Crossroads GPS tries to squeak past disclosure window
Los Angeles Times
A hard-hitting new TV spot by the conservative advocacy group Crossroads GPS is scheduled to air within 30 days before the Democratic National Convention, a buy that should force it to disclose its donors. But the organization is counting on confusing guidance from the Federal Election Commission to get it off the hook.
The new commercial -- which opens with a clip of CBS News anchor Scott Pelley saying, “This is the worst economic recovery America has ever had” -- began running Tuesday in nine battleground states. READ MORE
Sen. Whitehouse vows to continue effort to alter Citizens United
Los Angeles Times
Efforts to alter the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which helped usher in multimillion-dollar super PACs, have died in Congress, as recently as two weeks ago. And the Supreme Court itself upheld the ruling in its most recent term. But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is still convinced that Citizens United will be reversed.
“It isn’t going to last very long,” he told Democrats on Tuesday during a conference call to discuss the next step in overturning the controversial Supreme Court decision. “Just because you didn’t win the first time doesn’t mean you can’t win down the road. Persistence matters, public engagement matters.” READ MORE
In 2013 Races, New York Prepares for ‘Super PAC’ Effect
The New York Times
New York City campaign regulators are girding for a wave of independent spending in local campaigns next year, saying that moneyed interest groups and wealthy individuals are watching the “super PAC” phenomenon in the presidential campaign this year and preparing to adapt it for local use.
The city will, for the first time, require disclosure of independent expenditures — spending that is not coordinated with a campaign. It said its tracking of the finances of such groups, which it plans to post on the Web, would be among the most detailed anywhere, including not only contributions and spending, but also an archive of advertisements run by the groups and information about their backers. READ MORE
Super PACs help tea party candidate win Senate runoff in Texas
iWatch News
In a Texas-sized spending battle that attracted more than $14 million in outside money, Ted Cruz upset the party establishment favorite Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the in the state’s contentious Republican primary runoff election for U.S. Senate.
Cruz, a tea party favorite and former Texas solicitor general, beat Dewhurst 56.8 percent to 43.2 percent according to election returns as of Wednesday morning. The race was easily the most expensive congressional primary fight this election. READ MORE
New questions about Sheldon Adelson's casino operations in Macau
ProPublica
A few days after Las Vegas Sands fired the president of its Macau casinos in July 2010, the company copied the hard drives of his office computers and moved the data to its headquarters in Las Vegas. In the months that followed, the company now acknowledges, its lawyers reviewed those records as they prepared to defend the casino giant against a civil suit by the executive for wrongful termination.
But when the executive, Steven Jacobs, asked in court for copies of his documents, a lawyer for the Las Vegas Sands subsidiary in Macau said it could not move files out of the Chinese enclave without permission from local authorities. The lawyer did not mention that copies of the documents were already in the United States.
Federal investigators examining Jacobs' claims that he had been ordered to overlook illegal activity in Macau faced the same roadblock, the lawyer told a Nevada judge...
The owner of Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson, has been in the national spotlight as the largest individual donor to Republican candidates in the 2012 campaign. READ MORE
Federal lawsuit, filed in Des Moines, seeks clarity on campaign disclosure requirements
Indy Star
When references to “the White House,” “the administration” and “the government” show up in a political attack ad, do they clearly identify a political candidate?
That’s a question the Federal Election Commission failed to answer this summer, and which now is before a federal court judge in Des Moines. READ MORE
Shell Oil top contributor in campaign to stop Alaska coastal initiative
Alaska Dispatch
As Royal Dutch Shell prepares to explore for offshore oil in Alaska's Arctic, the company is waging an effort against a ballot initiative that supporters say would restore the voice of Alaskans in federal coastal decisions.
Shell has contributed $150,000 to the Vote No on 2 campaign, which opposes reinstating the controversial Coastal Zone Management program, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Vote No on 2 has raised $768,000 in cash and in-kind contributions -- far more than the $64,000 raised by the Alaska Sea Party, the proponents of reviving Coastal Zone Management. READ MORE