 million to conservative political spending groups. Adelson was followed bycasino executive Cherna Moskowitz, who donated about $2 million, and brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, Las Vegas casino billionaires who each donated $1.5 million.

The second-largest donor to groups that supported GOP candidates was Richard Uihlein, founder of packaging and supply company Uline Inc,, who donated nearly $38 million. Other major backers of groups supporting Republican candidates included Home Depot founder Bernard Marcus, who donated $6.5 million, and Arkansas poultry magnate Ronnie Cameron and his wife Nina, who donated nearly $5.7 million.

To end the massive influx of corporate and special interest money into our elections, Public Citizen has long championed a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and supports public financing of campaigns. In February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, a sweeping set of important democracy reforms. This bill, the For the People Act, takes a three-pronged approach to reforming our democratic process:

Voting Rights and Election Security: The For the People Act implements automatic voter registration across the country; ensures that individuals who have completed felony sentences have their full rights restored; expands early voting and simplifies absentee voting; modernizes the U.S. voting system; prohibits voter roll purges and ends partisan gerrymandering to prevent politicians from picking their voters.

Campaign Finance Reform: The For the People Act upgrades online political ad disclosure; creates a publicly funded matching system for small-dollar donations; tightens rules on super PACs and restructures the Federal Election Commission to break the agency’s gridlock.

• Congressional and Executive Ethics: The For the People Act breaks the influence economy in Washington, D.C., by expanding conflict of interest law and divestment requirements; slows the revolving door; and requires presidents to disclose their tax returns.

100 Largest Donors and Sources of Wealth for Top Individual Donors to Outside Spending Groups, 2018

Search:

DONOR CITY AFFILIATION BIO POLITICAL LEAN OF DONOR SOURCE OF WEALTH TOTAL

Adelson, Sheldon G. Las Vegas Las Vegas Sands/Adelson Drug Clinic CEO of Las Vegas Sands/GOP Donor Republican Gambling $122250000

Bloomberg, Michael R. New York Bloomberg LP Founder of Bloomberg LP, former NY Mayor Democratic Finance $94955032

Steyer, Thomas San Francisco NextGen America; Farallon Capital Billionaire hedge fund founder Democratic Finance $72416712

Uihlein, Richard Lake Forest Uline Inc Founder of Wisconsin packaging and supply company Republican Industrial Supply/Distribution $37721968

Sussman, S. Donald Rye Brook, NY Paloma Partners Hedge fund investor and founder Democratic Finance $22445000

Simons, James H. & Marilyn New York Renaissance Technologies/Simons Fdtn Billionaire hedge fund founder Democratic Finance $20716000

Griffin, Kenneth C. Chicago Citadel Invest Group/Aragon Global Mgt Billionaire hedge fund manager Republican Finance $18400000

Soros, George New York Soros Fund Management Billionaire hedge fund manager; founder of Open Society Foundations Democratic Finance $16655886

Schwarzman , Steven A. New York Blackstone Group CEO of private equity/investment firm Blackstone Group LP Republican Finance $11750000

Bezos, Jeff Seattle Amazon.com Founder and CEO of Amazon Nonpartisan Technology $10129170

Eychaner, Fred Chicago Newsweb Corp Founder of printing company Newsweb Democratic Media/Publishing $10050000

Mellon, Timothy Saratoga Investor Heir to Mellon family fortune Republican Inheritance $10010000

Marcus, George M. Palo Alto Marcus & Millichap Founder of commercial real estate brokerage Democratic Real estate/Construction $8500000

Hoffman, Reid Garrett San Francisco LinkedIn Founder of LinkedIn Democratic Technology $7998000

Yass, Jeffrey S Bala Cynwyd Susquehanna International Group Founder of trading firm Republican Finance $7450000

Tuna, Cari San Francisco Asana Former WSJ reporter and wife of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz Democratic Technology $6797730

Simon, Deborah Carmel Philanthropist Daugher of Simon Property Group Inc. founder Melvin Simon Democratic Inheritance $6768025

Jurvetson, Karla Los Altos Hills Karla Jurvetson MD Ex-wife of venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson Democratic Inheritance $6764928

Bekenstein, Joshua Wayland Bain Capital Co-chairman of private equity firm Bain Capital Democratic Finance $6650000

Marcus, Bernard Atlanta Marcus Foundation Co-founder of Home Depot Republican Consumer Goods $6505700

Schwab, Charles R. & Helen O. San Francisco Charles Schwab & Co Founder of investment firm Charles Schwab Republican Finance $6350000

Cameron, Ronnie & Nina North Little Rock Mountaire Corp CEO of poultry company Republican Consumer Goods $5665000

Klarman, Seth A. Chestnut Hill Baupost Group CEO of hedge fund Democratic Finance $5175000

Beal, D. Andrew Plano Beal Bank Banker/energy investor Republican Energy $5088447

Cynthia Simon-Skjodt Carmel Samerian Foundation Daugher of Simon Property Group Inc. founder Melvin Simon Democratic Inheritance $5046000

Singer, Paul E. New York Elliott Management Hedge fund manager Republican Finance $5044001

Laufer, Henry B. Lantana Renaissance Technologies Former VP of research at hedge fund Democratic Finance $4450500

Tierney, Daniel V. Chicago Wicklow Capital Founder of high-frequency trading firm Democratic Finance $4331831

Mercer, Robert L. East Setauket Renaissance Technologies Former co-CEO of hedge fund Republican Finance $4327100

Sandler, Herbert M. San Francisco Herb & Marion Sandler/Sandler Foundation former co-CEO of Golden West Financial Corporation and World Savings Bank Democratic Finance $4100000

Palmer, Geoff Los Angeles GH Palmer Assoc Los Angeles real estate developer Republican Real estate/Construction $4100000

Ricketts, John Joe Omaha Hugo Enterprises TD Ameritrade Founder Republican Finance $3940000

Bass, Robert M. Fort Worth Keystone Inc Heir to Texas oil fortune; investor Democratic Energy $3900000

Jacobs, Irwin Mark La Jolla Qualcomm Inc Co-founder of Qualcomm Democratic Technology $3725000

Johnson, Charles B. Palm Beach Franklin Resources Mutual fund billionaire Republican Finance $3716000

Goldman, Amy New York Solil Management New York real estate heir Democratic Inheritance $3600000

Hendricks, Diane Ms Beloit Abc Supply Co-founder of building supply company Republican Real estate/Construction $3500000

Saban, Haim Los Angeles Saban Capital Group Television and media entrepreneur and investor Democratic Media/Publishing $3315000

Cohen, Steven A. Greenwich Point72 Asset Management Hedge fund billionaire Republican Finance $3100000

Abraham, S. Daniel West Palm Beach Slim Fast Founder of Slim-Fast diet product company Democratic Consumer Goods $2900000

Stephens, Warren A. Little Rock Stephens Inc Chairman of investment bank Stephens Inc. Republican Finance $2885000

Heising, Elizabeth D. Atherton Medley Partners Daugher of James Simons; wife of investor Mark Heising Democratic Inheritance $2815000

Wexner, Leslie H. Columbus L Brands Founder of retail company that owns The Limited, Victoria's Secret, PINK, Bath and Body Works (left Republican party) Nonpartisan Consumer Goods $2800000

Childs, John W. Waltham JW Childs Assoc Former chairman of private equity firm JW Childs Associates; Charged in prostitution sting Republican Finance $2587553

MacFarlane, Seth W. Los Angeles Fuzzy Door Productions Creator of Family Guy and other TV shows and movies Democratic Media/Publishing $2500000

Humphreys, David C. Joplin TAMKO Building Products CEO of roofing company Republican Real estate/Construction $2343190

Dunn, Timothy M. Midland Crownquest Operating Co-founder of oil and gas company Republican Energy $2331000

Scully, William P. Vero Beach Retired Former partner of investment firm Twin Oaks Partners Republican Finance $2250000

Grantham, Robert Boston Grantham, Mayo et al Co-founder of asset management firm GMO Democratic Finance $2250000

Schwartz, Bernard L. New York Loral Space & Communications Former chairman and CEO of satellite firm Democratic Technology $2225000

Oberndorf, William E San Francisco Oberndorf Enterprises Founder of hedge fund SPO Partners & Co. Republican Finance $2200000

Rosenthal, Richard H. Cincinnati Rosenthal Foundation Retired CEO of publishing firm Democratic Media/Publishing $2175000

McNair, Robert Houston Houston Texans Died in November 2018. Owned Houston Texans and founded energy firm Republican Energy $2100000

Faison, Jay W. Charlotte Clear Path Foundation Founder of audio-video firm, conservative clean energy think tank Republican Technology $2058000

Moskowitz, Cherna Miami Beach Irving Moskowitz Foundation Casino executive Republican Gambling $2040000

Soros, Alexander New York Philanthropist Son of billionaire George Soros Democratic Inheritance $2036127

Bezos, Miguel A. Mercer Island Bezos Family Foundation Jeff Bezos' stepfather Nonpartisan Technology $2004324

Bergan, Mary A. Fargo Fargo Assembly Former owner of electrical assembly company Republican Technology $2000000

Quillin, Patty Santa Cruz Philanthropist Wife of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Democratic Technology $2000000

Foster, Paul L. El Paso Western Refining Chairman and Founder of Western Refining Republican Energy $2000000

Ansary, Hushang Houston Stewart & Stevenson Former Iran ambassador to US; chairman of oil and gas equipment firm Stewart & Stevenson LLC; chairman of Parman Capital Group LLC Republican Energy $2000000

Duchossois, Janet J. Oak Brook Duchossois Group Wife of CEO who runs an automatic door/gate company and investment firm Republican Various $1835000

Epstein, Mark Potomac Qualcomm Inc Qualcomm executive,funded wife's unsuccessful campaign for House Republican Technology $1800000

Hostetter, Amos B. Jr. & Barbara Boston Pilot House Assoc/Barr Foundation founder of Continental Cablevision Republican Media/Publishing $1750000

Soros, Andrea New York Trace Foundation Daughter of George Soros Democratic Inheritance $1750000

Bacon, Louis Moore New York Moore Capital Management Hedge fund manager; Founder of Moore Capital Management Democratic Finance $1750000

Lauder, Ronald S. New York Estee Lauder Companies Heir to Estee Lauder companies Republican Consumer Goods $1675000

Fish, John F. Boston Suffolk Construction CEO of Boston construction firm Democratic Real estate/Construction $1640000

Wright, Karen A. Mt. Vernon Ariel Corp CEO of Ariel Corp., a maker of natural gas compressors Republican Energy $1620000

Schuler, Stephen G. Oak Park Wicklow Capital High-speed trader; board member of marijuana company Democratic Finance $1560017

Spielberg, Steven Los Angeles DreamWorks SKG Film director Democratic Media/Publishing $1510000

Angelos, Peter G. Baltimore Angelos Law Offices Trial lawyer and owner of Baltimore Orioles Democratic Law $1500000

Fertitta, Frank J. III Las Vegas Station Casinos Casino/Ultimate Fighting Championship billionaire Republican Gambling $1500000

Fertitta, Lorenzo J. Las Vegas Zuffa LLC Casino/Ultimate Fighting Championship billionaire Republican Gambling $1500000

Headley, Mark San Francisco Matthews International Capital Management Portfolio manager; chairman of Matthews International Capital Management LLC. Democratic Finance $1435000

Shaw, David E. New York DE Shaw Research Hedge fund founder Democratic Finance $1400000

