How much did Art Pope and his co-conspirators spend to flip the General Assembly? The pro-business NC FreeEnterprise Foundation has crunched more numbers and concludes, “The total amount spent by 11 outside groups vying to influence the outcome of elections for the State Legislature was $2,635,297.86, with nearly 92 percent of those funds being used [...]
You can listen to two 10-minute segments of a secretly taped conversation in which Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gushes about his bust-the-union strategies with a prankster playing the role of David Koch, the billionaire patron of Americans for Prosperity and numerous politicians. Walker describes various plans to trick and pressure Democrats; he encourages Koch to [...]
A shocking investigative report in Rolling Stone answers the question, “Why aren’t the Wall Street swindlers who brought down the world’s economy in jail?” Answer: They’re protected by the completely corrupt relationship between the crooks and the cops. They’re getting away with the biggest theft in world history because of the political payoffs, revolving door [...]
With the blessing of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, the US Chamber of Commerce has become even more aggressive in spending corporate money on political ads to tilt elections in its favor. Now it turns out the Chamber hired a group of reconnaissance experts to develop a plan to spy on and disrupt its [...]
What can be done about the unhealthy role of large private contributions in judicial elections? North Carolina led the nation by modifying the “clean elections” model of public financing to apply to judicial campaigns. In contrast to providing a positive alternative, New York is about to impose a new restriction on judges: you must not hear cases [...]
A Wall Street insider newsletter provides this useful profile of the wave of stockholder resolutions demanding that companies disclose their political spending, including their donations to trade associations (e.g., the US Chamber of Commerce) that shield a corporation's partisan activity from public scrutiny. Churches, pension fund managers, social investment funds and others are using their voting power [...]
The Public Campaign Action Fund has a new report out today that details the grip the energy industry has on members of the US House Committee on Energy & Commerce. The report arrives as the Energy & Power Subcommittee convenes to debate a Republican effort to weaken the Clean Air Act. It not only profiles the direct [...]
Robert Lee Caldwell of Morganton was indicted on Tuesday in connection with Bev Perdue’s 2008 gubernatorial campaign . The prosecutor, Colon Willoughby, said there’s no evidence suggesting that Perdue or her staff knew that Caldwell used an illegal contribution to pay for a campaign air flight. However, he also said, “I would not be surprised [...]
The national Democratic Party's selection of Charlotte for its 2012 Convention means President Obama has no intention of conceding the Southern states he won in 2008 (Virginia, Florida, North Carolina). The NC Republican Party quickly accepted the challenge with a YouTube video aimed at raising spirits (and some money) to make sure Obama and the [...]
Republicans in the US House, with support from Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) and few other Democrats, gleefully stabbed the presidential public financing system in the heart, draining its funds for other purposes. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) was the only Republican in the US House to agree that the program is broken but insist that it [...]