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October 29, 2010 8:33 pm | By Brian
Rise of the One-Man PACs
Now that FEC rules allow political organizations to raise unlimited amounts of funds from individual and corporate donors, just a single individual or a handful of donors can finance their very own 527 Political Action Committee. But this is no…
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October 29, 2010 3:42 pm | By Brian
Public Continues to Demand Campaign Disclosure and Spending Caps
A new New York Times/CBS News survey confirms the findings of other polls taken after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United: Americans want greater transparency and stronger reforms in the political system. According to the poll, “nearly 8 in…
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October 29, 2010 2:03 pm | By Jen Herrick
The Voter-Fraud Fraud Continues
As my colleague Paul recently pointed out, the trouble with voter fraud is not that voters are committing fraud – it’s that we’re constantly being told that voter fraud is a pervasive national problem when it simply isn’t. Paul notes…
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October 28, 2010 4:50 pm | By Brian
Local Chambers Want No Part in US Chamber of Commerce’s Political Games
As the US Chamber of Commerce becomes less of a trade association and more of a pro-GOP political outfit, local chambers have become increasingly disillusioned with the national branch’s partisan turn. According to the Washington Post, the US Chamber of…
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October 28, 2010 2:35 pm | By Paul Gordon
The Voter-Fraud Fraud
"I don't want everybody to vote ... our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." - Paul Weyrich, founding father of the conservative movement, 1980. When news hit last week that Democrats were doing…
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October 27, 2010 8:46 pm | By Brian
Web Videos Show GOP Extremists In Their Own Words
People For the American Way has produced four new videos showing the extreme far-right views of four Republican candidates for US Senate: Ken Buck of Colorado; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. These…
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October 27, 2010 2:31 pm | By Brian
YEO Blasts Tea Party Opponent’s Racist Comments
State Senator Michael Frerichs of Illinois, a YEO and PFAW Action Fund candidate, is running for re-election against a local Tea Party leader, Al Reynolds. During a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, Reynolds claimed…
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October 26, 2010 9:27 pm | By Paul Gordon
The Mugging of Democracy in Alaska
The latest example of Tea Party violence making the news - Rand Paul’s county campaign coordinator stomping on the head of a pinned-down MoveOn activist - highlights just how completely outside the American norm these Tea Party candidates and their…
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October 26, 2010 8:46 pm | By Brian
American Action Network’s False Ad Yanked From Airways
Yesterday, Greg Sargent thoroughly debunked a new ad that is targeting Connecticut Democratic Rep. Chris Murphy from the pro-GOP American Action Network. The ad focuses on the recently passed health care reform law, and employs a number of the same…
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October 26, 2010 7:34 pm | By Brian
PFAW on the air in Colorado
People For the American Way is on the air in Colorado to inform voters about the corporate special interest money that is being used to elect Ken Buck to the US Senate. Coloradans need to know that corporate-funded groups like…
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October 25, 2010 9:55 pm | By Brian
LGBT Community Speaks Out Against Gold’s Gym
Karl Rove’s Super PAC American Crossroads has received millions of dollars in funding from TRT Holdings and its owner, Robert Rowling. TRT Holdings under Rowling’s leadership owns the companies Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym. TRT Holdings donated $2,341,000 to American…
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October 25, 2010 9:06 pm | By Brian
Tom Perriello: Voters Have a Right to Know
Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA) made a principle and compelling case for campaign disclosure laws during his debate with Republican Robert Hurt. While Hurt and the GOP have opposed attempts to have political organizations disclose their donors, a move supported by over 80% of Americans,…
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October 25, 2010 4:49 pm | By Brian
Michael Steele’s ‘Disclosure’ Meltdown
Already under fire for mismanaging the Republican National Committee, Chairman Michael Steele displayed his bizarre and badly-uninformed take on the election yesterday on Meet the Press. Not only is there overwhelming evidence that groups that do not disclose the sources…
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October 22, 2010 8:21 pm | By Jen Herrick
President Obama and Secretary Clinton: It gets better
I’ve been writing a lot lately about the It Gets Better Project, the Make It Better Project, and the plight of LGBT youth in America. This week, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton added their voices.President…
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October 21, 2010 3:37 pm | By Brian
Timothy Egan Calls Out the Corporate Court
A classic claim of pro-corporate shills regarding Citizens United is that campaign finance reform is the equivalent to banning books and government censorship. As Chief Justice Roberts said, “we don’t put our First Amendment rights in the hands of FEC…
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October 20, 2010 9:01 pm | By Brian
When Even Disclosure Rules Fail
527 “Super PACs” are permitted to explicitly urge viewers to vote for or against a candidate running for office, but are required to disclose their contributors. In the case of Citizens for a Working America PAC, which can raise unlimited…
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October 20, 2010 5:59 pm | By Brian
Alexi Giannoulias Makes the Case for Overturning Citizens United
Illinois Democrat Alexi Giannoulias discussed the need to amend the Constitution to overturn Citizens United, which he called “a dangerous decision,” in a debate with rival US Senate candidate Mark Kirk. His Republican opponent, who has a habit of distorting…
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October 19, 2010 6:12 pm | By Paul Gordon
Republicans Benefit From Benefactor Who Said Women Should Enjoy Being Raped
As I was reading Brian's blog post on the "First Amendment Alliance" - the energy industry front group that has already pumped nearly a million dollars to purchase elect a Republican Congress - I came across a familiar name: Clayton…
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October 19, 2010 5:39 pm | By Brian
First Amendment Alliance: Energy Industry Front Group
The First Amendment Alliance is a 527 “Super PAC” that can raise unlimited funds from corporations and individuals for independent expenditures on the election, and the group is currently smearing Democratic candidates for Senate with negative ads in competitive races.…
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October 19, 2010 3:27 pm | By Miranda Blue
Right-Wing Group to Nevada Latinos: “Don’t Vote”
Republican-affiliated groups have been getting less and less subtle in their attempts to prevent those likely to be Democrats from voting. There was the voter-caging operation in Wisconsin that sought to scare young and minority voters away from the polls…