Bonderman, David Fort Worth TPG Capital Founder of private equity firm Democratic Finance $1372500

Mandel, Stephen Frank Jr. & Susan Z. Greenwich Lone Pine Capital Hedge fund manager Democratic Finance $1358333

Rowling, Robert B. Dallas TRT Holdings Founder of holding company that owns, Omni Hotels, Golds Gym, oil and gas, other investments Republican Various $1325000

Chazen, Stephen Bellaire Occidental Petroleum Former CEO of Occidental Petroleum Republican Energy $1290000

Sonnenfeldt, Mark New York Muus & Co Founder of investment club for wealthy investors, alternative energy investor Democratic Finance $1250000

Sacks, Michael J. & Cari Highland Park Grosvenor Capital Management CEO of investment advisory firm Democratic Finance $1215000

Reinsdorf, Jerry Chicago Chicago White Sox Owner of Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox, real estate lawyer and investor Democratic Real estate/Construction $1200000

Hull, Megan Washington Consultant Daughter of Wall Street trader Blair Hull Democratic Inheritance $1196500

Reyes, J Christopher West Palm Beach Reyes Holdings Co-chairman of food and beer distributor Reyes Holdings Republican Industrial Supply/Distribution $1165000

Stavis, Robert Larchmont Bessemer Venture Partners Venture capitalist Democratic Finance $1160000

Deason, Darwin A. Dallas Affiliated Computer Services Founder of IT outsourcing firm Republican Technology $1150000

Reyes, M. Jude West Palm Beach Reyes Holdings Co-chairman of food and beer distributor Reyes Holdings Republican Industrial Supply/Distribution $1140000

Earhart, Anne G. Corona Del Mar Investor Granddaughter of oil baron J. Paul Getty Democratic Energy $1125000

Hayden, Marilyn J. Barrington Retired Wife of former CEO of food packaging firm Peacock Engineering Republican Industrial Supply/Distribution $1111500

Hale, Robert & Karen Hingham Granite Telecommunications Founder of telecommunications firm Democratic Technology $1109600

Mary Moriarty Chatham Retired Wife of investment executive Donald Moriarty, who died in 2009 Republican Inheritance $1100000

Thiel, Peter San Francisco Thiel Capital Co-founder of Paypal and Palantir technologies Republican Technology $1100000

Hillman, Tatnall Lea & Roberta W. Chilmark Retired Son of John Hartwell Hillman Jr, an energy and steel billionaire Republican Energy $1092570

Pritzker, Susan San Francisco Tao Capital Partners Wife of bilionaire Nicholas Pritzker, member of Pritzker family, which started the Hyatt hotel chain Democratic Real estate/Construction $1055000

McInerney, Thomas E. Westport Bluff Point Assoc CEO of Conn. private equity firm Republican Finance $1050000

Stephens, Jackson T. Jr. Little Rock Exoxemis Inc Son of investment firm founder; founder of biotech firm Republican Inheritance $1050000

Loeb, Daniel S. New York Third Point LLC Hedge fund founder Republican Finance $1030000

Gilliam, Richard B. Keswick Cumberland Resources Founder of coal company Republican Energy $1025000

Herro, David G. Chicago Harris Assoc Investment manager Republican Finance $1025000

Showing 1 to 100 of 100 entries

Topics

Making Government Work: Corporate Influence in Government

Protecting Democracy: Money in Politics

https://www.alternet.org/2021/10:{/joe-manchin:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:-2655328156/

1020 open secrets

~ trump

Big-money groups backed primarily by billionaire donors are unleashing an unprecedented amount of outside money into key races.

Outside spending has already surpassed $2 billion, smashing the outside spending record set in the 2016 election with two weeks to go before Election Day. That’s according to OpenSecrets’ outside spending tracker, which follows efforts by super PACs, political parties and “dark money” nonprofits, among other groups, to influence elections.

The 2020 election will be the most expensive ever by a large margin, and no election has ever seen anywhere near this amount of outside money. The bulk of that outside spending — $1.7 billion — comes from super PACs and hybrid PACs, groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money independently of campaigns thanks to the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.

**Read More**

https://www.issueone.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-outside-spending.pdf

...

s Democrats and Republicans battled for dominance in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2018, super PACs and dark money groups collectively outspent the candidates’ own campaigns in a recordbreaking 16 races, according to data provided to Issue One by the Center for Responsive Politics. Control of the House and Senate for the next two years was determined by a small number of elections in 2018.

Super PACs and dark money groups focused most of their spending in these races. Democrats needed a net gain of 23 seats to win a majority in the House and a net gain of two seats to win control of the Senate. Democrats ultimately flipped the House, but Republicans added one seat to their majority in the Senate. The new data shows that candidates were outspent by outside groups in seven Senate races and nine House races.

This amounted to more than half of the 13 competitive Senate contests and about 10 percent of the House races ranked as competitive by the Cook Political Report.Non-candidate, non-party groups have now outspent candidates in 48 congressional races since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, with one-third of that total occurring in 2018.

This phenomenon occurred 11 times in 2016, and only once in 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. “When outside groups are spending more than candidates are on their own campaigns, we’re in the danger zone,” said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. “This is especially troubling because so much of this money purchases negative TV ads. A political system this broken means that fewer people consider running for office, good leaders retire early, and those who continue serving frequently spend too much of their time raising money. This startling development should worry Democrats, Republican

...

[graf]

Added Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee: “While raising the most money doesn’t necessarily guarantee victory on Election night, no candidate wants to be outspent by outside groups and lose control of the messaging in their own campaign.” Both Democrats and Republicans Have Embraced Big-Money Outside Groups Spending by super PACs and dark money organizations has been on the rise in recent years, with both Democrats and Republicans embracing big-money outside groups in an ever-escalating political arms race. In fact, super PACs and dark money groups close to party leaders on both sides of the aisle played crucial roles in the 2018 spending frenzy that led to candidates being outgunned in so many races.

These groups included super PACs such as the Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund as well as the Democrat-aligned House Majority PAC and Senate Majority PAC. They also included dark money groups such as Majority Forward and Patriot Majority USA, which were major drivers of the unprecedented surge of Democratic dark money in 2018.

Other big spenders in many of these races included Independence USA PAC, the super PAC bankrolled by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the National Rifle Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Notably, Patriot Majority USA, the National Rifle Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce all rank among the top 15 dark money groups since the Citizens United decision, according to an Issue One analysis published in September. By law, candidates are capped in how much money they can raise from any single individual donor — $2,700 per person per election, with the primary and general election counting as separate elections. Meanwhile, super PACs and dark money organizations may collect unlimited sums from donors. (Like candidates, super PACs are required to disclose their donors, while dark money groups are generally not required to publicly reveal their funders.) In its 2010 Citizens United decision, the Supreme Court allowed corporations — including dark money groups organized as 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) nonprofit corporations — to spend without limit on political advertisements that overtly call for the election or defeat of federal candidates. These advertising expenditures cannot be coordinated with political candidates themselves, although candidates and their advisers may help these groups raise money without running afoul of laws that prohibit them from coordinating. A separate federal court ruling in 2010 called SpeechNow v. Federal Election Commission allowed political committees that spend money independently of candidates to accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, and labor unions to produce ads — which ushered in the super PAC era.

https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/historically-rich-people-have-fought-to-stop-politicians-like-sanders-making-his-rise-all-the-more-unlikely/

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/02/who-is-funding-the-anti-bernie-sanders-super-pac/

Several outside groups are trying to slow the momentum of current Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) by spending millions on ad buys, as he continues to dominate the polls.

The campaign against Sanders originated with hybrid PAC Democratic Majority for Israel, a pro-Israel moderate group, that spent over $1.4 million against Sanders. The group spent over $800,000 running ads against the frontrunning Democratic presidential candidate in Iowa and it’s spending $600,000 in Nevada, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission. ...

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/12/each-of-the-five-most-expensive-house-races-ever-took-place-in-2018

5 record house races

...

PACs, particularly in contested toss-up races.

Excluding special elections, each of the five highest-spending House races ever — including money spent by candidates and outside groups — were held this cycle. Four of those five races were rated as toss-ups. [graf]

With nearly $37 million spent in total, the battle for the open seat in **California’s 39th District** takes the cake for the most expensive non-special election House race ever.

Winning Democrat Gil Cisneros, a Navy war veteran and Mega Millions lottery winner, poured more than $9 million of his own money into his campaign and raised $2.8 million.

The Paul Ryan-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) made Cisneros its top target during the general election, buying $6.2 million in ads — including several roughly-$1 million ad buys in October — attacking the Democrat.

Deciding that the best defense is a good offense, the Nancy Pelosi-aligned House Majority PAC (HMP) spent $2.8 million in negative media buys against Republican Young Kim, most of which came during the same time as CLF’s spending spree. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) dropped another $2 million into the race to help Cisneros.

In **California’s 48th District**, losing incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was on the wrong side of $11 million in outside spending, the most in opposition spending of any non-special election House candidate in U.S. history. The 15-term congressman endured attacks from almost every major liberal super PAC in existence, these ads focused particularly on his denial of climate change and his frequent trips to Russia.

Among the environmental-focused super PACs,**Independence USA** spent a race-high $4.5 million in attack ads against Rohrabacher.

Worried about the prospects of a two-Republican race in California’s top-two system and eager to face off with the unpopular Rohrabacher, mainstream liberal groups had it out for Republican primary challenger Scott Baugh. The DCCC spent $1.7 million opposing Baugh and HMP added $833,856.

Victorious Democrat Harley Rouda got just 17.3 percent of the vote during the primary — 125 votes more than fellow Democrat Hans Keirstead — but received 52.9 percent in the general election. He raised nearly $8 million to Rohrabacher’s $2.7 million.

In another toss-up race won by the Democrat, **Washington’s 8th District** race drew nearly $19 million in outside spending. Seven outside groups spent $1 million or more.

Democratic Rep-elect Kim Schrier was aided by $12 million in outside spending and outraised Republican Dino Rossi $8.1 million to $4.8 million.

**New York’s 19th District**race was yet another example of a cash-flush Democrat beating an incumbent Republican in a toss-up battle. Rep.-elect Antonio Delgado raised more than $9 million to Republican Rep. John Faso’s $3.9 million.

Like in each race mentioned above, CLF spent roughly $4 million or more in unsuccessful attack ads against the Democrat.

**Pennsylvania’s 1st District** was one of the few toss-up House races where CLF and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spent heavily and saw their Republican candidate win. The NRCC had by far the worst win rate of any major outside group this cycle.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick barely fended off a challenge from Philadelphia multi-millionaire Scott Wallace, who self-financed his campaignto the tune of $12.8 million.

Just missing the cut, this cycle’s California 25th District race comes in sixth all-time for total spending at $30.7 million. Democratic winner Katie Hill raised more than $8 million and was aided by more than $12 million in outside spending.

The previous record holder was Florida’s 18th District race in 2012, where $29.6 million was spent in total. Incumbent Republican Rep. Allen West lost the race by a razor-thin margin, despite raising a stunning $19.4 million.

mike davis

....

The Republican down-ticket in 2016, from Senate incumbents to state representatives and judges, ironically benefited greatly from Trump’s poor backing from the Kochs and other conservative mega-donors who switched funding from the presidential race to preserving control of Congress. For the first time super-PACs spent more on the Senate races than the presidential campaign. Trump, whom the New York Times estimated received $2 billion of free publicity from the media, was little affected, but the huge injection of dark money into state races was revolutionary.

