All posts tagged "Opensecrets"

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Outside spending in the 2024 election cycle has surpassed $1 billion, outpacing prior election cycles, according to a new OpenSecrets analysis of federal campaign finance reports.

Super PACs and other outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money have poured about $1.1 billion into 2024 federal elections as of Aug. 15 — nearly twice what similar groups spent over the same period in the 2020 presidential election cycle when independent expenditures hit an all-time record. ...

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

The Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity, has spent two decades pouring money into influencing U.S. elections.

As the group celebrates its 20-year anniversary, its hybrid super PAC ranks third in outside spending in the 2024 cycle. ...

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Throughout Pride Month, it has become increasingly common for corporations to adorn their websites in rainbow flags, espouse their support for LGBTQ+ rights and try to win over a community that has historically been stereotyped as having a disposable income. But some of those companies still steer big money to groups and politicians who oppose LGBTQ+ rights.

Chief Economist at the Koppa LGBTI+ Economic Power Lab, Lee Badgett, said that the idea that LGBTQ communities have more money to spend is a misrepresentation of the community as a whole....

A political action committee for a ubiquitous home improvement company is doing some financial renovations in the wake of fraud, according to a new financial filing.

The Home Depot Inc., PAC reported to the Federal Election Commission that it experienced theft of $7,500 in December due to an "erroneous bank debit."

"The PAC has taken action to prevent this from happening in the future by closing that bank account and opening a new account," said a report to FEC from May 8. "In addition, the PAC is using positive pay through the bank to prevent any future occurrences."...

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

A complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleges that a shell company with ties to the former chief financial officer of the Republican State Leadership Committee illegally steered nearly $2.6 million to half a dozen political committees.

The complaint filed May 7 by the nonpartisan watchdog Campaign Legal Center revolves around Ardleigh Impact Corp., a company incorporated in Delaware on Oct. 24, 2023, which appears to exist only on paper. The Campaign Legal Center found no reference to the company online or record of it doing business. But barely three months after it was organized, the company made multiple large donations to six super PACs connected to high-ranking Republicans and conservative groups....

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

After an expensive lobbying blitz, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law a sweeping foreign aid package that includes a provision barring TikTok from operating in the U.S. if the video-sharing app’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell its stake in the platform within a year.

ByteDance’s federal lobbying spending reached nearly $2.7 million in the first quarter of 2024, the most it has ever spent during the first three months of any year. It is also more than the video-sharing app spent on lobbying any prior quarter, with the exception of the third quarter of 2023. The jump follows a year of record lobbying totaling over $8.7 million in 2023 amid increased scrutiny of the video-sharing platform’s ties to China. ...