Update, Feb. 11, 2020: Michael Bennet has dropped out of the presidential race. The presidential field now has two Colorado Democrats vying for the nomination. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., today announced his presidential candidacy, joining his former boss — former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper — as a White House hopeful. Bennet, 54, served […]
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Posted inDemocracy
Democrats plan ‘aggressive’ oversight of Federal Election Commission
For most of this decade, Congress has all but ignored the perpetually gridlocked Federal Election Commission, which exists to enforce and regulate the nation’s campaign finance laws. No longer, two Democratic congressional representatives tell the Center for Public Integrity. The bipartisan FEC is broken and needs fixing, they argue. “In the next Congress, we will be […]
Posted inDemocracy
On Paul Manafort and foreign lobbying: a Q&A with the author of ‘The Torturers’ Lobby’
Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, has been in the news for months since Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged him and his associate Rick Gates with several alleged crimes, including fraud and working as unregistered foreign agents. Manafort’s federal trial began this week in Alexandria, Virginia. The intense scrutiny of Manafort’s case has […]
Posted inDemocracy
How a sanctioned Russian bank wooed Washington
The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates betrayals of public trust. Sign up to receive our stories. Less than two months before a 2016 presidential election marked by Russian interference, senior State Department official Daniel Fried received an invitation to a private gala featuring an exclusive performance by the Bolshoi Ballet and […]
Posted inCopy, Paste, Legislate
You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead.
This story was published in partnership with USA TODAY and The Arizona Republic. This story also appeared in USA TODAY Each year, state lawmakers across the U.S. introduce thousands of bills dreamed up and written by corporations, industry groups and think tanks. Disguised as the work of lawmakers, these so-called “model” bills get copied in one state […]
Posted inDemocracy
Mystery money floods Alabama in Senate race’s final days
A last-minute infusion of cash is deluging the already unpredictable special Senate election in Alabama, and outside political groups backing both candidates — Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones — are exploiting legal loopholes to hide their donors until after the Dec. 12 vote. Some super PACs — groups that may accept and spend […]
Posted inDemocracy
Trump appointee is a Saudi government lobbyist
One of President Donald Trump’s newest appointees is a registered agent of Saudi Arabia earning hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby on the kingdom’s behalf, according to U.S. Department of Justice records reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity. Since January, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry has paid longtime Republican lobbyist Richard Hohlt about […]
Posted inDemocracy
Kochs key among small group quietly funding legal assault on campaign finance regulation
Billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch are well-known for pumping tens of millions of dollars into so-called “dark money” nonprofits — groups that actively promote or criticize candidates for office but are not required to reveal their donors. Not so well known is the duo’s role in underwriting and sculpting the legal landscape that led […]
Posted inDemocracy
Journalists shower Hillary Clinton with campaign cash
New Yorker television critic Emily Nussbaum, a newly minted Pulitzer Prize winner, spent the Republican National Convention pen-pricking presidential nominee Donald Trump as a misogynist shyster running an “ugly and xenophobic campaign.” What Nussbaum didn’t disclose in her dispatches: she contributed $250 to Democrat Hillary Clinton in April. On the nation’s left coast, Les Waldron, […]
Posted inDemocracy
Donald Trump’s ethics reform plan: dim prospects ahead
The Donald Trump who raged against big money’s influence on politics is back. Trump on Monday night released a slate of lobbying and campaign finance proposals, catching reform advocates by surprise and pressuring Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to detail her own lobbying reform positions. Trump called for five-year bans on lobbying by executive branch officials, […]
Posted inDemocracy
Super PAC fetishist strikes again
A Florida man has so far this month created more than 350 political groups — including hundreds of federal super PACs that claim to represent interests ranging from racquetball to the petroleum industry. And no, the super PACs’ creator is not a seasoned campaign fundraiser. Nor is he a billionaire primed to dole out cash […]
Posted inDemocracy
Meet the nation’s new election integrity watchman
With Election 2000’s voting debacle still raw, President George W. Bush, in 2002, signed into law the “Help America Vote Act,” which he promised would help “ensure the integrity and efficiency of voting processes in federal elections.” A key component: the Election Assistance Commission, a new, bipartisan federal agency tasked with adopting voting system guidelines, […]
Posted inBuying of the President, Democracy, Elections
White House race nearing $1 billion
“The need for money breeds the need for more money.” – lobbyist Jeffrey Peck The 2016 White House race is well on its way to being the most expensive in history. Presidential candidates and the political groups supporting them combined to raise more than $837 million during 2015, driven by a massive influx of cash […]
Posted inDemocracy
U.S. lobbying, PR firms give human rights abusers a friendly face
After growing up in a country with limited freedoms and an oppressive government, Tutu Alicante still wasn’t prepared when he heard about a violent clash between the military and young men who had organized a protest in his hometown of Annobón, Equatorial Guinea. Alicante, who was living in the capital city, remembers learning in August […]
Posted inBuying of the President, Democracy, Elections
FEC: Notable conservatives tied to nonprofit scofflaw
Wayne Berman, seen here in a 2000 file photo, is Republican preidential candidate Marco Rubio’s national finance chairman and a long-time Republican fundraiser. Federal Election Commission lawyers say he was involved with a conservative “dark money” nonprofit group that broke federal law by not properly disclosing candidate-focused advertisements. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Politics Campaign donations, lobbying […]