More than three-quarters of Senate campaign funding came from out-of-state sources in 2016 and “just three groups, One Nation [Adelson], the Koch network’s Americans for Prosperity, and the US Chamber of Commerce, account[ed] for 67 per cent in dark money spending.” The result, according to some political scientists, has been the “nationalization” of state politics. “As a result of the growing connection between presidential and state elections the once clear divide between state politics and national politics has largely disappeared in most of the country.” Thus for the first time in history, “there were no split votes in 2016 between Senate candidates and presidential contenders; the thirty-four states with Senate contests all voted the same party for both offices.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/koch-and-adelson-come-to-the-rescue-of-trump-devotee-ron-desantis-in-florida/

:{Sludge:(style="box-sizing:border-box;transition-duration:0.2s;transition-property:background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform;transition-timing-function:linear"):}:, an investigative money-in-politics website. Visit :{readsludge.com:(style="box-sizing:border-box;transition-duration:0.2s;transition-property:background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform;transition-timing-function:linear"):}: to subscribe to its weekly newsletter.

Charles Koch, the billionaire CEO of Koch Industries who leads a vast, conservative political network, has made a habit of pointing out his disagreements with President Donald Trump, but sometimes money speaks louder than words.

Despite Republican Ron DeSantis’ fawning praise of Trump, whose trade tariffs and immigration policies have made Koch bristle, Koch’s political network is spending big to help the current congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate edge out Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum. The progressive policies championed by Gillum would surely increase environmental regulations and government spending, two initiatives that Koch and his network of wealthy rightwing donors viciously oppose.

Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam—the biggest donors to outside political spending groups of the 2018 election cycle—have put up big bucks to assist DeSantis as well.

A Sludge analysis of state campaign finance data shows that these two GOP royal families have poured millions of dollars into this tight gubernatorial contest. In addition to direct contributions to DeSantis’ political committees from Koch Industries and the Adelsons, three independent spending groups financed by Koch and his donor network have spent millions of dollars backing DeSantis.

Koch Industries, which operates a global oil, chemicals and materials conglomerate, has several facilities in Florida, including for its paper company, Georgia-Pacific, and its synthetic materials business, Molex. Georgia-Pacific has been fined for dozens of environmental and workplace safety/health violations, as recently as 2017, and Molex was cited in 2012 for workplace safety/health violations, according to Good Jobs First. Overall, Koch Industries has had to pay $737 million for federal and state violations.

In the early 2000s, according to American Bridge, Koch Industries used the Koch political network’s ties to then-Gov. Jeb Bush to loosen environmental regulations just as Koch Industries purchased Georgia-Pacific, which operates waste pipelines that run through Florida and may have contributed to algae blooms in state rivers.

Gillum is running to “transition Florida to clean energy as rapidly as possible” and to crack down on “corporate polluters,” goals that would hurt Koch Industries’ bottom line.

For the Adelsons, uncritical support for Israel and its current government is their top issue, and DeSantis has been a leading booster of the Trump brand of Middle East diplomacy. Absent any proof, DeSantis has called Gillum an anti-Semite.DeSantis recently claimed that if elected, he would be the most pro-Israel governor in the country.

The Koch Groups

DeSantis is about as pro-Trump as you can get. His campaign’s first this year featured DeSantis, a self-proclaimed “pitbull Trump defender,” teaching his daughter to “build that wall” and to say, “Make America Great Again.”

In January 2016 DeSantis attended the Koch network’s invitation-only donor summit at a luxury resort in Indian Wells, Calif.. At these semi-annual gatherings, Koch and other rightwing billionaires and multi-millionaires get together to talk political spending strategy. Operatives invite various Republican candidates to audition before the donors of the Koch network.

It appears DeSantis passed the test, and even played golf with Koch at another donor summit in Colorado in June 2017.

A few months later, Americans for Prosperity’s Florida branch featured DeSantis at three events concerning tax cut legislation, which Congress passed in December to the Koch network’s delight.

In July 2018, Koch network super PAC Freedom Partners Action Fund (FPAF)endorsed DeSantis, giving him a big boost in the Republican primary where polls had him behind the frontrunner. Since then, FPAF, which is linked to Koch’s trade group and “central bank” of the Koch political network, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, has spent $323,000 on mailers and digital ads supporting DeSantis.

FPAF recently released information on its 2018 third-quarter federal donors, including Charles Koch ($3 million) and Koch network donors Dick DeVos ($1 million) and Darwin Deason ($1 million), but its list of donors submitted to the Florida Division of Elections is extremely thin, amounting to only $25,000.

Another Koch super PAC popped up in September, this time tied to the Koch-backed social welfare nonprofit Americans for Prosperity.Americans for Prosperity Action, funded by FPAF ($5 million) and individuals such as Mountaire Corporation CEO Ronnie Cameron ($1 million) and private equity executive Wayne Laufer ($500,00), announced a digital ad and mailer campaign attacking Gillum, but no AFP Action documents appear on the Florida Division of Elections website. An AFP Action spokesperson told Sludge that the organization has spent $316,000 in the governor’s race. The committee had filed its registration papers weeks ago and that the Division of Elections was wrapping up the application process on Oct. 18.

Republican Governors Association

Both the Adelsons and Koch Industries have bankrolled the Republican Governors Association, a 527 political committee that spends on gubernatorial races around the country, this cycle. The Adelsons combined to donate $4 million to the RGA, while Koch Industries added $1 million, according to the group’s latest IRS filing.

The RGA created a Florida-based spending group, Florida Facts, and has donated $7.4 million to it so far. Florida Facts has spent nearly all of that total on TV ads attacking Gillum, including one that portrays him as a “radical, far-left” candidate and depicts him as an alien planet.

DeSantis PACs

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated $6,000 directly to the DeSantis campaign, but gave far more to an affiliated political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, which can accept unlimited amounts of money. Giving to Friends of Ron DeSantis are GOP megadonors who make up his campaign’s formidable Finance Leadership Team, including the Adelsons, who gave half a million dollars. Also on the team are current and former Koch network donors such as Foster Freiss ($10,000), Wayne Laufer ($75,000), Rebekah Mercer ($25,000) and Richard Uihlein ($500,000). The family of Education Sec. Betsy DeVos gave $200,000, including $50,000 from her husband, Dick. Koch network donor John Childs, a private equity executive, donated $600,000, and Ronnie Cameron gave $100,000. The Republican Governors Association also gave $1 million to the PAC.

Friends of Ron DeSantis also took in nearly $2.5 million from another committee, Fund for Florida’s Future, which is financed by several Koch network donors, including members of the Texas fracking billionaire Darwin Deason ($25,000) and his son, Doug ($10,000)—who are also on the leadership team—Laufer ($25,000) and Uihlein ($250,000), as well as other big donors, such as Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus ($250,000).

Gillum wants to end Florida’s school voucher program,which offers public scholarships for students to attend private and often religious schools. DeVos and her family are huge proponents of school vouchers, as well as school choice, and DeSantis’ proposal to expand “school choice” would certainly appeal to them.

DeSantis was able to transfer funds from his U.S. House campaign and his federal leadership PAC to Friends of Ron DeSantis. Koch Industries’ PAC donated $5,000 to DeSantis’ House campaign, which has transferred $1.1 million to Friends of Ron DeSantis. KochPACalso gave $5,000 to DeSantis’ leadership PAC, First Principles Fund, which later transferred $50,000 to Friends of Ron DeSantis.

Gillum has a billionaire benefactor, too. Liberal hedge fund manager Tom Steyer kicked in $2 million to Gillum’s Forward Florida PAC, and his NextGen America political nonprofit will reportedly spend $5 million to help Gillum’s bid for governor.

So far DeSantis’ campaign committee has raised roughly $12.3 million and spent close to $6.6 million, while Gillum’s campaign has received $13.4 million and spent roughly $9.6 million. But Friends of Ron DeSantis has gotten nearly $32 million in donations and spent almost all of that amount. Gillum’s Forward Florida has raised roughly $19.3 million since its inception in 2016 and has spent $16.6 million.

Additional Koch Ties

At least one member of DeSantis’ campaign team has worked for Koch-funded initiatives in the past. Communications strategist Sarah Bascom joined DeSantis’ campaign communications team in late September. In 2016, Bascom was the spokesperson for an anti-solar energy ballot measure campaign in Florida that was partially bankrolled by the Koch-backed political group 60 Plus Association.

The DeSantis and Gillum campaigns did not return requests for comment.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/05/nonprofits-backing-trump-have-deep-swampy-ties/

Outside groups mobilizing in support of President Trump have already spent tens of millions on his behalf—and may never have to reveal where they got the money.

Trump’s unprecedented move to register as a candidate for the 2020 presidential election on his first day in office blurs the line between groups spending in support of the president’s agenda and those supporting his re-election. Unlike their forerunner, Organizing for Action, which did not exist as a 501(c)(4) until after President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012, political nonprofits have been active since the onset of President Trump’s first term as he’s taken on the roles of both candidate and president.

:{:{Groups like the 45 Committee that were established during the 2016 election have spent multiple millions of dollars on ad campaigns during Trump’s first 100 days in office.}: Trump’s supporters also include new names like Great America Alliance and Making America Great, whose operations and funding sources are still largely opaque though they’ve spent plenty backing Trump; they will not have to file reports with the IRS until next year, and even then won’t have to publicly name their donors — just some of the benefits of the 501(c) tax status.

The nonprofits have publicly jostled to be the Trumpian counterpart to Obama’s OFA; but these groups have much more in common with each other—and the “swamp” of political insiders his campaign promised to “drain”—than initially meets the eye.

For instance, despite holding itself out as a “new” nonprofit launched to support President Trump’s agenda, records show Great America Alliance is actually a refurbished 501(c)(4) that has been around since 2013. An IRS Exempt Organizations Division official confirmed that Great America Alliance was once known as the American Dream Initiative (ADI),a politically active nonprofit with a history of spending undisclosed “dark money” in politics under the guise of issue advocacy.

A page from Rove’s playbook

Great America Alliance is not the first politically active nonprofit crafted from the carcass of another group. Notably, the operatives behind dark money behemoth Crossroads GPS appropriated an existing 501(c)(4) and rebranded it: It’s now One Nation. Tax lawyers have speculated that this strategy can expedite the IRS approval process for tax-exempt status, which took Crossroads GPS over five years.

ADI’s Form 990 from 2014 shows the group paid over $500,000—more than 83% of its total spending in 2014, though it’s supposed to spend less than half its funds on political activities—to OnMessage Inc. for “media buy and production” of anad attacking a candidate for Texas attorney general that ran just before a runoff election in that race. OnMessage was paid by over 40 political campaigns, outside groups, and party committees supporting conservative candidates or agendas in each of the last three election cycles. However, only two other nonprofit organizations in the Center for Responsive Politics’ comprehensive database of 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, 501(c)(5) labor unions, and 501(c)(6) trade groups filing tax returns with the IRS in recent years reported paying OnMessage Inc: the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee in 2011 and American Future Fund in 2010, which also came under scrutinyfor skirting restrictions on political spending.

ADI reported no political activity to the IRS in 2014 and only an unusual $1 political contribution the following year to “Grassroots Victory” with an address at the same location as ADI itself. In 2016, the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed both a federal criminal complaint and an IRS complaint against ADI and 10 other “social welfare” groups; CREW called for the FBI to investigate whether the groups violated their nonprofit status by acting as political organizations or significantly underreporting their political activity.

