Katrina vanden Heuvel, writing in the Washington Post, says a group called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength is urging President Obama not to cave into the demand of Congressional Republicans to give the super-rich a super big tax break. Meanwhile, the Committee for Economic Development has released a poll indicating that a majority of business [...]
The NC Free Enterprise Foundation has analyzed the outside spending reported so far in the 2010 state legislative campaigns – over $2.3 million, with more than 90% spent to help Republican candidates for the NC General Assembly. A handy chart itemizes which of the front-group committees (e.g., Real Jobs NC) spent how much to benefit [...]
The Nation Magazine has an important article that connects the rise of massive front-group spending in elections with the decline of the media’s coverage of political campaigns and policy issues. A front group’s distorting message becomes so much more effective when repeated frequently and when the media abandons its job, which is not gotcha journalism but [...]
There’s At Least One More Fine To Pay Statement from Bob Hall, Executive Director, Democracy North Carolina November 24, 2010 Former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley walked away from court on Tuesday with the long federal and state investigation finally ended. The US Attorney and a special state prosecutor, both Republicans, agreed to let Easley plead [...]
Former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley walked away from court today with the long federal and state investigation finally ended. The US Attorney and a special state prosecutor, both Republicans, agreed to let Easley plead guilty to one felony charge of falsely certifying a campaign disclosure report that omitted details about one airplane flight, a class I [...]
The Associated Press and News & Observer are reporting this afternoon that former Gov. Mike Easley has agreed to a plea deal to settle a federal and state investigation into possible corruption while he was in public office. A hearing about the deal will be held in Wake County court at noon tomorrow. Stay tuned for [...]
An alliance of six national good government groups are pushing the lame-duck Congress to pass a stripped down version of the DISCLOSE Act. The original bill went beyond just requiring disclosure of the major donors to electioneering committees; it would have banned election spending by subsidiaries of foreign corporations, large government contractors, and businesses owing [...]
A disclosure provision in the financial reform law is providing an unusual window into how special interests lobby federal regulators for special relief. “Relax that rule or you’ll put us out of business.” “If you do that, we won’t be able to compete with foreign companies.” “To level the playing field, you should exempt us, [...]
The mega-millionaires who financed Congressional elections this year want a spectacular payoff: a tax break worth tens of billions each year. This is the essence of pay-to-play corruption: money paid, special benefits returned. Even though the Congressional winners say investing in jobs is the top priority, they seem ready to fork over billions more to [...]
A preliminary analysis of fundraising by NC General Assembly candidates shows that Republicans were far more successful in the 2010 cycle than in previous elections. Many of them doubled their income from 2008, outraised their opponents, and funneled the donations to colleagues in tight races. Democrats raised substantial money, too, but several of their top [...]