Radio ad wars begin, loophole identified, new strategy hatched
Stunning Statistics of the Week:
- 122: Number of lobbyists who bundled donations for Democratic candidates and committees in last year’s elections
- $8.9 million: Amount those lobbyists generated
- 56: Number of lobbyists who bundled for Republican candidates in last year’s elections
- $3 million: Amount those lobbyists generated
Radio ad wars begin
These aren’t the first political ads to run in advance of the 2012 elections – the first ads started running in January – but they are pretty darned early. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee started running radio ads in 19 districts this week. Soon after, Crossroads GPS, one of the conservative groups co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove, launched counter-ads.
Another loophole in the campaign finance system that needs to be fixed
Here’s a way around the campaign finance law that a number of presidential hopefuls are exploiting: Rather than establishing a federal political action committee to help pay for the cost of exploring the feasibility of running, some hopefuls are using state organizations instead. Donors give to multiple state organizations, thereby avoiding the donation limit for a single federal PAC.
New strategy hatched by campaign finance reform advocates
If you thought it was difficult to get greater disclosure of corporate campaign giving through the last Congress, then you probably realize that it’s even more of a battle now that the Republicans have taken of the U.S. House of Representatives. So a new strategy is being hatched.
Koch protest draws 1,000 participants
We told you last week about how the Koch brothers, the billionaire conservatives who backed an unsuccessful California ballot measure to suspend the state’s efforts to address climate change, planned to convene a meeting in that state to devise a conservative agenda for future elections. Common Cause, Greenpeace and other organizations protested. About 1,000 people came out, and some were arrested. In the meantime, the anonymous environmentalists who spoofed the Kochs by launching a parody website and issuing a press release in Koch’s name saying that Koch Industries had changed its stance on climate change answered a reporter’s questions.
Get the Money & Democracy Update delivered to your inbox! Sign up here.