After the Texas attorney general race in 2014, ADI appeared to go dormant. Then it got a fresh coat of paint in 2016 for its quiet rollout as Great America Alliance.

Fresh faces, new scandals

In late January 2017, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced their “newly-formed” political nonprofit devoted to promoting President Donald Trump’s agenda: Great America Alliance. Two Republican political operatives who are now in charge of the group, Ed Rollins and Eric Beach, as well as its executive director, Dan Backer, also ran a super PAC supporting Trump in the 2016 presidential race called Great America PAC:{. Great America PAC raised and spent millions in the last election cycle—but also became embroiled in several controversies.

Thesuper PAC mistakenly published emails and cell phone numbers ofhundreds of donors, became caught up in a fundraising scandalfor attempting to funnel money from a foreign donor into the U.S. presidential election, and parted ways with a political operative convicted of falsifying campaign records in a prior election. Blasted as a “big-league scam,” Great America PAC was accused by many of being a scam PAC. Nevertheless, the group raised over $28 million during the 2016 cycle and spent over $26 million. Great America PAC paid more than $4 million to Beach’s firm, Frontline Strategies and Media, making the PAC the firm’s top-paying client that cycle.

In 2014, ADI reported raising $600,000 from a fundraising campaign using in-person solicitation conducted by Frontline. The same year, ADI received $250,000 from Judicial Crisis Network:{:{ and $350,000 from Wellspring. }:Frontline Strategy’s $600,000 fundraising push—which matches the total amount donated by the Wellspring and Judicial Crisis Network—accounts for more than 90% of ADI’s revenue of $652,829 in 2014.

Secret swamp connections

Great America Alliance is in good company with other 501(c)(4) nonprofits mobilizing for Trump’s agenda that also have financial ties to “dark money” groups that have gained notoriety over the years. Wellspring has bankrolled other groups with deep connections to the Trump administration as well, funneling $750,000 to 45 Committee and $100,000 to “AR2 Inc.,” the 501(c)(4) arm of the GOP “America Rising” network of opposition research groups. Although the groups appear to be disjointed and often even in competition with each other, the network of politically active nonprofits supporting Trump’s agenda share common vendors, staff, consultants, and funding sources.

Much of this can be traced to two influential families of mega-donors: the Ricketts and the Mercers. Beyond just the money they bring to the table, members of each family have taken strategic roles in nonprofits as well as firms those groups hire.

Todd Ricketts, who recently withdrew from consideration to be deputy secretary of Commerce due to the difficulty of disentangling himself from his business interests, has been a key player in “dark money” operations for years. In 2012, he took over a 501(c)(4) nonprofit called Ending Spending as well as its super PAC arm, ESA Fund, formerly Ending Spending Action Fund, which were started by his father and fellow mega-donor Joe Ricketts. The super PAC spent more than $15 million in the 2016 cycle, and Ending Spending itself reported spending over $2.6 million. Because Ending Spending ran “issue” ads that most of the time need not be reported to the FEC despite being almost indistinguishable from direct advocacy, the total amount spent remains unknown but is likely much higher. Its donors may never be known.

The Ricketts also helmed the 45Committee and Future45, which spent over $40 million in the 2016 election.45Committee, another 501(c)(4), has continued spending to praise Trump’s nominees and policies, and has invested in other federal:{races:(style="box-sizing:inherit;max-height:1e+06px"):}:. The family’s flip to support Trump has been startling: During his campaign, Trump threatened to expose the Ricketts’ family secrets after Joe and Marlene Ricketts gave more than $5.5 million to Our Principles PAC, which opposed Trump.

Unlike the Ricketts, the Mercers kept a lower profile—until recently. Robert Mercer and his wife Diane are in the top 20 individual donors at the federal political level, which the Ricketts are as well. However, the Mercers’ contribution patterns:{:{ are more line with their reported rejection of the GOP establishment.}:

Although the Mercers originally spent millions backing Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, when Cruz suspended his campaign they quickly directed their super PAC to support Trump, becoming among the first major donors on the “Trump train.” Ultimately they spent around $20 million on behalf of Trump. The Mercers also leveraged the power of Cambridge Analytica:{, a firm that uses secret psychological methods to more effectively influence voters, to help the Republican nominee. The Mercers are investors in the firm.

After the election, Robert Mercer’s daughter Rebekah joined forces with top Trump campaign advisers to form America First Policies. But a power struggle followed the emergence of more pro-Trump nonprofit groups in the unstable ecosystem, leading Rebekah Mercer to leave:{ America First Policies for another new pro-Trump nonprofit called Making America Great. There she joins ally David Bossie, whom she helped elevate to become Trump’s deputy campaign manager last year.

:{As alliances continue to shift between factions, this tangled web of groups churning money from secret donors into the pockets of consultants doesn’t appear to be draining the swamp. Seems more like everyone’s dived in.

Outside spending against Democratic senators in states Trump won in 2016	Outside spending against Democratic senators in states Trump won in 2016	Outside spending against Democratic senators in states Trump won in 2016
State	Senator	Spending Against
Wisconsin	Tammy Baldwin	$3,065,342
West Virginia	Joe Manchin	$46,801
Missouri	Claire McCaskill	$42,416
North Dakota	Heidi Heitkamp	$30,656
Indiana	Joe Donnelly	$23,008
Michigan	Debbie Stabenow	$9,377
Ohio	Sherrod Brown	$9,013
Pennsylvania	Bob Casey	$1,513
Montana	Jon Tester	$1,056
Florida	Bill Nelson	$0
	Total	$3,229,182

The price of winning just got higher, especially in the Senate

This election cycle, an average winning Senate candidate had spent $10.4 million through Oct. 19 (reflecting the latest reports filed with the Federal Election Commission). That’s a :{$1.8 million increase:(style="-webkit-padding-start:0px"):}: over the same period in the 2014 cycle. By the end of last cycle, the number rose to $10.6 million, and a similar uptick is expected this time once post-election and year-end reports are filed.

Setting a new record and driving much of the :{higher cost:(style="-webkit-padding-start:0px"):}: of this year’s elections over 2012’s, outside groups that weren’t formally connected to either political party broke $1.4 billion in outlays in the 2016 cycle. That’s :{up from the $1 billion:(style="-webkit-padding-start:0px"):}: these groups — mostly super PACs and 501(c) organizations — spent in 2012, and way up from the $338 million spent in 2008.

2016

The term "outside spending" refers to political expenditures made by groups or individuals independently of, and not coordinated with, candidates' committees. Groups in this category range from conventional party committees to the more controversial super PACs and 501(c) "dark money" organizations.

816

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/08/outside-groups-dominating-senate-contests-this-cycle-report-finds/

Outside groups have aired almost half of all political ads for Senate races this election cycle, an all-time high at 49 percent. Entities not associated with campaigns – such as PACs, super PACs and political nonprofits – are especially dominating the competitive contests, sponsoring more than 80 percent of ads in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, according to an analysis released Wednesday by theWesleyan Media Project and the Center for Responsive Politics.

“With the presidential election garnering so much of the media and the public’s attention, the real ad fight is in down-ballot races,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. “And what we’re seeing there, especially in Senate contests, is that dark money groups are buying tens of thousands of ads – and they’re doing so without any donor disclosure and, often, without even reporting their spending to the FEC.”...

Here at OpenSecrets.org, we provide breakdowns of data reported by outside spending groups to the Federal Election Commission (see menu at left). We have a separate section devoted to dark money groups – politically active nonprofits that aren't required to publicly disclose their donors, unlike virtually every other organization spending money to affect the outcomes of federal elections. Through a dedicated project, we have dug up data on the donors of more than $1 billion – and counting – since 2008.

https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/

The outside spending landscape is in constant flux. In 2002, Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act -- commonly referred to as McCain-Feingold -- which set limits on "soft money" contributions and banned special interest groups from making issue ads. But in the years that followed, federal court decisions, including Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC, Citizens United v. FEC and Speechnow.org v. FEC have dismantled or eroded parts of the law, giving rise to super PACs and "dark money" organizations -- politically active nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors. These organizations alone spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent elections and almost never revealed where their money was coming from.

neg ads

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/12/03/18903/where-do-ads-shaping-state-politics-come-increasingly-these-outside-players

2015

Learn more about six other national groups playing in the 2015 races:

The Republican Attorneys General Association, a national organization looking to fill every attorney general seat with a Republican, spent $1.1 million on ads in Kentucky’s race. Its major donors over the past 13 years include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, businessman Sheldon Adelson and the conservative Judicial Crisis Network. Democratic corporate attorney Andy Beshear beat out Republican Whitney Westerfield, despite the group’s support.

The Republican State Leadership Committee, a tax-exempt group looking to fill state-level offices with Republicans, spent an estimated $988,000 on ads about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court race, losing all three races to Democrats. Its top donors include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the conservative legal group American Justice Partnership and tobacco company Reynolds American.

The Public Integrity Alliance, a nonprofit that can keep its donors hidden, entered the attorneys general races in Louisiana and Mississippi, spending an estimated $213,000 combined airing TV ads targeting Republican Buddy Caldwell and Democrat Jim Hood. Caldwell lost his race, while Hood won. This group based in Arizona played in the 2014 Arizona attorney general primary and expanded its efforts after unnamed activists asked for help, according to its president, Tyler Montague.

The Center for Individual Freedom spent more than $748,000 on ads attacking Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell during his fight to hold his position. Caldwell lost to former U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry in an all-Republican runoff. Tobacco executives formed the Virginia-based nonprofit more than 15 years ago to combat government smoking restrictions. The nonprofit, which does not need to disclose its donors, has generally backed conservative candidates across the country, airing ads in the 2014 contests for Arkansas attorney general and Michigan Supreme Court.

The Humane Society Legislative Fund, the lobbying arm of the animal rights protection group, supported Vitter in the Louisiana governor’s race by buying an estimated $116,000 worth of ads.

The Bluegrass Action Fund backed unsuccessful Republican Hal Heiner for the Kentucky governorship, spending an estimated $233,000 on campaign ads. About a third of its donations came from the nonprofit Citizens for a Sound Government based in Lakewood, Colorado, which does not disclose its donors. Its chairman is Alan Philp, the COO of Aegis Strategic, a group funded by David and Charles Koch.

