Update, Jan. 27, 2015, 5:42 p.m.: Officials with the “We The People, Not Washington” super PAC have announced that it was formed to support former New York Gov. George Pataki, a Republican who is considering a 2016 White House bid.
Less than a week into the new year, the first super PAC of 2015 has officially formed — and it’s not the group anticipated to bolster a Jeb Bush presidential bid.
A super PAC called “We the People, Not Washington” registered with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, according to new documents released by the agency.
Its treasurer is David Satterfield, a campaign finance compliance professional at the Alexandria, Va.-based firm Huckaby Davis Lisker. He previously worked as campaign finance manager at the law firm Arent Fox LLP in Washington, D.C., and has typically represented conservative clients.
The FEC has yet to formally process filing papers for the pro-Bush “Right to Rise” super PAC, which Bush allies announced this week.
Satterfield, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment, has worked with numerous other super PACs, political committees and candidates, including the failed 2012 presidential campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.
Some of Satterfield’s other super PAC clients have included Arkansas Horizon, which last year spent more than $1.8 million against Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and the Free at Last PAC, which spent about $360,000 during the 2014 midterms against the Democratic Senate candidates in Arkansas, Georgia and Louisiana.
Super PACs sprung into existence in 2010. By law, they may raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals, corporations and labor unions to fund expenditures — often television and radio ads — that call for the election or defeat of federal candidates. But they cannot coordinate those expenditures with the candidates’ own campaigns.
As of today, more than 900 super PACs are registered with the FEC.
In its registration papers with the FEC, We the People, Not Washington stated that it “intends to raise funds in unlimited amounts” to make expenditures. It’s unclear, however, whom those expenditures will support or oppose.