Money in politics

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• A guide to the outside political groups spending on North Carolina elections
  Alex Kotch, Facing South, Oct 14, 2016 A Facing South investigation finds that more than 10 state and national outside groups have already spent or committed over $6 million to state races in North Carolina, and still more outside groups are likely to join the spending spree as the majority of political ad spending typically comes during the final weeks before an election.
• AP - Clinton's State Dept. calendar missing scores of entries
  Stephen Braun, The Associated Press, June 24, 2016 An Associated Press review of the official calendar Hillary Clinton kept as secretary of state identified at least 75 meetings with longtime political donors, Clinton Foundation contributors and corporate and other outside interests that were not recorded or omitted the names of those she met.
• Corporations under growing shareholder pressure to disclose political influence spending
  "This spring [2015], according to the Corporate Reform Coalition, a network of more than 75 organizations and individuals seeking 'to promote corporate governance solutions to combat undisclosed money in elections,' over 100 U.S. companies are facing shareholder resolutions asking them to disclose this information."
• Dark Money: Jane Mayer on How the Koch Bros. & Billionaire Allies Funded the Rise of the Far Right
  Democracy Now!, Jan 20, 2016 Democrats and Republicans are expected to spend about $1 billion getting their 2016 nominee elected. There’s a third group that will spend almost as much. It’s not a political party, and it doesn’t have any candidates. It’s the right-wing political network backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David Koch, expected to spend nearly $900 million in 2016.
• Dark Money: Jane Mayer on How the Koch Bros. & Billionaire Allies Funded the Rise of the Far Right
  Interview with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez Democracy Now!, January 20, 2016. Includes transcript.
• Diane Rehm Show - The Growth Of Secret Spending In State And Local Politics
  July 21, 2016 Guest host: Frank Sesno Since the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United ruling six years ago, the flow of so-called dark money into federal elections has been well documented. A much less recognized phenomenon is spending by outside groups in state and local elections – mayoral races, public utility commission contests, school board votes. In 2014 the amount spent by unidentified donors on these smaller stages was nearly 40times the amount spent just four years earlier. And, critics say, a little money in these elections can go a very long way. A discussion about concerns over money and influence in state and local politics. Guests Jan Baran head of the election law group at Wiley Rein LLP; former general counsel, Republican National Committee; author, "The Election Law Primer for Corporations." Chisun Lee senior counsel, Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice Patrick Madden senior reporter, WAMU Ann Ravel commissioner, Federal Election Commission; former chair, California Fair Political Practices Commission
• Facing South - Big Money's map mischief in North Carolina
  Big Money's map mischief in North Carolina Alex Kotch and Chris Kromm, Facing South, The Institute for Southern Studies, Feb 12, 2016
• FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump
  Peter Stone And Greg Gordon, McClatchy, January 18, 2018 The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.
• Fresh Air - Understanding Congressional Gerrymandering: 'It's Moneyball Applied To Politics'
  Fresh Air, with Dave Davies, June 15, 2016 "Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy" author David Daley says that Republicans targeted key state legislative races in 2010 in an effort to control state houses, and, eventually, Congressional redistricting. "So in Wisconsin, the operatives working on redistricting barricaded themselves into a law firm across the street from the Capitol and tried to claim attorney-client privilege for all of the negotiations and mapmaking that were going on. And they even made Republican members of the legislature there sign a nondisclosure agreement if they wanted access to the room. In North Carolina, they bring in a master mapmaker named Tom Hofeller, who is probably better at jiggering and rejiggering district lines than anybody. And they draw maps in North Carolina that give Republicans a 10-3 advantage on the congressional side."
• Greg Palast - How Billionaires Steal Elections
  Greg Palast talks about his book Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, where he teams with fiery editorial cartoonist Ted Rall to name and shame the billionaires buying up our democracy, and the disenfranchisement of millions through voter-ID laws, list purges, and other assaults to our civil rights. http://www.gregpalast.com/ballotbandits/
• How Citizens United gave Republicans a bonanza of seats in U.S. state legislatures
  By Nour Abdul-Razzak, Carlo Prato and Stéphane Wolton, Washington Post, February 24, 2017 We find that Citizens United increased the GOP’s average seat share in the state legislature by five percentage points. That is a large effect — large enough that, were it applied to the past twelve Congresses, partisan control of the House would have switched eight times. In line with a previous study, we also find that the vote share of Republican candidates increased three to four points, on average.
• Review: Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money,’ About the Koch Brothers’ Fortune and Influence
  Review of Jane Mayer's book, by David Nasaw, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center. NY Times, Jan 12, 2016
• Tax Forms Reveal Koch Brothers Spent Millions to Shape State Politics in 2017
  Alex Kotch, Truthout, February 25, 2018 The conservative billionaire mega-donors Charles and David Koch poured millions of dollars into state politics in 2017, according to tax forms recently released by the Internal Revenue Service, despite it being a year with relatively few state elections. The brothers' massive investments in federal Republican politicians and groups have been more heavily scrutinized, but the influence they and their vast political spending network have on state politics is too often overlooked.
• The Biggest Loser In The 2016 Election? Tom Steyer
  Craig Richardson, Investor's Business Day, 11/14/2016 The hedge fund tycoon spent more money than any other individual in the 2016 election cycle. His crocodile-tear declaration in July that, "We believe that there is too much emphasis on money in politics" notwithstanding, Steyer and his super PAC NextGen Climate Action poured about $100 million into the election effort.
• The corporate cash behind Florida's sham pro-solar ballot measure
  Sue Sturgis, Facing South, Institute for Southern Studies, Oct 13, 2016
• US Supreme Court rejects John Doe appeal
  Matthew DeFour, Wisconsin State Journal, Oct 4, 2016 The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by three Democratic district attorneys seeking to revive a criminal investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign — effectively ending the legal wrangling over the four-year-old probe. The decision marks a major victory for Walker and his Republican allies, who mounted a vigorous challenge to the secretive, so-called John Doe II investigation that involved investigators issuing dozens of subpoenas and seizing equipment and millions of documents from those under investigation.