2014

this refers to out of state spending, where presumably the donor has no personal stake, so done for ideological/strategic reasons eg Koch on school bd

however:

The term "outside spending" refers to political expenditures made by groups or individuals independently of, and not coordinated with, candidates' committees. Groups in this category range from conventional party committees to the more controversial super PACs and 501(c) "dark money" organizations. cfhttp://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/

6/16 INDIV

1	Mercer, Robert L. Renaissance Technologies East Setauket, NY	$16,665,000	$15,540,000	$0	100%	0%
2	Steyer, Thomas Next Generation San Francisco, CA	$13,044,744	$0	$13,044,744	0%	100%
3	Singer, Paul E. Elliott Management New York, NY	$10,469,673	$10,369,673	$0	100%	0%
4	Wilks, Farris C. & Jo Ann Wilks Brothers Cisco, TX	$10,125,000	$10,125,000	$0	100%	0%
5	Neugebauer, Toby R. Caprock Partners Nashville, TN	$10,001,000	$10,001,000	$0	100%	0%
6	Uihlein, Richard Uline Inc Lake Forest, IL	$9,858,500	$7,482,500	$0	100%	0%
7	Simons, James H. & Marilyn Renaissance Technologies/Simons Fdtn New York, NY	$9,325,000	$25,000	$9,300,000	0%	100%
8	Cameron, Ronnie & Nina Mountaire Corp North Little Rock, AZ	$8,760,000	$8,510,000	$0	100%	0%
9	Griffin, Kenneth C. & Anne Dias Citadel Invest Group/Aragon Global Mgt Chicago, IL	$8,405,000	$8,205,000	$0	100%	0%
10	Soros, George Soros Fund Management New York, NY	$8,025,000	$0	$8,025,000	0%	100%
11	Ricketts, John Joe Hugo Enterprises Omaha, NE	$7,455,000	$7,455,000	$0	100%	0%
12	Braman, Norman Braman Motorcars Miami, FL	$7,200,000	$7,200,000	$0	100%	0%
13	Saban, Haim & Cheryl Saban Capital Group Los Angeles, CA	$7,000,000	$0	$7,000,000	0%	100%
14	Sussman, S. Donald Paloma Partners Greenwich, CT	$6,000,000	$0	$6,000,000	0%	100%
14	Cohen, Steven A. Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation Greenwich, CT	$6,000,000	$6,000,000	$0	100%	0%
16	Pritzker, James R. & Mary K. Pritzker Group Evanston, IL	$5,600,000	$0	$5,600,000	0%	100%
17	Bloomberg, Michael R. City of New York, NY New York, NY	$5,464,873	$0	$40,000	0%	100%
18	Wilks, Daniel & Staci Wilks Brothers Cisco, TX	$5,125,000	$5,125,000	$0	100%	0%
19	Stephens, Warren A. & Harriet C. Stephens Inc Little Rock, AR	$5,058,323	$4,758,323	$0	100%	0%
20	Ellison, Lawrence J. Oracle Corp Walnut Creek, CA	$5,000,000	$5,000,000	$0	100%	0%
21	Perenchio, A. Jerrold Chartwell Partners Los Angeles, CA	$4,727,127	$4,727,127	$0	100%	0%
22	McNair, Robert Houston Texans HOUSTON, TX	$4,100,000	$4,100,000	$0	100%	0%
23	Eychaner, Fred Newsweb Corp Chicago, IL	$4,050,000	$0	$4,050,000	0%	100%
24	Fernandez, Miguel B. MBF Healthcare Partners Coral Gables, FL	$3,470,520	$3,470,520	$0	100%	0%
25	Michael K. Vlock Investor Branford, CT	$3,250,000	$3,250,000	$0	100%	0%
26	Yass, Jeffrey S Susquehanna International Group Bala Cynwyd, PA	$3,150,000	$3,150,000	$0	100%	0%
27	Hendricks, Diane Ms Abc Supply Beloit, WI	$3,000,000	$3,000,000	$0	100%	0%
28	Sandler, Herbert M. Herb & Marion Sandler/Sandler Foundation San Francisco, CA	$2,500,000	$0	$2,500,000	0%	100%
29	Marcus, Bernard Marcus Foundation Atlanta, GA	$2,450,000	$2,450,000	$0	100%	0%
30	Klarman, Seth A. & Beth S. Baupost Group Chestnut Hill, MA	$2,430,000	$2,330,000	$0	100%	0%
31	Lessing, Stephen M. Sr. Barclays Capital New York, NY	$2,400,000	$2,400,000	$0	100%	0%
32	Woods, Laure L. Philanthropist Portola Valley, CA	$2,305,000	$0	$2,305,000	0%	100%
33	Asness, Clifford S. & Laurel E. AQR Capital Management Greenwich, CT	$2,300,000	$2,300,000	$0	100%	0%
34	Rees-Jones, Trevor D. Chief Oil & Gas Dallas, TX	$2,287,493	$2,287,493	$0	100%	0%
35	Oberndorf, William E Oberndorf Enterprises San Francisco, CA	$2,287,306	$2,287,306	$0	100%	0%
36	Faison, Jay W. Clear Path Foundation Charlotte, NC	$2,217,282	$197,282	$0	100%	0%
37	Julian H. Robertson Tiger Management Locust Valley, NY	$2,165,169	$1,665,169	$0	100%	0%
38	Macricostas, George RagingWire Enterprise Solutions Incline Village, NV	$2,100,000	$2,100,000	$0	100%	0%
39	Banister, Scott Angel Investor Half Moon Bay, CA	$2,068,000	$2,053,000	$0	100%	0%
40	Kinder, Richard D. & Nancy G. Kinder Morgan Inc Houston, TX	$2,054,329	$2,054,329	$0	100%	0%
41	Perlmutter, Laura Marvel Entertainment Lake Worth, FL	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$0	100%	0%
41	Theil, Peter Thiel Capital San Francisco, CA	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$0	100%	0%
41	Ansary, Hushang & Shahla Stewart & Stevenson Houston, TX	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$0	100%	0%
41	Abraham, S. Daniel Slim Fast West Palm Beach, FL	$2,000,000	$0	$2,000,000	0%	100%
41	Humphreys, David C. TAMKO Building Products Joplin, MO	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$0	100%	0%
41	Laufer, Henry B. & Marsha Z. Renaissance Technologies Lantana, FL	$2,000,000	$0	$2,000,000	0%	100%
47	Stryker, Jon Arcus Foundation New York, NY	$1,925,000	$0	$1,925,000	0%	100%
48	Lee, Barbara Barbara Lee Family Foundation Cambridge, MA	$1,846,904	$0	$1,696,904	0%	100%
49	Stryker, Patricia Bohemian Foundation Fort Collins, CO	$1,800,000	$0	$1,550,000	0%	100%
50	Shaw, David E. & Beth K. DE Shaw Research New York, NY	$1,550,000	$0	$1,550,000	0%	100%
51	Johnson, Charles B. Franklin Resources Palm Beach, FL	$1,530,000	$1,530,000	$0	100%	0%
52	Bouchard, Morton S. III Bouchard Transportation Melville, NY	$1,525,000	$1,525,000	$0	100%	0%
53	Warren, Kelcy L. Energy Transfer Partners Dallas, TX	$1,505,000	$1,505,000	$0	100%	0%
54	Schwartz, Bernard L. Loral Space & Communications New York, NY	$1,500,000	$0	$1,500,000	0%	100%
54	Schwab, Charles R. & Helen O. Charles Schwab & Co San Fransisco, CA	$1,500,000	$1,500,000	$0	100%	0%
56	Marcus, George M. Marcus & Millichap Palo Alto, CA	$1,350,000	$0	$1,350,000	0%	100%
56	Gilbert, Daniel Quicken Loans Detriot, MI	$1,350,000	$1,350,000	$0	100%	0%
58	Buckley, Walter W. Jr. Buckley Muething Capital Management Bethlehem, PA	$1,261,000	$1,261,000	$0	100%	0%
59	Silberstein, Stephen M. Retired Belvedere, CA	$1,250,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
59	Arnott, Robert D. Research Affiliates LLC Newport Beach, CA	$1,250,000	$1,250,000	$0	100%	0%
59	Day, Robert A. Jr. & Kelly TCW Group Los Angeles, CA	$1,250,000	$1,250,000	$0	100%	0%
62	Perelman, Ronald & Chapman, Anna MacAndrews & Forbes New York, NY	$1,200,000	$1,200,000	$0	100%	0%
62	Klein, Ben Platinum Health Care Skokie, IL	$1,200,000	$1,200,000	$0	100%	0%
64	McMahon, Vincent K. & Linda E. World Wrestling Entertainment Greenwich, CT	$1,170,000	$1,170,000	$0	100%	0%
65	Childs, John W. JW Childs Assoc Vero Beach, FL	$1,150,000	$800,000	$0	100%	0%
65	Kendrick, Earl G. Jr. & Randy P. Arizona Diamondbacks Paradise Valley, AZ	$1,150,000	$1,150,000	$0	100%	0%
65	Devos, Richard Sr. & Helen J. Amway/Alticor Inc Grand Rapids, MI	$1,150,000	$1,150,000	$0	100%	0%
65	Rosenthal, Richard H. Rosenthal Foundation Cincinnati, OH	$1,150,000	$0	$1,150,000	0%	100%
69	Gilliam, Richard B. Cumberland Resources Keswick, VA	$1,110,000	$1,110,000	$0	100%	0%
70	Katzenberg, Jeffrey DreamWorks Animation SKG Los Angeles, CA	$1,100,000	$0	$1,100,000	0%	100%
70	Spielberg, Steven DreamWorks SKG Los Angeles, CA	$1,100,000	$0	$1,100,000	0%	100%
70	Freeman, Bradford M. Freeman Spogli & Co Los Angeles, CA	$1,100,000	$1,100,000	$0	100%	0%
73	Druckenmiller Duquesne Family Office New York, NY	$1,070,375	$1,070,375	$0	100%	0%
74	Chouset, Gary Edison Chouest Offshore Galliano, LA	$1,025,000	$1,025,000	$0	100%	0%
75	Alger, Fred & Gale Retired Palm Beach, FL	$1,020,000	$1,020,000	$0	100%	0%
76	Hoffman, Alfred Jr. Hoffman Partners North Palm Beach, FL	$1,008,567	$1,008,567	$0	100%	0%
77	Herschend, Sharon J. Herschend Family Entertainment Branson, MO	$1,005,000	$1,005,000	$0	100%	0%
78	Stephenson, Thomas F. Sequoia Capital Atherton, CA	$1,004,677	$1,004,677	$0	100%	0%
79	Rodriguez, Raul Clinical Medical Services Inc Miami Lakes, FL	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Bacon, Louis Moore Moore Capital Management New York, NY	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Abrams, J.J. & McGrath, Kathleen Paramount Pictures/Producer Beverly Hills, CA	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
79	Wexner, Leslie H. L Brands Columbus, OH	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Foster, Paul L. Western Refining El Paso, TX	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Spencer, Mary M. Investor Key Biscayne, FL	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Fox, George J. Titan Advisors Stamford, CT	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Ross, Tara Writer Dallas, TX	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Tull, Thomas J. Legendary Pictures Load Angeles, CA	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
79	Atkins, Paul S. & Sarah TAMKO Building Products Arlington, VA	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
79	Mostyn, J. Steve & Anderson, Amber Mostyn Law Firm Houston, TX	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
90	Kovner, Bruce & Suzie Caxton Assoc New York, NY	$930,304	$930,304	$0	100%	0%
91	Marling, Robert E. Jr. & Kimberly Woodforest National Bank The Woodlands, TX	$870,000	$870,000	$0	100%	100%