Posted inDemocracy
New FEC chairman aims to calm agency at war with itself
The Federal Election Commission, a government agency tasked with policing what’s expected to be the nation’s most expensive election ever, will drag itself into the new year perhaps more internally injured than at any point in its 40-year history. It will do so under the leadership of Matthew Petersen, a Republican who his five commission […]
Posted inDemocracy
9 things to know about George Pataki
Update, Dec. 29, 2015: George Pataki has ended his 2016 presidential campaign. What do Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, Martin Van Buren and George Pataki all have in common? All men are former New York governors. And if Pataki can convince voters that he’s fit for the White House, all will have also served […]
Posted inDemocracy, Primary Source
Senator would limit lobbyist money that fueled liberal allies
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is sponsoring a bill that would limit lobbyists’ ability to “bundle” campaign contributions from other people and deliver them to politicians and political committees. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Lobbyists boost Senate Democrats By Michael Beckel June 16, 2014 Democrats have outraised their GOP counterparts in terms of money coming from lobbyists doubling as […]
Posted inDemocracy, Primary Source
PR firm busts disclosure deadline while representing Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso Minister Julie Prudence Nigna/Somda Voice of America interview screen capture Primary Source Primary Source dove into developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Stories in this series Sarah Palin’s PAC, like her TV career, on the wane By Dave Levinthal July 28, 2015 Senators resist the Internet, leave voters in […]
Posted inDemocracy
Rapper-backed group illustrates blind spot in political transparency
Key findings: Some campaign finance reformers worry LLCs may be used to shield the identities of donors to super PACs. Two-thirds of the $1.3 million raised by the Black Men Vote super PAC in 2012 came from an obscure LLC called SPM Holdings. Limited liability companies have collectively contributed at least $33 million to super […]
Posted inDemocracy, Primary Source
Crossroads GPS’ cash plummeted in 2013
GOP strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, co-founders of super PAC American Crossroads and nonprofit group Crossroads GPS. Lawrence Jackson/AP Primary Source Primary Source dove into developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Stories in this series Sarah Palin’s PAC, like her TV career, on the wane By Dave Levinthal July 28, […]
Posted inDemocracy
Liberal ‘dark money’ group could face IRS fine
Union-backed Pennsylvanians for Accountability, which spent more than $1 million on political advertisements targeting Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and a handful of state lawmakers, failed to file a mandatory tax return, the Center for Public Integrity has learned. For failing to file returns with the IRS on time, the secretive, Pittsburgh-based Pennsylvanians for Accountability could […]
Posted inDemocracy
Lobbying disclosures leave public in the dark
Every three months for three years, when federal law compelled the Carmen Group to publicly describe its federal lobbying efforts on behalf of Xavier University of Louisiana, the firm used the vaguely worded phrase: “Hurricane Katrina related recovery issues.” It’s akin to calling Hurricane Katrina a weather event. The firm’s true objective was to “devise […]
Posted inDemocracy, Primary Source
IRS chief promises stricter rules for ‘dark money’ nonprofit groups
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen explains how his agency wants to regulate politically active nonprofits during an interview at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Eleanor Bell/Center for Public Integrity CPAC activists urged to fight IRS By Michael Beckel and Julie Patel March 7, 2014 Nonprofits’ failure to report political activity to IRS raises […]
Posted inDemocracy, Primary Source
How to fix the IRS nonprofit division
The Internal Revenue Service building at the Federal Triangle complex in Washington. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Hobbled IRS can’t stem ‘dark money’ flow By Julie Patel July 15, 2014 Budget and staffing cuts, endless congressional investigations keep IRS from investigating activities of political nonprofits. Primary Source Primary Source dove into developments in the post-Citizens United world […]
Posted inDemocracy
Saving the penny makes cents for zinc-backed front group
Americans for Common Cents was created in 1990 to “inform and educate policymakers, consumers, and the media about the penny’s economic, cultural and historical significance.” Members sought to rally support behind the penny in response to those who would prefer that it be done away with. Its “executive director,” Mark Weller, spoke before the House […]
Posted inDemocracy
Pop-up pro-Clinton group fades after scrutiny
A purportedly pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC known as Time for Hillary — which was launched in August by individuals with long histories of financial woes — appears to be partway through a vanishing act. For months, the Time for Hillary super PAC advertised pro-Clinton apparel for sale on its website, which was little more than […]
Posted inDemocracy, Primary Source
Mudslinging at the FEC over disclosure
FEC Vice Chairwoman Ann Ravel, left, with fellow Commissioner Ellen Weintraub. Both are Democrats. Sarah Whitmire/Center for Public Integrity How Washington starves its election watchdog By Dave Levinthal December 17, 2013 Federal Election Commission gets new blood By Dave Levinthal September 23, 2013 Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee Goodman and two of his fellow Republican […]
Posted inDemocracy, Primary Source
Data transparency advocates register lobbyist
An upstart data transparency group run by a former congressional counsel has registered its first lobbyist, new U.S. Senate filings show. Hudson Hollister, a Republican who until last year served as counsel to the U.S. House’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, will lobby on behalf of the Data Transparency Coalition, which wants the federal […]
Posted inDemocracy
Decades old gun control debate reshaped by new advocacy groups
This project was produced by News21, a national investigative reporting project involving top college journalism students across the country and headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University Twenty months after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, some would say little has changed […]
