Campaign Finance
Regardless of bailout, Gov. Perry has deep ties to one of TX’s largest banks
In his bid for the president, Governor Rick Perry has attacked the Troubled Asset Relief Program numerous times; calling it an “unprecedented assault on free markets.” However, The Dallas Morning News reports that the very bank Perry designated for his campaign finances received more than $87 million in TARP money. That same bank, PlainsCapital, is…
Read MoreReports in AZ prove the ATF gun strategy a failure.
“Reporter Lori Jane Gliha and photographer Matt Anzur at KNXV-TV in Phoenix spent months digging into local ties to the controversial ATF “Fast and Furious” case that was run out of the Phoenix ATF office. After the ATF denied Gliha’s Freedom of Information Act request for gun trace records, she began investigating the old fashioned…
Read MoreFor-profit colleges double spending on lobbying to fight regulations
John Lauerman and Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News found that for-profit colleges, faced with new federal restrictions, more than doubled their lobbying spending, bringing in six former members of Congress to help make their case on Capitol Hill. Ten education companies and their trade association spent $3.8 million on lobbying in the first nine…
Read MoreRove-backed races were winners in midterm elections
Jonathan D. Salant and Traci McMillan of Bloomberg News, using a database built for the 2010 elections, found that U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other Republican-leaning outside groups spent millions of dollars on House and Senate races and had a winning record in the 2010 midterm elections.
Read MoreSt. Louis businessman has spent millions on Missouri campaigns
Joe Yerardi, of the Columbia (Mo.) Missourian, found that retired St. Louis businessman Rex Sinquefield has spent millions to bankroll numerous campaigns in Missouri in the past two years. “The donations, which total more than $13.3 million, are the result of Sinquefield’s personal wealth, his ideological passions and Missouri’s lax campaign finance laws, experts and…
Read MoreOutside groups give Republicans edge in election spending
Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News found vulnerable House Democrats outraising their opponents, only to see outside groups making up the financial disparity. “Between Sept. 1 and Oct. 20, Republican-leaning outside groups that aren’t limited in the amount of money they are allowed to spend on candidates paid out $118 million, while those backing Democrats…
Read MoreGovernor’s tech fund has aided campaign donors
An investigation by The Dallas Morning News found that Governor Rick Perry has given more than $16 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to companies with investors or officers who are large campaign donors. The governor has denied any sort of political influence on how the tech funds are awarded.
Read MoreTexas governor’s tech fund aided firms with ties to donors
An investigation by The Dallas Morning News found that more than $16 million from a state fund to help high tech start-up firms has been awarded to companies that have investors or officers who are large campaign donors to Gov. Rick Perry. The News reviewed thousands of pages of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents,…
Read MoreAT&T, Boeing Buck Anti-Incumbent Trend in Giving to Democrats
A computer-assisted analysis by Bloomberg News reporter Jonathan D. Salant of Federal Election Commission data found corporate political action committees siding with vulnerable Democratic incumbents, the candidates that Republicans need to beat if they are to take back control of the House of Representatives this fall.
Read MoreLoophole in Hawaii’s pay-to-play law exploited by donors
An investigation by the Honolulu Advertiser found that donors linked to city and state contractors are giving money to candidates for Hawaii’s gubernatorial races. Experts say the donors are exploiting a loophole in Hawaii’s five year-old pay-to-play law. The study is based on a computer-assisted survey of more than 2,300 campaign contributions made to three…
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