Top Organizations + Employees Funding Outside Spending Groups

Rank	Donor	Total	To Conservs	To Liberals	% to Conservs	% to Liberals
1	Renaissance Technologies	$19,555,000	$16,030,000	$2,600,000	86%	14%
2	Fahr LLC/Tom Steyer	$17,044,744	$0	$17,044,744	0%	100%
3	Wilks Brothers	$15,250,000	$15,250,000	$0	100%	0%
4	Starr Companies	$15,110,000	$15,110,000	$0	100%	0%
5	Soros Fund Management	$12,410,500	$335,500	$9,075,000	4%	96%
6	Elliott Management	$11,470,673	$11,369,673	$0	100%	0%
7	Quantum Energy Partners	$11,001,000	$11,001,000	$0	100%	0%
8	Uline Inc	$10,858,500	$10,782,500	$0	100%	0%
9	Paloma Partners	$9,700,000	$0	$9,700,000	0%	100%
10	Euclidean Capital	$9,625,000	$25,000	$9,600,000	0%	100%
11	Carpenters & Joiners Union	$8,913,049	$250,000	$8,663,049	3%	97%
12	Mountaire Corp	$8,805,000	$8,555,000	$0	100%	0%
13	Stephens Inc	$8,775,000	$8,475,000	$0	100%	0%
14	Pritzker Group	$8,430,000	$530,000	$7,900,000	6%	94%
15	Citadel LLC	$8,400,000	$8,200,000	$0	100%	0%
16	Braman Motorcars	$7,300,000	$7,200,000	$100,000	99%	1%
17	Newsweb Corp	$7,050,000	$0	$7,050,000	0%	100%
18	Laborers Union	$6,883,149	$710,000	$6,148,129	10%	90%
19	Republican Governors Assn	$6,300,000	$6,300,000	$0	100%	0%
20	Point72 Asset Management	$6,077,000	$6,077,000	$0	100%	0%
21	Chicago Cubs	$5,855,000	$5,855,000	$0	100%	0%
22	Bloomberg Lp	$5,516,144	$5,000	$66,271	7%	93%
23	Saban Capital Group	$5,100,000	$0	$5,100,000	0%	100%
24	Oracle Corp	$5,028,473	$5,025,750	$2,000	100%	0%
25	Chartwell Partners	$4,805,209	$4,805,209	$0	100%	0%
26	National Nurses United	$4,546,930	$0	$4,546,930	0%	100%
27	Laurel Foundation	$4,492,750	$0	$4,492,500	0%	100%
28	Houston Texans	$4,200,000	$4,200,000	$0	100%	0%
29	AFL-CIO	$3,875,296	$0	$3,875,296	0%	100%
30	Access Industries	$3,600,000	$3,600,000	$0	100%	0%
31	Leon Medical Centers	$3,551,000	$3,551,000	$0	100%	0%
32	MBF Healthcare Partners	$3,480,520	$3,480,520	$0	100%	0%
33	National Assn of Realtors	$3,295,985	$5,203	$0	100%	0%
34	BLS Investments	$3,250,000	$0	$3,250,000	0%	100%
35	Susquehanna International Group	$3,150,000	$3,150,000	$0	100%	0%
36	Koch Industries	$3,050,000	$3,050,000	$0	100%	0%
37	Plumbers/Pipefitters Union	$3,032,637	$0	$2,768,054	0%	100%
38	Chevron Corp	$3,005,810	$3,005,285	$250	100%	0%
39	Center for Middle East Peace	$3,000,000	$0	$3,000,000	0%	100%
39	Hendricks Holding Co	$3,000,000	$3,000,000	$0	100%	0%
39	Herb & Marion Sandler/Sandler Foundation	$3,000,000	$0	$3,000,000	0%	100%
39	TAMKO Building Products	$3,000,000	$3,000,000	$0	100%	0%
43	National Education Assn	$2,873,209	$0	$2,872,209	0%	100%
44	Trusted Leadership Pac	$2,859,026	$2,859,026	$0	100%	0%
45	American Federation of Teachers	$2,851,568	$0	$2,851,568	0%	100%
46	Marcus Foundation	$2,850,000	$2,850,000	$0	100%	0%
47	Rooney Holdings	$2,733,413	$2,683,413	$0	100%	0%
48	Environment America	$2,600,000	$0	$2,600,000	0%	100%
48	Exoxemis Inc	$2,600,000	$2,600,000	$0	100%	0%
50	Depot Landmark LLC	$2,485,000	$0	$2,485,000	0%	100%
51	Hunt Companies	$2,478,314	$2,478,314	$0	100%	0%
52	Baupost Group	$2,460,000	$2,360,000	$0	100%	0%
53	Tiger Management	$2,350,169	$1,850,169	$0	100%	0%
54	Affiliated Managers Group	$2,315,000	$2,300,000	$0	100%	0%
55	DE Shaw Research	$2,300,000	$0	$2,300,000	0%	100%
56	Chief Oil & Gas	$2,287,493	$2,287,493	$0	100%	0%
57	Oberndorf Enterprises	$2,287,306	$2,287,306	$0	100%	0%
58	Dreamworks SKG	$2,220,000	$20,000	$2,200,000	1%	99%
59	ClearPath Foundation	$2,197,282	$197,282	$0	100%	0%
60	Barbara Lee Family Foundation	$2,196,904	$0	$2,196,904	0%	100%
61	United Steelworkers	$2,100,174	$0	$2,100,174	0%	100%
62	RagingWire Enterprise Solutions	$2,100,000	$2,100,000	$0	100%	0%
63	Bohemian Foundation	$2,050,000	$0	$2,050,000	0%	100%
64	Walt Disney Co	$2,006,600	$2,000,700	$600	100%	0%
65	Stewart & Stevenson	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$0	100%	0%
65	Thiel Capital	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$0	100%	0%
67	American Bridge 21st Century	$1,920,337	$0	$1,920,337	0%	100%
68	Cooperative of American Physicians	$1,866,185	$1,866,185	$0	100%	0%
69	Communications Workers of America	$1,810,484	$0	$1,810,309	0%	100%
70	Operating Engineers Union	$1,760,000	$410,000	$1,350,000	23%	77%
71	Quicken Loans	$1,600,000	$1,600,000	$0	100%	0%
72	Duquesne Family Office	$1,574,375	$1,574,375	$0	100%	0%
73	Platinum Health Care	$1,565,000	$1,565,000	$0	100%	0%
74	Energy Transfer Equity	$1,559,825	$1,559,825	$0	100%	0%
75	Amway/Alticor Inc	$1,551,000	$1,550,000	$0	100%	0%
76	Franklin Resources	$1,540,000	$1,540,000	$0	100%	0%
77	Bouchard Transportation	$1,525,000	$1,525,000	$0	100%	0%
78	Charles Schwab & Co	$1,500,750	$1,500,500	$250	100%	0%
79	Service Employees International Union	$1,499,333	$0	$1,499,333	0%	100%
80	Sequoia Capital	$1,414,677	$1,414,677	$0	100%	0%
81	Fair Share	$1,405,000	$0	$1,405,000	0%	100%
82	Nextera Energy	$1,391,000	$1,381,000	$0	100%	0%
83	American Funds	$1,350,000	$1,350,000	$0	100%	0%
83	Research Affiliates LLC	$1,350,000	$1,350,000	$0	100%	0%
85	American Pacific International Capital	$1,300,000	$1,300,000	$0	100%	0%
86	Ariel Corp	$1,270,000	$1,270,000	$0	100%	0%
87	Buckley Muething Capital Management	$1,261,000	$1,261,000	$0	100%	0%
88	Carlyle Group	$1,253,121	$628,121	$625,000	50%	50%
89	Oakmont Corp	$1,250,000	$1,250,000	$0	100%	0%
90	Herzog Contracting	$1,247,119	$1,247,119	$0	100%	0%
91	MacAndrews & Forbes	$1,200,250	$1,200,000	$250	100%	0%
92	Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$1,174,330	$77,160	$1,066,170	7%	93%
93	World Wrestling Entertainment	$1,170,000	$1,170,000	$0	100%	0%
94	Freeman Spogli & Co	$1,150,000	$1,150,000	$0	100%	0%
94	Priorities USA Action	$1,150,000	$0	$1,150,000	0%	100%
94	Rosenthal Foundation	$1,150,000	$0	$1,150,000	0%	100%
97	JW Childs Assoc	$1,125,000	$1,125,000	$0	100%	0%
98	Women Vote!	$1,116,000	$0	$1,116,000	0%	100%
99	Cumberland Development	$1,110,000	$1,110,000	$0	100%	0%
100	Jackson Healthcare	$1,102,011	$1,102,011	$0	100%	0%
101	Entrepreneur/Joe Ricketts	$1,100,000	$1,100,000	$0	100%	0%
102	Kinder Foundation	$1,054,329	$1,054,329	$0	100%	0%
103	Arizona Diamondbacks	$1,050,000	$1,050,000	$0	100%	0%
103	Marcus & Millichap	$1,050,000	$0	$1,050,000	0%	100%
105	Kinder Morgan Inc	$1,035,000	$1,035,000	$0	100%	0%
106	Edison Chouest Offshore	$1,025,000	$1,025,000	$0	100%	0%
107	Appaloosa Management	$1,010,000	$1,010,000	$0	100%	0%
107	Moore Capital Management	$1,010,000	$1,010,000	$0	100%	0%
109	Fair Share Action	$1,005,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
109	Fireman Capital Partners	$1,005,000	$1,005,000	$0	100%	0%
109	Herschend Family Entertainment	$1,005,000	$1,005,000	$0	100%	0%
109	JS Capital Management	$1,005,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
113	Hunter Global Investors	$1,003,997	$1,003,997	$0	100%	0%
114	Hoffman Partners	$1,003,567	$1,003,567	$0	100%	0%
115	Alexander Soros Foundation	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
115	Boich Companies	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
115	Clinical Medical Services Inc	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
115	De First Holdings	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
115	Jasper Reserves LLC	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
115	Legendary Pictures	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
115	Mostyn Law Firm	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
115	Petrodome Energy	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
115	Titan Advisors	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
115	Western Refining	$1,000,000	$1,000,000	$0	100%	0%
125	Blackstone Group	$976,000	$976,000	$0	100%	0%
126	Caxton Alternative Management	$931,304	$931,304	$0	100%	0%
127	Duchossois Group	$905,000	$905,000	$0	100%	0%
128	Crow Holdings	$900,000	$900,000	$0	100%	0%
129	Conservative Solutions PAC	$880,000	$0	$880,000	0%	100%
130	American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees	$862,116	$0	$862,116	0%	100%
131	Harris Assoc	$855,000	$855,000	$0	100%	0%
132	Woodforest National Bank	$840,000	$840,000	$0	100%	0%
133	Devon Energy	$830,300	$830,300	$0	100%	0%
134	Teamsters Union	$821,000	$20,000	$801,000	2%	98%
135	Capital Group Companies	$818,000	$818,000	$0	100%	0%
136	Barclays	$816,978	$816,478	$500	100%	0%
137	Angel Investors	$799,000	$799,000	$0	100%	0%
138	Gund Investment Corp	$760,000	$760,000	$0	100%	0%
139	LPL Investment Group	$755,000	$755,000	$0	100%	0%
140	KKR & Co	$750,571	$750,571	$0	100%	0%
141	Medley Partners	$750,000	$0	$750,000	0%	100%
141	Progressive Women Silicon Valley	$750,000	$0	$750,000	0%	100%
141	Sallyport Investments	$750,000	$750,000	$0	100%	0%
141	UAW Education Fund	$750,000	$0	$750,000	0%	100%
145	Silver Eagle Distributors	$735,000	$700,000	$0	100%	0%
146	US Sugar	$730,000	$655,000	$75,000	90%	10%
147	Cushman & Wakefield	$715,201	$715,000	$201	100%	0%
148	eScription Inc	$700,000	$0	$700,000	0%	100%
148	Keep The Promise I	$700,000	$700,000	$0	100%	0%
150	Morning Star Co	$657,000	$657,000	$0	100%	0%
151	Mt Vernon Investments	$647,000	$647,000	$0	100%	0%
152	Kleiner, Perkins et al	$640,000	$140,000	$500,000	22%	78%
153	Bridger Capital Management	$615,000	$615,000	$0	100%	0%
154	American Federation of Govt Employees	$603,187	$0	$578,187	0%	100%
155	Anne G Earhart Investments	$600,000	$0	$600,000	0%	100%
155	Bechtel Group	$600,000	$600,000	$0	100%	0%
155	Kaitar Resources	$600,000	$500,000	$100,000	83%	17%
155	Sol Goldman Investments	$600,000	$0	$600,000	0%	100%
159	Harbour Group	$585,000	$585,000	$0	100%	0%
160	Anheuser-Busch	$576,850	$576,850	$0	100%	0%
161	Satter Investment Management	$560,000	$560,000	$0	100%	0%
162	Bluff Point Assoc	$555,000	$555,000	$0	100%	0%
163	Bauman Foundation	$550,000	$0	$550,000	0%	100%
163	Children of Israel LLC	$550,000	$550,000	$0	100%	0%
163	Greylock Partners	$550,000	$550,000	$0	100%	0%
163	L Brands	$550,000	$550,000	$0	100%	0%
167	We Are Fearless & United Org	$541,761	$0	$0	0%	0%
168	New Day for America	$525,335	$525,335	$0	100%	0%
169	Windquest Group	$525,000	$525,000	$0	100%	0%
170	Angelo, Gordon & Co	$521,000	$521,000	$0	100%	0%
171	Anschutz Corp	$520,000	$520,000	$0	100%	0%
172	Welsh, Carson et al	$515,000	$515,000	$0	100%	0%
173	Fayez Sarofim & Co	$514,162	$514,162	$0	100%	0%
174	Carnival Cruise Lines	$510,000	$510,000	$0	100%	0%
174	Hertog Foundation	$510,000	$510,000	$0	100%	0%
174	Station Casinos	$510,000	$510,000	$0	100%	0%
177	Copart Inc	$505,000	$505,000	$0	100%	0%
178	Coastal Construction Group	$504,970	$0	$504,970	0%	100%
179	Johnson Co	$501,604	$501,604	$0	100%	0%
180	Correct The Record	$500,384	$0	$500,384	0%	100%
181	Bad Robot Productions	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
181	Cline Group	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Decor Services LLC	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Ending Spending Action Fund	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Freedomvote Inc	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Fuzzy Door Productions	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
181	George Pearl Rd Ltd	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Herzog Railroad Services	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Hubbard Broadcasting	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	IGX LLC	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	InterSystems Corp	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
181	Kinetic Concepts	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Leucadia National	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
181	Midland Energy	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Mmwp12 LLC	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Privet Fund Management	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Simons Foundation	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
181	Susan B Anthony List	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
181	Third Point LLC	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
200	Peace River Citrus Products	$485,000	$485,000	$0	100%	100%

