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Dark Money
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public. In the United States, some types of nonprofit organizations may spend money on campaigns without disclosing who their donors are. The most common type of dark money group is the 501(c)(4) (often called social welfare organizations).Robert MaguireHow 2014 Is Shaping Up to be the Darkest Money Election to Date OpenSecrets (April 30, 2014). Such organizations can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals and unions. Proponents of dark money maintain it is protected under the First Amendment, while critics complain recipients of dark money (as with any contribution) are beholden to their funders, while voters are kept in the dark about connections between donor and politician when favors are paid back. Dark money entered the politics of the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Campaign Finance In The United States
The financing of electoral campaigns in the United States happens at the federal, state, and local levels by contributions from individuals, corporations, political action committees, and sometimes the government. Campaign spending has risen steadily at least since 1990. For example, a candidate who won an election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990 spent on average $407,600 while the winner in 2022 spent on average $2.79 million ($.00 million in ); in the Senate, average spending for winning candidates went from $3.87 million ($ million in ) to $26.53 million ($ million in ). In 2020, nearly $14 billion was spent on federal election campaigns in the United States — "making it the most expensive campaign in U.S. history", "more than double" what was spent in the 2016 election. Critics assert that following a number of Supreme Court decisions — '' Citizens United v. FEC'' (2010) in particular—the "very wealthy" are now allowed to spend unlimited amounts on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Money
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public. In the United States, some types of nonprofit organizations may spend money on campaigns without disclosing who their donors are. The most common type of dark money group is the 501(c)(4) (often called social welfare organizations).Robert MaguireHow 2014 Is Shaping Up to be the Darkest Money Election to Date OpenSecrets (April 30, 2014). Such organizations can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals and unions. Proponents of dark money maintain it is protected under the First Amendment, while critics complain recipients of dark money (as with any contribution) are beholden to their funders, while voters are kept in the dark about connections between donor and politician when favors are paid back. Dark money entered the politics of the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunlight Foundation
The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government. The organization was founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States Congress, the executive branch, and in state and local governments. The foundation's primary focus was the role of money in politics. The organization sought to increase campaign finance regulations and disclosure requirements. The Sunlight Foundation ceased operations in September 2020. Organizational overview Founding The Sunlight Foundation was founded by Ellen S. Miller and Michael R. Klein because of their concern about the influence of money in politics. The Foundation was launched in April 2006 with a $3.5 million contribution from co-founder Klein, a securities lawyer and the founder of CoStar Group. At its founding, Sunlight's board was Klein, serving as chairman, Miller serving as secretary and treasurer, and Nicholas J. Klein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koch Brothers
The Koch family ( ) is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities in the Koch network and their control of Koch Inc, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2019 revenues of $115 billion). The family business was started by Fred C. Koch, who developed a new cracking method for the refinement of heavy crude oil into gasoline. Fred's four sons litigated against each other over their interests in the business during the 1980s and 1990s. By 2019, Charles Koch and David Koch, commonly referred to as the Koch brothers, were the only ones of Fred Koch's four sons still with Koch Industries. Charles and David Koch built a political network of libertarian and conservative donors, and the brothers funneled financial revenue into television and multi-media advertising. David Koch died in August 2019. Family members * Fred C. Koch (1900–1967), American chemical engineer and entrepreneur who founded the oil r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crossroads GPS
