Hawaii just found a way around Citizens United. Other states are following.

 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Exposes the Problem of Dark Money in Politics

Wall Street Forms Super PAC With Sole Purpose of Attacking Bernie Sanders

The Connection Between Super PACS and Flint's Water Crisis

How One Donor Bought a North Carolina Senate Seat...

Silver lining on Romney's clouded campaign

Rachel Maddow points out that despite the missteps and terrible headlines and campaign infighting afflicting the Mitt Romney campaign, he can at least take comfort in the fact that outside spending favors him by a big margin and Republican voter suppression efforts remain robust.

The Continuing Power of Karl Rove | Alternet

The Continuing Power of Karl Rove | Alternet
"If you want to see the personification of how the Citizens United decision is playing out in this campaign, look no further than Karl Rove. Yes, that Karl Rove, the political strategist once known as Bush’s Brain. Rove was a big winner in 2000, when the court’s conservative majority gave the presidency to his client, George W. Bush. Rove went with Bush to the White House as his political czar, but left seven years later as damaged goods. He was enmeshed in the president’s failures and in scandals of his own, including millions of missing emails, congressional hearings, and a near indictment over leaks that outed covert CIA agent Valerie Plame and exposed her to danger.

But then the five conservatives on the Supreme Court – three of whom had been appointed by Rove’s two Bush patrons, Bush the First and Bush the Second – came down with the Citizens United decision, giving Karl Rove a second lease on life as a bagman – the biggest in town."

Conservative Group Ignores Court Order Requiring It To Disclose Donors Behind TV Ad

Conservative Group Ignores Court Order Requiring It To Disclose Donors Behind TV Ad: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District heard arguments Friday on an appeal in the Van Hollen v. Federal Election Commission case. A district judge ruled in March that outside groups engaging in signficant “electioneering communications” — ads run near federal elections that mention candidates but do not explicitly tell viewers [...]/p

Outside Groups Spend More Money Promoting Romney Than The Romney Campaign

Outside Groups Spend More Money Promoting Romney Than The Romney Campaign: According to a study of campaign ads between late April and early September of this year, the Romney campaign spent $37.8 million on ads during this period to promote their candidate. Outside groups, emboldened by Citizens United and similar decisions, spent $117.5 million. In other words, more than three times as much pro-Romney spending has [...]/p

Rachel Maddow - Shedding a little light on dark money

Rachel Maddow reports on a new online resource that is the result of an FCC requirement to disclose political ad spending so that now Americans can look up who's running political ads, if not (yet) the money behind them.

How One Mega-Donor Could Save $2.3 Billion Under Romney’s Tax Plan

How One Mega-Donor Could Save $2.3 Billion Under Romney’s Tax Plan: The $100 million that billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson pledged to donate to Mitt Romney will turn out to be a good investment if the Republican nominee wins the presidential election in November, a new report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund found. Thanks to Romney’s tax proposals, which call for massive tax [...]/p

Minnesota Corporations On Brink Of Winning Legal Right To Secretly Campaign | Alternet

Minnesota Corporations On Brink Of Winning Legal Right To Secretly Campaign | Alternet
"The right of corporations to spend money in campaigns—resurrected under the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling—may have been given a big boost Friday when a federal appeals court ruled in an ongoing suit that Minnesota corporations could independently spend money in campaigns without submitting ongoing reports to state officials.

In contrast, on Monday in another federal appeals court, the Seventh Circuit handling Illinois, that state’s campaign disclosure law was upheld in a similar suit—foreclosing the prospect of secret corporate electioneering in 2012 and beyond. (Each federal appeals court has the final say in its region until the U.S. Supreme Court steps in.)"

How One Hedge Fund Millionaire Is Trying To Buy A Seat In Congress

How One Hedge Fund Millionaire Is Trying To Buy A Seat In Congress: Robert Mercer, the millionaire hedge-fund manager has been a consistent funder of right wing causes. In recent years, the co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies has bankrolled an Islamaphobic effort to stop a Muslim Community Center in New York City, given $1 million each to the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future super PAC and Karl Rove’s American [...]/p

Fight Rove's big money bid for a 2012 Senate takeover

Fight Rove's big money bid for a 2012 Senate takeover
"Rove motivated the attendees to cough up millions more by telling them of the millions he's raised to use against "the bad guys" not to elect Mitt Romney, but to get Barack Obama out of the White House. It's not just the White House, though, he's got his sights on the trifecta: White House, House, and critically, the Senate."

Never Mind Super PACs: How Big Business Is Buying the Election | The Nation

Never Mind Super PACs: How Big Business Is Buying the Election | The Nation
"US law still bans foreign corporations from participating directly in elections. But after Citizens United, trade associations like API—whose influential members include foreign corporations—are free to spend as they wish, unburdened by disclosure requirements. And these groups have taken full advantage of their new freedoms. While other campaign committees, from labor unions to Super PACs, face strict transparency rules, trade associations enjoy unparalleled power to covertly manipulate elections using corporate money."

Corporate America’s newest union insult

Corporate America’s newest union insult
"Put it all together, and you see the sleight of hand: In the same way rapacious oil companies try to green-wash their brands to align them with environmental sentiment, the particular industries and companies airing these ads are subtly “worker-washing” their brands in an attempt to equate themselves with populist economic outrage. That they can accomplish this with so few noticing proves that in the age of truthiness, anything can be corporatized — even the anti-corporate zeitgeist."

Welcome To The Era of Super PACs

"Unlike previous presidential elections, this year's election isn't only about which candidate has the most money in their war chests. This year it's all about which candidate has the most Super PACs pouring money into advertising on their behalf. And so far, these massive PACs have poured tens of millions of dollars to get their guy elected. Mike Papantonio talks about how money will be the determining factor in this year's election with Andy Kroll, correspondent for Mother Jones magazine."

'Dark Money' Groups Exceed Super PAC Spending, Secrecy | Common Dreams

'Dark Money' Groups Exceed Super PAC Spending, Secrecy | Common Dreams
"The top five outside spending groups on presidential election ads have reported less than 1% of their spending to the Federal Election Commission, according to a new report by national research and advocacy organizations Dēmos and US PIRG. Multiple types of outside spending groups are playing an even larger and more secretive role in the 2012 election cycle than previously thought or estimated."

Ben & Jerry on the Catastrophic Impact of Citizens United