Outside spending showdown in race to replace Boehner tops all House contests so far

The race to replace former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) attracted more outside money than any other primary faceoff in the House of Representatives so far this cycle, data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics shows. In fact, the March 15 contest is the first in the House to have attracted more than $1 million in outside spending in the 2016 elections. Outside groups ... read more.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2016/03/300-million-and-counting-rubio-trump-help-drive-100-million-in-outside-spending-in-last-six-weeks/

been a month and a half since we last checked in on outside spending for the 2016 election. In that time, it’s grown by 50 percent — nearly $100 million dollars.

By this time in 2012, outside spending was a third of what it is today, or $103,016,139.

Since Feb. 12, the date of our post showing outside groups’ spending was homing in on $200 million, 103 different outside money groups have spent $91.3 million. Conservative Solutions PAC, the single-candidate super PAC that supported former presidential candidate Marco Rubio, spent by far the most of this lot — $27.8 million, likely in a last-ditch effort to save his campaign before he dropped out of the contest on March 16. Next in line was Our Principles PAC, which in the last six weeks has spent more $10 million of the total $13.1 million it has spent this cycle opposing Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

Also hitting the gas pedal hard was American Future Fund, a group that was once tied to the Koch brothers; it has paid out $6.5 million of its total $8.6 million in 2015-2016 spending since mid-February; it too has spent most of its money opposing Trump. The group has also run ads against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) — the two other surviving GOP White House hopefuls — this cycle.

Since our last story, nine brand-new groups have popped up, spending a combined $2.8 million. The biggest spender of these newbies is Trusted Leadership PAC, created to rally Republicans behind Cruz; it accounts for $1.9 million of the total. The super PAC announced March 10 that Cruz’s former chief of staff, Chip Roy, had joined as its executive director. Right Way Initiative, whose chairman is lobbyist Michael Baroody, was also created in the last month and has spent $703,492 on ads, most of which support Tim Derickson’s bid to win the open House seat in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District.

Presidentially-focused single-candidate groups account for most of the $300 million overall outside spending total — $268.7 million, to be exact. (More broadly, in the presidential contest, about 40 percent — $342.7 million — of the just under $900 million that’s been spent so far on everything — not just ads — has come from the coffers of outside spending groups, according to Center for Responsive Politics calculations, with candidates accounting for the remaining $549.7 million.)

More than $1.04 billion has been raised by the White House-seeking candidates and their dedicated outside groups combined, CRP data shows.

Nearly all the presidential candidates — with the exceptions of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who’s running for the Democratic nomination, and Donald Trump on the GOP side — have had at least one large super PAC supporting them, able to take in unlimited contributions that campaign committees can’t accept. The rule is that the groups aren’t supposed to coordinate with candidates and their campaigns. Still, candidates can interact with their super PACs in a variety of ways — attending fundraisers for them and benefiting from advance work they do for events, for instance. In addition, the groups are often staffed by people who are close to the candidates.

The roughly $300 million in outside spending that’s been tallied so far — enabled in large part by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision — doesn’t include a whole universe of outlays that don’t have to be reported to the FEC because they are used for so-called “issue ads.” Often sponsored by politically active 501(c)(4) organizations, or dark money groups, the ads don’t explicitly ask viewers to vote for or against a candidate. They can mention a candidate, though, and cast him or her in a flattering or negative light. Only when the ads air within 30 days before a general election or 60 days before a primary must they be reported.

Take, for instance, the ads sponsored this cycle by OneNation America, a dark money group whose president Steven Law is a former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). OneNation advertises itself as a policy-oriented group that focuses on “persuasion, research and advocacy,” according to its website. It has spent $9.7 million on ads since 2015, according to an OpenSecrets Blog analysis of OneNation’s press releases. These ads aired in Illinois, New Hampshire, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Indiana and Washington D.C. They mentioned Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), and Reps. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) in connection with a range of legislation involving Medicare, job creation, school safety, the Supreme Court vacancy, heroin use and other issues.

“Tell Senator Toomey to keep fighting for our children and safe schools,” goes one typical OneNation ad. Or “Call Senator Ayotte. Tell her to keep fighting to end the heroin crisis.”

Because these ads don’t tell the public to vote for or against anyone, none of this $9.7 million has been reported to the FEC.

The twist? Each one of these GOP senators is up for re-election in 2016, and the House members are running for Senate seats. All their races are expected to be tough. And, if history is any guide, 60 days before their primaries, OneNation America is likely to begin running ads on local television stations telling voters to go out and cast their ballots for these same candidates. Only then will the group’s spending show up at the FEC.

Clarification, April 1: The sixth paragraph of this story, discussing presidentially-focused outside spending groups, has been rephrased to make clear what is included in the dollar figures referenced.

Robert Maguire, Doug Weber and Anna Massoglia contributed to this post.

Categories: 501(c) groups Campaign finance Congress Hot Race Outside Money PACs Politicians & Elections Presidential Election Super PACs

Tags: 2016 presidential, American Future Fund, Chuck Grassley, conservative solutions pac, Donald Trump,joe heck, john kasich, Kelly Ayotte, Marco Rubio, Mark Kirk, Michael Baroody, Our Principles PAC, outside money, outside spending, Pat Toomey, Richard Burr, Right Way Initiative, Rob Portman, Roy Blunt, Ted Cruz,Tim Derickson, Todd Young, Trusted Leadership PAC

The takeaway: Despite only a slight increase in the cost of the election, outside groups, which are overwhelmingly fueled by large donors, are picking up more of the tab, candidates are cutting back on their spending, and there are fewer large (over $200) individual donors contributing overall to candidates and parties. (One caveat: Many Senate filings continue to roll in at this time, since Senate candidates aren’t required to file electronically; this may have a small effect on CRP’s projections.)

“As the post-Citiz

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/10/overall-spending-inches-up-in-2014-megadonors-equip-outside-groups-to-capture-a-bigger-share-of-the-pie/

...

. Top outside groups Team Blue managed to force its way into the top echelon of big-spending outside groups – but Republican-leaning groups still occupy the majority of the slots at the top of the list of big spenders. The outside group with the highest outlays this cycle is Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC closely affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.); it has spent $42.6 million. But Senate Majority falls to second on the list when super PAC American Crossroads and politically active nonprofit Crossroads GPS — the tandem of outside groups associated with Karl Rove — are considered together. These two – legally separate organizations, each of which have reported less spending than Senate Majority PAC — work closely; when their efforts are combined, their total spending comes to $46.8 million, giving them the title of top-spending outside organization this cycle. In 2010, this same pair was the top-spending organization, reporting a total of $38.2 million. House Majority PAC, a super PAC backing House Democratic candidates, is fifth on the list, with $21.5 million; the environmentally-focused NextGen Climate Action super PAC is seventh ($20.3 million) and the League of Conservation Voters super PAC is ninth ($17.8 million). The remaining six members of the top 10 outside spending groups are conservative (including American Crossroads/Crossroads GPS). The Chamber of Commerce has disclosed spending $33.5 million this cycle and the National Rifle Association has spent $27.2 million, according to reports filed with the FEC. Freedom Partners Action Fund, a super PAC that emerged from a network of dark money groups connected to the libertarian political financiers David and Charles Koch, received its first donation just four months ago, but rocketed to eighth on the list of top-spending outside groups, with $18.9 million. David and Charles Koch each gave $2 million to the group.

More reliance on outside money...

To give an idea of the influence these large outside donors wield, consider the donations made by just the top 20 individual donors to outside groups and the top 20 organizations donating to outside groups. This elite list of individual donors have given a combined $168.6 million and the top 20 organization have ponied up a combined $116 million. All told, these two groups of donors have combined to give $284.7 million — a princely sum that far exceeds the projected spending of the RNC or DNC this cycle. The number one donor of disclosed outside money is Steyer, followed by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has given $20 million to super PACs, of which 98 percent went to liberal or Democratic recipients. But despite those top two donors, conservative donors dominate the top 20 — 15 of them are conservative. The three other liberal donors are: Fred Eychaner ($7.9 million), George Soros ($3.5 million) and hedge-funder James Simons (and his wife Marilyn), who have given $3 million.The top conservative donor to outside groups is Paul Singer, of hedge fund Elliott Management, who has given $9.3 million. Last cycle’s top donor — both to outside groups and overall — was Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Venetian casino in Las Vegas, who with his physician wife Miriam gave $92 million. This cycle, the Adelsons have given $5 million. Other prominent conservative donors include Linda and Vince McMahon, who have given $2.6 million, and Robert McNair, the owner of the Houston Texans football team who together have given $3 million. Topping the list of organizations contributing money to outside groups is the National Education Association, which has given a whopping $22.4 million to outside groups. Following the NEA are a slew of other labor unions — the Carpenters & Joiners Union ($11.2 million), the AFL-CIO ($7.6 million) and AFSCME ($6 million). These unions gave almost exclusively to liberal outside groups. There are, however, a handful of conservative organizations on the list of big organizational donors, including the No. 3 group, the National Association of Realtors, which gave to its own super PAC; it has spent the money in support of Republicans by a two-to-one margin. An important caveat: These lists of top donors (individuals or organizations) do not include donations made to dark money groups, which in some instances pass money on to super PACs.