American Crossroads is a US Super PAC that raises funds from donors to advocate for certain candidates of the Republican Party. It has pioneered many of the new methods of fundraising opened up by the Supreme Court's ruling in '' Citizens United v. FEC''. Its president is Steven J. Law, a former United States Deputy Secretary of Labor for President George W. Bush and the Chairman of the Board of Directors is former Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan. Advisers to the group include Senior Advisor and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. History American Crossroads was founded in 2010 by former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House strategist Karl Rove. Rove's relationship to the group has been described as "informal," and the American Crossroads website makes no mention of his name. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August 31, 2007. He has also headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Rove was one of the architects of the Iraq War. Prior to his White House appointments, he is credited with the 1994 and 1998 Texas gubernatorial victories of George W. Bush, as well as Bush's 2000 and 2004 successful presidential campaigns. In his 2004 victory speech, Bush referred to Rove as "the Architect". Rove has also been credited for the successful campaigns of John Ashcroft (1994 U.S. Senate election), Bill Clements (1986 Texas gubernatorial election), Senator John Cornyn (2002 U.S. Senate election), Governor Rick Perry (1990 Texas Agriculture Commission election), and Phil Gramm (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily newspaper in Boston and tenth-largest newspaper by print circulation in the nation as of 2023. Founded in 1872, the paper was mainly controlled by Irish Catholic interests before being sold to Charles H. Taylor and his family. After being privately held until 1973, it was sold to ''The New York Times'' in 1993 for $1.1billion, making it one of the most expensive print purchases in United States history. The newspaper was purchased in 2013 by Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C. owner John W. Henry for $70million from The New York Times Company, having lost over 90% of its value in 20 years. The chief print rival of ''The Boston Globe'' is the '' Boston Herald'', whose circulation is smaller and is shrinking faster. The newspaper is "one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Activities Of The Koch Brothers
Charles G. (born 1935) and David H. Koch (1940–2019), sometimes referred to as the Koch brothers, have become famous for their financial and political influence in United States politics with a libertarian political stance, particularly the libertarian conservative or right-libertarian branch most commonly found in American-style libertarianism. From around 2004 to 2019, with "foresight and perseverance", the brothers organized like-minded wealthy libertarian-oriented conservatives, spent hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money to build an "integrated" and "stealth" network of think tanks, foundations, "grassroots" movements, academic programs, advocacy and legal groups to "destroy the prevalent statist paradigm",Article by Charles Koch, "The Business Community, Resisting Regulation", in the ''Libertarian Review'', August 1978, quoted in and reshape public opinion to favor minimal government. As of mid 2018, the media has been encouraged to refer to the "Koch netw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PhRMA
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA, pronounced ), formerly known as the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, is an American trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Founded in 1958, PhRMA lobbies on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. PhRMA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The organization has lobbied fiercely against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients, and filed lawsuits against the drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. At the state level, the organization has lobbied to prevent price limits and greater price transparency for drugs. The organization claims that higher prices incentivize research and development, even though pharmaceutical spending on marketing exceeds that spent on research, including off-label promotion that has resulted in settlements in the billions of dollars. PhRMA has given substantial dark money donations to right-wing advocacy groups such as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Petroleum Institute
The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in extraction of petroleum, production, oil refinery, refinement, pipeline transport, distribution, and many other aspects of the petroleum industry. It has advanced climate change denial and blocking of climate change mitigation, climate legislation to defend the interests of its fossil fuels lobby, constituent organizations. The association describes its mission as "to promote safety across the industry globally and influence public policy in support of a strong, viable Petroleum in the United States, U.S. oil and natural gas industry". API's chief functions on behalf of the industry include advocacy, negotiation and Fossil fuels lobby, lobbying with governmental, legal, and regulatory agencies; research into economic, toxicological, and environmental issues, environmental effects; establishment and certificati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freedom Partners
Freedom Partners was a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization, which was founded in 2011 under the name Association for American Innovation, was purposed to promote "the benefits of free markets and a free society." It was partially funded by the Koch brothers, and sponsored various Republican politicians and conservative groups. The group was dissolved in 2019 amidst a restructuring of the Koch family's giving. Membership Freedom Partners was structured as a chamber of commerce and was composed of around 200 members who each paid a minimum US$100,000 in annual dues. In 2012, the organization raised $256 million. The organization was partially funded by the Koch brothers, although it operated independently of Koch Industries. A majority of Freedom Partners board was made up of long-time employees of Koch entities. Activities Freedom Partners gave grants worth a total of $236 million to conservative organizations including Tea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