The big McCutcheon donor

While very large outside donors will clearly have a new and much larger role in paying for this midterm election, small donors will take on a diminished role in another way. In April, the Supreme Court tossed out aggregate limits on how much an individual can donate every election cycle when the justices handed down a decision in McCutcheon v. FEC. There had long been limits on how much an individual can give to a campaign, PAC or party organization and those limits have stayed in place, but prior to April the FEC also enforced an overall limit on how much one individual could donate to all of those groups. This cycle it was $123,200. The decision was seen by some as giving traditional hard-money and national party fundraisers a weapon to fight back against outside groups with their unlimited fundraising and spending abilities. While all of the decision’s consequences are not yet clear, at least one is: the creation of “super joint-fundraising committees”. These super JFCs consist of partnerships between multiple campaigns, PACs and party committees which allows an individual donor to write one very large check and see the donation split among the member groups. Smaller JFCs existed previously, but the size of checks donors could write were curbed by the aggregate limits. CRP spotted several of these super JFCs in third-quarter filings last week, including one on the Democratic side which consisted of 26 different members (campaigns and party committees) and collected at least one check for $150,000 — the largest check for a non-outside group ever. Republicans have their own super JFC,which consists of 14 committees banded together that collected numerous checks of $130,000 or more. While these super JFCs are, for now, an exception, they may help explain a changing dynamic in the demographics of donors.

2014 south:

Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's bid to defend her seat against Republican challenger Thom Tillis is shaping up to be one of the most expensive U.S. Senate races in history: a flood of more than $103 million in spending from the campaigns and outside groups, according to The Charlotte Observer. This month, the spending spree has translated into about three TV ads every five minutessupporting -- or, more frequently, attacking -- one of the North Carolina candidates.

Yet as money-drenched as the Hagan/Tillis contest may be, voters in Arkansas and other Southern states may be feeling even more battered by the barrage of political spending this election season.

North Carolina is one of five states in the South with Senate races in 2014 that will determine whether the chamber is controlled by Democrats or Republicans. With more than 6.6 million registered voters, North Carolina is also the biggest of the Southern Senate battlegrounds, so the more than $100 million in projected spending has to cover more ground and reach more people.

By contrast, while smaller states like Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisiana are being targeted with less total spending, on a per-voter basis these states are experiencing an even greater deluge of election money relative to the size of their population.

A Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies analysis looked at the money flowing through the five Southern Senate races and compared it to the number of voters in each state. The following chart shows how the states compare in election cash per voter (click on it for a larger version):

The top outside spender by far in the current election cycle is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has spent almost $14.8 million to date. Though the nonprofit business association does not have to disclose its donors to the Federal Elections Commission, some of them were discovered by Center for Responsive Politics researchers examining IRS filings of donating organizations, and they include the American Petroleum Institute.

Another leading outside spender at the federal level is the 60 Plus Association, a conservative 501(c)(4) "social welfare" nonprofit that has been involved in promoting climate science denial as a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition. The 60 Plus Association has spent more than $526,000 so far in this election cycle. Among its leading known contributors? The American Petroleum Institute.

8/14

1	Fahr LLC/Tom Steyer	$20,226,792	$0	$20,226,792	0%	100%
2	City of New York, NY	$9,431,588	$500,000	$8,680,478	5%	95%
3	Democratic Governors Assn	$8,129,618	$0	$8,129,618	0%	100%
4	Carpenters & Joiners Union	$7,256,656	$250,000	$6,906,656	3%	97%
5	National Education Assn	$6,452,500	$0	$6,397,250	0%	100%
6	Newsweb Corp	$5,650,000	$0	$5,500,000	0%	100%
7	AFL-CIO	$5,411,929	$0	$5,410,929	0%	100%
8	Elliott Management	$4,837,249	$4,837,249	$0	100%	0%
9	National Assn of Realtors	$4,141,562	$0	$0	0%	0%
10	Uline Inc	$3,440,000	$3,440,000	$0	100%	0%
11	American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees	$3,123,250	$0	$2,983,250	0%	100%
12	Perry Homes	$3,100,000	$3,100,000	$0	100%	0%
13	Renaissance Technologies	$3,020,000	$3,020,000	$0	100%	0%
14	Euclidean Capital	$3,000,000	$0	$3,000,000	0%	100%
15	United Steelworkers	$2,774,374	$0	$340,000	0%	100%
16	Republican Governors Assn	$2,700,000	$2,700,000	$0	100%	0%
17	Jordan Vineyard & Winery	$2,012,703	$2,012,703	$0	100%	0%
18	Chartwell Partners	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$0	100%	0%
19	Cooperative of American Physicians	$1,987,173	$0	$2,500	0%	100%
20	Plumbers/Pipefitters Union	$1,871,444	$0	$1,836,500	0%	100%
21	Jobs & Progress Fund	$1,685,000	$1,685,000	$0	100%	0%
22	Laborers Union	$1,668,300	$250,000	$1,383,300	15%	85%
23	Baupost Group	$1,650,000	$1,450,000	$200,000	88%	12%
24	Alliance Resource Partners	$1,525,000	$1,525,000	$0	100%	0%
25	JS Capital Management	$1,520,000	$0	$1,500,000	0%	100%
26	Government Integrity Fund	$1,465,000	$1,465,000	$0	100%	0%
27	Stephens Inc	$1,460,000	$1,460,000	$0	100%	0%
28	Mostyn Law Firm	$1,392,500	$0	$387,500	0%	100%
29	Akt Development	$1,382,000	$1,357,000	$25,000	98%	2%
30	Contran Corp	$1,350,000	$1,350,000	$0	100%	0%
31	Soros Fund Management	$1,325,000	$0	$1,325,000	0%	100%
32	JW Childs Assoc	$1,165,000	$1,165,000	$0	100%	0%
33	Senate Majority PAC	$1,123,129	$0	$1,123,129	0%	100%
34	Operating Engineers Union	$1,123,000	$258,000	$815,000	24%	76%
35	Jon Stryker Architecture	$1,075,000	$0	$1,075,000	0%	100%
36	Equinox Partners	$1,033,724	$1,033,724	$0	100%	0%
37	Citadel LLC	$1,025,000	$1,025,000	$0	100%	0%
37	Trust Asset Management	$1,025,000	$0	$1,025,000	0%	100%
39	Boies, Schiller & Flexner	$1,001,250	$0	$1,001,000	0%	100%
40	Herb & Marion Sandler/Sandler Foundation	$1,000,000	$0	$1,000,000	0%	100%
40	National Air Traffic Controllers Assn	$1,000,000	$50,000	$950,000	5%	95%
42	American Federation of Teachers	$951,000	$0	$901,000	0%	100%
43	American Bridge 21st Century	$901,696	$0	$901,696	0%	100%
44	Apercen Partners	$845,000	$350,000	$245,000	59%	41%
45	Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$792,000	$1,500	$765,500	0%	100%
46	Communications Workers of America	$788,850	$0	$788,600	0%	100%
47	American Federation of Govt Employees	$781,595	$0	$781,595	0%	100%
48	Marcus & Millichap	$750,000	$0	$750,000	0%	100%
49	TD Ameritrade	$650,000	$650,000	$0	100%	0%
49	UNITE HERE	$650,000	$0	$650,000	0%	100%
51	College Loan Corp	$635,000	$635,000	$0	100%	0%
52	Research Affiliates LLC	$620,000	$620,000	$0	100%	0%
53	Campion Advocacy Fund	$600,000	$0	$600,000	0%	100%
53	Mountaire Corp	$600,000	$600,000	$0	100%	0%
53	Priorities USA Action	$600,000	$0	$600,000	0%	100%
56	American Assn for Justice	$586,250	$0	$560,000	0%	100%
57	McMahon Ventures	$585,000	$585,000	$0	100%	0%
58	Salesforce.Com	$555,000	$0	$55,000	0%	100%
59	Teamsters Union	$530,438	$0	$505,198	0%	100%
60	Bonanza Oil	$530,000	$0	$475,000	0%	100%
61	Silver Eagle Distributors	$525,000	$525,000	$0	100%	0%
62	BLS Investments	$516,879	$0	$516,879	0%	100%
63	Medley Partners	$515,000	$0	$515,000	0%	100%
64	Service Employees International Union	$507,258	$0	$407,258	0%	100%
65	Planned Parenthood	$503,138	$0	$420,388	0%	100%
66	United Auto Workers	$502,500	$0	$502,500	0%	100%
67	CE Action Cmte	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
67	Dar Group Investments	$500,000	$0	$0	0%	0%
67	Marmik Oil	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
67	National Assn of Letter Carriers	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
67	Sol Goldman Investments	$500,000	$0	$500,000	0%	100%
67	Spendthrift Farm	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
67	Sydney Murphy Design	$500,000	$500,000	$0	100%	0%
74	George Little Management	$437,800	$0	$412,800	0%	100%
75	Google Inc	$437,487	$5,204	$317,750	2%	98%
76	International Assn of Fire Fighters	$434,455	$0	$434,455	0%	100%
77	TPG CAPITAL	$430,000	$30,000	$395,000	7%	93%
78	Susie Tompkins Buell Foundation	$425,000	$0	$425,000	0%	100%
79	Peacock Engineering	$405,255	$405,255	$0	100%	0%
80	United Food & Commercial Workers Union	$405,000	$0	$400,000	0%	100%
81	American Crossroads	$401,798	$401,798	$0	100%	0%
82	Ken Davis Finance	$395,000	$395,000	$0	100%	0%
83	Goldman Sachs	$387,550	$0	$385,300	0%	100%
84	Carlyle Group	$387,500	$137,500	$250,000	35%	65%
85	Headlands Asset Management	$379,000	$379,000	$0	100%	0%
86	Americans for Responsible Solutions	$365,093	$0	$0	0%	0%
87	FreedomWorks	$360,702	$360,702	$0	100%	0%
88	National Nurses United	$355,300	$0	$355,300	0%	100%
89	AQR Capital Management	$350,000	$350,000	$0	100%	0%
89	eScription Inc	$350,000	$0	$350,000	0%	100%
89	Golden Age Farm	$350,000	$100,000	$0	100%	0%
89	Rooney Holdings	$350,000	$350,000	$0	100%	0%
93	Ending Spending	$346,269	$346,269	$0	100%	0%
94	AAT Carriers	$322,000	$322,000	$0	100%	0%
95	American Action Network	$303,868	$303,868	$0	100%	0%
96	Akonadi Foundation	$300,000	$0	$300,000	0%	100%
96	Free Speech PAC	$300,000	$300,000	$0	100%	0%
96	Law Offices of Peter G Angelos	$300,000	$0	$300,000	0%	100%
96	Strand Partners	$300,000	$300,000	$0	100%	0%
96	Tea Party Patriots	$300,000	$300,000	$0	100%	0%
101	Keystone Inc	$290,000	$0	$290,000	0%	100%
102	Liberty4Florida	$289,469	$289,469	$0	100%	0%
103	Broad Foundation	$280,000	$0	$280,000	0%	100%
104	America Rising	$277,231	$277,231	$0	100%	0%

http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/toporgs.php?view=om&cycle=2014&type=src